Thursday, May 20, 2021

Physicians Urge Schools to Maintain Mask Mandates, Protect Kids – Tennessee Education Report

PHYSICIANS URGE SCHOOLS TO MAINTAIN MASK MANDATES, PROTECT KIDS

A group of Tennessee physicians this week responded to Gov. Bill Lee urging local school districts to drop mask mandates.

Here’s more from a press release:

“Mask requirements for our classrooms keep COVID out so our kids can stay in school, parents at work and most importantly, protect vulnerable children who do not have the option to get vaccinated yet,” said Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, an internal medicine/primary care physician in Nashville, who also holds a Masters in Public Health. “And we know it works: counties without mask requirements have seen more COVID spread, leading to more kids getting sick, parents and kids having to quarantine, making it harder on local businesses and families.”

Dr. Sara Cross, an Associate Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the UT College of Medicine in Memphis, who also served on the Governor’s Coronavirus Task Force, is concerned.

“The Governor’s announcement urging school districts to drop their mask CONTINUE READING: Physicians Urge Schools to Maintain Mask Mandates, Protect Kids – Tennessee Education Report

Responses to “Moms for Liberty” – Tennessee Education Report - http://tnedreport.com/?p=5276 via @TNEdReport

Memphis Teachers to See Pay Raise – Tennessee Education Report - http://tnedreport.com/?p=5274 via @TNEdReport

CURMUDGUCATION: MO: Longtime Charter Sponsor Leaves the Biz (And Parents)

MO: Longtime Charter Sponsor Leaves the Biz (And Parents)

The University of Central Missouri has been sponsoring charter schools since 1999, serving as the major sponsor of charters in Kansas City (in Missouri, the rule used to be that only St. Louis and Kansas City could house charter schools).

St. Louis schools have been a mess, with both public and charter schools having their share of legislatively-inflicted woes. And some legislators have continued to try hard to expand charter reach in the state, right up through this year.

But one notable feature of Missouri charter school law is that it allows institutions of higher education to circumvent taxpayers and sponsor charter schools. That's the biz that UCM got into.

From UCM's point of view, that makes some sense. UCM was founded as a Normal School, aka 19th century teacher training college, and they continue to educate teachers. UCM has used its charter schools as part of the teacher training program, placing their student teachers in charter classrooms.

But in Missouri, as in the rest of the country, the teacher pipeline is drying up, as fewer and fewer young folks find the conditions and compensation with which they would work particularly attractive. The state is trying to CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: MO: Longtime Charter Sponsor Leaves the Biz (And Parents)

Teacher Tom: Space Has a Way of Imposing Its Will on Us

Space Has a Way of Imposing Its Will on Us

We didn't stay in a lot of hotels when I was a boy, but when we did they were mostly motels because our family often opted for taking trips across the country by car. I remember those long motel hallways with doors all along both sides. They seemed to go on forever. As dad wrangled the suitcases, my brother and I would race ahead, vying to be the first to locate our room. Mom didn't try to stop us from running, even though it was probably against hotel policy and certainly against the etiquette of the era. I imagine she couldn't have stopped us from running even if she tried. I mean, that is what a long, straight hallway says to young children: "Run."

Our first order of business once we'd claimed our sleeping spots, even before suiting up for the pool, was to grab the ice bucket and race back along that hallway, in search of the ice machine. This, of course, involved either careening down the empty stairways at the end of the halls or, when things were perfect, riding the elevators up and down. In those multi-floor establishments we didn't settle for the first ice machine we CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Space Has a Way of Imposing Its Will on Us

Minnesota: The Money Behind the Effort to Rewrite the State Constitution’s Education Clause + Minneapolis: Segregated But Celebrated Charter School Will Close | Diane Ravitch's blog

Minnesota: The Money Behind the Effort to Rewrite the State Constitution’s Education Clause | Diane Ravitch's blog

Minnesota: The Money Behind the Effort to Rewrite the State Constitution’s Education Clause

Minneapolis: Segregated But Celebrated Charter School Will Close | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-u9i via @dianeravitch

In late April, I posted an article by Minnesota blogger and public school advocate Rob Levine about a sneaky effort by elites in the state to rewrite the state constitutional clause on education to protect and encourage segregated charter schools.

This new post digs deeper into the machinations and motivations behind the demand to revise the state constitution.

The campaign is led by the president of the local Federal Reserve Bank but named “the Page Amendment” for a popular local judge.

Blogger Steve Timmer explains that the money and muscle for “the Page Amendment” comes from the president of the local Federal Reserve Bank and the Minneapolis Foundation.

“Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari and former Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice CONTINUE READING: Minnesota: The Money Behind the Effort to Rewrite the State Constitution’s Education Clause | Diane Ravitch's blog

The K-12 Culture Wars – Have You Heard

The K-12 Culture Wars

The public school culture wars are raging more intensely than at any time since the Reagan era. Fueled by intense political polarization and the continued fallout from pandemic school closures, the culture wars now threaten public education. Special guests: New Hampshire teacher Misty Crompton, Iowa teacher Nick Covington, Missouri teacher Jessica Piper and New York City teacher Selena Carrión.

Episode transcript is here. The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon or donate on PayPal.

Have You Heard · #113 The K-12 Culture Wars

The K-12 Culture Wars – Have You Heard

CURMUDGUCATION: 19 Rules for Life (2021 Edition)

19 Rules for Life (2021 Edition)

I first posted this list when I turned 60, and have made it an annual tradition to get it out on my birthday and re-examine it, edit it, and remind myself why I thought such things in the first place. I will keep my original observation-- that this list does not represent any particular signs of wisdom on my part, because I discovered these rules much in the same way that a dim cow discovers an electric fence.

1. Don't be a dick.

There is no excuse for being mean on purpose. Life will provide ample occasions on which you will hurt other people, either through ignorance or just because sometimes life puts us on collision courses with others and people get hurt. There is enough hurt and trouble and disappointment and rejection naturally occurring in the world; there is no reason to deliberately go out of your way to add more. This is doubly in a time like the present, when everyone is already feeling the stress.

2. Do better.

You are not necessarily going to be great. But you can always be better. You can always do a better job today than you did yesterday. Make better choices. Do better. You can always do better.

3. Tell the truth.

Words matter. Do not use them as tools with which to attack the world or attempt to pry prizes out of your fellow humans (see Rule #1). Say what you understand to be true. Life is too short to put your name to a lie. This does not mean that every word out of your mouth is CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: 19 Rules for Life (2021 Edition)

Preschool through Third Grade (P-3) Alignment - Grade Spans (CA Dept of Education)

Preschool through Third Grade (P-3) Alignment

CDE seeks to elevate the role of high-quality, inclusive and multilingual preschool, strong early intervention services, and P-3 alignment in ensuring the future of California’s children.

The California Department of Education (CDE) is committed to interrupting and counteracting inequities, racism, and bias and also closing opportunity gaps to ensure all children start school ready to succeed and all schools are ready to support every child’s success. To help achieve this goal, CDE seeks to elevate the role of high-quality, inclusive and multilingual preschool, strong early intervention services, and P-3 alignment in ensuring the future of California’s children.

The CDE is committed to using equity, inclusion, and quality standards that support effective learning experiences as guiding principles for data-driven decision-making about key P-3 strategies to meaningfully impact systems, programs, schools, and policies across the state. Specifically, the CDE’s P-3 Alignment effort is designed to bring together stakeholders across systems to identify, develop, and implement policy and practice solutions focused on ensuring developmentally-informed, rigorous, and joyful learning experiences are available to all children across the preschool and early elementary years. The resources on this page reflect areas of focus to achieve these goals.

Defining P-3 Alignment

P-3 alignment includes both horizontal and vertical alignment and coherence across grades and systems to improve coordination of policies and practices in preschool, across transitions to Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Kindergarten, and through third grade and beyond. The CDE’s P-3 alignment effort stems from a belief that gaps in children’s opportunities and learning outcomes demand system-level reform at the state, county, district, school, and community level to disrupt inequities, address bias, and promote equitable opportunity.

Successful P-3 alignment requires cross-sector work, joint administrator and teacher professional learning opportunities, aligned instructional tools and learning environments, data-driven decision-making, engaged families, and continuity of pathways.

Questions: Opportunities for All Branch | P3-Alignment@cde.ca.gov

Preschool through Third Grade (P-3) Alignment - Grade Spans (CA Dept of Education)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Broadview-Thomson K-8 School Encampment: Hubris and Inaction May Mean Trouble

Broadview-Thomson K-8 School Encampment: Hubris and Inaction May Mean Trouble

Editor’s note: I apologize for the wonkiness of the look of this story. In the time I stepped away from blogging, I think Blogger changed some formatting and I’m struggling to understand it.

As most of you know, the district reopened schools and three schools had homeless encampments on or nearby their campuses.

The district had this to say on the subject back in April 2021 (partial):

Most importantly, we are working with school principals, the schools' Parent Teacher Associations, outreach organizations, and the city to address this issue with the sensitivity that defines Seattle.
Homelessness has been a crisis in our city for years, and it has only been exacerbated by COVID-19. We support the city's efforts to find long-term solutions for community members who are experiencing homelessness. We take this issue seriously and are actively working with the city to compassionately address encampments of unhoused people near our schools, while keeping the safety of our students and staff at the forefront.

Yes, Seattle can have a level of sensitivity that other cities don’t but that is parallel to the fact that Seattle has a loooong process to deal with many issues. Homelessness is currently the most apparent one.

Lowell Elementary’s encampment got moved fairly quickly and it was the one CONTINUE READING: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Broadview-Thomson K-8 School Encampment: Hubris and Inaction May Mean Trouble

FL Dept of Ed Commissioner said he fired a teacher for #BlackLivesMatter #CRT #ISUPPORTAMY | Cloaking Inequity

FL DEPT OF ED COMMISSIONER SAID HE FIRED A TEACHER FOR #BLACKLIVESMATTER #CRT #ISUPPORTAMY

You should know this is happening: Richard Corcoran, the Florida Dept of Education Commissioner, said he fired a teacher for #BlackLivesMatter

Here is what the Florida Times-Union said about the situation

A Duval County teacher who hung a Black Lives Matter flag in her classroom says she heard she was fired through a YouTube video.
On Monday, Amy Donofrio’s legal team released a statement criticizing a recent guest speaking engagement from Florida Department of Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran at Hillsdale College, a private conservative school in Michigan. Until recently, Corcoran was short-listed in the running for the new Florida State University President position. He is not among the three finalists for the position.
Corcoran used Donofrio as an example while speaking about critical race theory and curriculum oversight and announced that he had her fired.

They continued,

In March, the school district announced Donofrio would be removed from her classroom while Duval Schools conducted an investigation for “several allegations.” The district declined to say what those allegations are, citing the active investigation. By April, the Southern Poverty Law Center announced it was suing Duval Schools on Donofrio’s behalf.
“I’m getting sued right now in Duval County, which is in Jacksonville because there was an entire classroom memorialized to Black Lives Matter,” Corcoran said during his presentation. “We made sure she was terminated and now we’re being sued by every one of the liberal left groups who say it’s freedom of speech issue.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center weighed in,

“That this decision has been made by those at the highest level of Florida’s Department of Education before the DCPS investigation is even completed shows the depth of the retaliation and deprivation of due process and free speech upon which Ms. Donofrio’s lawsuit against the District is based. According to Corcoran, a classroom that teaches Black Lives Matter or what Corcoran has labeled ‘crazy liberal stuff’ justifies censorship and the firing of teachers.”

We’ve recently heard quite a bit about “cancel culture” and “free speech” from a certain ilk. Here’s what I tweeted about it recently.

In fact, we used Critical Race Theory in a Harvard Education Review article some years back to talk about the very issue at stake here: Politicians have abused their power to limit scholarly conversation about slavery, racism and other prejudice in classrooms. We found in our research that policymakers and elected official have gone out the way to sanitize historical truths.

Their current strategy is to try to cancel history, Critical Race Theory and limit freedom of speech in the classroom. The irony of their actions relative to their rhetoric is NOT lost on anyone. #ISupportAmy

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FL Dept of Ed Commissioner said he fired a teacher for #BlackLivesMatter #CRT #ISUPPORTAMY | Cloaking Inequity

Big Education Ape: Lee High teacher reassigned to paid, non-teaching post amid controversy over BLM flag, her organization says #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #SPLC - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/04/lee-high-teacher-reassigned-to-paid-non.html

A Memo from the Superintendent | The Merrow Report

A Memo from the Superintendent

To: Our teachers and other educators

From: Your Superintendent

May 18, 2021

As a lifelong public educator, I pride myself for having learned from the greatest educators in the history of civilization: John Dewey, Maria Montessori, Aristotle, Jean Piaget, Plato, and Sam Hinkie.

For this particular testing season, I suggest that we rely on the wisdom of Sam Hinkie.

Many of you fear that remote learning has hurt our neediest students, making it all but certain that they won’t perform well on the forthcoming standardized tests. However, the tests are the law, and we all should agree on a strategy that will help our students, our district, and our teachers.

There are two options. One is to begin intense ‘drill and kill’ test practice right away. While this is monotonous and boring, D&K often produces quick upticks in scores, which leads to positive coverage in the media.

(Of course, the steep ‘learning curve’ is ephemeral, and the “forgetting curve” that CONTINUE READING: A Memo from the Superintendent | The Merrow Report

Activists Mobilize for Waivers and Opt Outs as Biden Mandates Tests - Rethinking Schools

Activists Mobilize for Waivers and Opt Outs as Biden Mandates Tests

One month after taking office, the Biden administration faced its first major education policy test. It failed miserably.

Despite a campaign promise to end standardized testing in public schools (See “Biden’s Broken Promise: Time to Opt Out!” by Denisha Jones), on Feb. 22 administration officials declared it would not grant “blanket waivers of assessments” for the current school year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement drew immediate grassroots protest that clogged U.S. Education Department (ED) phone lines and ensured that students returning to classrooms after a year of trauma and chaos would face hours of useless standardized tests mandated by the federal government.

The decision also set in motion a state-by-state battle around testing that is now underway, and reopened fault lines in the Democratic Party over education policy that were papered over during the campaign against Trump.

One year ago, as the pandemic swept the country, then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos granted testing waivers to all 50 states. The move instantly underscored the educational irrelevance of the tests and their existence as an obstacle to serving the real needs of students.

As Biden pushed to reopen schools during his first 100 days, pressure built for a renewal of the testing waivers. A growing number of states including New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina, and Georgia announced plans to seek them while the education world awaited confirmation of Miguel Cardona, the Connecticut state superintendent Biden nominated for education secretary.

But just days before Cardona’s confirmation, Acting Assistant Education Secretary Ian Rosenblum released a letter declaring that all states would be required to give the tests mandated by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known as the “Every Student Succeeds Act”). Rosenblum came to Biden’s education policy team directly from Education Trust, the pro-testing corporate reform lobby that until late April was led by John King, a longtime, pro-testing proponent who succeeded Arne Duncan as secretary of education in the Obama Administration.

For months, pro-testing corporate reformers had worked to head off calls for another round of testing waivers. Mass standardized testing is the engine of corporate education reform and its supporters feared a second year without scores could permanently weaken the testing CONTINUE READING: Activists Mobilize for Waivers and Opt Outs as Biden Mandates Tests - Rethinking Schools