Master Plan for Early Learning and Care - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Master Plan for Early Learning and Care - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Issues Statement Applauding Release of Master Plan for Early Learning and Care

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond issued the following statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s release of the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care: California for All Kids, a roadmap for building a more equitable, comprehensive early learning and care system in California.

“We know that bold investments early in a child’s life can pay remarkable returns throughout their education and their careers. We applaud the recommendations outlined today that we know can level the playing field and make all the difference for children, such as providing universal preschool and ending disproportionate suspensions for students of color in early care.

“My team looks forward to continuing to work closely with the Governor, the Legislature, practitioners, and members of the philanthropic sector to chart a course to implement the key actions that can support child development and propel every child into a bright future.”

Read the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care document (PDF) or via the California for All Kids interactive website.

# # # #

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Master Plan for Early Learning and Care - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Nobody Should Be Wasting Time Worrying About When to Administer Standardized Tests | janresseger

Nobody Should Be Wasting Time Worrying About When to Administer Standardized Tests | janresseger

Nobody Should Be Wasting Time Worrying About When to Administer Standardized Tests

Parents, children, teachers, principals, and school superintendents are living through a time of unknowns. COVID-19 is raging across the states with many public schools operating only online. Some public schools, which have been able to open in person or on hybrid schedules, have subsequently been forced to close already reopened buildings or specific classrooms as COVID-19 cases arise and everybody quarantines.

In the midst of a chaotic situation with no good and stable solutions for many public schools, suddenly last week everybody started worrying about what to do about this year’s standardized tests. The Washington Post‘s Perry Stein reports that outgoing Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos postponed the winter administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the one test administered across all the states, the test that tracks school achievement over the decades and is not distorted by high stakes consequences.

Representatives Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Patty Murray (D-WA), the Democratic leaders of the House Education Committee, agreed to delay the NAEP, but said the nation needs some kind of measure of learning loss during the pandemic.  They released a statement declaring that annual state tests mandated under the Every Student Succeeds Act must surely be administered: “Existing achievement gaps are widening for our most vulnerable students, including students from families with low incomes, students with disabilities, English learners, and students of color. In order for our nation to recover and rebuild from the pandemic, we must first understand the magnitude of learning loss that has impacted students across the country. That cannot happen without assessment data.”

While I frequently agree with Representatives Scott and Murray, I think worrying about standardized testing right now ought to be a low priority, and I think the state-by-state CONTINUE READING: Nobody Should Be Wasting Time Worrying About When to Administer Standardized Tests | janresseger

Follow these #EdJustice Superstars | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Follow these #EdJustice Superstars | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Follow these #EdJustice Superstars

It’s that time of the year again... the Schott Foundation’s third annual list of 10 Education Justice Superstars to follow on social media! Spice up your feed with knowledge and inspiration from these influential and energized advocates. They’re leading the way, pushing racial and gender equity, fair funding, community schools, grassroots organizing and other crucial issues to the fore. Be sure to give them a follow!

SEE THE REST: Follow these #EdJustice Superstars | Schott Foundation for Public Education

The telling things Barack Obama wrote -- and didn’t mention -- about his education policies in new memoir - The Washington Post

The telling things Barack Obama wrote -- and didn’t mention -- about his education policies in new memoir - The Washington Post

The telling things Barack Obama wrote — and didn’t mention — about his education policies in new memoir

In his best-selling new book, “A Promised Land,” Barack Obama writes compellingly about his road to the White House and key moments and policies of his first term as president. There’s the Affordable Care Act. The crisis he inherited in the U.S. financial system and his successful efforts to save it. The Afghan War. The Arab-Israeli conflict and the Arab Spring. China and Iran. Climate change. The raid he ordered to kill Osama bin Laden.

But on one important issue that proved to be a flash point — education policy — he doesn’t have much to say. The memoir’s index shows references to education policies on only four of 701 narrative pages — and none are more than a few sentences. What he doesn’t address says at least as much as what he does.

Meanwhile, his vice president, Joe Biden, will become president of the United States on Jan. 20, and the Biden education agenda will be compared not only to that of President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos did but also to Obama’s.

Biden has so far laid out an education overhaul agenda that does not resemble Trump’s or Obama’s, and he has promised to be a friend to public educators — but many are waiting to see what he actually does after they were disappointed by Obama.

Obama’s education agenda surprised many of his supporters, who had expected him to address inequity in public schools and to de-emphasize high-stakes standardized testing, which had become the key metric to hold schools accountable under the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind law.

But Obama did not. Instead, he allowed Education Secretary Arne Duncan to push a strident education overhaul program that made standardized testing even more important than NCLB had, and that became highly controversial across the political spectrum for different reasons. Critics called it “corporate reform” because it used methods more common in business than in civic institutions, such as using big data, closing schools that underperformed, and eliminating or weakening of teacher tenure and seniority rights. CONTINUE READING: The telling things Barack Obama wrote -- and didn’t mention -- about his education policies in new memoir - The Washington Post

Community schools are the schools we need now

Community schools are the schools we need now

To the rescue — The schools we need now are community schools

When the coronavirus struck, the community-school model showed how quickly families and schools needing extra resources could be helped

When America’s schools shut down in mid-March as a result of Covid-19 and transitioned to some form of remote learning, the nation’s community schools responded rapidly.  That’s because these schools already had strong existing relationships with providers of community resources, both public and private.

At least 8,000 American public schools identify as community schools, meaning that they work in well-planned partnerships with local organizations that offer resources like medical, dental and mental health services; before- and after-school programs; and housing and employment assistance to parents. These partners are integrated into the life of the school, both through formal mechanisms and through informal day-to-day contact, which means they can get the right services to the right students at the right time.

City Connects, an organization that integrates student support services in more than 150 urban schools, saw the coronavirus pandemic highlight its value.  

“Having a systemic and systematic strategy for supporting every student made a huge difference when Covid closed the curtain,” said Mary Walsh, executive director of City Connects, an organization based at Boston College. “We were able to avoid ‘random acts of student support’ and to ensure that every student had their needs met and their strengths supported.” CONTINUE READING: Community schools are the schools we need now

Growing Consensus that Young Children Can Safely Return to School | Diane Ravitch's blog

Growing Consensus that Young Children Can Safely Return to School | Diane Ravitch's blog

Growing Consensus that Young Children Can Safely Return to School

The New York Times reports that scientists are converging on a consensus that it is safe for young children to return to school.

After a summer of uncertainty and fear about how schools across the globe would operate in a pandemic, a consensus has emerged in recent months that is becoming policy in more and more districts: In-person teaching with young children is safer than with older ones, and particularly crucial for their development.

On Sunday, New York City, home to the country’s largest school system, became the most high-profile example of that trend, when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that only elementary schools and some schools for children with complex disabilities would reopen after all city classrooms were briefly shuttered in November. There is no plan yet to bring middle and high school students back into city school buildings.

It was an abrupt about-face for the mayor, who had for months promised to welcome all of the city’s 1.1 million children — from 3-year-olds to high school seniors — back into classrooms this fall.

But the decision put New York in line with other cities around America and across the world, which have CONTINUE READING: Growing Consensus that Young Children Can Safely Return to School | Diane Ravitch's blog

The “insidious” Betsy DeVos. But what will the Democrats do about student loan debt? – Fred Klonsky

The “insidious” Betsy DeVos. But what will the Democrats do about student loan debt? – Fred Klonsky

THE “INSIDIOUS” BETSY DEVOS. BUT WHAT WILL THE DEMOCRATS DO ABOUT STUDENT LOAN DEBT?

The insidious Betsy and Dick DeVos.

Departing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos blasted student debt forgiveness in what was likely her last major policy speech, calling proposals like free college and the cancellation of student loan debt “truly insidious.”

“We’ve heard shrill calls to cancel, to forgive, to make it all free. Any innocuous label out there can’t obfuscate what it really is: wrong.”

DeVos called it, “The truly insidious notion of government gift giving.”

Well, she would know something about government gift giving.

CNBC reported:

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her family are among the groups that have seen an income boon of millions through their own investments since Trump’s tax reform plan was signed, CONTINUE READING: 

The “insidious” Betsy DeVos. But what will the Democrats do about student loan debt? – Fred Klonsky

CURMUDGUCATION: Back On The No-Longer-Trailing Pandemic Education Edge: Digging A Ditch

CURMUDGUCATION: Back On The No-Longer-Trailing Pandemic Education Edge: Digging A Ditch

Back On The No-Longer-Trailing Pandemic Education Edge: Digging A Ditch

I've been offering updates from my own small town/rural corner of the universe for just one more data point about how various school districts are dealing with pandemic education. We don't all need to write about New York City schools.

My region had a decent shot. In a county of 50,000 people, we had a total of 70 cases at the beginning of September. All schools opened for face-to-face instruction, with various precautions and protocols in place.

Things have gone south pretty rapidly. We just passed 1,000 cases. 

School districts had moved from face to face to hybrid elementary and distance high school. That lasted a few weeks, but there have been repeated multiple out breaks in schools. One district is still toggling between hybrid and distance--basically every time there's a confirmed case in the school, they go back to distance for a couple of weeks. Everyone else was in distance mode.

Last night several local boards (there are four districts in the county) met to decide what to do with the rest of December. The discussions were spirited but nuanced. Because we are so rural, there are some major issues with getting a wifi signal to some folks; there are a few hot spots set up, but (and this seems to escape some folks) a hot spot is basically a relay station, and you can't relay a signal you can't get. So folks who want to use the hot spots have to drive to them. Not everyone has vehicle access, and winter's moving in.

The local boards really struggling. Nobody thinks virtual school is best. Nobody. But now, really for the first time, people now people who have suffered or died from covid. Reliably Trumpy Facebook CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Back On The No-Longer-Trailing Pandemic Education Edge: Digging A Ditch

Teacher Tom: This is What Real Learning Looks Like

Teacher Tom: This is What Real Learning Looks Like

This is What Real Learning Looks Like

This is the problem with letting dilettantes, even well-intended dilettantes, lead when it comes to education policy. They don't have the experience to recognize what real learning looks like, and since they tend to come from the world of business, they don't trust mere "employees" (teachers), especially if they belong to a union, so they come up with arbitrary data points that carry with them a hint of education-ness, then subject children to their amateur hour. I don't think that most of them want to be cruel to children and their parents, but in their ignorance they believe they know better because they've managed to make money off selling software or hardware or something, so they conjure up education-ish sounding ideas and, because they can, they impose them, despite the objections of those of us who do have the experience to know what real learning looks like.

Anyone who has spent any time in a classroom knows that real learning does not look like children slumped in chairs staring at iPads. Real learning looks like stepping in a puddle you've made with your friends, then sinking in until the water tops your boots.

Real learning looks like pouring water through systems of CONTINUE READING:  Teacher Tom: This is What Real Learning Looks Like

Will the Biden Administration Provide Leadership to Address Long School Funding Crisis? | janresseger

Will the Biden Administration Provide Leadership to Address Long School Funding Crisis? | janresseger

Will the Biden Administration Provide Leadership to Address Long School Funding Crisis?

Here in Ohio, during the current lame duck session, legislators are considering a new school funding formula. The Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan has been in the making for almost two years (See here and here.),  but even now as the plan comes to a vote before December 31, the end of the current legislative session, it has been difficult to build a wave of political will for justice for Ohio’s children.

The Ohio Legislature appears split. There is support in the Ohio House for fairer and more generous school funding, but key members of the Ohio Senate want to protect private school voucher programs and delay help for the state’s students in public schools. Even if the Fair School Funding Plan passes, a solution may be illusory.  How will it ever be funded? After a series of state tax cuts early in the current decade and in the midst of a COVID-19 recession, even if the new plan is set in place, making it operational will require a six-year phase in while legislators look for the necessary funds to pay for it.

The mere release of the proposal for the Fair School Funding Plan helped call the public’s attention to the state’s utter failure in recent years to distribute constitutionally mandated state funding fairly across Ohio’s public schools. Eighteen months ago, when the plan was released, we learned that 503 of the state’s 610 school districts had been either capped or on hold-harmless guarantee. These categories mean that despite changes in the number of students they serve or the special needs of their student populations, 503 school districts had, for years in many cases, been receiving the same amount of state funds they got last year and the year before that. Then, because of a shortage of state funds, the biennial state budget for FY 20-21, froze formula state school aid for every one of Ohio’s school districts at the FY 2019 CONTINUE READING: Will the Biden Administration Provide Leadership to Address Long School Funding Crisis? | janresseger

Whatever Happened to the Winnetka Plan? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Whatever Happened to the Winnetka Plan? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Whatever Happened to the Winnetka Plan?

When and how did the Winnetka Plan begin and grow to become a nationally known lighthouse for Progressivism?

A small wealthy suburb of Chicago in the late-19th and early 20th centuries, Winnteka leaders embraced the ideas of John Dewey and the “New Education,” an off-shoot of the then spreading Progressive movement. As the authors of a history of the Winnetka schools put it:.

In May, 1919, they hired Carleton W. Washburne as the superintendent of schools. It was this 29-year old educator who would bring their ambitious dreams for their schools to a reality. As the architect of “The Winnetka Plan,” Washburne’s innovations – individualized instruction, hands-on learning, attention to the development of the whole child, a focus on research and development of curriculum materials, and a thoughtful and comprehensive program of staff development – were the pillars of his philosophy of progressive education and continue to be cornerstones of today’s Winnetka Public Schools.

Variations of the Winnetka plan spread to other districts in the state and the nation eager to be viewed as Progressive. Washburne wrote in journals and authored books on the Plan. He spoke often about Winnetka schools at CONTINUE READING: Whatever Happened to the Winnetka Plan? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Book Launch Event on 12/2 at 5:00 pm ET for “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”–Register NOW! – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Book Launch Event on 12/2 at 5:00 pm ET for “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”–Register Today! – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Book Launch Event on 12/2 at 5:00 pm ET for “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”–Register NOW!

Dear readers,

I am writing to invite you to the book launch event for the new book I co-edited with Denisha Jones, Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice! 

I could hardly be any more excited to join Denisha Jones and Brian Jones, the Associate Director of Education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, for our book event on Wednesday, December 2nd at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. You can Register for the event here. There will be time for Q and A, so bring your questions.

This book was the product of a lot of amazing educators, students, and parents in the Black Lives Matter at School movement around the country and we will be holding future book events with these other authors! I’m especially grateful to the educators in Philadelphia who helped launch the BLM at School movement on a national level and tell their story beautifully in the book.

Opal Tometi (co-founder of Black Lives Matter) wrote a powerful foreword, telling the story of her own experiences in school as a student and as a teacher, linking the broader BLM movement to education, and generalizing the lessons from the Black Lives Matter at School movement. 

I’m truly humbled by the great feedback initial feedback we are getting for the book. The Washington Post just ran a great review of the book, including excerpts from two chapters of the book. Ibram X. Kendi (National Book Award-winning and #1 New York Times Bestselling Author) said of our book, “’Black Lives Matter at School’ is an essential resource for all those seeking to build an antiracist school system.” You can check out the new video trailer for the book to learn more.

See you at the book launch!

-Jesse Hagopian

Book Launch Event on 12/2 at 5:00 pm ET for “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”–Register Today! – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Third-Grade Punishment Laws – Revisited | Live Long and Prosper

Third-Grade Punishment Laws – Revisited | Live Long and Prosper

Third-Grade Punishment Laws – Revisited

ONE SIZE FITS SOME

A post on Diane Ravitch’s blog has raised the topic of grade retention.

Laura Chapman: Who Is Behind the “Read by Third Grade or Be Retained” Campaign?

There is a national read-by-grade three campaign. The practice of holding students back a grade is not new, but in the olden days it was never based on test scores alone and certainly not based on scores from national tests. I am no expert in reading, but I have learned to question how questionable policies proliferate.

Right now, The Annie E, Casey Foundation is a source of the national “Read by Grade 3” campaign. It is financed by about thirty other foundations and corporations. You can read about the investors here: http://gradelevelreading.net/about-us/campaign-investors

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is also the source of widely cited and dubious research about reading. For example, the Foundation sponsored “Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation (2010, updated 2012)” by Dr. Donald J. Hernandez, sociologist at Hunter College (more recently at the University of Albany, CONTINUE READING: Third-Grade Punishment Laws – Revisited | Live Long and Prosper

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE)

http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/11/this-week-with-newblackman-in-exile_28.html

Michael Eric Dyson's Book, 'Long Time Coming,' Aims To Help America Reckon With Race

by Mark Anthony Neal / 13h

'NPR Morning Edition 's Noel King speaks with author Michael Eric Dyson about his new book on reckoning with race in America. It's called: Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America.'

"Strange Fruit (Reprise)" - Salaam Remi feat. Betty Wright & James Poyser (Official Video)

by Mark Anthony Neal / 16h

'Official video for "Strange Fruit (Reprise)" by Salaam Remi featuring Betty Wright & James Poyser , from the recording Black on Purpose .'

Navigating Academic Publishing for BIPOC Scholars | Publishing Humanities Initiative

by Mark Anthony Neal / 16h

​' Duke University Press Editorial Director Gisela Fosado and Senior Executive Editor Ken Wissoker share a discussion especially for #BIPOC scholars (graduate students, faculty and postdocs) in the humanities and social sciences. Fosado and Wissoker talked publishing with a university press, approaching acquisition editors, and successfully navigating peer review and other key parts of the public

Misty Copeland Celebrates Ballet's Beautiful Friendships In 'Bunheads'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 23h

' Misty Copeland hopes her book will help young dancers feel comfortable in the studio and on the stage. She says illustrator Setor Fiadzigbey channeled "superhero energy" into dancers leaping off the page.' -- Weekend Edition Sunday

Fred Hampton Assassination: A People's History with #BlackPantherParty Lawyer Flint Taylor

by Mark Anthony Neal / 1d

' The Tight Rope commemorates the assassination of Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark on December 4, 1969, with one of their lawyers, Flint Taylor . He tells Tricia Rose and Cornel West how he successfully sued the F.B.I. for orchestrating the massacre on Chicago's west side as part of COINTELPRO. Taylor is co-founder of the People's Law Office and author of The Torture Machi

Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concer

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

'In the jazz world, Carrington is a celebrity — a 40-year professional musician who's won Grammy awards and performed with a seemingly infinite list of jazz dignitaries such as Wayne Shorter , Herbie Hancock and Geri Allen . An outspoken activist, teacher and mentor, she is also the founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, a multidisciplinary program whos

Carmen Lundy Presents Living The Jazzlife with Rhonda Hamilton: Episode 3 - Marvin "Smitty" Smith

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

'Presented by Carmen Lundy and Afrasia Productions, on this episode of Living The Jazzlife with Rhonda Hamilton , Hamilton is joined by veteran drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith .'

Food for the Soul

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

'Like the Blues and Jazz, the Black American culinary tradition is rooted in a specific kind of American experience. From one generation to the next, Black families have turned to traditional dishes to celebrate the holidays, to commiserate and even to mourn. In the latest episode of Into America , Trymaine Lee talks to culinary historian and author Michael Twitty about the forces that influenced

Busta Rhymes On 'Extinction Level Event 2' And Hip-Hop As A Daily Practice

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

'The latest in a prolific career, Busta Rhyme 's new album is a sequel — delivered 22 years after the first Extinction Level Event — and a characteristically big, ambitious project.' -- All Things Considered

Provocation and Follow-Through: Julia Bullock Talks With Lara Downes

by Mark Anthony Neal / 3d

' Julia Bullock is an artist who dares you to find new adjectives. The soprano is often described as "radiant," an overused word that actually describes her surprisingly well. Onstage, she's a shapeshifter, ranging from elegant and commanding to bewitching, provocative and dangerous – but consistently intelligent and nuanced. Offstage, she can be goofy. In this conversation with Amplify host Lara

System Check with Melissa Harris-Perry and Dorian Warren: It’s Time America Abolished Poverty

by Mark Anthony Neal / 4d

'On this episode of System Check , Melissa Harris-Perry and Dorian Warren ask: How can we eradicate poverty in America? It's not just about jobs, and the answers are common sense, but radical: To end poverty, we need to meet 

NewBlackMan (in Exile)