Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, September 15, 2019

MVP Math Chooses to Sue NC Parent, Apparently Expects to Recover Reputation | deutsch29

MVP Math Chooses to Sue NC Parent, Apparently Expects to Recover Reputation | deutsch29

MVP Math Chooses to Sue NC Parent, Apparently Expects to Recover Reputation

When I read the term, MVP, my first thought is “most valuable player.”
Well, this MVP might want to be that most valuable player, but this MVP (which stands for Mathematics Vision Project, LLC, a Utah limited liability company “active as of 03/17/2016”, has apparently suffered enough at the hands of a single North Carolina parent enough to sue the parent, Blaine Dillard.
Dillard is displeased with MVP and has a blog, a website, and a Facebook group focused on criticizing MVP as the Wake County, NC, math program.
Apparently, Dillard is so powerful that he is affecting profits to such a degree that MVP apparently felt compelled to sue. From MVP’s July 25, 2019, suit against Dillard, “an individual”:
The publication and/or public speaking of [Dillard’s aforementioned] statements harmed MVP. Part of MVP’s business involves submitting proposals for education-related contracts with private schools, public schools, school districts, government entities, and other entities. Dillard’s statements harmed MVP’s reputation as well as perceptions of the efficacy of the products and services that MVP provides. Upon information and belief, MVP has been unable to enter into contracts, and/or has not been invited to make proposals for contracts, and/or has been forced to enter contracts on compromised terms, and/or has been denied extensions on contracts, and/or has been forced to accept contract extensions on compromised terms, and/or has been unable to attract employees and/or consultants, and/or has been forced to invest more resources than otherwise would have been necessary to consummate a contract, and/or has otherwise been harmed.
It would be quite the challenge for MVP to document an irrefutable, direct connection between “not being invited to make proposals” and “being forced to enter contracts on compromised terms” and one man, Blaine Dillard.
Then there is the layer of ridiculousness to be overcome before a jury as an LLC CONTINUE READING: MVP Math Chooses to Sue NC Parent, Apparently Expects to Recover Reputation | deutsch29

enrique baloyra: Greta comes to NYC - YouTube #FridaysForFuture.#ClimateEmergency.

Greta comes to NYC - YouTube

Greta comes to NYC



enrique baloyra


Why does it take a child to point out the emperor has no clothes?
Like after an angry, young man shot up their school, it took a group of kids from Parkland, FL, to start a nationwide campaign to pass meaningful, common sense gun reform.
The same kids, in turn, inspired Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg to start her own worldwide phenomenon,
#FridaysForFuture. Every Friday for the past year, Greta has been protesting the I’ll-be-dead-by-then attitude most adults are taking towards our #ClimateEmergency.
Since then, she’s appeared before the European Union, British Parliament; she has her own TED talk, and has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In January she scolded foremost economic and political leaders at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, saying, “I want you to act as if the house is on fire. Because it is.”
Greta recently crossed the Atlantic in a sailboat to address the United Nations Climate Action Summit next Monday.
She seems astounded by our debate over whether we believe in climate change.
“Where I’m from,” she says, “it’s a fact.”
It appears her message is catching on, and, predictably, rightwing talking heads have been mocking the sixteen-year-old girl, calling her "mentally unstable.” FYI, Greta has Asperger’s.
So, these people are actually making her point for her when she asks, where are the adults?
"You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden to leave to us children.”
https://twitter.com/Avaaz/status/1073...
Kids have a right to be outraged when we say we love them, yet allow the destruction of their future.
Greta asks, what’s the point in learning facts at school when those facts mean nothing to politicians and our society?
As teachers and parents, we have a moral responsibility to show our kids that facts matter; that our actions matter. We must do whatever it takes to save their world from certain environmental collapse, regardless of the cost.
After all, in the words of a little girl, “If we can save the banks, we can save the planet.”
This Friday, September 20, millions of children, workers and our unions will join climate activists around the world in demanding an end to fossil fuels. To find an action near you, or create your own, you can visit globalclimatestrike.net.


Greta comes to NYC - YouTube


Bobby Canosa-Carr — Dir. Secondary Ed At The Accelerated Charter Schools — Admits On Camera That TAS Routinely Enrolls Unprepared Students In AP Classes | Michael Kohlhaas dot org

Bobby Canosa-Carr — Director Of Secondary Education At The Accelerated Charter Schools — Admits On Camera That TAS Routinely Enrolls Unprepared Students In AP Classes  Michael Kohlhaas dot org

Bobby Canosa-Carr — Director Of Secondary Education At The Accelerated Charter Schools — Admits On Camera That TAS Routinely Enrolls Unprepared Students In AP Classes
BOBBY CANOSA-CARR — DIRECTOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION AT THE ACCELERATED CHARTER SCHOOLS — ADMITS ON CAMERA THAT TAS ROUTINELY ENROLLS UNPREPARED STUDENTS IN AP CLASSES — THIS PRACTICE IMPROVES THE SCHOOL’S RANKING BASED ON AP ENROLLMENT — BUT LAUSD’S PROPOSED SCHOOL PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK WILL RATE SCHOOLS ON AP SUCCESS RATHER THAN ENROLLMENT — WHICH WILL LOWER TAS’S RANKING BECAUSE — ENTIRELY PREDICTABLY — THESE UNDERPREPPED STUDENTS DON’T PASS — IN OTHER WORDS RATHER THAN ENROLLING STUDENTS IN CLASSES THEY’RE READY FOR — AND THEREFORE CAN BENEFIT FROM ACADEMICALLY — TAS HAS BEEN SETTING STUDENTS UP TO FAIL IN ORDER TO BOOST ITS RANKING — AND NOW THEY’RE MAD THAT LAUSD MIGHT DOWNGRADE THEM BECAUSE OF THIS PERNICIOUS PRACTICE
If you follow LAUSD issues in the news you will have heard of the newly proposed School Performance Framework, a rating system ostensibly meant to improve something about schools but much more likely to be part of the wicked plans of its proponents, Nick Melvoin and Kelly Gonez, to break up our public school system and hand over the still-valuable fragments to their zillionaire masters in the charter school industrial complex.
Whatever the ultimate purpose, though, of this proposal, and despite the fact that it was written for Melvoin by the privatizers themselves, it nevertheless has at least some charter schools very nervous about how they might fare under the new rating standards, which would correlate to some extent with measurable quantities, like e.g. student test results and course grades and which would rate each school on a highly simplified five star scale.

NYC Public School Parents: Talk of out School - join us next Wed. on WBAI at 10 AM with Wendy Lecker and Senator John Liu

NYC Public School Parents: Talk of out School - join us next Wed. on WBAI at 10 AM with Wendy Lecker and Senator John Liu

Talk of out School - join us next Wed. on WBAI at 10 AM with Wendy Lecker and Senator John Liu

Next week on Wednesday Sept 18 at 10 AM, I will have two guests, "Talk out of School": attorney Wendy Lecker of the Education Law Center, who will bring us up to date on the class size lawsuit of on nine NYC parents vs the state and city of New York for their failure to lower class size.

My other guest will be  Senator John Liu, chair of the NYC Education Committee in the State Senate, who will tell us what new laws, funding levels and other developments we may expect in the coming legislative session that affect our public schools. I always find what goes on in Albany to be very mysterious - hopefully straight-talking Senator Liu, who was formerly a City Council member and NYC Comptroller, will help us undo some of that mystery.  Please listen in at 99.5 FM or at wbai.org and call in at 212-209-2877.

Also, if you haven't yet, please check out our first show from last Wednesday, co-hosted with Carol Burris.  We focused on the diversity and integration proposals of the School Diversity Advisory Group, with guests Shino Tanikawa of the SDAG, and Alex Rodriguez and Tiffani Torres of Teens Take Charge.  You can livestream or download the program here.


Shino and co-host Carol Burris at the WBAI studio - check out the words on the wall we aren't allowed to say on radio.


NYC Public School Parents: Talk of out School - join us next Wed. on WBAI at 10 AM with Wendy Lecker and Senator John Liu

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: My Wife's Birthday Edition (9/15)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: My Wife's Birthday Edition (9/15)

ICYMI: My Wife's Birthday Edition (9/15)

Happy birthday to one of the best people ever to walk on the face of the earth! But you can have cake and read some worthwhile education  pieces as well. So here you go--

AI in Education Hype

John Warner takes a look at one more technological product in search of a problem to "solve."

Effects of the Flipped Classroom

An Annenberg working paper suggests that there are no big benefits to flipping, and that it may even make some gaps between students worse.

America's Newest Outsourced Job

Vice might be a little late catching on to this trend, but they offer a nice piece from reporters who "embedded" with some Filipino teachers hired by Chicago schools.

What Statistics Can and Can't Tell Us About Ourselves 

The average person has one breast and one testicle. The limits of Big Data (and the AI systems that depend on it) and why it is lousy at personalization. From the New Yorker.

Should Grades Be Based On Classwork?

Alfie Kohn appears at EdWeek to look at some questions that are, in fact, the wrong questions to ask.

AI In Education Hype

John Warner at Inside Higher Ed takes a look at another alleged AI breakthrough and explains why it's no breakthrough at all.

 If You Want To Fill the Teacher Bucket, Fix the Holes

Dad Gone Wild weighs in on the great teacher shortage debate.

Where Did 3,000 Students Go?

Hey look! Turns out that UPSTART, the completely wrongheaded online preschool program launched in Utah, is having some trouble keeping accurate counts of its students, thereby costing the state an extra million dollars.

The College Board Book and The College Board's Many Failures (and Obfuscations Thereof)

Chalkbeat has one of the better reviews of Paul Tough's book showing how the College Board is a sneaky mess.

Want To Do Business in Silicon Valley? Better Act Nice.

Jason Palmer is a money guy who had the nerve to say out loud that the Zuckerberg-backed AltSchool was going to be the big failure it turned out to be. Nellie Bowles at the NYT tells the story of the price he paid for his candor.

What The New Reading Wars Get Wrong 

At EdWeek, a good explanation of why this round of the long-running reading wars is, once again, not worth our time.  

Play vs. Reading

A great Nancy Bailey take on the flawed thinking behind some reading advocacy.

Embracing Public Schools as the Very Definition of the Common Good

A great Jan Resseger piece reminding us why public schools matter.

When School Safety Becomes School Surveillance

NPR takes a look at the issue that is continuing to make life miserable for some innocent students.

Turning A Profit Through Nonprofit Charters

Nonprofit Quarterly offers yet another explanation of how the profit vs. nonprofit distinction is a distinction without a difference.

Opinion: Ralph Abraham and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad education reform ideas

Come for the rollicking first sentence, and stay for the fact that this critique of LA ed policy is written by a 19-year-old college student.

The Cruel Assertion That Your Five-Year-Old is Falling Behind

Nobody stands up for the littles like Teacher Tom

NJ Teachers: A Failure To Achieve Diversity

Part of a Jersey Jazzman series looking at the state of teaching in the state of New Jersey. As always, real research presented in real language.

The World of Competitive Rock Skipping

Nothing at all to do with education, but a plug for my small town and one of our many events. This year a freelance journalist did a WaPo story about the event. I'm a judge every year; in the photo I'm the fat guy in the Hawaiian short on the left.




CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: My Wife's Birthday Edition (9/15)




CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION





DeVos Saying The Quiet Parts Out Loud

Betsy DeVos will be kicking off her "Back To School" tour next week. And it will start by announcing loudly and clearly what her preferred goal for education is. No reading between the lines will be necessary. The announcement notes that she will head to Milwaukee, "home of the first-ever education freedom program that allowed parents, no matter their income, to select the school that was the best
Dammit, Chan-Zuckerberg! Not Elmo, Too! (And Not Philanthropy, Either.)

If you haven't been paying particularly close attention, you may have missed the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative slowly inserting its hyper-wealthy proboscis into a hundred different corners of modern life, using its not-quite-philanthropy LLC model to follow in the Gatesian footprints of wealthy technocrats who want to appoint themselves the unelected heads of oh-so-many sectors. One of those sectors

SEP 12

Does Social And Emotional Learning Belong In The Classroom?

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been gathering traction as a new education trend over the past few years. Back at the start of 2018, EdWeek was noting " Experts Agree Social-Emotional Learning Matters, and Are Plotting Roadmap of How To Do It." But as we head into the new year, many folks still haven't gotten far beyond the "it matters" stage in their plotting. I'm here to teach you how t

SEP 11

Education and Remembering

It's 9/11, and social media is plastered with a thousand variations on a single theme-- Never Forget. Well, of course we'll forget. First of all, we don't can't even articulate a shared version of what it is that we're remembering . That somebody once successfully attacked us? That we subsequently lost our national shit and chewed through a variety of civil liberties in hopes that Benjamin "Those

SEP 09

Online Pre-K Continues To Spread Like A Big Stupid Plague

So this article pops up on my screen-- the Hechinger Report's Bracey Harris asking " Can 15 minutes a day of online preschool help prepare a child for kindergarten? " I might have suggested a rewrite on the headline, something along the line of "Why in the name of all that's holy are you putting a four-year-old child in front a screen and subjecting her to kindergarten prep software!" Stop farting

SEP 08

Privatization and the Weather

Like many Trumpian flaps, the recent Alabama hurricane flap du jour directed our attention to things we probably should have already been paying attention to-- in this case, the drive to privatize the US Weather Service. Barry Myers was the top lawyer for Accuweather, the weather service founded by his brother Joel. This article from Bloomberg Businessweek chronicles the thirty or so years that My
ICYMI: No Teacher Shortage Edition (9/8)

So about forty-eight hours ago I put up a post at Forbes.com that has been blowing up. It's an interesting study in the vagaries of the interwebz-- the post ( why it's important to recognize that there's not a teacher shortage ) makes some points that I have made before many times, and several other bloggers have made before, but somehow this time, it found an audience. It's a reminder to keep plu

SEP 07

The College And Career Ready Scam Continues

ESSA requires schools to pick another measure of success, and many have gone with some version of gauging college and/or career readiness, but the results, as described by EdWeek, are a "hodge podge." But here come the folks at Achieve , the same folks who brought us all the beloved Common Core, with a state by state hodge-podgy guide to just how states are measuring the Common Core compliance col

SEP 06



What Should Be Our Hot Topics For The New Year?

It's the beginning of a new school year, and a good moment to take stock of the major policy issues, controversies and problems that we can expect to be (or ought to be) wrestling with in the coming year. Which issues are on the rise,