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Monday, September 21, 2020

One Billion Dollars for Black Girls. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

One Billion Dollars for Black Girls. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

One Billion Dollars for Black Girls


Philanthropy isn’t known for being a quick and nimble sector. When change does come it’s the result of long and dedicated work by those in the field and their funder allies. From our founding, Schott has pushed philanthropy to adopt a race and gender equity framework, and a new generation of advocates and funders are joining a growing chorus.
In that spirit, this week a new fund was launched with an audacious goal. The Black Girl Freedom Fund is raising one billion dollars over the next ten years to address the myriad of interconnected problems facing Black girls and young women. As the fund’s open letter puts it:
We, Black women, and Femmes activists, artists, educators, organizers, and philanthropists, have come together at the historic time to call attention to the fact that Black girls in the United States are in crisis. From discrimination in education and healthcare to sexual assault and policing, the lives and livelihoods of Black girls and young women are notably absent in the public narratives, policies, and justice movements most crucial to addressing inequality and racial trauma.
Central to Schott’s work and perspective is the understanding that the most disadvantaged people live at the intersections of multiple overlapping oppressions and that support and solutions must be tailored to the specific experiences of those most affected by injustice. That’s why we originally lifted up the crisis facing Black male students, and why we have supported research and advocacy for girls of color, like the Black Girls Matter report and Girls for Gender Equity.
Schott joins the Black Girl Freedom Fund’s call for donors, large and small, to step up and “robustly invest in Black girls and CONTINUE READING: One Billion Dollars for Black Girls. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

"Unintended" Messaging About Black (Male) Teachers - Philly's 7th Ward

"Unintended" Messaging About Black (Male) Teachers - Philly's 7th Ward

“UNINTENDED” MESSAGING ABOUT BLACK (MALE) TEACHERS




Teachers who establish meaningful relationships with their students should be celebrated and modeled after. However, social media has a way of turning any narrative on its head; making teachers overnight sensations for sharing complex handshakes with their students.
Inventing customary handshakes for each student doesn’t make a teacher great, however I get the point of all the hype; if a teacher cares enough to have a special handshake with each student, it says something about their attention to detail and care for each kid. It also says something about establishing solidarity with students.
Barry White Jr., a fifth-grade teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina, was a Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James fan. He began doing handshakes with his students because he wanted to bring to his class the same bond and closeness shared on the Cavs at the time to his students. David Jamison, a fifth-grade teacher in Memphis, Tennessee, memorized 75 different handshakes with his students. Like White, Jamison sought to create a stronger bond with his students.
His efforts, and the response received on social media earned Jamison with an appearance on Good Morning America.  
It must be said that both White and Jamison are Black men. It matters CONTINUE READING: "Unintended" Messaging About Black (Male) Teachers - Philly's 7th Ward

What Does A “Safe Return” To School Look Like? - PopularResistance.Org

What Does A “Safe Return” To School Look Like? - PopularResistance.Org

WHAT DOES A “SAFE RETURN” TO SCHOOL LOOK LIKE?




Ask Teacher Unions.

Powerful elites are willing to sacrifice the lives and futures of millions to feed their own profits. Teachers are fighting back.
Demands for stu­dents and edu­ca­tors to return to in-per­son school­ing dur­ing the pan­dem­ic are com­ing from Democ­rats and Repub­li­cans, both claim­ing the return is nec­es­sary not just to pro­vide high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion, but to save the econ­o­my and get par­ents back to work. The nar­ra­tive con­scious­ly exploits the needs of par­ents who may not have health­care and who rely on pub­lic schools to care for and edu­cate their chil­dren while they work. It pits par­ents, stu­dents, teach­ers and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers against one anoth­er, using (or ignor­ing) sci­en­tif­ic data to suit the polit­i­cal pur­pose of mon­eyed inter­ests — the bipar­ti­san project of destroy­ing pub­lic schools.
When Edu­ca­tion Sec­re­tary Bet­sy DeVos tweets that par­ents need real options for edu­ca­tion this fall” and #School­ChoiceNow — with­out pro­vid­ing the equip­ment, con­di­tions or funds need­ed to make schools safe — the real mes­sage is clear. The Right is using the push to reopen as a way to inten­si­fy the pri­va­ti­za­tion and mar­ke­ti­za­tion of edu­ca­tion, boost prof­its in the edu­ca­tion­al tech­nol­o­gy sec­tor and erode trust in pub­lic schools.
In response, teach­ers’ labor activism — wide­spread and robust in recent years — con­tin­ues to emerge. Teach­ers orga­niz­ing on social media have cam­paigned for var­i­ous sci­en­tif­ic stan­dards to trig­ger reopen­ing; #14DaysNoNewCases, for exam­ple, demands that cam­pus­es only reopen after going two weeks with­out CONTINUE READING: What Does A “Safe Return” To School Look Like? - PopularResistance.Org

Ed Notes Online: NYC District 14 Demands Safe Schools/Remote Learning (9/16/2020) - Video by Darren Marelli

Ed Notes Online: NYC District 14 Demands Safe Schools/Remote Learning (9/16/2020) - Video by Darren Marelli
NYC District 14 Demands Safe Schools/Remote Learning (9/16/2020) - Video by Darren Marelli




Highlights from the community gathering outside District 14 Superintendent, Alicja Winnicki's, office Thursday demanding the maintenance of an all remote/ start for NYC schools.
I used to go into Winnicki's classroom for tech support in the early 2000s. She's been supt for a long time back to the Bloomberg era -- a decade I think. I'm sure she is not happy about parents pushing back. Most interesting to me is that the head of CEC 14 (local board) seems to be one of the leaders -- I know how hard people at the top work to keep parents at the school and district level in line. The rage against Carranza and DeBlasio's leadership of NYC schools is very similar to the rage expressed when Bloomberg and Klein's were in charge.

NANCY BAILEY: 3rd Grade Reading Laws Are Harmful

3rd Grade Reading Laws Are Harmful

3rd Grade Reading Laws Are Harmful




By Stefanie Rysdahl Fuhr
Many states insist that students read by third grade. If students have difficulties they might be retained. Students might master reading later. They should not be punished if they aren’t reading perfectly in third grade.
Last spring I sent this letter to my state legislators.  Feel free to use it as a template for your legislators.
____________
Dear Senator XXXXX OR Representative XXXXX,
As a constituent, I urge you to repeal Read Well by 3rd Grade legislation. This law is forcing children to read in kindergarten and to be tested on some arbitrary level using inappropriate and even false reading assessments. This is hurting the children who are our future leaders. Everyone can recognize the absurdity of expecting all children to crawl at a certain age. Likewise, experts tell us that labeling children as deficient before they are developmentally ready to read is extremely harmful. Experts tell us that the average age a child learns to read is 7. Some read earlier and some read later. Please look at this research.
In Finland, where teens score at the top of international reading tests, children don’t start school until age 7 because lawmakers, drawing on the wisdom of experts, understand that many younger kids have not reached the developmental maturity for the more focused structure that we in Minnesota are imposing on younger and younger children. Forcing our children to read before they are developmentally ready is causing them to be falsely labeled as deficient.
Finland also knows that education is local. They respect the expertise and knowledge of local teachers.
National Education Policy Center and Education Deans for Justice recently posted this policy statement, “The Science of Reading,” which provides legislators with proven policies:
I ask you to look to such proven policies instead of legislation that promotes a narrowed CONTINUE READING: 3rd Grade Reading Laws Are Harmful

Teacher Tom: In Search of Something Good and True

Teacher Tom: In Search of Something Good and True

In Search of Something Good and True



"Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don't be afraid of life. How good life is when one does something good and true!" ~Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Here in the US, we are in the run up to what many of us consider to be the most pivotal political moment of our lifetimes. Of course, only future generations will be able to tell us whether that's true or not. It could be that the last Presidential election was the most consequential or perhaps we'll find that it's one to come, but nevertheless it feels like more Americans than ever are taking the democratic process more seriously than ever before. We are reading and thinking and arguing. The election dominates the news and dinner table conversations. 

Looked at one way, this is how our democracy is designed to work. It is designed for two political parties. It is designed for average people talking among themselves. It is a system of self-governance that relies upon all of us engaging with one another in the project of self-governance. Looked at another way, of course, it's not working at all. The idea is that an educated populace would, through it collective voice, create the best possible governance through a process of civilized public debate and compromise, but when we look around we see little but anger, enmity, and strife.

Like most human "systems" it looks better on paper. One of the characteristics of any of our systems is that our human brain, for better or worse, has evolved to believe itself. It CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: In Search of Something Good and True

Trump Fans Racism As He Rages Against Public High School History and Government Teachers | janresseger

Trump Fans Racism As He Rages Against Public High School History and Government Teachers | janresseger

Trump Fans Racism As He Rages Against Public High School History and Government Teachers




Last Thursday, President Donald Trump spoke at an event celebrating the anniversary of the signing of of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787.  Trump tried to turn the Constitution Day event held at the National Archives into a celebration of whitewashed American exceptionalism and an attack on how educators in our public schools teach history and government.
The Washington Post‘s Moriah Balingit and Laura Meckler cover the speech: “Trump, speaking before original copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence… characterized demonstrations against racial injustice as ‘left-wing rioting and mayhem’ that ‘are the direct result of decades of left-wing indoctrination in our schools’… As he campaigns for reelection, Trump has repeatedly cast education that examines the nation’s failures as a betrayal, seeking to rally his base and tap into hostility toward protesters who have taken to the streets to denounce racial injustice and police brutality. His argument casts any criticism of the United States, even of slavery, as unpatriotic… Trump’s gambit seeks to turn local schools—already beset by a global pandemic and many other problems—into another front in the culture war he champions, positioning history teachers as opponents of American greatness along with kneeling football players, police misconduct protesters and racial-sensitivity trainers.”
Education Week’s Andrew Ujifusa reports that on Thursday, Trump specifically attacked something called the 1619 Project, a curriculum developed by Nikole Hannah-Jones of the NY Times and the Pulitzer Center: “Earlier this month, he threatened to pull federal funding from schools that use the 1619 Project as a basis for classroom curriculum—however, Trump lacks the legal authority to do this. The Every Student Succeeds Act prohibits the federal government from endorsing or sanctioning schools for using a particular curriculum. On Thursday, the president also used his speech to announce that he would create the ‘1776 CONTINUE READING: Trump Fans Racism As He Rages Against Public High School History and Government Teachers | janresseger

More on Ventilation | JD2718

More on Ventilation | JD2718

More on Ventilation




I met a ventilation expert Thursday, and another Saturday

Expert I

I brought a ventilation expert to my school. Thursday. He, and his student, and me, the principal, and a member of my consultation committee walked through a whole bunch of spaces. They brought instruments to measure airflow, not streamers or toilet paper. They measured, observed, took notes. And they made recommendations for needed repairs, for filter inspection cycles. And they made recommendations for occupancy once MERV-13 filters are installed, and them made recommendations for occupancy before MERV-13 are installed. (Differences involved position of occupants, opening windows and doors, spaces to leave empty, where to position purifiers, etc). Based on these recommendations we feel far better.
Also, they explained some of the science. That also helps. I learned about vents and returns, and CFM and humidity and temperature, and air exchanges, and even about crack calculations. They talked about pressure differences, which reminded me of discussions of potential and voltage in high school physics. I was curious about how the air actually moved, and the expert described the shape of the flow, and where actual boundaries formed. His student quietly told me that he wished there was a way to make the air temporarily visible, so we could actually watch the movement.
That reminded me of a project I proposed decades ago. I was in my second year of high school physics, and after studying some simple wave patterns on drumheads with some neat ideas about visualizing them, we talked briefly about fluid flow (It’s complicated). I thought I might visualize some simple kinds of flow, and we discussed taking a small tank and using crystal of a magnesium salt that would CONTINUE READING: More on Ventilation | JD2718

California Plutocrat Education Election Spending | tultican

California Plutocrat Education Election Spending | tultican

California Plutocrat Education Election Spending





By Thomas Ultican 9/20/2020
Unlike 2018, fewer of the wealthy class appear to be spending so freely to control California school policy, but their spending still dominates campaign spending. Large amounts of money are being spent in an attempt to regain political control of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and there appears to be a concentration of money directed at key county school boards. They are also spending liberally on California state senate and assembly races.
Little Sis Map of Plutocrat Spending for Independent Expenditures
In this election cycle, the three PACs mapped in yellow appear to be the main conduit for billionaire money going to independent expenditures. These expenditures are unlimited as long as no coordination can be shown with a candidate’s campaign. The wealthy real estate developer from Manhattan Beach, California, William E. Bloomfield is pouring his money directly into private campaign companies normally hired by the PACs to produce their media and campaign mailings. The Campaign Company Group shown above is a fictitious company showing the total funding Bloomfield has spent with seven different companies to produce campaign materials for candidates he supports or opposes.

The Battle for LA

LAUSD is by far the largest school district in California and nationally it is second in size only to the New York City School District. Since the introduction of charter schools in the 1990s, LAUSD has become approximately 20% CONTINUE READING: California Plutocrat Education Election Spending | tultican

CURMUDGUCATION: Will China Help Pay For Trump's History Project

CURMUDGUCATION: Will China Help Pay For Trump's History Project

Will China Help Pay For Trump's History Project




This, believe it or not, is about the deal involving social media sensation, Tik Tok.
At first, the whole Tik Tok business looked like a basic old-fashioned shakedown. "That's a nice little tech biz you have there," said Trump. "Be a shame if anything happened to it." Okay, not really that subtle-- it was more along the lines of "I'm going to ban your business unless you give my buddies a cut."

Tik Tok is not an angelic app without issues; security experts have been saying for a while now that the app is just Chinese spyware with a video feature, collecting data for China. Trump said he would shut down the app unless a piece was sold to a US company. So Oracle, run by Trump buddy Larry Ellison, and Walmart, under CEO and Trump supporter Doug McMillon, have set up a deal to get a piece of Tik Tok action. ByteDance, the company behind the app, would transfer control to a new entity in which ByteDance still held 80%, and Walmart and Oracle had their piece of the action.

Trump gave his blessing, but threw in a surprise announcement--the new company is going to hand over $5 billion to help fund his super-duper patriotic American history project. This was news to some of the partners, but you know what they say--shaken down for a penny, shaken down for a pound.

Trump's grand history project, in which US students will, well, something:

We will stop the radical indoctrination of our students and restore patriotic education to our CONTINUE READING: 
CURMUDGUCATION: Will China Help Pay For Trump's History Project

Jose Interviews Mr. Vilson, Part 5: Now, It's Every Classroom | The Jose Vilson

Jose Interviews Mr. Vilson, Part 5: Now, It's Every Classroom | The Jose Vilson

JOSE INTERVIEWS MR. VILSON, PART 5: NOW, IT’S EVERY CLASSROOM




Jose: So!
Mr. Vilson: So.
J: So …
MV: Awkward, isn’t it?
J: Right. So … what would you like to tell everyone about this moment?
MV: Well, I’ve officially resigned from the NYC Department of Education. It wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the choice presented. I applied for study leave and they rejected it, so it was only a matter of time. It’s fine. This felt inevitable given that I got a full scholarship to “King’s College …”
J: Another Hamilton reference.
MV: I do that.
J: But why here? Why now?
MV: Contrary to what people might think, it wasn’t due to COVID. I would have loved to step into a fight like this. Let me remind you that we’ve taught during several emergencies. There wasn’t a fight I wasn’t willing to break up, a stairwell I wasn’t willing to clear out, a student I wasn’t willing to  CONTINUE READING: Jose Interviews Mr. Vilson, Part 5: Now, It's Every Classroom | The Jose Vilson

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the 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


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

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/09/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_19.html


How Could I Have Not Known That Google Offers Free A.I. Powered Feedback On The Pronunciation Of Any Word?
I wanted to confirm today that I was pronouncing the word “hubris” correctly (why I wanted to say that word is a topic for another blog post). So, I searched “How do you pronounce hubris?” And something like what you see in the image at the top of this blog post appeared. You can click on the audio to hear it – at regular speed or slow. AND you can record yourself saying the word and it will give
New Study Finds That Teacher Leadership Results In Improved Learning For Students
TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay Echoing previous studies highlighted in The Best Posts, Articles & Videos On “Teacher Leadership” — Contribute More! , a new study, The association between teacher leadership and student achievement: A meta-analysis , finds that teacher leadership results in increased student learning: Teacher leadership has a small positive relationship with student achievement (r = .1
Ed Tech Digest
Nine 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 2020 – PART ONE , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this w
Everything You Wanted To Know About Art (& Creating It Online) But Were Afraid To Ask
Skitterphoto / Pixabay I have over 2,100 frequently revised and updated “Best” lists on just about every subject imaginable, and you can find them listed three different ways in three different places (see Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists ). I’m starting to publish a series where each day I will highlight the “Best” lists in a separate category. Today, it’s on Art: The B
Two Intriguing Articles About Innovative Voter Turn-Out Strategies
geralt / Pixabay There will be a lot of class lessons over the next six weeks on the elections. I’ve previously posted about innovative (to some campaign operatives, but not to community organizers) strategies to persuade voters (see No Surprise To Organizers: Two-Way Conversation More Successful Than One-Way Communication In Changing ). Here are a couple of new articles about similarly “innovati
Monday’s Must-Read Articles & Must-Watch Videos About School Reopening
mohamed_hassan / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : With COVID-19 complicating enrollment counts, public schools brace for impact on funding is from USA Today. How One District Got Its Students Back Into Classrooms is from The NY Times. Running a Virtual School on Chicago’s West Side is from The New Yorker. Families face the deman
“Movies That Can Teach the Teachers”
Movies That Can Teach the Teachers is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four educators share movies or shows that have helped them become betters, including the importance of nurturing students’ passions and lifting up student voice. Here are some excerpts:
“Speaky Reads” Looks Like A Nice New Site For ELLS & Other Language Learners
Speaky Reads looks like a very useful site for language learners, and it’s free – for now (it looks like they might charge in the future. It has a library that appears for now to be comprised of literature in the public domain (hopefully,