THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Friday, January 22, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE #BEGINAGAINBETTER #PRESIDENTBIDEN #VPHARRIS #46

 Big Education Ape

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES 

Advocates call on state to improve response to vulnerable students - https://wp.me/paQK0g-3Sbl via @CTMirror

The Unfinished Business of Flint’s Water Crisis — ProPublica - https://www.propublica.org/article/the-unfinished-business-of-flints-water-crisis#1047062 via @propublica

Here’s What Students Think Biden Needs to Do in His First 100 Days – BillMoyers.com - https://billmoyers.com/?p=206637 via @BillMoyers

Learning About LA Students’ Pathways to College https://www.laprogressive.com/examining-types-of-colleges/

Biden increases food aid payments to low-income families with children https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/22/biden-food-aid-payments-low-income-households-461302

Education Matters: It's been 5 days since the COVID dump and DCPS's numbers are outrageous - https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2021/01/its-been-5-days-since-covid-dump-and.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/iYxgC+(Education+Matters)

University to take away Wi-Fi access for students who miss coronavirus tests http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/RV2U-3fTx9g/

I tried to start a pandemic pod for my 5-year-old. Here's how it went wrong http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/ATezt4yTmqY/covid-19-rules-social-pod-daughter

Schools can now be used as vaccine centers. But does it help given the shortage? http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/Qds3GTPgZM0/california-schools-can-be-used-as-covid-vaccine-clinics

Biden's Plans To Reopen Schools In His First 100 Days https://www.npr.org/2021/01/22/959529701/bidens-plans-to-reopen-schools-in-his-first-100-days

A Slice of What Education Looks Like in Pandemic America https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/insider/report-card-story.html

NOLA Public Schools to remain virtual-only for now | The Lens https://thelensnola.org/2021/01/21/nola-public-schools-to-remain-virtual-only-for-now/

White Woman Files Discrimination Suit Against Georgia School District After Being Transferred for Defending Son’s Racist Remarks https://www.theroot.com/white-woman-files-discrimination-suit-against-georgia-s-1846102497?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=theroot_twitter via @TheRoot

Melissa Daar Carvajal Joins the Schott Foundation as Communications Director http://schottfoundation.org/about/press-releases/melissa-daar-carvajal-joins-schott-foundation-communications-director

How To Raise Kids Who Love To Learn | HuffPost Life - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-raise-kids-who-love-to-learn_l_60084dc7c5b6ffcab9698489 on @huffpostparents

Partly hidden by isolation, many of the nation’s schoolchildren struggle with mental health https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/student-mental-health-pandemic/2021/01/21/3d377bea-3f30-11eb-8db8-395dedaaa036_story.html?tid=ss_tw

Maryland officials call for schools to reopen no later than March 1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/hogan-maryland-schools-reopen-march/2021/01/21/3a379f0e-5c1a-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html?tid=ss_tw

Analysis | Read Biden’s executive order on safely reopening schools https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/01/22/biden-plan-reopening-schools/?tid=ss_tw

Schools Matter: Gov. Bill Lee to Sacrifice Third Graders to Help Him in 2024 - http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2021/01/gov-bill-lee-to-sacrifice-third-graders.html

Biden executive order says schools should include transgender athletes in girls' sports https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-executive-order-schools-transgender-athletes-girls-sports #FoxNews

Boston school officials report rise in students missing classes | Boston.com - https://www.boston.com/?p=20629325 by ainslie-cromar

Montana House Judiciary Committee pushes through bill on transgender athletes https://www.montanasports.com/more-sports/montana-house-judiciary-committee-pushes-through-bill-on-transgender-athletes

Chicago Teachers Union is proposing an ‘illegal strike,’ CPS says - Chicago Sun-Times - https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2021/1/21/22242706/ctu-cps-strike-walkout-remote-learning-public-schools-teachers-union#new_tab

Concerns grow for children’s health as screen times soar during Covid crisis | Coronavirus | The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/22/children-health-screen-times-covid-crisis-sleep-eyesight-problems-digital-devices#new_tab on @guardian

Ohio’s eight urban teachers unions condemn school reopening being used as ‘bargaining chip’ for vaccines - cleveland.com - https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/01/ohios-eight-urban-teachers-unions-condemn-school-reopening-being-used-as-bargaining-chip-for-vaccines.html#new_tab on @clevelanddotcom

Tennessee strengthens third-grade retention requirements as legislature takes up flurry of education bills in special session - Chalkbeat Tennessee - https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2021/1/21/22243450/tennessee-legislature-strengthens-third-grade-retention-requirements#new_tab on chalkbeat

More Than 2,000 NYC Students Haven't Connected With School At All This Year, Officials Say - Gothamist - https://gothamist.com/news/thousands-nyc-students-havent-connected-school-all-year-officials-say on @gothamist

Transgender youth bills in US states reflect deep divisions - https://apnews.com/article/montana-bills-judiciary-helena-060d274f606d9e8e08b786be0398efd3#new_tab on @ap

Florida Senate proposes school voucher expansion, wants more students to have choice - South Florida Sun-Sentinel - https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-florida-school-vouchers-state-funding-20210122-wjzzf6dzybccdpjhxg5aghuph4-story.html#new_tab via @SunSentinel

Camden may have to close some schools, superintendent says - https://www.inquirer.com/education/nj-education-camden-schools-closing-reconfiguration-grades-20210120.html#new_tab via @PhillyInquirer

Indiana Republicans seek $100 million more for school vouchers - Chalkbeat Indiana - https://in.chalkbeat.org/2021/1/21/22243398/vouchers-esa-indiana-school-choice-100#new_tab on chalkbeat

Curmudgucation: More Teacher Effectiveness Mirages | National Education Policy Center - https://nepc.colorado.edu/node/10722 on @NEPCtweet

5 ways President Joe Biden is affecting education - cleveland.com - https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/01/5-ways-president-joe-biden-is-affecting-education.html on @clevelanddotcom

Miguel Cardona: What to know about Biden's education secretary pick https://www.foxnews.com/politics/miguel-cardona-what-to-know-bidens-education-secretary-pick #FoxNews

Big Education Ape: First lady thanks educators through virtual event | Coronavirus | kulr8 com - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/first-lady-thanks-educators-through.html

Big Education Ape: Getting School Finance Indicators Right – School Finance 101 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/getting-school-finance-indicators-right.html

That didn’t take long: Biden removes Trump’s ’1776 report’ on U.S. history from White House website - The Washington Post

by Mike Simpson / 2min

That didn’t take long: Biden removes Trump’s ‘1776 Report’ on U.S. history from White House website Well, that didn’t take long: A report on U.S. history published by the Trump administration on Monday was removed from the White House website by President Biden a few days later — and he disbanded the new commission that wrote it. “The 1776 Report” was released on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and i

I Don’t Even Have a Headline – Tennessee Education Report

by Mike Simpson / 2min

I DON’T EVEN HAVE A HEADLINE S o, the General Assembly has passed a bill creating essentially creating mandatory retention for third grade students who fail to meet certain benchmarks on TNReady tests. Here’s the key text from HB 7004 , that passed overwhelmingly in both chambers: (1) Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, a student in the third grade shall not be promoted to the next grade l

Teacher Tom: This is the Story of Our Lives

by Mike Simpson / 2min

This is the Story of Our Lives When I was a boy, my parents tell me, I was obsessed with the family lawn mower, becoming excited whenever dad rolled up his shirtsleeves to tackle the grass. One day, from the backseat of the car, we heard the put-put-put of an unmuffled VW Beetle and I, according to family legend, began to shout excitedly, "Mower! Mower!" This is the story of how our family came

Letter from a Connecticut Teacher to Dr. Cardona: Stop the Spring Tests! | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 2min

Letter from a Connecticut Teacher to Dr. Cardona: Stop the Spring Tests! Ann Cronin, retired teacher in Connecticut, posted a letter on her blog written by another Connecticut teacher and addressed to Secretary of Education-Designate Miguel Cardona: Jeannette C. Faber writes to tell Dr. Cardona that it is time to end standardized testing, now! Dear Commissioner Cardona: Connecticut is proud that

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees | U.S. Department of Education

by Mike Simpson / 2min

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced senior political appointees who will lead various parts of the agency. These diverse and accomplished individuals will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the agency and work to quickly advance key education pri

Rick Ayers: Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools | by Rick Ayers | Jan, 2021 | Medium

by Mike Simpson / 2min

Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools | by Rick Ayers | Jan, 2021 | Medium Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools Now that 45 is gone, or gone-ish, I have been seeing a lot of think pieces about the US social failures that led to the rise of this fascist movement. One critique that comes up often is that our schools have failed, that we have allowed too many milli

NYC Educator: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Students

by Mike Simpson / 2min

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Students I was pretty surprised to see a piece about how 2,000 students have not connected at all in NYC. What surprised me most, though, was how low the number turned out to be. To be fair, one of those students happens to be mine. His parents were worried about the virus and sent him back to China. He never bothered to sign out, but was eventually dropped fro

A Spiritual Plea to the Biden Administration: “Every Child Needs a Great School” | January | 2021 | Newsroom | Teachers College, Columbia University

by Mike Simpson / 2min

A Spiritual Plea to the Biden Administration: “Every Child Needs a Great School” Growing up in Jesuit schools, José Luis Vilson was instructed to write the letters AMDG, signifying ad majorem Dei gloriam (“for the greater glory of God”) atop all his papers. In a recent opinion piece in National Catholic Reporter , Vilson, a mathematics teacher and Ph.D. student in Teachers College’s program in S

Cancel the Gifted and Talented Test Now, Not Next Year

by Mike Simpson / 2min

Cancel the Gifted and Talented Test Now, Not Next Year Last week, Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carranza announced that they will administer the controversial and problematic test for admissions to “gifted and talented” classes this spring, for perhaps a final year. Then: “We will spend the next year engaging communities around what kind of programming they would like to see that is mor

President Biden’s Proposed Economic Stimulus Plan Would Help Public Schools and Begin to Alleviate Child Poverty | janresseger

by Mike Simpson / 2min

President Biden’s Proposed Economic Stimulus Plan Would Help Public Schools and Begin to Alleviate Child Poverty President Joe Biden has proposed a new pandemic relief package, his “American Rescue Plan,” which includes essential support for public education. For the clearest overall summary of Biden’s new COVID-19 relief plan, please read the two page statement from Sharon Parrott , the new pre

ALERT: MISSOURI PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN PERIL! | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 2min

ALERT: MISSOURI PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN PERIL! If you live in Missouri, get active to stop this dangerous effort to destroy your public schools! Dear Friend, If you love your public schools you need to drop what you are doing and get to work. There is only one intent of Senate Bill 55–to destroy public education in Missouri. It was pushed through the Senate Education Committee early this morning and m

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

by Mike Simpson / 2min

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-education-larry-ferlazzos_16.html New BBC Video: “Five simple strategies to sharpen your critical thinking”

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE #Inauguration #PRESIDENTBIDEN #VPHARRIS #46

by Mike Simpson / 21h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Biden Announces Executive Actions Meant To Help Reopen Schools https://www.npr.org/sections/president-biden-takes-office/2021/01/21/959162019/biden-announces-executive-action

 Big Education Ape

First lady thanks educators through virtual event | Coronavirus | kulr8 com

First lady thanks educators through virtual event | Coronavirus | kulr8.com

First lady thanks educators through virtual event

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Teachers may feel like they have a partner in the White House with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden who held an educator's virtual event as her first event as first lady.

Joined by National Education Association President Becky Pringle and American Federation of Teachers President, Randi Weingarten, Dr. Biden praised the response of teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, telling them how proud she was to be in the profession.

Recognizing that they have gone above and beyond to help guide their students during this challenging time, the first lady let them know that she has their backs.

During the event they discussed the funds needed to be able to open schools safely and contribute to every student's success.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden said, "I've been so inspired by so many of you who have gone above and beyond to meet your students where they are in this past year. Teaching late nights because your students don't have access to computers until maybe, you know, somebody in their family who's finished using the computer can give it to them. Driving hotspots to neighborhoods without wifi. Taking tearful calls from parents who felt like they just could not juggle at all... So on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you. You have been so strong and now it's time for us to be strong for you."

Pringle said, "we know that they [the president and first lady] will partner with us to reclaim public education as a common as the foundation of this democracy and then transform it into something that was never designed to be; and that is a racially and socially just and equitable system that prepares every student, every one to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world to live into their brilliance."

Weingarten said, "we need help. We need the funding that is part of the rescue act that now President Biden announced last week, and that we need Congress to do."

First lady thanks educators through virtual event | Coronavirus | kulr8.com

Getting School Finance Indicators Right – School Finance 101

Getting School Finance Indicators Right – School Finance 101

Getting School Finance Indicators Right

Our data and reports can be found at: http://schoolfinancedata.org/

A few years back, Mark Weber and I decided (for a variety of reasons) that we needed to regain control over our school finance indicators work. We needed to find competent collaborators who would support our desire to continuously improve the quality and integrity of the indicators and our communication of them. We also needed to find an appropriate outlet. The William T. Grant Foundation had provided us with significant support to develop an open source data system and a set of indicators to improve the conversation around school funding equity and adequacy.

We found exactly what we were looking for through Matt Di Carlo at Shanker Institute, with whom I have collaborated on a few prior projects, most notably: https://www.shankerinstitute.org/resource/does-money-matter-second-edition

I started this work back in the mid to late 2000s around the time I transitioned from Kansas to New Jersey. I’ve written previously about my concern over other “indicators” reports that are out there and the need to improve and add clarity and consistency to the conversation.

Here in April of 2019, I explain the mindset behind the development of our new (in the past few years) school finance indicators data system (SFID):

Matt Di Carlo helped bring this all together into a clea

Matt Di Carlo helped bring this all together into a clear, concise set of indicators to be presented as the body of our new reports.

Below is the summary of our newest update:

The publication of this annual report and accompanying database is motivated by two CONTINUE READING: Getting School Finance Indicators Right – School Finance 101

That didn’t take long: Biden removes Trump’s ’1776 report’ on U.S. history from White House website - The Washington Post

That didn’t take long: Biden removes Trump’s ’1776 report’ on U.S. history from White House website - The Washington Post

That didn’t take long: Biden removes Trump’s ‘1776 Report’ on U.S. history from White House website

Well, that didn’t take long: A report on U.S. history published by the Trump administration on Monday was removed from the White House website by President Biden a few days later — and he disbanded the new commission that wrote it.

“The 1776 Report” was released on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and immediately lambasted by historians as racist and false for many of its statements, including its defense of slaveholding Founding Fathers and of the Three-Fifths Compromise, which at the 1787 Constitutional Convention allowed enslavers to count their enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for determining representation in the House of Representative as well as for taxation purposes.

It also likened American progressives to European fascists and contended that the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. had devolved into “identity politics.”

On Wednesday, Biden signed the “Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” which, among other things, disbanded the Advisory 1776 Commission. Trump had created it in November and ordered it to issue a report calling for “patriotic education.”

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

Section 10, Part C of Biden’s executive order says unceremoniously that the Nov. 2 executive order that Trump had signed establishing the commission “is hereby revoked.”

Not long after the new president signed the order, the report could no longer be found on the White House website where it had resided for a few days.

Trump created the 18-member 1776 Advisory Commission after months of nationwide Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice and charged it with promoting a “pro-American curriculum” that CONTINUE READING: That didn’t take long: Biden removes Trump’s ’1776 report’ on U.S. history from White House website - The Washington Post

I Don’t Even Have a Headline – Tennessee Education Report

I Don’t Even Have a Headline – Tennessee Education Report

I DON’T EVEN HAVE A HEADLINE

So, the General Assembly has passed a bill creating essentially creating mandatory retention for third grade students who fail to meet certain benchmarks on TNReady tests.

Here’s the key text from HB 7004, that passed overwhelmingly in both chambers:

(1) Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, a student in the third
grade shall not be promoted to the next grade level unless the student is
determined to be proficient in English language arts (ELA) based on the student’s achieving a performance level rating of “on track” or “mastered” on the ELA portion of the student’s most recent Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) test.

The bill outlines a series of potential ways a student may ultimately be promoted even if they fall into this category. Attending a summer “mini-camp,” for example.

But, as Senator Jeff Yarbro points out, 62% of third graders currently fall into the category where retention is the default action. And, students who are retained at this age end up more likely to not complete school or graduate from high school. There’s definitely mixed data on the benefits and drawbacks to retention.

Of course, there is the “Mississippi Miracle.”

There’s a lot to read in that article by Paul Thomas, but here are some key points CONTINUE READING: I Don’t Even Have a Headline – Tennessee Education Report

The Biggest Factor – Tennessee Education Report - http://tnedreport.com/?p=5117 via @TNEdReport

Teacher Tom: This is the Story of Our Lives

Teacher Tom: This is the Story of Our Lives

This is the Story of Our Lives

When I was a boy, my parents tell me, I was obsessed with the family lawn mower, becoming excited whenever dad rolled up his shirtsleeves to tackle the grass. One day, from the backseat of the car, we heard the put-put-put of an unmuffled VW Beetle and I, according to family legend, began to shout excitedly, "Mower! Mower!" This is the story of how our family came to refer to this distinctive type of car as Mowers, a term that still comes up when it's "just us."

It was years before I came to understand that the rest of world called them Beetles or Bugs and that Mower meant nothing to anyone. Before coming to that understanding, however, there were arguments with playmates over who was right. I eventually even won over a few of the kids on my cul-de-sac, but ultimately I was forced to give it up as the evidence of the wider world began to pile up against what I'd learned when the world was just my family.

It's an experience we all have as we begin to move outwards from the home of our birth. It's one of the primal stories of CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: This is the Story of Our Lives

Letter from a Connecticut Teacher to Dr. Cardona: Stop the Spring Tests! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Letter from a Connecticut Teacher to Dr. Cardona: Stop the Spring Tests! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Letter from a Connecticut Teacher to Dr. Cardona: Stop the Spring Tests!

Ann Cronin, retired teacher in Connecticut, posted a letter on her blog written by another Connecticut teacher and addressed to Secretary of Education-Designate Miguel Cardona:

Jeannette C. Faber writes to tell Dr. Cardona that it is time to end standardized testing, now!

Dear Commissioner Cardona:

Connecticut is proud that you, our Commissioner of Education, was chosen as the Biden/Harris administration’s Secretary of Education. 

Educators support your dedication to: increasing graduation rates, closing the achievement gap, and ensuring equity for all students. All educators should be committed to making these goals a reality. America’s children need and deserve this. 

However, educators also know that the regime of profit-driven standardized testing will not improve teaching and CONTINUE READING: Letter from a Connecticut Teacher to Dr. Cardona: Stop the Spring Tests! | Diane Ravitch's blog

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees | U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees | U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees

Contact:   Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced senior political appointees who will lead various parts of the agency. These diverse and accomplished individuals will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the agency and work to quickly advance key education priorities for the Biden-Harris administration.

Sheila Nix, Chief of Staff
Sheila Nix comes to the Department of Education after leading Tusk Philanthropies. She has nearly three decades of leadership in political, domestic policy, and innovative nonprofit operations. She recently worked on the Biden for President campaign as a senior advisor to then Sen. Kamala Harris. During the second Obama/Biden term, Nix served as the Chief of Staff to Dr. Jill Biden and as a Deputy Assistant to President Obama. In that position, she coordinated policy and communications for signature efforts serving veterans, teachers, students, and women and girls across the globe. Nix also served as Chief of Staff to then Vice President Joe Biden on the 2012 Obama/Biden campaign. She has helped develop policies on education, health care, and transportation as Deputy Governor of Illinois and as Chief of Staff to two U.S. Senators. In addition, Nix served as the U.S. Executive Director of Bono's ONE Campaign. She holds a law degree from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree from Creighton University.

Claudia Chavez, White House Liaison
Claudia Chavez most recently served as a member of the Education Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Transition and on the Biden for President campaign as Midwest Deputy Director. Prior to joining the Biden campaign, Chavez held different positions with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, including Deputy Director for Legislative Council and Government Affairs. Chavez is an Illinois native and graduate of Illinois State University.

Suzanne Goldberg, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Operations and Outreach, Office for Civil Rights (serving as acting Assistant Secretary)
Suzanne Goldberg previously served as the inaugural Executive Vice President for University Life at Columbia University and the Herbert and Doris Wechsler Clinical Professor of Law and founding director of the Columbia Law School's Sexuality & Gender Law Clinic, and co-director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law. Before Columbia, she was on the Rutgers-Newark Law School faculty and an adjunct faculty member at Fordham Law School. Goldberg began her legal career as a staff lawyer with Lambda Legal, working on a variety of LGBT law reform cases and legislative and public policy initiatives.

Ian Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (serving as acting Assistant Secretary)
Ian Rosenblum most recently served as the founding Executive Director of the Education (Ed) Trust–New York, a statewide policy and advocacy organization committed to educational equity. Prior to leading Ed Trust–NY, Rosenblum served in the administrations of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

Emma Leheny, Principal Deputy General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel (serving as acting General Counsel)
Emma Leheny joins the Biden-Harris administration from the National Education Association (NEA), where she served in the Office of General Counsel. Prior to that, she was Chief Counsel of the California Teachers Association (Association). Before joining the Association in 2010, Leheny practiced education, labor, and employment law for a decade in a California law firm, where she rose to partner. A graduate of Brown University and Northeastern School of Law, Leheny began her career as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and then as a Skadden Fellow, representing low-income parents pursuing higher education.

Donna Harris-Aikens, Senior Advisor for Policy and Planning, Office of the Secretary
Donna Harris-Aikens served as a member of the Education Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Transition and was a member of the Democratic National Convention Committee Platform Committee. She served as Senior Director for Education Policy and Practice at the National Education Association (NEA), where she advocated for students, educators, and working families to support equity and excellence in education, and to ensure working families had the right to organize and the opportunity to thrive in our global economy. Prior to joining NEA, Harris-Aikens served in leadership roles for the Service Employees International Union and Advance CTE and was an attorney in an education boutique law firm.

Ben Miller, Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff
Ben Miller is a temporary appointment as a Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff. Before joining the agency, he was the Vice President for Postsecondary Education at the Center for American Progress. He also previously served as a senior policy advisor in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education.

Ben Halle, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications, Office of Communications and Outreach (serving as acting Assistant Secretary)
Ben Halle served as the Biden for President Communications Director in Michigan, where he led communications strategies and developed messaging for the President's winning campaign. Prior to that, Halle served in senior communications roles on campaigns and in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rich Williams, Chief of Staff, Office of Postsecondary Education
Rich Williams has spent his career working on college affordability, student debt, and consumer protection policies. Most recently, he helped lead an initiative at Pew Charitable Trusts working to devise policies that better support struggling student loan borrowers. Prior to his work at Pew, Williams led efforts to strengthen consumer protections for college students at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and helped craft higher education policy and strategy as the Senior Higher Education Policy Advisor for the House Committee on Education and Labor. Williams is a first-generation college graduate who received a bachelor's degree in history from Northern Arizona University after attending Coconino Community College.

Greg Schmidt, Senior Counsel, Office of the General Counsel
Greg Schmidt returns to the Department after six years at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where his work included representing institutions, organizations, and students in a variety of K-12 and post-secondary education matters. He also worked as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Prior to his legal career, Schmidt taught fifth grade at P.S. 213 in Brooklyn, New York, and served as a senior policy advisor in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development at the Department.

Jasmine Bolton, Senior Counsel, Office for Civil Rights
Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, Jasmine Bolton was a senior staff attorney at the Bail Project, where she helped coordinate the expansion into new jurisdictions in the South. Before that, Bolton was a policy analyst for the Warren for President campaign, where she focused on a broad range of interrelated topics such as criminal justice reform, K-12 education, and rural communities. Prior to that, she worked as a Legal Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she focused on educational equity, combating the school-to-prison pipeline, and improving youth access to mental health services.

Alex Payne, Special Assistant, Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs
Alex Payne previously worked in the House of Representatives for Congresswoman Kim Schrier and prior to that the Committee on Education and Labor. Payne started out as a high school social studies teacher in Eastern North Carolina through Teach for America. His first job in Washington, D.C., was at the Partnership for Public Service partnering with the Department of Education on improving their Best Places to Work and FEVS results.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Biden-Harris Appointees | U.S. Department of Education

Rick Ayers: Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools | by Rick Ayers | Jan, 2021 | Medium

Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools | by Rick Ayers | Jan, 2021 | Medium

Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools

Now that 45 is gone, or gone-ish, I have been seeing a lot of think pieces about the US social failures that led to the rise of this fascist movement. One critique that comes up often is that our schools have failed, that we have allowed too many millions to be suckers for dim-witted conspiracy theories, we have allowed a narrative that feeds white people’s paranoia, we have simply not taught history and civics and even statistics well. Certainly the defunding of education has left schools deprived of opportunities to develop rich experiences for students.

This may all be true but if we are going to take a hard look at the failings of education, I’m afraid too many policy-makers, administrators, and teachers have ducked responsibility for our own complicity in creating a population that is uninformed and susceptible to the demagogue. In fact, a broad range of educators would do well to look in the mirror in seeking the origins of Trumpism.

First, let us recognize that the population that is educationally “at risk,” the students who need important attention and adaptation, are not the Black and Brown kids, not the immigrant kids, not the queer kids. They have demonstrated a degree of civic sophistication that is historic. Notice the CONTINUE READING: Never Again Trump? We Had Better Attend to Our Schools | by Rick Ayers | Jan, 2021 | Medium

NYC Educator: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Students

NYC Educator: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Students

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Students

I was pretty surprised to see a piece about how 2,000 students have not connected at all in NYC.  What surprised me most, though, was how low the number turned out to be. 

To be fair, one of those students happens to be mine. His parents were worried about the virus and sent him back to China. He never bothered to sign out, but was eventually dropped from the register. I have others who have come infrequently. 

I call and check on these kids and don't have a whole lot of success. One of the students who's stopped coming is very bright, and I really hate to see him go. But when I spoke to his dad most recently, he said, "He just doesn't want to do it." If I can't convince CONTINUE READING: