CURMUDGUCATION: MI: Whitmer Stands Up For Reading Sense (GLEP Opposes)

CURMUDGUCATION: MI: Whitmer Stands Up For Reading Sense (GLEP Opposes)

MI: Whitmer Stands Up For Reading Sense (GLEP Opposes)

Of all the pieces of bad, dumb, abusive policy that have come out of the ed reformster movement, one of the worst is third grade reading retention. Michigan has it, and their governor wants to get rid of it. Guess who wants to stand up for it.

Lansing in winter; much like April in Paris

How did this damn fool policy get spread across the country? Somebody half-looked at some  research and said, "Hey, there's a correlation between how well a student reads in third grade and their later success, so let's just flunk all third graders who don't pass the Big Standardized Reading Test." This is bad policy for oh so many reasons. Let me count the ways:

* It confuses correlation with causation. It's like saying "We notice that students who have larger than size 5 shoes at age 8 are taller by age 12, so let's hold everyone who has smaller shoe sizes in third grade until they get big enough. That way they'll be taller when they're age 12." No, actually, it's worse than that, because the low reading level and the lack of future success are probably both related to something else entirely and that something else is what schools should be addressing.

* It assumes that for some reason a bunch of eight year olds are slacking off and that what would CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: MI: Whitmer Stands Up For Reading Sense (GLEP Opposes)

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

TODAY

Groundhog Day Is On Feb. 2nd – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 6h

Cairomoon / Pixabay I just remembered that Groundhog Day is coming up! You might be interested in The Best Resources For Groundhog Day .

Valentine’s Day Is On February 15th – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 6h

kaboompics / Pixabay Valentine’s Day is on February 14th. You might be interested in The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day .

Stop Wasting Money - This App Finds Every Promo Code Online

by Honeysponsored

If you aren't using this tool when you shop online, you're probably wasting money.

YESTERDAY

What Do You Say To Educators Who Say They “Don’t See Race” When They Teach?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

The next question-of-the-week at my Education Week Teacher column is: What are the best ways to respond to educators who say they “don’t see race” when they teach? Feel free to leave responses in the comments section…

A Look Back: “Data-Driven” Versus “Data-Informed”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

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 . I published this post in 2009, and it received a lot of positive feedback. I later dramatically expanded on the topic in my The Best Resources Showing Why We Need To Be “Data-Informed” & Not “Data-Driven” list. Two very talented educat

Ed Tech Digest

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Eight years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2019 – PART TWO , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this

“Making Current Events Connections to Lessons”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 14h

Making Current Events Connections to Lessons is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Seven educators discuss multiple ways to bridge current events with their classroom lessons, including applying learning transfer and information-literacy strategies. Here are some excerpts:

If You Teach At A “Title 1 High School,” Your Students & You Can Now Get Free Subscriptions To The NY Times For Two Years!

by Larry Ferlazzo / 17h

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay The New York Times has offered lots of great resources to schools over the years, including The New York Times Learning Network (I’d say that even if they hadn’t published a lot of my posts – see All 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

John Thompson: An Open Letter About a New School in Oklahoma City | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: An Open Letter About a New School in Oklahoma City | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: An Open Letter About a New School in Oklahoma City

John Thompson, retired teacher and historian in Oklahoma, writes an open letter:

Open Letter to Enes Kanter

Mr. Kanter,

Thank you for your continued support of children, especially low-income and immigrant students in Oklahoma City. And thank you for your opposition to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I live halfway between Dove Academy, a part of the charter Gülen chain, and the Raindrop Turkish American Cultural Center in Oklahoma City. I’m so thankful for the multicultural contributions of immigrants to Oklahoma City.

While I’m thrilled by the contributions of past and present Thunder NBA basketball players to Oklahoma City schools, I would ask you to please reconsider your application for the Enes Kanter School for Exceptional Learning charter school (EKSEL). Rather than open another charter, which will inevitably sow divisiveness and damage neighborhood schools serving our poorest children of color, I hope you will consider a proposal along the lines of the win-win education contribution of Lebron James.

https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/former-thunder-player-seeks-to-open-charter-school-in-oklahoma-city/

The New York Times notes that the LeBron James’s I Promise School is:

Unlike other schools connected to celebrities, I Promise is not a charter school run by a private operator but a public school operated by the district. Its population is 60 CONTINUE READING: John Thompson: An Open Letter About a New School in Oklahoma City | Diane Ravitch's blog

BRUCE BAKER and PRESTON GREEN: Should plaintiffs in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling about school choice be careful what they wish for?

Religious institutions, school choice and tax credits in education

OPINION: Should plaintiffs in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling about school choice be careful what they wish for?
How the impacts of a decision on Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue could differ from expectations

Editor’s note: Montana parent Kendra Espinoza hoped a tax credit would help her pay for a private Christian school for her daughters. But her state’s constitution contains an amendment that bars taxpayer aid to religious institutions. Now, it’s all up to the U.S. Supreme Court as it decides Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. What would a decision in Espinoza’s favor really mean for school choice and public education? The Hechinger Report asked several experts to weigh in. For the perspective of the Heritage Foundation’s Jonathan Butcher, click here. Rutgers’ Bruce Baker and UConn’s Preston Green discuss the issues below.

When states choose to operate a program that involves public (or publicly governed) financing of private service providers, can the state choose to exclude religious providers?

That’s the question that Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue asks about U.S. schools.

It’s been nearly two decades since the U.S. Supreme Court said government programs that provide vouchers for schooling, including religious schools, do not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, even where most available options are religious schools.

That is, publicly financed, government-administered voucher programs that include religious schools are permissible under the CONTINUE READING: Religious institutions, school choice and tax credits in education

A Donor Named “Anonymous”: Mysterious $250,000 RNC Contributor has Close Ties to Gülen Movement - CREW

A Donor Named “Anonymous”: Mysterious $250,000 RNC Contributor has Close Ties to Gülen Movement - CREW

A DONOR NAMED “ANONYMOUS”: MYSTERIOUS $250,000 RNC CONTRIBUTOR HAS CLOSE TIES TO GÜLEN MOVEMENT

On September 4, 2018, a man named Ömer Adsız gave four large contributions to the Republican National Committee, one to the committee’s main fund and the rest to three different RNC expense accounts. In total, Adsız’s donations added up to the eyebrow-raising sum of $250,000, all given to the RNC in a single day. These contributions placed Adsız in an elite category: He is one of less than 50 donors who gave maxed-out contributions to multiple RNC accounts during the 2018 election. Given the unusual circumstances surrounding these contributions, the RNC should follow past precedent and refund the contributions or, at the least, conduct a thorough investigation into the money’s origins.

Adsız, whose surname literally means “anonymous” in Turkish, has a very unusual profile for such a large political donor. Prior to these donations, he did not have a history of making any major political contributions. His source of income was unclear at the time he gave the money, having left his most recent publicly known job in 2016. Instead, in statements filed with the Federal Election Commission in 2018, Adsız listed himself as the president and founder of a mysterious limited liability corporation with no publicly traceable record of commercial activities.

Adsız does have one notable connection to a monied interest, however: He is a longtime associate of the Gülen movement, a political and religious network led by exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, who has been accused of plotting to overthrow the Turkish government. While it’s not clear whether Adsiz’s Gülenist ties were the impetus for his sudden political generosity, he adds to a growing trend, reported on by CREW and others, of individuals with deep foreign ties who appear to be ramping up their involvement in politics via large, first-time political contributions made during the Trump administration.

A LONGTIME GÜLEN AFFILIATE

Who is Ömer Adsız? Publicly available information paints a fairly comprehensive picture. According to one biographical web page, Adsız was born in Turkey in 1979. After going to school in Turkey, he pursued his postgraduate education in the United States, receiving masters’ CONTINUE READING: A Donor Named “Anonymous”: Mysterious $250,000 RNC Contributor has Close Ties to Gülen Movement - CREW

SCCTE 2020: Teaching Writing as a Journey, Not Destination (F.9, Saturday February 1, 8:30-9:15 am) – radical eyes for equity

SCCTE 2020: Teaching Writing as a Journey, Not Destination (F.9, Saturday February 1, 8:30-9:15 am) – radical eyes for equity

SCCTE 2020: Teaching Writing as a Journey, Not Destination (F.9, Saturday February 1, 8:30-9:15 am)

SCCTE

SCCTE Schedule

Embassy Suites Conference Center

Myrtle Beach, SC

Fri, Jan 31, 2020, 8:00 AM –Sat, Feb 1, 2020, 1:30 PM

Session F.9, Saturday February 1, 8:30-9:15 am

PowerPoint available HERE

See Also

Teaching Writing as Journey, Not Destination

SCCTE 2020: Teaching Writing as a Journey, Not Destination (F.9, Saturday February 1, 8:30-9:15 am) – radical eyes for equity

Bob Shepherd Reviews Annie Murphy Paul’s Review of SLAYING GOLIATH in the “New York Times“ | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bob Shepherd Reviews Annie Murphy Paul’s Review of SLAYING GOLIATH in the “New York Times“ | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bob Shepherd Reviews Annie Murphy Paul’s Review of SLAYING GOLIATH in the “New York Times“

Bob Shepherd has worked as an editor, author, assessment developer, curriculum writer, and most recently a classroom teacher in Florida.

In this post, he reviews the review of my book SLAYING GOLIATH, which was written by journalist Annie Murphy Paul and published in the New York Times Book Review.

To summarize, he thought the review was uninformed and mean-spirited.

He writes:

On January 21, 2020, Annie Murphy Paul’s “review” of Diane Ravitch’s Slaying Goliathappeared in The New York Times. Being reviewed in the Times is a big deal.  Such a review affects public opinion and sales. That’s why a hatchet job done on a truly important book is truly irresponsible.

In her new book, education historian Ravitch presents a recent history of the popular resistance to an “Education Reform Movement” led by billionaires interested in

• privatizing U.S. PreK-12 education via charter schools and vouchers,
• foisting upon the country a single set of national “standards,”
• busting teachers’ unions,
• selling depersonalized education software, and
• evaluating students, teachers, and schools based on high-stakes standardized tests.

Here’s Ms. Paul’s opening salvo:

“She came. She saw. She conquered.”

This opening is, of course, an allusion to the boast about his role in the Gallic Wars attributed to Julius Caesar by Appian, Plutarch, and Suetonius—Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered). Caesar’s is doubtless the most famous boast in Western history, and the allusion is meant to be deflating. Technically, the term for what Ms. Paul is attempting here is bathos, a powerful rhetorical technique in which one plunges from the sublime into the ridiculous. She means to ridicule Ravitch as someone who sees herself as the great conqueror of the “Reform CONTINUE READING: Bob Shepherd Reviews Annie Murphy Paul’s Review of SLAYING GOLIATH in the “New York Times“ | Diane Ravitch's blog