Five Great Questions For "Evidence-Based" Programs
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At EdWeek, Larry Ferlazzo ran a guest post by Rene Grimes that focused on
the "science of math" and the programs that are supposed to be based on it.
Bet...
Cognitive Resonance: Why is Claude for Teachers?
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Cognitive Resonance: Why is Claude for Teachers?
*Anthropic bumbles its way into education*
[image: Why?]
Everything about AI right now is weird.
I took...
SCHOOL FUNDING IS NO FUN — BUT IS IT FAIR?
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*SCHOOL FUNDING IS NO FUN — BUT IS IT FAIR?**How "Reform" Became a Polite
Word for Pulling the Rug Out From Under Public Education*
Welcome to the gre...
The REPULSICANS
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Admit it: The DUMBOCRATS is a fitting and appropriate moniker for one of
the two mainstream capitalist political parties in the US—one of the
greatest war-...
Celebrating our power this Labor Day
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Every Labor Day, I stop to reflect on the history of our union and what
lessons we can apply to continue to build a movement that meets the
aspirations of ...
That Feeling of Understanding
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Years ago, a friend involved in the business of "up cycling" wound up with
a collection of junk with which even he couldn't figure out what to do, so
he...
He Is Truly "Unhinged"
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Since yesterday, Donald J. Trump has been posting on social media at a
frantic pace, showing AI images of himself with President George Washington
on ...
Labor Day. Happy Birthday to Me.
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So—I just had a birthday. A big, round-number birthday. All my life, my
birthday has taken place in and around Labor Day weekend, and—fairly
often—happened...
To the Holiday Workers on Standby
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I was fortunate enough to have Labor Day off. It was for me a relaxing day.
I spent most of it quietly at home, doing nothing particularly taxing,
which I ...
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
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Ten years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and
resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general
that ...
Educators Resist
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View this email in your browser
[image: Logo]
*TL;DR*
*What We’ve Done*
Understanding that voting in November in numbers that cannot be ignored is
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Day 1 for the New Congress
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If Dems don't do this, they will have failed us entirely.
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— unpersoned.bsky.social (@unpersoned.bsky.social) September 5, 2026 at
5:5...
Why Does Teacher Pay Matter?
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A recent story on America’s growing teacher shortage indicates a real
problem – nearly half a million teaching positions unfilled or filled with
temporary ...
SPI Celebrates 1 Million CalKIDS Accounts
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California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond
celebrates 1 million CalKIDS accounts, highlights financial literacy in
Monterey County.
DOE presentation on their AI guidance
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The following slides were presented to the AI Moratorium Coalition steering
commitee on Sept. 1, 2026. The last slide has bullet points made up of
response...
The Light She Left Behind
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“Those we love don’t go away, they sit beside us every day.” — Liane
Moriarty, Big Little Lies Forgive us if we are a little sad here in
Tennessee. We lost...
The Great and Irreplaceable Dolly Parton
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If the state of the world has you down, here’s a reprieve, two interviews
with the great Dolly Parton. The first is my extended interview with her,
13 yea...
Who Wants a Raise?
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Everyone. And if you are a UFTer (and not a retiree), you are getting one.
But get this. A new paraprofessional is getting a raise of $803/year. Man,
do th...
SQ 844: How is this better?
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In plain terms, the new language gives the Legislature the authority to
establish both the amount and methodology for distributing ad valorem
reimbursement...
Time to change our Nation’s Diaper
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It’s time to change our nation’s diaper. Our national identity now reeks
due to our inability to clean out the mess caused by the Orange Turd.
Corruption i...
May’s Parent Engagement Resources
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San Diego Unified Created a System to ‘Empower’ Parents. It Unraveled is
from The Voice of San Diego. Why Those Disengaged Parents in Your School
Deserve a...
Reflections on America, the world, and life
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I acknowledge that I rarely post here anymore. Folks should remember that I
am approaching my 80th birthday in less than 9 weeks, I am still teaching
ful...
Il Papa è Morto
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Francis brought a distinct pastoral outlook to his papacy. A simple man, he
lived in a small apartment in the guesthouse. He sought to make the church
acce...
Whose Opinions Matter in Education World?
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It's hard to identify education heroes and sheroes. And perhaps even harder
to pinpoint just whose work is slanted, paid-for and dishonest.
I am Retiring
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I have some news: I am retiring from the PBS NewsHour and Learning Matters.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other
conte...
Big news! Steven Singer has received the Ken Goodman In Defense of Good Teaching Award!
Big news! Steven Singer has received the Ken Goodman In Defense of Good Teaching Award! Steve will go to Tucson in April for the celebration. Bravo Steve!Denny Taylor - CEO & Founder at Garn Press
Check Out Steven Singers's Gadfly on the Wall Blog -
This award was established to honor professional educators who have stood up to laws, policies, and practices in an extraordinary way and have set an example of well-grounded, humanistic, holistic education.
It is unseasonably warm here, even as some parts of the country deal with a fresh helping of winter. Either way, we've got things to read. Remember-- if the piece strikes you as an important one, go to the original location for the post or article and share it through your social media. It's all about the amplification.
Putting a Price Tag on Public Schools Wendy Lecker doesn't write enough, so this piece from the Stamford Advocate is a welcome look at the legacy and future of Eli Broad's do-it-yourself superintendent school.
3D TV Tells You Everything You Need To Know About This Decade's Tech This Wired piece isn't about education, except that it is. Tag line: "You don't need special glasses to see what it looks like when smart people run out of ideas." Tech that's all about what you want to make, while steadfastly ignoring what the users actually want.
Bernie Sanders: End High Stakes Testing This was the week that Sanders plugged that one hole in his education platform And USA Today let him write an op-ed to do it. Hoboken NJ Charter Schools Nobody is better than Jersey Jazzman for breaking down actual facts and data and rendering it all intelligible. This look at Hoboken tells us a lot about much of the charter universe.
Top Reads of 2019 I can resist a good reading list, and Nancy Flanagan has an excellent one.
John White Resigns And the indispensable Mercedes Schneider is here to tell him goodbye, and good riddance.
Mike Feinberg's New Home Feinberg was booted from KIPP over allegations of harassment and abuse, but that didn't end his career in the ed reform biz. Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat has the story. Bugs In Teachers Ears? What We Should Be Doing Instead. Yes, Nancy Flanagan again. When EdWeek trotted out bug-in-ear coaching again, lots of shade was thrown, but Flanagan is smart enough to take it a step further and ask what the answer to ear-bugging should be.
Homeowners Fed Up Up in Wisconsin, Up North News reports that taxpayers are getting tired of paying for two school systems, only one of which has any accountability.
The Rural Conundrum Coincidentally, Jennifer Berkshire was just in rural Wisconsin, where even the red parts are still voting to raise their own taxes for schools. What's going on?
A month ago, the Granite State's Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee said, "No, thanks" to an offer of $46 million from the feds to be used in doubling the number of New Hampshire charter schools from 28 to 55. The money was to come from the federal Charter School Program, a grant program that has come under fire due to a recent pair of studies showing massive waste and fraud by recipients of CSP m
It just sucks. You spend the time and effort (and maybe money) to create a lesson that you hope will be engaging and provide your students an exciting, maybe even fun, break from routine. And it bombs. More than once. Not only do your students not appreciate it, but they bitch about it. Sure, these are students who generally bitch and moan about everything (that's partly why you went an extra mile
As I've mentioned before, we have the poor fortune to live in a golden age of bad writing instruction. There are a variety of reasons for this, ranging from the rise of high-stakes testing to some less-than-wonderful traditions to the widespread discomfort with writing instruction of many classroom teachers. The last is probably the worst issue facing writing instruction. It's a curious thing; you
Back in October, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her department were fined $100,000 for contempt of court regarding their non-compliance with a court order to stop collecting loans from students bilked by a chain of fraudulent for-profit colleges. Turns out that price tag could get a little steeper. In October, the department said that, oopsies, they had continued to collect from about 16,0
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
North Carolin's 2020 Annual Charter Schools Report has caused some consternation among members of the state's Charter Schools Advisory Board (CSAB). They've seen the first draft and requested a rewrite, because, well, members of the public might become confused by the information that suggests Bad Things about North Carolina's charter industry. This is not the first time the issue has come up. Bac
Marking the new year always strikes me as a bit odd-- we draw an arbitrary line in the chronological sand, then get all excited about examining it. Humans are fun. In the meantime, this week's list is loaded with some exceptionally good readings. Remember to share the ons that speak to you. Amplifying voices i
Kenneth S. Goodman
