Tuesday, January 7, 2020

More US schools teach in Spanish, but not enough to help Latinos

More US schools teach in Spanish, but not enough to help Latinos

HECHO EN USA: BILINGUAL EDUCATION

More US schools teach in English and Spanish, but not enough to help Latino kids
Classes taught in both languages help students from various backgrounds, but many districts have fought to keep Spanish out of schools.


The USA TODAY Network is launching a series on the Latino community in the USA called Hecho en USA, or made in America. Roughly 80% of all Latinos living in the USA are American citizens, but media coverage of Hispanics tends to focus on immigration and crime, instead of how Latino families live, work and learn in their hometowns. Hecho en USA tells the stories of the nation’s 59.9 million Latinos – a growing economic and cultural force, many of whom are born in the USA.
LOS ANGELES – Preschool teacher Rosa Ramirez has a special way of asking her students to line up for playtime outside. 
“Pueden pararse si llevan puesto algo de color amarillo, como una abeja,” she tells them. 
In English, Ramirez would say, “You can stand up if you are wearing yellow – like a bee.” But this is the half of the school day in which she teaches exclusively in Spanish. 
Her students are not confused by her language choice. Most of the 4-year-olds wearing even a smidgen of yellow stand up as instructed.
The preschool dual-language program at Gates Street Early Education Center in Lincoln Heights, one of Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhoods with dense populations of Latino and Asian residents, is part of a growing number of bilingual education models taking root in California and across the country. Many of them are designed to serve students from Spanish-speaking families, as well as students from other cultures, under mounting evidence that learning two languages can help people from all backgrounds become stronger students.  
Roughly 3.8 million students in U.S. schools are native Spanish-speakers who are not proficient in English. They make up the bulk of the approximately 5 million students nationwide identified as English language learners, the fastest-growing demographic in schools – and the lowest-performing, as judged by achievement tests and graduation rates. 
Sixty-seven percent of students with limited English skills graduated high school after four years in 2016, compared with 84% of all students, according to federal data
Language experts recommend how to improve those outcomes: More high-quality, long-term dual-language CONTINUE READING: More US schools teach in Spanish, but not enough to help Latinos

Shawgi Tell: Teachers Unions Not the Only Ones Opposing Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

Teachers Unions Not the Only Ones Opposing Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

Teachers Unions Not the Only Ones Opposing Charter Schools




Promoters of privately-operated non-profit and for-profit charter schools that seize billions of dollars a year from public schools have long promoted the illusion that it is mainly teachers unions that are opposed to charter schools.
Keeping in mind that 90% of charter schools have no teacher unions and that charter school owners-operators usually react bellicosely when teachers try to unionize to defend their rights and their students, it is not only teachers unions that oppose charter schools.
For years, many legislators, governors, school boards, superintendents, parents, students, teachers, community residents, education advocates, education associations, college professors, and others have also opposed non-profit and for-profit charter schools run by unelected individuals. These forces are being joined by new people from all walks of life every day.
People do not want segregated, deregulated, unstable, privatized, unaccountable, non-transparent, corrupt, and crisis-prone schools that enrich owners of capital while masquerading as “schools” that “benefit the kids.” People increasingly see through all the charter school hype and are not prepared to abandon America’s 170-year-old public school system that today educates 50 million youth in 100,000 schools.
Thousands of charter schools have closed over the years and thousands perform poorly every year. The performance of cyber charter schools is CONTINUE READING: Teachers Unions Not the Only Ones Opposing Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

The Decade in Education: What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been | Teacher in a strange land

The Decade in Education: What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been | Teacher in a strange land

The Decade in Education: What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been


I’m sure you’re not geeked to read yet another combination critique/regret-fest/prognostication blog on the preceding Decade in Education. So I’m not going to write one. Besides, two extremely excellent ‘decade pieces’ were recently published, very different but both relevant and well worth your time.
The first is Audrey Watters’ The 100 Worst Ed-Tech Debacles of the Decadea long and fascinating chronicle of ‘ed-tech failures and fuck-ups and flawed ideas’. Don’t be put off by the ‘ed-tech’ designation (or the naughty word).  The piece isn’t about computers or devices or digital programs, per se, but covers all technologies—so very many technologies—that were supposed to transform education in some way and ended up being so much splat on the classroom floor.
Go ahead. Skim through it. It starts with smaller, quicker-to-die, media-fueled sexy innovations, and works its way up through virtual charter schools, personalized learning, and venture philanthropy, disrupting all the way. The hits just keep on a-comin’ and just as rapidly disintegrating, disappointing and malfunctioning. I recognized about 90 out of the 100 Watters’ flops, and have been personally involved CONTINUE READING:  The Decade in Education: What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been | Teacher in a strange land

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY 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

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


Most Popular Posts Of The Week

I’m making a change in the content of the regular feature. In addition to sharing the top five posts that have received the most “hits” in the preceding seven days (though they may have originally been published on an earlier date), I will also include the top five posts that have actually appeared in the past week. Often, these are different posts. You might also be interested in IT’S THE TWELFT

YESTERDAY

“Author Interview: ‘Culturally Responsive Education in the Classroom'”

Author Interview: ‘Culturally Responsive Education in the Classroom’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. In it, Adeyemi Stembridge talks about his new book, “Culturally Responsive Education In The Classroom: An Equity Framework for Pedagogy, including explaining the difference between “equity” and “equality.” Here are some excerpts:
A Look Back: “Shortcuts, School Reform and Private Foundations”

I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . Today, I’m featuring a piece I wrote for The Huffington Post years years ago titled Shortcuts, School Reform and Private Foundations. Here’s an excerpt:
The Best Resources To Learn About The Importance Of Teacher Modeling

mohamed_hassan / Pixabay I’ve written a lot in posts and in my books about the importance of teacher modeling and how, usually, if one of my lessons goes south (which happens more frequently than I would like), I can usually find the reason in lack of teacher modeling. Literacy researcher Timothy Shanahan has just written the best piece I’ve seen on the importance of modeling – and how to do it.
My Latest BAM! Radio Show Is On Connecting Current Events To The Classroom

My latest ten-minute BAM! Radio Show is on connecting current events, including impeachment, to the classroom . I’m joined by Suzie Boss and Kristen Koppers, who have also contributed written commentaries to my Education Week Teacher column. I’m adding this show to All My BAM Radio Shows – Linked With Descriptions .
This Year’s “Doodle for Google” Student Contest Opens

Google’s annual contest for students to create “Doodles” opened up today . They will accept entries until March 13th. Even though there’s only “one” national winner, they seem to have enough finalists for it to be worthwhile for students to participate with a decent chance of gaining some recognition.


Chinese (Lunar) New Year Takes Place On January 25th – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

nguyentuanhung / Pixabay Chinese (Lunar) New Year takes place on January 25th this year. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Chinese (Lunar) New Year.
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

The Greatest Ed Tech Goof Of All Time (Adam Laats) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Greatest Ed Tech Goof Of All Time (Adam Laats) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Greatest Ed Tech Goof Of All Time (Adam Laats)


Adam Laats is an educational historian at Binghamton University, State University of New York. A former teacher, he is currently at work on the Lancasterian system of schooling in early 19th century America. Laats had read a post by Audrey Watters, “The 100 Worst Ed-Tech Debacles of the Decade.” He then wrote this post for his blog.
What have been the top ed-tech goofs of all time? The top choice from my current research is pretty clear, c. 1804. [My readers] are probably sick of hearing about Joseph Lancaster. And I’m sorry. But his plan was such a perfect mix of tech-naïveté and Zuckerberg-level hubris that I can’t stop marveling over the 21st-century feel of Lancaster’s tech-obsessed school system.
If you’re just joining us, Lancaster was a young man who opened a school for poor kids in London in 1798. He tried some new tricks, including banishing corporal punishment and using students as teachers. He really believed technology could solve all the problems of education and therefore of society.
For example, he dreamed of new systems of “reading telegraphs,” “alphabet wheels,” and benches with holes for hats. His assumption—like that of so many of his peers—was that the right machine could eliminate traditional problems with school organization.
None of those failed ed machines, however, gets my pick as the top ed-tech goof CONTINUE READING: The Greatest Ed Tech Goof Of All Time (Adam Laats) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Opting Out: The Story of the Parents’ Grassroots Movement to Achieve Whole-Child Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Opting Out: The Story of the Parents’ Grassroots Movement to Achieve Whole-Child Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Opting Out: The Story of the Parents’ Grassroots Movement to Achieve Whole-Child Public Schools




This is a book you will want to read if you are a parent, a teacher, a teacher educator.
Opting Out: The Story of the Parents’ Grassroots Movement to Achieve Whole-Child Schools is an essential addition to your bookshelf.
It was written by Professor David Hursh of the University of Rochester and parents leaders of the New York Opt Out movement Jeanette Deutermann, Lisa Rudley, and Hursh’s graduate students, Zhe Chen and Sarah McGinnis.
Together they explain the origins and development of the one of the most significant parent-led reactions against high-stakes testing and in favor of education that is devoted to the full development of children as healthy CONTINUE READING: Opting Out: The Story of the Parents’ Grassroots Movement to Achieve Whole-Child Public Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jeff Bryant: Have Democrats Changed Course On Charters? | OurFuture.org by People's Action

Have Democrats Changed Course On Charters? | OurFuture.org by People's Action

Have Democrats Changed Course On Charters?


Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bennet wants you to know how much he cares—really cares—about education. Speaking at the Public Education Forum 2020, Bennet began his remarks by declaring he is “the first school superintendent in the history of America to run for president of the United States.” Bennet led the Denver school district from 2005 to 2009 before he was appointed to fill the state’s empty U.S. Senate seat. “Every single thing I do in the Senate runs through the lens of the kids that I used to work for in Denver,” he said.
Not that other Democratic presidential candidates at this strictly education-focused event weren’t equally intent on convincing the crowd they’re also deeply committed to educating the nation’s children. After all, the forum was sponsored and organized by the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers along with some other labor unions and civil rights and education advocacy groups. An audience of 1,500 in attendance seemed to be comprised mostly of educators and former educators from across the country.
Seven candidates each took to the stage one after the other, including Bennet; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; billionaire activist Tom Steyer; former Vice President Joe Biden; and Senators Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. (New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who has since left the race, had committed to attend but dropped out due to a bout of the flu.)
But Bennet at times seemed the most passionate among the candidates, raising his voice and jabbing the air on a number of CONTINUE READING: Have Democrats Changed Course On Charters? | OurFuture.org by People's Action

CURMUDGUCATION: How Tech Killed Tractors, And Why Teachers Should Care

CURMUDGUCATION: How Tech Killed Tractors, And Why Teachers Should Care

How Tech Killed Tractors, And Why Teachers Should Care


If you don't spend a lot of time around farms and farmers, you might have missed this story, which just made its way into legit journalistic coverage via the Star Tribune of Minnesota-- there is an exploding market for forty-year-old tractors.

Adam Belz reports on auction bidding wars over old tractors. Is it because of tractor nostalgia? Nope-- and if you think about your car or music system or the device with which you're reading this post, you already know the answer. Those earlier tractors were well-built and have lots of hours in them, but there's one other factor:

The other big draw of the older tractors is their lack of complex technology. Farmers prefer to fix what they can on the spot, or take it to their mechanic and not have to spend tens of thousands of dollars.

“The newer machines, any time something breaks, you’ve got to have a computer to fix it,” Stock said.


The tractors are loaded with shiny new tech. As Jason Bloomberg put it at Forbes, "John Deere is but one of thousands of enterprises undergoing digital transformation as it becomes a software company that runs its technology on tractors, rather than the other way around."

Farmers have steadily lost the right to repair, meaning that a tractor breakdown can result in a lomng wait for your turn to get a costly repair. It's not just the cost and the downtime that suck; as pointed out by Greg Peterson, the CONTINUE READING: 
CURMUDGUCATION: How Tech Killed Tractors, And Why Teachers Should Care


School Siting Task Force report and spreadsheets | Class Size Matters

School Siting Task Force report and spreadsheets | Class Size Matters School Siting Task Force report and spreadsheets | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

School Siting Task Force report and spreadsheets



The School Siting Task Force, created by Local Law 168, met only twice with no input from parent members appointed by the DOE or City Council members.
It produced only a 1 1/2 page report, along with two spreadsheets, one a list of empty city-owned sites from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (“DCAS List”) and another, more inclusive list of empty sites from the Department of Finance (“DOF List”).
We obtained the report and the spreadsheets via a Freedom of Information request from the Council.
Of the 29,509 sites on these spreadsheets, the School Construction Authority said they would investigate two locations as possible sites for new schools, one in D21 and the other in D23.
The SCA has not yet analyzed over 75% (22,000+) of the locations because they are not owned by the City. The SCA claims that these sites will be looked at “in the near future.”
We are in the process of summarizing some of the many ambiguities and discrepancies in the Task Force report and the spreadsheets.
Sources
School Siting Task Force report and spreadsheets | Class Size Matters School Siting Task Force report and spreadsheets | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

YONG ZHAO: PISA Peculiarities (2): Should Schools Promote a Competitive or Cooperative Culture? - Education in the Age of Globalization

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » PISA Peculiarities (2): Should Schools Promote a Competitive or Cooperative Culture?

PISA Peculiarities (2): Should Schools Promote a Competitive or Cooperative Culture?

PISA has many peculiar and surprising discoveries…
Should we encourage students to co-operate?
Yes, because according to PISA, the omnipotent judge of education policy and practice:
In about 78% of school systems, and on average across OECD countries, students scored higher in reading when they reported greater co-operation amongst their peers, after accounting for the socio-economic profile of students and schools (as measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status) (Table III.B1.8.10). (OECD, 2019, p. 122).
But wait. PISA also found:
In about 88% of the countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018, students who see themselves as competitive scored higher in reading than students who perceive themselves as less competitive (Figure III.8.4). (OECD, 2019, p. 123).
Furthermore, PISA reports:
The results clearly show that students who agreed or strongly agreed that they try harder when they are in competition with other people scored considerably higher than students who disagreed with the statement (a difference of about 12 score points, on average across OECD countries, after accounting CONTINUE READING: 
Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » PISA Peculiarities (2): Should Schools Promote a Competitive or Cooperative Culture?