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Sunday, December 20, 2020

NANCY BAILEY: The Attack on Dr. Jill Biden is Cloaked Hatred of Teachers and Public Education

The Attack on Dr. Jill Biden is Cloaked Hatred of Teachers and Public Education
The Attack on Dr. Jill Biden is Cloaked Hatred of Teachers and Public Education




Much has been written about the offensiveness of the Wall Street Journal’s Epstein opinion piece on Dr. Jill Biden. It lacks respect for Dr. Biden, a veteran teacher, deeply committed to her profession and community college students, but it’s also meant to ridicule teaching and public education.

First, it’s never wise to criticize intellectual pursuit, to deride a person for bettering themselves, for improving their knowledge and understanding of the world. This is especially true of teachers who prepare students for their futures.

Belittling University Education Schools

Dr. Biden’s criticism indirectly attacks the University of Delaware and their education school, a public university. Tucker Carlson said, Dr. Jill has an education degree from some school in Delaware, and you’re supposed to find that highly impressive. 

Colleges of Education could always improve, but for years nonprofits like Relay Graduate School of Education, and more, have been jockeying to replace them.

By disparaging teachers’ main producers, our public universities, and these schools are in danger of closing; they promote a privatization agenda cast by corporate CONTINUE READING: The Attack on Dr. Jill Biden is Cloaked Hatred of Teachers and Public Education

Personal Reflections On My 2020 Professional Experiences | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Personal Reflections On My 2020 Professional Experiences | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON MY 2020 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES




I thought some readers might find it interesting, and I thought it would be a useful reflection exercise for me, if I reflected on my work around education over the past twelve months AND my hopes and concerns for 2021 (those 2021 thoughts will appear in a future post)

I’ve already done a more “big picture” review in my annual Washington Post piece, The positively worst and best education news of 2020 — as viewed by a teacher, and expect equally “big picture” predictions in a column that should be published there this week.

On a personal level, my family and I have weathered 2020 well, and we expect to do the same next year. I’ll save that commentary for the annual New Year’s letter we send out 🙂

REFLECTIONS ON 2020

The year began pretty smoothly.  Classes were going well and, then, in late February I read something about some schools in Asia  closing down physically and moving to remote instruction because of some kind of virus.

No way that could that happen here, I figured, but I thought some readers around the world might find it helpful if I began to collect distance learning resources.

Then, in early March, I was still thinking it was unlikely to affect us in Sacramento, but I also figured it couldn’t CONTINUE READING: Personal Reflections On My 2020 Professional Experiences | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Missouri Grants First Charter Outside Two Biggest Districts | Diane Ravitch's blog

Missouri Grants First Charter Outside Two Biggest Districts | Diane Ravitch's blog
Missouri Grants First Charter Outside Two Biggest Districts




Up until now, the only districts with charters in Missouri were St. Louis and Kansas City, the state’s two biggest districts. But the state board just granted a charter for a new school in the Normandy district, one of the state’s poorest and lowest performing.

The state board of education approved the charter with six votes in favor, one against, and one abstention.

Normandy lost its state accreditation in 2012, triggering a student transfer law that bled it of funding and students. The state school board bumped the district up to provisional accreditation in 2017. Academics have improved in recent years but the district still struggles. Less than half of third-graders passed state math and reading assessments in 2019. Its high school graduation rate in May was 69%.

Because of the district’s obstacles, state board member Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, who previously served on Normandy’s governing board, voted against the charter.

“You can’t morally advance options and choice for one group by taking away the rights and choice of another,” CONTINUE READING: Missouri Grants First Charter Outside Two Biggest Districts | Diane Ravitch's blog

Democracy and Education | tultican

Democracy and Education | tultican
Democracy and Education




By Thomas Ultican 12/19/2020

Democracy and free universal public education are foundational American ideologies. They have engendered world renowned success for our experiment in government “by the people”. Two new books – Schoolhouse Burning by Derek Black and A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door by Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire – demonstrate that these principles which were integral to the American experiment are shockingly under serious attack by wealthy elites.

After his father Fred died in 1967, Charles Koch took a disparate set of assets – a cattle ranch, a minority share in an oil refinery and a gas gathering business – and stitched them together. Today it is the second largest privately held corporation in the world. In the excellent 2019 book, Kochland, Christopher Leonard states, “Koch would eventually build one of the largest lobbying and political influence machines in US history.”

Both the introduction to A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door and the “Through History’s Eyes” chapter of Schoolhouse Burning mention the same quote from Charles Koch. In 2018, the Koch network held its annual three day gathering near Palm Springs, California. It was a 700-person confab of some of the richest people in America. Black wrote,

“Charles Koch told the audience that ‘we’ve made more progress in the last five years than I had in the last 50…. The capabilities we have now can take us to a whole new level…. We want to increase the effectiveness of the network … by an order of magnitude. If we do that, we can change CONTINUE READING: Democracy and Education | tultican


Gingerbread houses and teacher unions. – Fred Klonsky

Gingerbread houses and teacher unions. – Fred Klonsky
GINGERBREAD HOUSES AND TEACHER UNIONS



When I see gingerbread houses this time of year I think about the teacher two doors down the hall who made making them an assignment each year as homework.

I imagine it was mostly done by parents – moms most likely. But they were great and festive. And a shared family thing. They filled the library display case. 

Pretzel log roofs. Jellies in the windows. Candied dripping icicles. Some small modest dwellings. Others quite like mansions.

And I remember when the teacher was diagnosed with cancer which made it physically impossible to take her class to PE or Music or recess. But she wanted to continue to teach and all she needed was assistance. 

Naturally, the district resisted. They pressured her to  CONTINUE READING: 
Gingerbread houses and teacher unions. – Fred Klonsky


Will Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Change the Political Power Structure in New York City? Should We Use RCV in State and Congressional Elections? | Ed In The Apple

Will Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Change the Political Power Structure in New York City? Should We Use RCV in State and Congressional Elections? | Ed In The Apple
Will Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Change the Political Power Structure in New York City? Should We Use RCV in State and Congressional Elections?



The ballots in New York City elections commonly ask voters to vote on “ballot proposals” as  well as candidates, in 2019, an off year, no one was running for citywide or state office, the ballot contained four proposals, one of the proposals changed the method of voting in city elections: Ranked Choice Voting.

What is Ranked Choice Voting? How does it Work?

  Ranked-choice, or instant-runoff voting, allows voters to choose multiple candidates and rank them by order of preference. In New York City, primary and special-election voters will have the choice to rank up to five … You don’t have to rank all five – in fact, you can just choose one candidate. But the option is there for you to voice your support for multiple candidates. For the voter, that’s basically all they have to think about when going to the ballot box – which candidates to choose and how to rank them.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) replaces run-offs for citywide elections. If a candidate did not reach 40% of the vote in a primary or general election for Mayor, Comptroller or Public Advocate the two leading candidates formerly would contest in a run-off election.

Run-offs were not required in City Council elections, three, four, five or more CONTINUE READING: Will Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Change the Political Power Structure in New York City? Should We Use RCV in State and Congressional Elections? | Ed In The Apple

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


Personal Reflections On My 2020 Professional Experiences
photosforyou / Pixabay I thought some readers might find it interesting, and I thought it would be a useful reflection exercise for me, if I reflected on my work around education over the past twelve months AND my hopes and concerns for 2021 (those 2021 thoughts will appear in a future post) I’ve already done a more “big picture” review in my annual Washington Post piece, The positively worst and
Most Popular Posts Of The Week
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
Ed Tech Digest
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 TWO , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this w
Three New Short Christmas Videos That Are Great For ELLs
Couleur / Pixabay Here are four new additions to one my most popular posts, The Best Christmas Videos For English Language Learners – Help Me Find More (students can watch them and then talk and write about what they saw):
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
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
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Ed Policy Issues
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in THE BEST ARTICLES, VIDEOS & POSTS ON EDUCATION POLICY IN 2019 – PART TWO ): Two outsiders emerge as top contenders for Biden’s education secretary is from The Washington Post. New York City Will Change Many Selective Schools to Address Segregation is from The NY Times. Classrooms of the Fu
Excellent Video To Use When Teaching About Taking Responsibility For Mistakes
I do what has turned out to do a fairly effective lesson on taking responsibility, and use various articles and video clips (see The Best Resources For Helping Students (& The Rest Of Us) Learn The Concept Of Not Blaming Others ). Today, Army General Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation 

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