Shawgi Tell: Biden Swiftly Disappoints Educators and Students | Dissident Voice

Biden Swiftly Disappoints Educators and Students | Dissident Voice

Biden Swiftly Disappoints Educators and Students

Months before he became president, many pointed out that harmful neoliberal policies would continue unabated in K-12 education under a Joe Biden administration. Indeed, there is a long record of both democrats and republicans supporting harmful education policies like high-stakes standardized testing, charter schools, performance-based pay schemes, NCLB, ESSA, and more.

But U.S. presidential elections always have a way of successfully enforcing amnesia and intensifying false hope in the context of a discredited political set-up that has long failed to affirm the interests of people. To be fair though, there has emerged in recent years a level of social consciousness that did in fact enable more people than usual to take a more measured conscious approach toward presidential candidates and political realities. More people are increasingly adopting a “we’ll believe it when we see it” attitude because they have come to learn, often the hard way, that politicians are usually unaccountable, break promises regularly, rarely respond to endless begging by the polity, and typically don’t do “the right thing.” It is hard to ignore cumulative experience.

It is no accident that Biden, who has previously claimed he is opposed to high-stakes standardized tests, chose a major promoter of charter schools and high-stakes standardized testing like the neoliberal Ian Rosenblum to make the recent antisocial announcement that punitive high-stakes standardized tests CONTINUE READING: Biden Swiftly Disappoints Educators and Students | Dissident Voice

New York: A Sample Opt Out Letter | Diane Ravitch's blog

New York: A Sample Opt Out Letter | Diane Ravitch's blog

New York: A Sample Opt Out Letter

New York State Allies for Public Education created sample opt out letters for parents to present to the school.

For both English and Spanish, visit the NYSAPE homepage.

Home

New York: A Sample Opt Out Letter | Diane Ravitch's blog

Police investigating alleged embezzlement at Warren Easton Charter High School | The Lens

Police investigating alleged embezzlement at Warren Easton Charter High School | The Lens

Police investigating alleged embezzlement at Warren Easton Charter High School

Warren Easton Charter High School’s annual financial audit has revealed a $70,000 discrepancy in the school’s student activity funds, and the New Orleans Police Department is investigating the matter as a theft by a former employee.

The incident, reported to police in December, occurred between March 2019 and July 2020, according to the school’s annual financial audit released Monday. The audit does not reveal the name of the employee accused of stealing the money but says that the person is no longer employed by the school.

“The Business Manager of the School fraudulently absconded with $70,842 of Student Activity Funds,” the audit states.

Asked whether any arrests had been made, an NOPD spokesman wrote, “We have not been made aware of any arrests at this time in this investigation.” CONTINUE READING: Police investigating alleged embezzlement at Warren Easton Charter High School | The Lens

NOLA Public Schools warns Rooted School over grading scale

Rooted School, a charter high school located at Touro Synagogue on St. Charles Avenue, found itself in hot water with the NOLA Public Schools district earlier this month over a grading scale it has used for the last four years and that its founder and CEO says the district was well aware of.

But earlier this month, a top district official issued a warning letter to the school, saying the way it grades is a violation of NOLA Public Schools policy. 

Since opening in 2017, Rooted founder and CEO Jonathan Johnson said the school has used an “ABCF” grading scale — notably absent is the just-passing D. At Rooted, anything that would have fallen into the district’s D on the grading scale is an F. 

“Essentially our philosophy was — and still is — that D does not constitute passing,” Johnson said in an interview on Friday, explaining that grades are a strong indicator of how students perform in college. 

Johnson said the district has known about the grading scale for several years CONTINUE READING: NOLA Public Schools warns Rooted School over grading scale

NOONAN | Teachers between rock and a hard place | Opinion | coloradopolitics com

NOONAN | Teachers between rock and a hard place | Opinion | coloradopolitics.com

Teachers between rock and a hard place

K-12 education in Colorado is a big fat mess. No question. Schools are caught in COVID limbo, with some schools returning to full time, others keeping to a hybrid schedule, and many students continuing online. Teachers are trying to get their vaccinations, which puts to rest complaints from some that they’re resisting returning to the classroom.

That claim about teachers is particularly pernicious. Talk about working between a rock and a hard place. Public school teachers catch derision for their caution, with the deriders accusing teacher unions of blocking classroom returns. But very recently, 1,500 Jeffco middle and high school students petitioned the school board to not resume full-time classes because of COVID insecurity.

Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers says that New York City offers a model for returning to classrooms. That’s a district with a strong union presence. How has the district moved forward? New York City schools benefit from a much larger budget than any Colorado schools. Elementary schools returned to full time in December upon receipt of parent consent forms for COVID testing.

For students to return to school full time in grades 6-8 starting Feb. 25, parents must agree to in-school COVID testing. The random testing occurs weekly for students and staff. The city has improved its CONTINUE READING: NOONAN | Teachers between rock and a hard place | Opinion | coloradopolitics.com

Teacher Tom: The Concept of "Learning Loss" is Complete BS

Teacher Tom: The Concept of "Learning Loss" is Complete BS

The Concept of "Learning Loss" is Complete BS

Just scanning the first page of my search engine's results for "learning loss" without clicking a single link I see that children have "suffered" learning loss during the pandemic, that the learning loss is "grim," that it is "unprecedented," and that schools are "racing" and "struggling" to correct it. It will, apparently, "take years to overcome" the damage that's been done to our poor children who we are counting on to fill the jobs of tomorrow.

Oh boy, we're on high seas alright. Just when we think we're seeing a light at the end of the pandemic storm, we see there are still choppy waters and dark clouds ahead, and this time it's all going to come crashing down on our children. The poor children. Think of the children!

But breathe easy. Fortunately, there are heroes here to save the day: for-profit corporations who just happen to sell exactly the lifesavers we need in the form of curricula, text books, and, most importantly, standardized tests. Of course, it will apparently mean tossing a few less important things overboard. Recess must, of course, be reduced. School hours can be extended. Summer break can be shortened or perhaps eliminated entirely. And perhaps we can put those extras like music, physical education, and art on hold for a few years. If these measures seem harsh, please consider the poor, wee, suffering children whose brains are being, as we speak, drained of learning; who have been traumatized by what is clearly a brain damaging event. But if we act fast, with the kind of tough love only institutions can administer, and with, CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: The Concept of "Learning Loss" is Complete BS

Educators cheer new push in Congress for more community schools - Education Votes

Educators cheer new push in Congress for more community schools - Education Votes

Educators cheer new push in Congress for more community schools

A new bill in Congress looks to increase federal support for a school model that reimagines how to help students learn—by first making sure their basic needs are met. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) introduced the Full-Service Community School Expansion Act on Tuesday.

Research supports what educators know from experience: Students living in poverty do not have the same opportunities because they face barriers that their wealthier peers do not.

Children who are hungry, experience homelessness, or bear other stresses of their family’s financial hardship can’t always focus, participate in class, or complete assignments—and that’s if they can make it to school at all. Students of color are more likely to experience these conditions—the result of inequities built into a system that protects white supremacy.

Some districts are working to counteract these factors by establishing community schools, in which educators, administrators, students, and families work together to achieve their vision for the schools and communities.

That collaboration results in schools that might provide medical, dental, and mental health care on-site; a food pantry or backpack nutrition program; clothing; after-school tutoring and mentoring, culturally relevant curriculum that reflects the diversity of the student body; and supported educators that have the resources and tools they need to educate their students. They might even serve entire families, with job placement assistance, English classes, referrals to social service agencies, and nutrition and health services.

“We have learned from decades of school improvement efforts that there isn’t one single powerful lever or magic bullet that will generate equitable outcomes in schools.,” said Kyle Serrette, a senior policy analyst in NEA’s Teacher Quality department. “Instead we’ve learned that education equity requires the identification of hundreds of specialized levers that, when CONTINUE READING: Educators cheer new push in Congress for more community schools - Education Votes

David Berliner: Why Religious Schools Should Never Receive a Dollar of Public Funding | Diane Ravitch's blog

David Berliner: Why Religious Schools Should Never Receive a Dollar of Public Funding | Diane Ravitch's blog

David Berliner: Why Religious Schools Should Never Receive a Dollar of Public Funding

Since the 2020 election, when Republicans won many seats in state legislatures, there has been an explosion of proposed voucher laws, to allow people to get public money to pay for religious schools. David Berliner, one of our nation’s most distinguished researchers of education, explains why funding religious schools with public money is a terrible idea.

Why Religious Schools Should Never Receive a Dollar of Public Funding

David C. Berliner Regents’ Professor Emeritus

Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Arizona State University

I believe in separation of church and state. I think it has done the United States a lot of good to honor Jefferson’s metaphoric and aspirational “wall” between the two. I also believe that money corrupts too many people and too many institutions. Holding those two beliefs simultaneously means 1.) I never want to see any local, state, or federal money used to aide any religious group, and 2.) I don’t want to see any religious group, or affiliated religious organizations, donating to the campaigns of public officials. The latter may be impossible to stop in an era of “dark money.” But the former—government support of religious institutions– is almost always done in public view and is worth stopping CONTINUE READING: David Berliner: Why Religious Schools Should Never Receive a Dollar of Public Funding | Diane Ravitch's blog

Learning to Earn – Have You Heard

Learning to Earn – Have You Heard

Learning to Earn

The idea that more education is the way to help workers get ahead is a cherished American principle. In fact, this “human capital” view of education dates all the way back to another period of roaring inequality in the US: the Gilded Age. In episode #107, historian Cristina Groeger joins us to discuss the origins of the “education fix,” and why the idea of educating our way out of inequality has always been doomed to fail.

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 · #107 Learning to Earn

Learning to Earn – Have You Heard

Audio: Teaching Students A New Black History | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: Teaching Students A New Black History | 89.3 KPCC

Teaching Students A New Black History

When you think of the history of Black education in the United States, you might think of Brown vs. Board of Education and the fight to integrate public schools. But there's a parallel history too, of Black people pooling their resources to educate and empower themselves independently.

Enslaved people learned to read and write whenever and wherever they could, often in secret and against the law. "In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various stratagems," like convincing white children to help him, wrote Frederick Douglass. "I had no regular teacher."

After the Civil War, says educator Kaya Henderson, Black people started "freedmen's schools" to teach former slaves literacy and the other skills they would need to participate as citizens. "In the 12-year period that is Reconstruction," she adds, "we started 5,000 community schools. We started 37 historically black colleges and universities."

A century later, during the civil rights movement, educators founded "freedom schools" combining basic literacy with civic skills, like how to register to vote.

And in 1969, the Black Panther Party started a free breakfast program for schoolchildren. Eventually it fed tens of thousands of hungry kids oranges, eggs and chocolate milk at 45 sites around the country. J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, reportedly got the Chicago police to try to sabotage the program, because he CONTINUE READING: Audio: Teaching Students A New Black History | 89.3 KPCC

California: Nearly 50,000 Teachers and Parents Say NO to Biden Testing Demand | Diane Ravitch's blog

California: Nearly 50,000 Teachers and Parents Say NO to Biden Testing Demand | Diane Ravitch's blog

California: Nearly 50,000 Teachers and Parents Say NO to Biden Testing Demand

UPDATE TO NEWS RELEASE: 50,000 signatures submitted to SBE-parents, educators urge waiving standardized testing

 NEWS RELEASE                      

California Teachers Association                                                                    1705 Murchison Drive Burlingame, CA 94010

www.cta.org   Contact: Claudia Briggs cbriggs@cta.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Educators Call on State Board of Education to Seek Waiver from U.S. Department of Education Suspending Standardized Testing for Current School Year

More than 40,000 concerned parents and educators sign petition echoing concerns over undue pressure on students, technology inequities, and data reliability; call for focus on other supports in response to pandemic

BURLINGAME — The California Teachers Association (CTA) has submitted a letter to the State Board of Education (SBE) urging the California Department of Education (CDE) to submit a waiver requesting the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) to suspend standardized testing for the 2020-21 school year. In the February 22, 2021, letter to the SBE, CTA cites problems with both feasibility of administration, useability and reliability of resulting data, and the cruelty of putting students, families, and educators through high stakes assessments in the middle of a pandemic. If submitted and approved, the waiver would suspend summative assessments required under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), normally conducted in the spring.

Most California students are still engaged in distance learning, and many students still lack reliable internet bandwidth and access or inconsistent learning and testing environments. Educators have also expressed concerns about the validity and comparability of a statewide test administered under widely varying and largely uncontrolled circumstances. CTA is advocating for the suspension of high stakes tests that will take away precious instructional time and put unnecessary additional stress on students and their families.

CTA has also sent a letter to Acting U.S. Secretary of Education, Phil Rosenfelt, urging the USDOE to issue assessment waivers to states as soon as possible, reiterating educator concerns about the harm that standardized testing in the middle of a pandemic would cause.

“Given widespread inequities in student access to technology and the internet, as well as the concerns both educators and parents have about the value of any data gathered from traditional annual testing in the midst of a global pandemic, we firmly believe testing would be detrimental to students, and of little use to teachers and school districts,” said CTA President E. Toby Boyd. “These factors lead us to urge policy makers to instead focus on providing support to students in distance learning and their safe return to physical classrooms instead of on assessments of little value.”

A petition by the California Teachers Association calling for the suspension of state standardized testing has so far gathered 40,000 signatures from parents and educators who are deeply concerned about the continuation of normal testing during this most challenging school year. That petition is being shared with the SBE and the USDOE.

More background on these letters, standardized testing, and CTA’s position on suspending testing this year can be found here. 

###

The 310,000-member CTA is affiliated with the 3-million-member National Education Association.

Claudia Briggs, Communications Assistant Manager, California Teachers Association (EST 1863)

916.325.1550 (office) | 916.296.4087 (cell) | cbriggs@cta.orgThe California Teachers Association exists to protect and promote the well-being of its members; to improve the conditions of teaching and learning; to advance the cause of free, universal, and quality public education; to ensure that the human dignity and civil rights of all children and youth are protected; and to secure a more just, equitable, and democratic society.

California: Nearly 50,000 Teachers and Parents Say NO to Biden Testing Demand | Diane Ravitch's blog

Stories from School AZ: Platforms Vs. Foundations. Pre- and Post- Pandemic Metaphors | National Education Policy Center

Stories from School AZ: Platforms Vs. Foundations. Pre- and Post- Pandemic Metaphors | National Education Policy Center

Stories from School AZ: Platforms Vs. Foundations. Pre- and Post- Pandemic Metaphors

Lately I have been considering the term “learning platform.” If you are a teacher, you have likely been expected to utilize multiple learning platforms over the past decade. If you have been avoiding digital learning platforms, then you certainly have been forced onto them in the past year of pandemic teaching.

Some digital learning platforms allow for great teacher creativity and agency, depending on how districts utilize them (think: Canvas); others include pre-made curriculum, but strive to incorporate effective teaching practices and teacher decision-making (think: Summit Learning); and still others are basically pre-packaged curriculum with very little room for teachers to creatively differentiate for student needs, or to create experiential learning or inquiry-based activities (think: Gradpoint or other credit recovery programs, Florida Virtual, many reading intervention programs such as Lexia.) They all have their appropriate uses within a learning community.

A platform can be defined as a “raised level surface on which people can stand” (Oxford Languages via Google). At first glance, that metaphor seems to describe these learning tools: A place where students can stand and encounter the learning, or a place to stack content or assessments, like palleted goods on a loading dock.

The risk we take using the metaphor of a learning platform is this: When I think of the image of a platform, I think of a train station or a subway stop. People standing on a level surface, waiting to board the train, or stepping out of the train. So in this metaphor, I suppose the CONTINUE READING: Stories from School AZ: Platforms Vs. Foundations. Pre- and Post- Pandemic Metaphors | National Education Policy Center

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

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_20.html 

Two New Online Geography Games

26by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h

Here are two new additions to The Best Online Geography Games : City Guesser gives you the option of first choosing the world, or different areas of the word, and then shows you videos of a location. You guess where on a map, and then you’re shown how close you were to the correct answer. One intriguing option is just having it show you monuments from throughout the world. GeoQuiz lets you name o

My Favorite Posts That Appeared In February

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here ). You can also see my all-time favorites here . I’ve also been doing “A Look Back” series reviewing old favorite

Thursday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

stux / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : L.A. school reopening contingent on full staff vaccinations, making for uncertain date is from The L.A. Times. This guy is living in a world where right now where schools in his district are directly ignoring state guidelines to make tchrs, students & their families safe & he wants everybo

Why Is The Biden Administration Decision To Have Standardized Tests This Year A Dumb One? Let Me Count The Ways

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15h

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay In BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MAKES ITS FIRST DUMB MOVE AND REQUIRES STANDARDIZED TESTS THIS YEAR , I shared a number of articles highlighting both lack of wisdom involved in ever placing much weight into them, as well as specific critiques against doing them this year. Since the decision, many people much smarter than me have come out with even more clear-headed analysis

Ed Tech Digest

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Ten years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2020 – PART TWO , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this we

“Thirteen Instructional Strategies for Supporting ELL Newcomers”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Thirteen Instructional Strategies for Supporting ELL Newcomers is the headline of my latest Education Week column. Five educators share effective instructional strategies to use with English-language- learner newcomers, including using images and games. Here are some excerpts: I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES TO HELP EDUCATORS TEACH ELL NEWCOMERS .

Wednesday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

20by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

AbsolutVision / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : ‘Impending doom’: teachers on the ‘big bang’ reopening of schools in England is from The Guardian. California teachers move to the front of the vaccine line in most counties is from Ed Source. How To Reopen Schools is from The NY Times. Can schools require teachers to get the COVI

My Latest BAM! Radio Show Is On Helping Our Students Develop Critical Thinking Skills

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

How to assist our students develop critical thinking skills is the topic of my latest ten-minute BAM! Radio Show. I’m joined in the conversation by Dara Laws Savage, Meg Riordan and Patrick Brown, who have also all contributed written commentaries to my Ed Week column. I’m adding it to All My BAM

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007