Tuesday, January 19, 2021

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Tuesday, January 19, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE #Inauguration #BIDEN #HARRIS #46

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES

Free Market Facts And School Choice - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2021/01/19/free-market-facts-and-school-choice/?sh=45f219496a9b by @palan57 on @forbes

Why Must Teachers Justify Their Right to Life - LA Progressive - https://www.laprogressive.com/?p=359858

The pandemic is speeding up the mass disappearance of men in college - https://hechingerreport.org/?p=76633 via @hechingerreport

College Board is scrapping SAT’s optional essay and subject tests - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-ending-essay-subject-tests/2021/01/19/ac82cdd8-574a-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_local-education

Pandemic Teacher Shortages Imperil In-Person Schooling - The New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/us/pandemic-substitute-teacher-shortages.html

SAT Discontinues Subject Tests And Optional Essay : NPR - https://www.npr.org/2021/01/19/958329475/sat-discontinues-subject-tests-and-optional-essay on @NPR

The essential school workers who feel largely ignored during COVID-19 crisis | Video | NJ Spotlight News - https://www.njspotlight.com/video/the-essential-school-workers-who-feel-largely-ignored-during-covid-19-crisis/ via @njspotlight

'Propagandist hack job': Historian delivers brutal takedown of Trump commission's '1776 report' - Raw Story - Celebrating 16 Years of Independent Journalism - https://www.rawstory.com/1776-trump/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29 on @

Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: Does the Pandemic Help Us Make Education More Equitable? (Pasi Sahlberg) (Guest Post by Pasi Sahlberg) | National Education Policy Center - https://nepc.colorado.edu/node/10714 on @NEPCtweet

Point of Order: The Queen’s Gambit https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/19/point-of-order-the-queens-gambit/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social via @TexasTribune

Deciding To Stay or Leave: When Is Institutional Racism Too Much To Bear? - Philly's 7th Ward - https://wp.me/p7sbg2-va

“Let Them Play” protests held in Fresno, other central San Joaquin Valley cities, in support of high school sports starting back up again. | The Fresno Bee - https://www.fresnobee.com/sports/article248533525.html#new_tab on FresnoBee

Changes in KIPP Memphis prompt calls from staff to remove executive director https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2021/1/15/22233309/kipp-memphis-staff-call-for-removal-of-executive-director via @ChalkbeatTN

Biden chooses San Diego Unified superintendent as deputy education secretary - The San Diego Union-Tribune - https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2021-01-18/biden-chooses-san-diego-unified-superintendent-as-deputy-education-secretary#new_tab by @Kristen_Taketa on @sdut

Chicago teachers continues plea to Chicago Public Schools for safe school reopening plan - Chicago Sun-Times - https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2021/1/18/22237242/ctu-teachers-union-cps-chicago-public-schools-reopening-plan-coronavirus-covid-19#new_tab

Elon Musk donates $5 million to education group Khan Academy - CNN - https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/17/us/elon-musk-khan-academy-5-million-donation-trnd/index.html#new_tab

Montana Republican targets transgender youth with 2 new bills - https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/montana-republican-targets-transgender-youth-2-new-bills-n1254461#new_tab by NBCNews on @NBCNews

Teachers union announces plans to sue over West Virginia's back-to-classrooms move - WV MetroNews - https://wvmetronews.com/?p=398951 by @BradMcElhinny

'I've Tried Everything': Pandemic Worsens Child Mental Health Crisis https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/01/18/953581851/ive-tried-everything-pandemic-has-cut-options-for-kids-with-mental-illness?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

Nashua parents seek to oust school officials over remote learning | Coronavirus | unionleader.com - https://www.unionleader.com/news/health/coronavirus/nashua-parents-seek-to-oust-school-officials-over-remote-learning/article_1651b452-55fd-51e8-bca5-89ae806a519e.html#new_tab on @UnionLeader

School choice lawsuit surge pushes possible high court fight - https://apnews.com/article/school-choice-vermont-lawsuits-us-supreme-court-courts-4237717925cca30bdf5b977c94460e22#new_tab on @ap

Social studies committee calls letter from concerned parents ‘white supremacy language’ https://alphanewsmn.com/social-studies-committee-calls-letter-from-concerned-parents-white-supremacy-language/ via @alphanewsmn

This Utah school district has built its own internet service so students can log on from home - https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2021/01/17/this-utah-school-district/#new_tab by https://www.facebook.com/saltlaketribune on @sltrib

CCSD ordering ‘essential’ employees back to campus | Las Vegas Review-Journal - https://wp.me/p8qdWm-9suX on @reviewjournal

 The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission

January 2021- https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf#new_tab 

Bye, Betsy — and Good Riddance via @thenation https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/biden-debt/

Public education needs urgent action from a new US education secretary - https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2021/01/19/public-education-needs-urgent-action-new-us-education-secretary/4177900001/#new_tab via @DMRegister

The unreported gender gap in high school graduation rates - https://brook.gs/39l8dIJ on @BrookingsInst

5 inventions a day. 529,000 jobs. Incomes average $151,656. UC's brag sheet is eye-popping http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/Tl4DxqBnREQ/uc-publishes-brag-sheet-2021-college-admissions-season

Meet Cindy Marten: The New Deputy Secretary of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-te6 via @dianeravitch

School choice lawsuit surge pushes possible high court fight

by Mike Simpson / 3min

School choice lawsuit surge pushes possible high court fight Vermont is facing at least its second lawsuit in four months over a voucher program that allows students in communities that don't have schools or are not part of supervisory unions to attend schools of their choice, including approved private institutions. The Vermont system in which certain towns pay tuition for students to attend ot

Teacher Tom: Making Life Matter

by Mike Simpson / 3min

Making Life Matter The boy boasted that he knew "everything." "That's pretty cool," I answered. "Everything?" "Everything. Ask me any question." "What is the meaning of life?" Without missing a beat, he replied, "Ichiro." Solid response. The second best answer to that question I've ever heard from a preschooler, second only to the five-year-old who laughed as she dismissed me, "That's silly. It

WTF is Learning Loss? – Tennessee Education Report

by Mike Simpson / 3min

WTF IS LEARNING LOSS? Nashville education blogger TC Weber calls bullshit on the latest term meant to provide full employment for the edu-elite. In a post examining legislation Gov. Bill Lee wants in the upcoming special session on education, Weber lays bare the truth behind the bogus term and further exposes the dark side of the bills being considered. Here’s how TC explains the issue: The term

Trump’s ‘patriotic education’ report excuses Founding Fathers for owning slaves and likens progressives to Mussolini - The Washington Post

by Mike Simpson / 3min

Trump’s ‘patriotic education’ report excuses Founding Fathers for owning slaves and likens progressives to Mussolini President Trump’s “patriotic education” commission released a report on Martin Luther King Day that equates American progressives with European fascists and says it is “untrue” that the Founding Fathers were hypocrites for enslaving people while calling for equality in the nation’

Five Key Lessons I’ve Learned About Distance Learning This Semester | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

by Mike Simpson / 3min

FIVE KEY LESSONS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT DISTANCE LEARNING THIS SEMESTER I have been regularly documenting what’s been working and what hasn’t been working, along with my fears and concerns for the future. Now that the semester is ending next week, I thought it would be useful – for both readers and for me – to share some practical reflections. Before I do that, however, here are some of my past piec

John Thompson Reviews “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door”: A Frightening Future Ahead | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 3min

John Thompson Reviews “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door”: A Frightening Future Ahead John Thompson, historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma, reviews historian Jack Schneider and journalist Jennifer Berkshire’s A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door . Schneider and Berkshire have collaborated on podcasts called “Have You Heard.” Thompson writes: The first 2/3rds of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door , by Jac

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

by Mike Simpson / 3min

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/2021/01/this-week-in-

Andrea Gabor: Now Is the Time to Revive Civics Education and Media Literacy | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 11min

Andrea Gabor: Now Is the Time to Revive Civics Education and Media Literacy Andrea Gabor argues that the violent storming of Congress is reason to revive civics in schools. Clearly, she writes, many Americans do not understand the norms of a democratic government (including, I would add, Trump and most of the elected representatives of the Republican Party). Last week’s attack on the U.S. Capito

William Franz Public School: A Must-Read for Those Who Think They Know New Orleans | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

by Mike Simpson / 11min

William Franz Public School: A Must-Read for Those Who Think They Know New Orleans Anyone purporting to understand the challenges of K12 education in New Orleans absent knowledge of the disgraceful, entrenched history of Black oppression and White superiority in the city (and enabled by the layering of racist attitudes at the state level in multiple states) is only interfering with any genuine e

CURMUDGUCATION: The 1776 Commission On Authentic Education

by Mike Simpson / 11min

The 1776 Commission On Authentic Education The 1776 Commission released their thing today, and pardon my French, Mom, but holy shit is it bad. You knew it was going to bad. It's really bad. You probably didn't know that Progressivism is on the same Challenges to American Principles list with slavery and fascism. Slavery, by the way, is addressed primarily through a massive whataboutism. 45 pages

Education Matters: DCPS admits there is a sub problem, sort of...

by Mike Simpson / 11min

DCPS admits there is a sub problem, sort of... Last summer Superintendent Greene said having subs wasn't a problem and we had 2k ready to go, though almost immediately when the school year began we knew that wasn't true, and the school board admitted it, sort of, when they signed an MOU with the union, to increase teacher sub pay. This MOU proves two things, the district completely disrespects e

QUESTIONABLE ASSERTIONS – Dad Gone Wild

by Mike Simpson / 11min

QUESTIONABLE ASSERTIONS “Belief is a virus, and once it gets into you, its first order of business is to preserve itself, and the way it preserves itself is to keep you from having any doubts, and the way it keeps you from doubting is to blind you to the way things really are. Evidence contrary to the belief can be staring you straight in the face, and you won’t see it… True believers just don’t

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Monday, January 18, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE #Inauguration #BIDEN #HARRIS #MLKDAY #MLK #MARTINLUTHERKINGJR

by Mike Simpson / 19h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Biden weighs options for education secretary who would face early political pressure in school reopening bid - CNNPolitics - https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/19/politics/joe-bide

Big Education Ape

School choice lawsuit surge pushes possible high court fight

School choice lawsuit surge pushes possible high court fight

Vermont is facing at least its second lawsuit in four months over a voucher program that allows students in communities that don't have schools or are not part of supervisory unions to attend schools of their choice, including approved private institutions.

The Vermont system in which certain towns pay tuition for students to attend other schools is unconstitutional because it's not available to all students in the state, according to the Liberty Justice Center, a Chicago-based national nonprofit law firm that fights for school choice. If the lawsuit succeeds, officials at the nonprofit say they will file legal challenges in other states with similar school choice programs. But critics say the lawsuit is a veiled attempt to get a case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where conservative judges hold six of nine seats, to get more public funding into private education, including religious schools.

The Vermont suit comes six months after a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a Montana case that states can't cut religious schools out of programs that send public money to private education. Following that decision, three Vermont families filed a lawsuit in September in federal court, saying that denying them the state tuition benefit to send their children to religious schools is unconstitutional.

A similar lawsuit challenging Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from a high school tuition voucher program was denied by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the parents challenging the law and their attorneys have vowed to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Another lawsuit was filed in New Hampshire.

Maine and New Hampshire have similar programs for students who live in communities without schools to attend public or non-religious private schools of their choice.

In light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Montana case, the federal appeals court granted an injunction on Friday to stop Vermont from excluding a high school student who attends a religious school from taking college classes under the state’s dual enrollment CONTINUE READING: School choice lawsuit surge pushes possible high court fight

Teacher Tom: Making Life Matter

Making Life Matter

The boy boasted that he knew "everything."

"That's pretty cool," I answered. "Everything?"

"Everything. Ask me any question."

"What is the meaning of life?"

Without missing a beat, he replied, "Ichiro."

Solid response. The second best answer to that question I've ever heard from a preschooler, second only to the five-year-old who laughed as she dismissed me, "That's silly. It doesn't mean anything."

I don't make a habit of asking young children about the meaning of life, but over the years, usually while goofing around, I've probably posed it a couple dozen times. Aside from these two responses, every other child has simply ignored me, not even shrugging and I don't blame them. It is, at bottom, an uninteresting question, despite its apparent popularity among philosophers and theologians.

While I'm certain there is someone out there who has experienced a child who has expressed an abiding interest, by and large children don't tend to concern themselves such philosophical pap as the meaning of life. They are generally too busy to naval gaze about any picture bigger than the one CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Making Life Matter

WTF is Learning Loss? – Tennessee Education Report

WTF IS LEARNING LOSS?

Nashville education blogger TC Weber calls bullshit on the latest term meant to provide full employment for the edu-elite. In a post examining legislation Gov. Bill Lee wants in the upcoming special session on education, Weber lays bare the truth behind the bogus term and further exposes the dark side of the bills being considered.

Here’s how TC explains the issue:

The term “Learning Loss” is a made-up term, created primarily to retain and obtain funding.

We have no assessment that measures this hypothetical phenomenon. It is a tool utilized to prey upon the fears of parents as their children navigate unprecedented times and to make sure that companies who provide so-called student supports don’t lose money.

Kids may be learning at a slower pace, or they may be learning things differently than what current assessments measure, but they are still acquiring important knowledge and previously acquired skills are not fleeing their brains.

First of all, there is no data, historical or current, that can accurately support the supposition of a learning loss percentage. NWEA markets the MAP test, which does a fantastic job of measuring growth and proficiency. Both are very different than “learning loss”.

Research supports the idea that as we regularly use a skill it stays at the forefront of CONTINUE READING: WTF is Learning Loss? – Tennessee Education Report

Trump’s ‘patriotic education’ report excuses Founding Fathers for owning slaves and likens progressives to Mussolini - The Washington Post

Trump’s ‘patriotic education’ report excuses Founding Fathers for owning slaves and likens progressives to Mussolini

President Trump’s “patriotic education” commission released a report on Martin Luther King Day that equates American progressives with European fascists and says it is “untrue” that the Founding Fathers were hypocrites for enslaving people while calling for equality in the nation’s founding documents.

The report is the product of the “1776 Commission” created by Trump late last year after nationwide Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice. He tasked the 18-member panel with promoting a “pro-American curriculum” that celebrates “the miracle of American history.”

Posted on the White House website on Monday, the national holiday to honor the civil rights leader, the White House said the report was aimed at countering what it said were efforts “to reframe American history around the idea that the United States is not an exceptional country but an evil one.”

“It is very hard for people brought up in the comforts of modern America, in a time in which the idea that all human beings have inviolable rights and inherent dignity is almost taken for granted, to imagine the cruelties and enormities that were endemic in earlier times,” the report says. “But the unfortunate fact is that the institution of slavery has been more the rule than the exception throughout human history.”

The report was blasted by historian Ibram X. Kendi, author of the best-selling “Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” and “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” and director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. He wrote on Twitter:

“It claims America is ‘the most just and glorious country in all of human history’ — the nation’s great founding truth. But anti-Americans are disregarding this great patriotic truth, the report argues. But it CONTINUE READING: Trump’s ‘patriotic education’ report excuses Founding Fathers for owning slaves and likens progressives to Mussolini - The Washington Post

Five Key Lessons I’ve Learned About Distance Learning This Semester | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

FIVE KEY LESSONS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT DISTANCE LEARNING THIS SEMESTER

I have been regularly documenting what’s been working and what hasn’t been working, along with my fears and concerns for the future.

Now that the semester is ending next week, I thought it would be useful – for both readers and for me – to share some practical reflections.

Before I do that, however, here are some of my past pieces (that have appeared here, at the British Council, and in The Washington Post, in case you’re interested:

Distance learning and English Language Learners

A teacher’s deepest fears about 2021: Students who disappeared, covid-19 myopia and six more

First Quarter Report On What I’m Doing In Full-Time Distance Learning & How It’s Going

I’m Worried About My Students – Very Worried. And Here Is What I’m Planning To Do About It

Personal Reflections On My 2020 Professional Experiences

Okay, now for some key recent practical realizations and changes I’ve made related to teaching online:

1) Don’t require homework outside of Zoom classroom time.

This has been my policy all year with my English Language Learners classes since I teach them five days a week. That’s because I voluntarily teach four extra classes each week for no pay. I point that out not to demonstrate how “wonderful” I am, but to point out how empty much of the rhetoric from our district leadership is about equity and justice. Our school’s ELLs are thriving with this extra support, and it’s CONTINUE READING: Five Key Lessons I’ve Learned About Distance Learning This Semester | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

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Tuesday, January 19, 2021