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Saturday, December 10, 2016

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: Bystanding Educators + Disrupting the Moral Center

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION:  Bystanding Educators +  Disrupting the Moral Center









Bystanding Educators
Over at EdWeek, Peter DeWitt asks the question " Have educators been bystanders too long ?" I like the question because it doesn't even waste time asking if educators are bystanders, because, yes, that's what we do. This is probably one of the reasons we don't get more respect from business-folks. In the private sector, you sometimes have to play hardball. You "negotiate" by being non-compliant, l

YESTERDAY

Disrupting the Moral Center
Sarah Jones at the New Republic yesterday posted a blistering take on technocracy entitled " The Year Silicon Valley Went Morally Bankrupt ." It doesn't address education, but it surely could. She takes us back to 1996, and “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" by John Perry Barlo, a statement of Silicon Valley's manifest destiny to rise over and above the nation that birthed it: Barlo

DEC 08

New Test Rules: Old Baloney
Yesterday, John King unveiled the Department of Education's final rules for testing under the Every Student Succeeds Act, aimed at spinning the continued emphasis on the Big Standardized Tests. Jennifer C. Kerr of the Associated Press signals that she bought the PR and fumbled the story with her very first sentence: Aiming to reduce test-taking in America's classrooms, the Obama administration rel

DEC 07

What Do The Tests Measure?
Christopher Tienken (Seton Hall) has solved a mystery. Along with Anthony Colella (Seton Hall), Christian Angelillo (Boonton Township SD), Meredith Fox (Nanuet Union SD), Kevin McCahill (George W. Miller Elementary) and Adam Wolfe (Peoria Unified SD), Tienken has once again answered the question -- what do the Big Standardized Tests actually measure? Put another way, Tienken et. al. have demonstra
ESSA Won't Spur "Best Practices"
Eric Kalenze, Director of Education Solutions at the Search Institute , is guest-blogging at Rick Hess's EdWeek spot this week. His interest leans towards questions of research and best practices and how any of those things ever hope to line up with actual classrooms. Today he's asking one particularly interesting question-- Will ESSA's Evidence Requirements Spur Actual Best Practices? comes with

DEC 06

Write Your Own PISA Post
I actually considered a Reaction to PISA Scores post and then decided that I didn't have the heart for this annual exercise in futility, and wiser heads than mine were already on the case. So instead, I'll let you take this little quiz (in, of course, multiple choice form) and in the process create a Choose Your Own Madlibs Fake Journalism story for the occasion. Enjoy! International Testing Auth

DEC 05

Kindergrinder Toxicity
The LA Times last week ran this story aimed directly at the feels. It's the tragic cautionary tale of a poor little five year old who arrived at kindergarten only to discover that she was already behind. At a kindergarten screening two months before her first day, she happily chattered about her dog Toodles, her favorite color pink, her Santa Claus pajamas, her nickname Gigi, her outings with dad

DEC 04

How Charter Students Would Benefit from Teacher Unions
As part of the general "Please don't leave us" hubbub arising from the nominally-Democratic-neo-liberal fear that a bunch of Trump-hating lefties are about to bolt out of the reformster tent, Peter Cunningham over at Education Post ran a big discussion about how unions and charters should maybe be BFFs (you can read my take on the discussion here , here and here ). Arguments included that unions w
ICYMI: As It Sinks In (12/4)
Share what speaks to you. Amplifying each other's voice is how we cut through the noise, how we make sure that what needs to be heard has a chance to be heard. Oh, and call your Senator and tell him to just say no to Betsy DeVos. The 


CURMUDGUCATION: