Sunday, December 15, 2019

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Ed Forum Weekend Edition (12/15)

CURMUDGUCATION


Ed Forum Weekend Edition (12/15)

Yesterday I spent the day in Pittsburgh at the ed forum, then decorating at my in-laws, then banging out a summary. But I still have a few things for you to read from the week. Remember to share!

Common Core: The Rest of the Story

Blogger and ed historian Adam Laats fills in some gaps in the NYT history of everyone's favorite standards.

GRE Fails To Identify Successful PhD Students  

Shocked. I am shocked. But the GRE isn't a great predictor of grad school success.

New Filipino Grad Requirement

Well, here's an actual cool idea. Filipino students now need to plant trees in order to graduate.

I Taught At a For-Profit College. They're Predatory Disasters. 

From the Guardian, a look inside the world of for-profit higher ed. It is not pretty.

No New Charter Applications In Chicago   

If you had any doubts that the charter boom is over, here's a look from Chalkbeat Chicago at a new development-- a year without any charter applications.

An Outright Lie

Remember that Ohio law that says students can't be dinged for getting facts wrong? Turns out that's part of the infamous Project Blitz, as is the legislator who proposed it. The Guardian has the story.

Mayor Pete and Charter Backers

Not from an education site, but Vice. Here's how charter money is bolstering Buttigieg.

Kentucky Ed Commissioner Resigns 

Kentucky governor-elect promised to clean house in th education department and replace the old charter-loving crew. He's done it. It's a new day in Kentucky.

DeVos Defends Restricting Debt Relief 

Erica Green at NYT with some great coverage of DeVos's latest visit to Congress, and her deep desire not to actually do debt relief.

The $191 Million Settlement with University of Phoenix  

Who finally nailed these bunco artists? Not the ed department-- the FCC.

Word Pedometers   

From the not-the-onion terrible idea file.


CURMUDGUCATION

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION


A Look At The Democratic Education Forum

After live-tweeting the day, I've worked up a summary, which you'll find over at my Forbes spot. Sorry to bait and switch, but that's where you can find my take on the day...

DEC 13

When Betsy DeVos Tells You Who She Is, Listen

Yesterday, Erica Green did a masterful job of covering Betsy DeVos's appearance before the House Education Committee to defend her continued efforts to resist any sort of debt relief for students bilked by for-profit schools. The New York Times article isn't accessible to everybody, and that's too bad, because the hearings are a perfect little picture of what values drive DeVos through her work at

DEC 12

Fordham: Teachers Are Downloading Junk

Fordham Institute, the right-tilted thinky tank and tireless ed reform advocacy group, just released a new study that actually raises some interesting questions. " The Supplemental Curriculum Bazaar " takes a look at the materials teachers are downloading, and it finds them, well, not delightful. While I'm only going to argue with their findings a little, there are aspects of their methods that I

DEC 11

Privatization Is Their North Star

Remember when ed reform was complicated, when it felt as if the whole business was a perfect storm of hydra heads, and it was all a public school supporter could do to try to track all the heads, let alone the body of the beast to which they were all attached? Things have changed. And the change tells us a lot about the body of the beast, as the many heads of the hydra have become neglected or eve

DEC 10

Can Rich Content Improve Education?

Modern high-stakes testing really kicked into gear with No Child Left Behind, and then got another huge boost with the advent of Common Core. All through that era, teachers pushed back against the fracturing of reading instruction , the idea that reading is a suite of discrete skills that can be taught independent of any particular content . The pendulum has begun its swing back. Content knowledg

DEC 09

Kristen Bell, Celebrity Charity, Flaming Possums

Sigh. I was already thinking about this, about how Dana Goldstein's Common Core retrospective for the New York Times collapsed a lot of history, but still had room for that time that pre-disgraced Louis CK made a crack about Common Core math. A great reminder of how a gazillion teachers and parents can comment on the quality of the Core, but a celebrity makes a comment and suddenly people listen.

DEC 08

Next Saturday: Dem Education Forum in Pittsburgh (Yes, I'll Be There)

Next Saturday, December 14, some assortment of Democratic Presidential hopefuls will offer their two cents about education . The crowd will be an invitation-only group of about a thousand public education stakeholders, including yours truly. The Network for Public Education kindly gave me the chance to attend this event, and I am looking forward to it. If you are not among the thousand invitees, y


ICYMI: New Car Edition (12/8)

So yesterday we replaced my wife's car, which has lost an argument with an errant deer. Used car shopping is a pain, but if you want to talk about something that has truly and completely been disrupted by technology. Little browsing, because everyone does that on line. Little haggling compared to the old says because everyone can go online and see what the car is worth. Few tremendous bargains, bu
CURMUDGUCATION