Thursday, December 31, 2020 THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES #REDFORED #tbats #COVIDVACCINE #BIDEN #edsecMiguelCardona

Big Education Ape

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES 

A teacher’s deepest concerns going into 2021: students who disappeared, covid-19 myopia and six more - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/12/31/teachers-deepest-fears-about-2021-students-who-disappeared-covid-19-myopia-six-more/

Choosing Democracy: Governor Newsom California COVID-19 Update: Schools- December 30, 2020 - http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2020/12/governor-newsom-california-covid-19.html

glen brown: 2020 - https://teacherpoetmusicianglenbrown.blogspot.com/2020/12/2020.html

Here’s What Biden Can Do for Foster and Adoptive Youth https://www.laprogressive.com/adoptive-youth/

Amid COVID-19, will federal aid be enough for LAUSD? - Los Angeles Times - https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-31/will-big-covid-payout-for-lausd-be-enough?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29 by @howardblume on @latimes

Ode to a teacher felled by COVID-19 and the boy she left behind http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/8XrzKQiTqoE/ode-to-teacher-felled-by-covid-boy-left-behind-column-one

Cancel Abraham Lincoln? San Francisco grapples with the president's legacy http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/FbT4cVjHkRs/san-francisco-grapples-with-abraham-lincoln-legacy

Un insulto racial, un video viral y un ajuste de cuentas https://www.nytimes.com/es/2020/12/31/espanol/un-insulto-racial-un-video-viral-y-un-ajuste-de-cuentas.html

COVID 2021 – Tennessee Education Report - http://tnedreport.com/?p=5068 via @TNEdReport

Newsom pushes February school reopening plan in California https://politi.co/2KRx6n7

California’s Newsom proposes spending $2 billion to help reopen elementary schools - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/12/30/california-gov-newsom-proposes-spending-2-billion-help-reopen-elementary-schools/

Colleges and students gear up for spring semester https://www.njspotlight.com/video/colleges-and-students-gear-up-for-spring-semester/ via @NJSpotlightNews

Op-Ed: NJ schools need a plan to rescue students from COVID-19 chasm https://www.njspotlight.com/2020/12/covid-19-chasm-unlearning-learning-loss-historically-oppressed-students/ via @NJSpotlightNews

Thursday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/?p=114452 on @Larryferlazzo

Education Matters: Good luck getting DCPS to care - https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2020/12/good-luck-getting-dcps-to-care.html

Calls growing for Biden to do what DeVos did: Let states skip annual standardized tests this spring - The Washington Post

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Calls are growing for Biden to do what DeVos did: Let states skip annual standardized tests this spring There are growing calls from across the political spectrum for the federal government to allow states to skip giving students federally mandated standardized tests in spring 2021 — but the man that President-elect Joe Biden tapped to be education secretary has indicated support for giving them

Vouchers and Market-Driven Schools in Sweden (Sara Hjelm) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Vouchers and Market-Driven Schools in Sweden (Sara Hjelm) Sara Hjelm is a reader of this blog. She wrote to me about the state of Swedish schools a few weeks ago and her deeply-felt concerns about the reforms now occurring in her country. As a retired teacher she sees the blending of school choice and vouchers as a reform strategy that, in her opinion, harms the nation’s schools. Usually, I do n

Newsom offers $2 billion plan to bring back in-person instruction in elementary grades | EdSource

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Newsom offers $2 billion plan to bring back in-person instruction in elementary grades G ov. Gavin Newsom presented a $2 billion proposal for financial incentives Wednesday to prod school districts to bring back elementary school students for in-person instruction, starting in mid-February. School districts would receive extra funding — from $450 to about $700 per student — if they agreed to a t

Teacher Tom: An Education That Emerges From Those Things That Most Affect Us

by Mike Simpson / 11min

An Education That Emerges From Those Things That Most Affect Us In 1675, French rationalist philosopher Nicholas Malebranche wrote, "The mind does not pay equal attention to everything it perceives. For it applies itself infinitely more to those things that affect it, that modify it, and that penetrate it, than to those that are present to it but do not affect it." I don't know if this insight w

Celebrating Kwanzaa: Day Six Gives Us Kuumba, Creativity

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Creativity and Craftsmanship: Celebrating Kuumba, the Sixth Night of Kwanzaa Black-owned businesses breathe creativity. The sixth day of Kwanzaa, Kuumba, represents creativity and is a time for celebrating the radical Blackness that comes from multiple countries and cultures across different platforms. The following Black-owned businesses show their creative instincts in their hand-made and hand

Website Created by Gates Foundation Leaves Open Personal Data of Hundreds of Thousands of Students | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Website Created by Gates Foundation Leaves Open Personal Data of Hundreds of Thousands of Students The Financial Times reported a major data breach of personally identifiable student data on a website funded by the Gates Foundation. Bill Gates, as we know, is a data aficionado. Several years ago, he created an ill-fated project called InBloom with the intent of gathering the personal data of mil

Choosing Democracy: Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Ethnic Studies Curriculum SBE At its November 18–19, 2020, meeting, the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) recommended the revised draft Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum to the State Board of Education (SBE) following a 45-day public comment period. The IQC incorporated edits, including those recommended by the California Department of Education (CDE), that str

Rick Hess Interviews Betsy DeVos As She Heads for the Exit | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Rick Hess Interviews Betsy DeVos As She Heads for the Exit Rick Hess conducts an “exit interview” with Betsy DeVos, which was published at Education Week. Rick is a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, which is funded in part by DeVos. DeVos came to Washington to destroy public education, and she failed. She bitterly dismisses the “entrenched interests” and bureaucrats who f

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

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/12/this-week

St. Louis Public Education Theft Accelerates | tultican

by Mike Simpson / 2h

St. Louis Public Education Theft Accelerates By Thomas Ultican 12/30/2020 A proposal to close 11 more public schools in St. Louis came before the school board on December 15. Based on Superintendent Kelvin Adams’ recommendation the final decision was postponed until January. It is not clear why Adams pulled back his own recommendation, but it is clear that public education in St. Louis is being

THE MOST READ DAD GONE WILD PIECE FROM 2020 – Dad Gone Wild

by Mike Simpson / 2h

THE MOST READ DAD GONE WILD PIECE FROM 2020 As we approach the end of a tumultuous year, things are starting to kick forth in the education world. Yesterday, Governor Lee announce a special session of the General Assembly to focus on education issues. The five areas to be considered are teacher salaries, accountability, BEP, learning loss, and literacy. I’ll dive deeper into the special session,

New York State is currently a rising COVID outlier in the United States | JD2718

by Mike Simpson / 2h

New York State is currently a rising COVID outlier in the United States COVID-19 case rates rose across the country this fall. And, in most cases, those rates peaked. In some states the peak was in mid-November. In others it was late November In others it was early December. In others it was mid-December. But in New York State the case rate continues to rise. Right before Thanksgiving Andrew Cuo

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES #REDFORED #tbats #COVIDVACCINE #BIDEN #edsecMiguelCardona

by Mike Simpson / 22h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Are schools safe? A growing body of evidence suggests that, with the right measures, they contribute little to virus spread. 

Big Education Ape

Calls growing for Biden to do what DeVos did: Let states skip annual standardized tests this spring - The Washington Post

Calls growing for Biden to do what DeVos did: Let states skip annual standardized tests this spring - The Washington Post

Calls are growing for Biden to do what DeVos did: Let states skip annual standardized tests this spring

There are growing calls from across the political spectrum for the federal government to allow states to skip giving students federally mandated standardized tests in spring 2021 — but the man that President-elect Joe Biden tapped to be education secretary has indicated support for giving them.

The issue will be an early test for Miguel Cardona, the state superintendent of education in Connecticut whom President-elect Joe Biden tapped to be education secretary, and his relationship with teachers and others critical of giving the exams during the coronavirus-caused chaos of the 2020-21 school year.

The current education secretary, Betsy DeVos, approved waivers to states allowing them not to administer the annual exams last spring as the coronavirus pandemic led schools to close. She said recently she wouldn’t do it again, but Biden’s triumph in November’s elections means the decision is no longer hers. It’s up to Cardona — assuming he is confirmed by the Senate, as expected — and the Biden administration to decide whether to provide states flexibility from the federal law.

The annual spring testing regime — complete with sometimes extensive test preparation in class and even testing “pep rallies” — has become a flash point in the two-decade-old school reform movement that has centered on using standardized tests to hold schools and teachers accountable. First under the 2002 No Child Left Behind law and now under its successor, the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act, public schools are required to give most students each year in math and English Language Arts and to use the results in accountability formulas. Districts evaluate teachers and states evaluate schools and districts — at least in part — on test scores.

But just how much the scores from the spring tests ever reveal about student progress, even in a non-pandemic year, is a major source of contention in the education world.

It looks like the beginning of the end of America’s obsession with student standardized tests

Supporters say they are important to determine whether students are making progress, and that two straight years of having no data from these tests would stunt student academic progress because teachers would not have critical information on how well their students are doing. CONTINUE READING: Calls growing for Biden to do what DeVos did: Let states skip annual standardized tests this spring - The Washington Post

Vouchers and Market-Driven Schools in Sweden (Sara Hjelm) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Vouchers and Market-Driven Schools in Sweden (Sara Hjelm) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Vouchers and Market-Driven Schools in Sweden (Sara Hjelm)

Sara Hjelm is a reader of this blog. She wrote to me about the state of Swedish schools a few weeks ago and her deeply-felt concerns about the reforms now occurring in her country. As a retired teacher she sees the blending of school choice and vouchers as a reform strategy that, in her opinion, harms the nation’s schools.

Usually, I do not publish descriptions and critiques of schools in other countries but I was taken by Hjelm’s voice as a teacher, her critique of choice and vouchers, and an advocate for better schools.

As a preface for readers unfamiliar with the state system of schooling in Sweden, I begin with a description of earlier Parliamentary reforms aimed at improving the nation’s schools. Then I offer portions of what Sara Hjelm has written about these reforms. Hjelm gave me permission to use portions of her email.

Background of Swedish System

Sweden adopted a nationwide universal voucher program in 1992 as part of a series of reforms designed to give more control over education to towns and schools. Families can choose any school, public or private. Taxpayer money follows the student. This voucher system has led to a burgeoning industry of mostly for-profit, private schools, also called “free schools.” Two of the companies that run schools in Sweden are listed on the country’s stock exchange.*

In contrast to American private schools, “free schools” don’t charge tuition — they draw on government funds to operate — and are required to follow CONTINUE READING: Vouchers and Market-Driven Schools in Sweden (Sara Hjelm) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Newsom offers $2 billion plan to bring back in-person instruction in elementary grades | EdSource

Newsom offers $2 billion plan to bring back in-person instruction in elementary grades | EdSource

Newsom offers $2 billion plan to bring back in-person instruction in elementary grades

Gov. Gavin Newsom presented a $2 billion proposal for financial incentives Wednesday to prod school districts to bring back elementary school students for in-person instruction, starting in mid-February.

School districts would receive extra funding — from $450 to about $700 per student — if they agreed to a timetable for reopening schools, a rigorous regimen of testing both students and staff for the virus, and a strict health and safety plan that teachers and employee unions would have to consent to. Newsom said more details would be available with the state budget next week.

Districts would receive a minimum of $450 for every student in the district, plus additional money per student, based on the Local Control Funding Formula. It provides extra money for English learners, homeless, foster and low-income students.

Districts would receive the funding if they offered in-person instruction from transitional kindergarten (TK) to second grade in the first phase, starting Feb. 15, and for third to sixth-graders in the second phase, a month later. Districts would get full funding, regardless of how many parents decided to continue with distance learning. They would also have to agree to bring back small cohorts of students of all ages with the most needs, including homeless and foster children and students with CONTINUE READING: Newsom offers $2 billion plan to bring back in-person instruction in elementary grades | EdSource

Teacher Tom: An Education That Emerges From Those Things That Most Affect Us

Teacher Tom: An Education That Emerges From Those Things That Most Affect Us

An Education That Emerges From Those Things That Most Affect Us

In 1675, French rationalist philosopher Nicholas Malebranche wrote, "The mind does not pay equal attention to everything it perceives. For it applies itself infinitely more to those things that affect it, that modify it, and that penetrate it, than to those that are present to it but do not affect it."

I don't know if this insight was groundbreaking at the time, but for most of us today it seems self-evident. I know that this is true of my own mind and from what I've read, modern scientists concur. It makes sense that our minds would have evolved like this. Or rather, it's rational to conclude, at least, that our senses have evolved to filter out the "noise" in our environment in order to focus on those things that have the greatest impact on our fitness. In a world of plant life, for instance, we're more likely to notice the ones that provide nutrition or the potential for shelter, but if a tiger prowls onto the scene, the plants fall to the background as our minds CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: An Education That Emerges From Those Things That Most Affect Us