Charter Schools And Their Enemies — My Review | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

 Charter Schools And Their Enemies — My Review | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Charter Schools And Their Enemies — My Review

Thomas Sowell is an economist and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His lengthy career has spanned six decades and he is a well respected conservative scholar.

He has recently published a thin volume called ‘Charter Schools And Their Enemies’ (Basic Books 2020)

Though charter schools have been around for about 30 years, they started getting a lot of attention with the release of the documentary ‘Waiting For Superman’ in 2010. The premise of that movie was that American schools are failing and producing mainly illiterate students and that the blame falls on teacher’s unions. The remedy, according to the movie, is non-unionized charter schools. Charter schools, it claims, prove that in-school factors can overcome out-of-school factors as long as teachers are not protected by their unions.

Waiting For Superman coincided with the rise of education celebrities like Michelle Rhee who was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in 2008. The pro-charter / teacher union bashing movement helped fuel the Obama-Duncan Race To The Top agenda which continues to be influential today.
But Waiting For Superman is not taken seriously anymore. The premises in that movie CONTINUE READING:  Charter Schools And Their Enemies — My Review | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

It Depends On Who You Listen To (Yes, About School Reopening) | The Jose Vilson

 It Depends On Who You Listen To (Yes, About School Reopening) | The Jose Vilson

 It Depends On Who You Listen To (Yes, About School Reopening)

It was my first time in months riding the bus with my son since school shut down. Normally, when I’ve run an errand during the pandemic, I’ll do it on my own, mask on, huffing and puffing to make it back inside. On this errand, my son and I saw a crosstown bus sitting there, so we hopped in the back. Pre-COVID, we rode the bus home from his after-school program, so we were excited to have this sliver of normalcy.

As soon as we got to the next stop, we got a quick education on what happens outside our bubble.

Every stop told a new story. At the first stop, an elderly woman hops on, grumbling underneath her mask about having to wear one and surveying the rest of the passengers to make sure they had one, too. At the second, a man meekly walks in to the front while onlookers wondered why those without canes had to get in the back. At the fifth, a mother with two teenaged children hopped on. The daughter had on her pink plastic covering, the rest of her family members came in uncovered and sneering at the rest of us.

The bus driver yells through his loudspeaker: “NO MASK, NO SERVICE! I WILL STOP THIS BUS IF I SEE ONE PASSENGER WITH NO MASK!” The elderly woman frowns at the mother and the teenage CONTINUE READING:  It Depends On Who You Listen To (Yes, About School Reopening) | The Jose Vilson

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Teachers from heroes to zeroes, by design (draft)

 Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Teachers from heroes to zeroes, by design (draft)

Teachers from heroes to zeroes, by design

 

Never waste a crisis. Last spring, after a solid year and a half of teacher action, when they pushed back against the conditions that were strangling the profession, teachers were lauded as heroes as they switched to distance learning in a couple of days. The memes and accolades were everywhere. Fast forward to today when many teachers are protesting going back to unsafe conditions, and suddenly they are the villains of the story, lazy and unprofessional, and no offense to the clerk at Walmart, but if he can do it, so should teachers. You have to think this new narrative is a little by design.

By now I think we have all heard if the clerk at Walmart can do it, why can't teachers as if they are the same. On the other end of the spectrum, if nurses and doctors can do it, so can teachers. You know, because teaching is the same as both jobs.

It is probably a surprise to all the nasty commentators on news stories, but teachers are neither. Service workers deal with a customer or two at a time for a few minutes, often in places where social distancing can occur. Not crammed into classrooms and schools, which are already as close as you can get to Petri dishes.

Then nurses and doctors, the true heroes of the pandemic, signed up for this, that's the job they chose. Their bravery and dedication are truly admirable, and their PPE is truly impressive as well. I CONTINUE READING:  Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Teachers from heroes to zeroes, by design (draft)

Six thousand school doors | JD2718

 Six thousand school doors | JD2718 -

Six thousand school doors

That might be the number of public school doors in New York City. There are over 1800 schools, but some are in leased buildings, and some are “campuses” which in New York means one building shared by several schools. In the rest of the country a campus is one school spread into several buildings. The New York City Department of Education claims 1557 buildings. That’s from a survey from last year, the number is probably pretty close to reality.

My first school had eight doors. Or was it six? My current is a leased building, but has two doors. I’m guessing four might be near the average, which is how I get 6000. If you told me I was wrong, that it was actually 5000, or 9000, I would not be shocked. But we get the idea. The NYCDOE has in the neighborhood of 6000 doors to the streets.

It’s a good thing that we do not need a separate hybrid plan for every door. That would be a lot of plans. But we do need a separate hybrid plan for each school. And at nearly 2000, that’s still a lot of plans.

You know what every plan needs? Every plan needs to include doors. Let’s talk about that for a moment. Let’s talk about morning entry.

Friday July 31 New York City had an outline, not a plan, as one of Cuomo’s aides accurately pointed out. Then Friday they submitted a new plan. Last Friday they turned in 32 pages. Small towns were turning in over 50. Yonkers was over 100. This Friday the NYCDoE turned in 109 pages.

Are there any English teachers reading this? Let me know if you’ve heard this story before. This one is CONTINUE READING:  Six thousand school doors | JD2718 -

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

 

 

August 23rd Is “International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition” – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

The United Nations has declared August 23rd to be International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition. You can find many related resources at their website . Check out USEFUL RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF BRINGING ENSLAVED AFRICANS TO AMERICA . You might also want to explore The Best Resources For Learning About Human Trafficking Today .

Monday’s Four “Must-Read” & “Must-Watch” Articles & Videos About School Reopening This Fall

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

kaboompics / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Chaos coast to coast as a school year like no other launches is from The Washington Post. Why Black families are choosing to keep their kids remote when schools reopen is from The Hechinger Report.

SEL Weekly Update

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists. You might also be interested in THE BEST SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART ONE. Finally, check out “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resources . Here are this week’s picks: Motivate Your High Perform

“Q&A Collections: Advice for New Teachers”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

Q&A Collections: Advice for New Teachers is the headline of my latest Education Week column. All Classroom Q&A posts on Advice for New Teachers (from the past nine years!) are described and linked to in this compilation post. Here’s an excerpt from one of them:

Ed Tech Digest

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

Nine years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART ONE , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this w

Federal Eviction Ban Has Just Expired & One-Third Of U.S. Renters Can’t Make August Rent – What Does This Mean For Students?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15h

I have previously posted about the coming eviction crisis and how it could impact our students and schools (see Federal Eviction Ban Expires Today; California’s Expires In September – How Will Schools Cope With Big Increase Of Homeless Students? ). It’s looking even worse today. Are schools ready in September and October for huge increases in homeless students? Read more about it two articles fro

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

20by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

BiljaST / Pixabay Six years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES, ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS FOR TEACHERS OF ELLS IN 2019 – PART ONE and THE BEST RESOURCES, ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS FOR TEACHERS OF ELLS IN 2019 – PART TWO. A

Video (& Lesson Plan): “Should Cops Be In Schools?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Utility_Inc / Pixabay San Francisco public television has produced this video and lesson plan . I’m adding it to TEACHING RESOURCES ABOUT IF POLICE SHOULD BE IN SCHOOLS .

Most Popular Posts Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

I’m making a change in the content of the regular feature. In addition to sharing the top five posts that have received the most “hits” in the preceding seven days (though they may have originally been published on an earlier date), I will also include the top five posts that have actually appeared in the past week. Often, these are different posts. You might also be interested in IT’S THE THIRTE

“Q&A Collections: Science Instruction”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Q&A Collections: Science Instruction is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. All Classroom Q&A posts on Science Instruction (from the past nine years!) are described and linked to in this compilation post. Here’s an excerpt from one of them:

New Resources On Race & Racism

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Events this week have – once again – highlighted why we (and I mean us white educators) need to emphasize anti-racist education. I’m adding these new resources to various “Best” lists. You can find links to all of those many 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007