Saturday, January 30, 2021

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Saturday, January 30, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES

The attack on public education is an attack on democracy – with special guest Jennifer Berkshire | Eclectablog - https://www.eclectablog.com/?p=72213

Biden faces pressure to oust federal student loan chief appointed by DeVos https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/29/biden-student-loan-chief-devos-463928

Philadelphia board promises change after report on low achievement, racial disparities https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2021/1/29/22256660/philadelphia-board-gets-report-on-low-achievement-racial-disparities-promises-change via @ChalkbeatPHL

SBE Agenda for February 2021 - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag/yr21/agenda202102.asp

Can President Biden Reduce Childhood Poverty? | Ed In The Apple - https://wp.me/p2zCG-2Q7 via @edintheapple

Child Mental Health: California Teens Struggling https://www.laprogressive.com/child-mental-health/

Education Department Letter Highlights Effort to Help Americans Pursue Higher Ed During Pandemic https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-letter-highlights-effort-help-americans-pursue-higher-ed-during-pandemic

How Students At A North Carolina Elementary School Are Faring With Remote Learning https://www.npr.org/2021/01/30/962357982/how-students-at-a-north-carolina-elementary-school-are-faring-with-remote-learni

A California College Tries to Shield an Entire City From Coronavirus https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/us/college-coronavirus-california.html

Will Sacramento schools reopen this spring? What we know about the county’s large districts https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article248750670.html

National teachers union leader Randi Weingarten calls on Lightfoot to work with CTU: ‘Why is the mayor not listening?’ - Chicago Tribune - https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-randi-weingarten-chicago-public-schools-teachers-union-reopening-20210130-imqzsoeurnc2tfj3j6255zbuxi-story.html via @chicagotribune

The quickest and most effective way Biden can help millions of American go to college - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/01/30/biden-double-pell-grants-for-college-access/

Suspension of SAT and ACT testing requirements at big-name colleges has fueled spikes in applications - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/harvard-uva-sat-act-requirement-college-applications/2021/01/29/90566562-6176-11eb-9430-e7c77b5b0297_story.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_local-education

After a year of unprecedented disruptions, some parents ― particularly those of children with disabilities ― are asking their school for a redo. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/children-disabilities-school-grade-retention-covid-19_n_601451e8c5b622df90f3322c?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004 via @HuffPostPol

Texas will require students to take the STAAR test in person https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/29/staar-test-in-person/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social via @TexasTribune

Texas Republicans want to keep transgender women out of women’s school sports teams https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/30/texas-republicans-transgender-students-sports/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social via @TexasTribune

Fauci optimistic about more vaccines coming soon – People's World - https://peoplesworld.org/?p=105674

Strikes Loom For Public Schools - PopularResistance.Org - https://popularresistance.org/?p=181585

Corporate Media Bash Teachers Unions For Resisting School Reopenings - PopularResistance.Org https://popularresistance.org/corporate-media-bash-teachers-unions-for-resisting-school-reopenings/ via @PopResistance

Should students return to school for in-person instruction? | EdSource - https://edsource.org/?p=647833 on @edsource

Iran: The Fight Against Privatization of Education 40 Years After the Revolution | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-th3 via @dianeravitch

Victimized Teacher Speaks Out Against Deadly School Reopening - PopularResistance.Org https://popularresistance.org/victimized-teacher-speaks-out-against-deadly-school-reopening/ via @PopResistance

Big Education Ape: Thank You Colleen Flaherty | Cloaking Inequity - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/thank-you-colleen-flaherty-cloaking.html

Big Education Ape: Why It’s Time to Get Rid of Snow Days | Teacher in a strange land - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/why-its-time-to-get-rid-of-snow-days.html

Big Education Ape: Biden administration urged to allow states to cancel spring standardized testing - The Washington Post - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/biden-administration-urged-to-allow.html

Big Education Ape: Greenville News (SC): SC should not “jump on bandwagon” of “science of reading” movement – radical eyes for equity - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/greenville-news-sc-sc-should-not-jump.html

Big Education Ape: The week in coveducation: A call for teacher vaccine prioritization - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-week-in-coveducation-call-for.html

Steve Hinnefeld Reviews “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door” by Schneider and Berkshire | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 51min

Steve Hinnefeld Reviews “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door” by Schneider and Berkshire Steve Hinnefeld, an Indiana blogger, reviews Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire’s new book A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door and finds that it resonates with his own experience in Indiana. He writes: “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door” focuses on a fundamental debate on the nature of schools. Education, the authors

Vaccine for Teachers, Shortages, and The Shock Doctrine | Live Long and Prosper

by Mike Simpson / 51min

Vaccine for Teachers, Shortages, and The Shock Doctrine VACCINATE TEACHERS Anthony Fauci: ‘Get Teachers Vaccinated as Quickly as We Possibly Can’ Teachers were acclaimed as heroes when the pandemic lockdowns occurred in March. They adapted quickly to new technologies and new circumstances. That changed quickly, however, when people (and the media) realized that not everyone could stay home with

How I Got the Covid Vaccine: an Immunization Odyssey | gadflyonthewallblog

by Mike Simpson / 51min

How I Got the Covid Vaccine: an Immunization Odyssey So there I was standing out in the cold – miserable but happy. My jacket was buttoned up to my nose on top of my mask. My hood was up and my glasses were becoming a white screen of fog where my hot breath escaped into the chill. In my pocket, my left hand wiggled into a glove, then sneaked out to hold my glasses away from my face. It was the o

Education Matters: I can't imagine DCPS being more despicable.

by Mike Simpson / 51min

I can't imagine DCPS being more despicable DCPS has been encouraging, cajoling, and in some cases threatening staff not to social distance. I put the following question on 5 Facebook pages that have the potential to reach almost 9000 people, many of whom are educators or very interested in education. DCPS teacher friends, have any of you been pressured or even asked to do small group instruction

Choosing Democracy: Should California Schools Reopen?

by Mike Simpson / 51min

Should California Schools Reopen? It’s been a month since Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced his Safe Schools for All Plan , in which he aims to reopen schools for in-person learning by February or March. However, with the Feb. 16 deadline to open schools looming, there’s no telling how many districts have actually signed on to adopt the plan. Education leaders and teachers have openly criticized it,

‘School choice’ is a dog whistle for resegregation

by Mike Simpson / 51min

‘School choice’ is a dog whistle for resegregation Congratulations to Cindy Marten. San Diego Unified School District’s superintendent has been tapped to become the next deputy U.S. education secretary. Under Marten, San Diego Unified was one of two large urban districts nationwide in 2019 to outperform average test scores for fourth- and eighth-graders. The district’s Black and Latino students

ALL THE WORLDS A STAGE, AND WE BUT MERELY PERFORMERS – Dad Gone Wild

by Mike Simpson / 51min

ALL THE WORLDS A STAGE, AND WE BUT MERELY PERFORMERS “All politics is marketing. And in marketing, there are but two variables: product and salesmanship.” ― Tim Dorsey, Pineapple Grenade I’ve been deeply involved in the world of public education for nearly a decade now, yet I am still consistently amazed at just how weird it all gets. You would think the world of academia would adhere to some so

THIS WEEK'S WILDNESS Dad Gone Wild Nobody reads it, everybody quotes it. + TENNESSEE EDUCATION REPORT

by Mike Simpson / 51min

Dad Gone Wild – Nobody reads it, everybody quotes it. THIS WEEK'S WILDNESS Dad Gone Wild Nobody reads it, everybody quotes it. ALL THE WORLDS A STAGE, AND WE BUT MERELY PERFORMERS by TC Weber / 19h “All politics is marketing. And in marketing, there are but two variables: product and salesmanship.” ― Tim Dorsey, Pineapple Grenade I’ve been deeply involved in the world of public education for near

TEACHER TOM THIS WEEK IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

by Mike Simpson / 51min

Teacher Tom Disarming 200+ 23h The Radical Idea of Treating Children Like People 2K 2d What I Miss 400+ 3d The Absurd Myth of the "Self-Made Man" 400+ 3d The Death of a Hero 100+ 4d This is the Story of Our Lives 7d Teacher Tom

SSPI TONY THURMOND: STUFF THIS WEEK FROM THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

by Mike Simpson / 51min

California Department of Education SSPI TONY THURMOND STUFF THIS WEEK FROM THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SBE Agenda for February 10, 2021 13h Agenda for the California State Board of Education (SBE) meeting on February 10, 2021. Summer Meal Programs Applications Available 18h State Superintendent Tony Thurmond announces applications for Summer Meal programs. 2020 Equipment Assistance Gra

THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER

by Mike Simpson / 51min

NewBlackMan (in Exile) THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) The Tight Rope: Cornel West & Tricia Rose Talk with Charles M. Blow by Mark Anthony Neal / 1d ' In this episode of The Tight Rope , acclaimed journalist and op-ed columnist for the New York Times , Charles M. Blow , walks The Tight Rope with Dr. Cornel West and Professor Tricia Rose . The author of bestselling memoir Fire Shut Up in My

THIS WEEK Education Research Report

by Mike Simpson / 51min

Education Research Report New WWC Reviews of Early College High Schools and Dual-Credit Courses for Student Success by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d Not all education research is equal—the WWC identifies well-designed studies, trustworthy research, and meaningful findings to inform decisions and improve student outcomes. This month, we are highlighting two new reviews of studies on postsecondary educ

THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

by Mike Simpson / 3h

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Quote Of The Day – On School Desegregation by Larry Ferlazzo / 8h New York Schools Are Segregated. Will the Next Mayor Change That? is an article in today’s New York Times, and I think the textbox highlights its key portion. The online article also includes a couple of useful links backing-up that mes

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE

by Mike Simpson / 3h

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all Mitchell Robinson: If You Want Schools to Reopen, First Make Them Safe for Students and Teachers by dianeravitch / 34min Mitchell Robinson is a professor of music education at Michigan State University who writes frequently about K-12 issues. In

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Friday, January 29, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE

by Mike Simpson / 22h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES The Impact of Teacher Deaths https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/us/the-impact-of-teacher-deaths.html Video: “Dr. Fauci joins AFT and NEA for

Big Education Ape

Thank You Colleen Flaherty | Cloaking Inequity

THANK YOU COLLEEN FLAHERTY

Colleen,

I want to thank you for this important piece. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/21/scholars-talk-about-being-black-campus-2020

I have shared with our UK College of Education faculty, all of our university’s deans, VP of Diversity, Provost and President.

We are committed to this work at the UK College of Education.

One third of the faculty we hired last year were Black and 2/3 were people of color. Faculty hiring: https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/blog-new-uk-college-education-faculty-bridge-divides-vulnerable-and-underserved

Diversity and excellence are hand in hand: https://education.uky.edu/uk-college-of-education-online-programs-rank-among-top-in-nation/ and https://education.uky.edu/college-of-education-graduate-programs-rise-in-rankings/

University of Kentucky Civil Rights Initiative Announcement: http://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/uk-launches-civil-rights-and-education-initiative-naacp

Washington Post Coverage of Civil Rights Initiative: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/08/06/naacp-launches-new-civil-rights-education-initiative-with-university-kentucky/

Local TV News Coverage of Civil Rights Initiative: https://www.wkyt.com/2020/08/13/the-breakdown-with-julian-vasquez-heilig-uk-college-of-education-dean/

COVID-19 and Race Webinar: https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/national-experts-join-uk-college-education-discussion-race-and-covid-19

Navigating Your Teens in Breonna Taylor’s America Webinar: https://uknow.uky.edu/uk-happenings/uk-college-education-hosts-navigating-your-teens-breonna-taylor-s-america

I’d also like to put the Education Deans for Justice and Equity on your radar. A nationwide alliance of current and former education deans, and directors/chairs of education in institutions that do not have deans, established in Spring 2016 that aims to speak and act collectively regarding current policies, reforms, and public debates in order to advance equity and justice in education. I am honored to serve on the Steering Committee and submit that the organization is doing more than many to foment a climate conducive to faculty of color success in higher education.

There is much more work to do, and no doubt, there will be more challenges ahead, but I am convinced that we will refuse to allow adversity to stop us from pressing forward and making an unmistakable and lasting impact.

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Check out and follow my YouTube channel here.

Twitter: @ProfessorJVH

Click here for Vitae.

Why It’s Time to Get Rid of Snow Days | Teacher in a strange land

Why It’s Time to Get Rid of Snow Days

Several years ago, I was on the dais at the annual meeting of the Michigan Association of School Administrators—the superintendents—in Dearborn, Michigan. I was there as token teacher, making a few remarks, but the keynote speaker at the evening banquet was their annual award-winner.

He was telling a story about a mistake he made, as a first-year superintendent. The U.S. Weather Service had predicted 12”-16” of snow overnight, with blowing and drifting, in a rural area where snows like this are commonplace. Instead of waiting until morning, and having to activate an early-hours phone fanout and radio alerts, he went ahead and called school off, and went home, secure in the knowledge that there would be snow, and plenty of it.

Of course, the storm veered north and there was no snow. None. Roads were dry and bare. And he spent the next week fielding angry phone calls. When he came to the punch line of his story, a groan swept across the ballroom. They’d all been there.

All these school leaders knew that if there had been an early a.m. storm making roads dangerous, and stranding kids at their bus stops before school was called, he would have faced the same wrath from parents. When it comes to calling snow days, it’s a crapshoot in the snowbelt. Ya can’t win.

In every community, there are the ‘Hey I had to go to work and it wasn’t so bad’ folks CONTINUE READING: Why It’s Time to Get Rid of Snow Days | Teacher in a strange land

Biden administration urged to allow states to cancel spring standardized testing - The Washington Post

Biden administration urged to allow states to cancel spring standardized testing

Calls are growing for President Biden and Miguel Cardona, the man expected to be confirmed as his education secretary, to give states permission not to give student federally mandated standardized tests this spring.

Some states have already declared that they will seek a waiver from the federal mandate, and now more than 70 local, state and national organizations joined to sign a letter (see text below) to Cardona urging him to let states use other assessments to determine how much progress students have made this year. More than 10,000 individuals signed it as well.

More states seek federal waivers from standardized tests as Biden’s Education Department extends deadline for requests

The letter says in part:

“It does not take a standardized assessment to know that for millions of America’s children, the burden of learning remotely, either full- or part-time, expands academic learning gaps between haves and have nots. Whenever children are able to return fully to their classrooms, every instructional moment should be dedicated to teaching, not to teasing out test score gaps that we already know exist. If the tests are given this spring, the scores will not be released until the fall of 2021 when students have different teachers and may even be enrolled in a different school. Scores will have little to no diagnostic value when they finally arrive. Simply put, a test is a measure, not a remedy.”

The Biden administration told states earlier this week that it was extending the Feb. 1 first deadline for seeking a waiver. New York and Michigan let it be known this week that they would see waivers, and California is likely to do the same. EdSource reported that more than half of the members on the State Board of Education said they would support a waiver.

“It would be educational malpractice to require LEAs [local education agencies)] to provide results of assessments that really are seriously in jeopardy of being valid going forward,” State Board of Education member Sue Burr said at a public meeting this week.

Last year, then education secretary Betsy DeVos granted all states waiver from the testing after schools across the country closed when the covid-19 pandemic hit the United States. The logistics of giving the tests to students at home, along with concerns about the validity of the results, led to those waivers, and those pushing for new waivers say the conditions have not improved. CONTINUE READING: Biden administration urged to allow states to cancel spring standardized testing - The Washington Post

Greenville News (SC): SC should not “jump on bandwagon” of “science of reading” movement – radical eyes for equity

Greenville News (SC): SC should not “jump on bandwagon” of “science of reading” movement

SC should not “jump on bandwagon” of “science of reading” movement (link coming; original with hyperlinks below)

South Carolina is poised with Bill 3613 to continue the historical failures of addressing reading in South Carolina through micromanaging legislation that has not resulted in improving home, community, individual equity or learning outcomes for students living in poverty, Black students, Emergent Bilinguals, or students with special needs.

Currently, I am in year 37 of teaching in SC, serving as a high school English teacher at Woodruff High for 18 years before moving to teacher education at Furman University for the past 19 years. I entered education in SC in 1984, the first days of the accountability movement in our state.

Despite political leaders changing standards and high-stakes testing multiple times over the past four decades, political and public perception remains convinced our schools are failing, and that our students are, specifically, failing to learn to read.

Read To Succeed, which Bill 3613 seeks to amend, was a serious mistake at its inception since it misreads both how students learn to read and how best to teach reading. Reading growth is not simple, and test scores are a stronger CONTINUE READING: Greenville News (SC): SC should not “jump on bandwagon” of “science of reading” movement – radical eyes for equity

The week in coveducation: A call for teacher vaccine prioritization

The week in coveducation: A call for teacher vaccine prioritization

The State Board of Education and Epic Charter Schools board each welcomed new members during respective meetings this week.

Also this week, Tulsa Public Schools called for vaccine prioritization for school employees amid criticism from Gov. Kevin Stitt over the districts decision to remain in distance learning.

Catch up on the week’s Oklahoma education news with this collection of headlines from reporters around the state.

Impromptu interview with Epic Charter Schools co-founder Ben Harris

Epic Charter Schools co-founder Ben Harris isn’t known for talking extensively to the media. So, when NonDoc editor-in-chief Tres Savage ran into him on Monday evening while trying to access a board meeting, he turned on his recording device and asked him a few questions.

Read and listen to this interview, where Harris answers questions surrounding recent issues facing Oklahoma’s largest — and most controversial — school district.

Mike Cantrell leaves Epic Charter Schools board CONTINUE READING: The week in coveducation: A call for teacher vaccine prioritization

Steve Hinnefeld Reviews “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door” by Schneider and Berkshire | Diane Ravitch's blog

Steve Hinnefeld Reviews “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door” by Schneider and Berkshire

Steve Hinnefeld, an Indiana blogger, reviews Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire’s new book A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door and finds that it resonates with his own experience in Indiana.

He writes:

“A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door” focuses on a fundamental debate on the nature of schools. Education, the authors argue, is best treated as a public good that belongs to everyone.

“Like clean air, a well-educated populace is something with wide-reaching benefits,” Berkshire and Schneider write. “That’s why we treat public education more like a park than a country club. We tax ourselves to pay for it, and we open it to everyone.”

The alternative: education as a private good that benefits and belongs to those who consume it. In that increasingly influential view, families should choose schools – or other education products and services — the same way they CONTINUE READING: Steve Hinnefeld Reviews “A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door” by Schneider and Berkshire | Diane Ravitch's blog

Vaccine for Teachers, Shortages, and The Shock Doctrine | Live Long and Prosper

Vaccine for Teachers, Shortages, and The Shock Doctrine

VACCINATE TEACHERS

Anthony Fauci: ‘Get Teachers Vaccinated as Quickly as We Possibly Can’

Teachers were acclaimed as heroes when the pandemic lockdowns occurred in March. They adapted quickly to new technologies and new circumstances. That changed quickly, however, when people (and the media) realized that not everyone could stay home with their children and help them learn. Getting the “kids back in school” was a high priority. Teachers, apparently, are essential workers after all.

The CDC has guidelines for reopening schools which include making sure that everyone has sufficient PPE, that the school is well ventilated, and that no one, staff or students, should come to school if they test positive or have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID. That means, if a school can’t follow those guidelines (and others) it’s not safe to reopen.

Meanwhile, teachers unions are fighting for the health and safety of their members and their members’ students. Our public school infrastructure is not the best and many schools don’t have adequate ventilation, especially older buildings. Most schools don’t have the resources to make sure that all their CONTINUE READING: Vaccine for Teachers, Shortages, and The Shock Doctrine | Live Long and Prosper

Saturday, January 30, 2021