For Book Banners, It's Never Enough
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Fans of reading restrictions like to point at the most extreme cases, books
with graphic depictions of sex acts. And there's no doubt that there are
some w...
MEMES THAT MADE ME LAUGH TODAY 12-8
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*MEMES THAT MADE ME LAUGH TODAY 12-8*
Big Education Ape: THE FREE PRESS IS NO LONGER FREE: A TALE OF
BILLIONAIRES, PAYWAL...
Outside My Kitchen Window
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If you live in North America, chances are you might live near a Cooper’s
Hawk. You might be lucky enough to spot a Cooper’s Hawk darting through
trees...
“Science” as Bad Faith Bullying
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[Header Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash] The more things change, the more
things stay the same. Especially in America. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The
Great Ga...
Around the Public Education Horn
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[image: Image]
Look what's on the DOGE Dopey Boys list, *Head Start and Pell Grants.* I
would bet they get rid of some of the Department of Education in...
Gifts of Christmas Past
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In a holiday-themed archetype of legislative overreach, Alabama passed an
ethics law back in 2011, forbidding K-12 school teachers from accepting
expensive...
Trump and McMahon’s America First Agenda
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Linda McMahon, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, is Board Chair
of America First, which has an agenda for K-12 schools. It is filled with a
sub...
Building Community Amid Uncertain Doom
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Over the last few weeks, I’ve had good opportunities to be “in community.”
One of those opportunities happened at The Cutting Room, where School of
...
...
SPI Leads Effort to Protect U.S. Education Dept.
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State Superintendent Tony Thurmond meets with members of Congress, leading
effort across states to protect the United States Department of Education.
1798
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Year 1798
__________
Three alien acts gave the president the power “without trial or even a
statement of his reasons, to banish foreigners from the ...
Billionaire Sponsored Malarkey from Education Trust
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By Thomas Ultican 12/3/2024 Education Trust (aka EdTrust), using what it
calls equity analysis, critiqued various states’ Every Student Succeeds Act
(ESSA)...
Peace at the Thanksgiving Dinner Table
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I was concerned about having Thanksgiving with family because I did not
want to get into heated political discussions about the 2024 presidential
election....
Education Has Failed and What Can We Do Next?
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Education has failed to prepare children for the world today. Despite the
increased investment, impactful reforms, hardworking teachers and school
leaders,...
Defining Productivity, Cost, and Efficiency
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Recycled material here… The central problem with US public schools is often
characterized as an efficiency problem. We spend a lot and don’t get much
for i...
November Parent Engagement Resources
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Greeting a family in their preferred language is a small gesture that
demonstrates respect and eagerness to connect with parents. Creating a
Welcoming Envi...
An Apology
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I want to apologize for not responding personally to those who shared their
views on last week’s blog post, my analysis of why the Democrats lost.
I’ve be...
¡Si, ganamos!
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En victorias desde la Carolinia del Norte hacia el Estado de Washington y
Maine, encontramos la evidencia que cuando nos organizamos, ganamos.
Siempre encu...
A message from Quaker Meeting for Worship
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the branch of Society of Friends to which I belong is unprogrammed, we have
no designated ministers. Anyone who feels moved by the Spirit is free to
rise...
Try Substack?
-
Seems like the popular new thing. Here’s my first try – it’s about
yesterday’s UFT Retired Teachers Chapter meeting – first ever not run by
Unity. (Spoiler...
Number 18 — A barely-hanging-on Blogoversary
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Blogoversary #18 SEPTEMBER 14, 2006 I started this blog while I was still
teaching, in 2006. I had just begun my 31st year as an educator. Just like
in pre...
Student "Growth" Measures Are STILL Biased
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This caught my attention:
New Jersey school districts may soon be evaluated differently, *with a
greater emphasis on student growth* as compared to stud...
AIN’T IT AWFUL
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As the terrible feelings of dread and angst spread across the world the
great majority of the American people feel powerless before the onslaught
of those ...
15 Questions for the Candidates
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Those citizens who fantasize about defying tyranny from within fortified
compounds have never understood how liberty is actually threatened in a
modern bur...
We are making a CPESS documentary!
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In 2020, I was approached by Deborah Meier and Jane Andrais and I decided
we should document the story of Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS).
This ...
The Sky is Falling, or is it?
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Well, this is the first anniversary of the introduction of Generative AI in
the form of ChatGPT to the world of education. Before it was a week old,
over o...
Vote NO on the UFT Contract. Here is Why:
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The best reason to vote no on this contract is this: UFT Unity* lied* to us
in 2018. They misrepresented that contract. It was predicated on deals we
wer...
Metaphors in ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech
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In this article, we will explore the powerful use of metaphors in Martin
Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” ...
Read more
Testimony to the CPS Truancy Task Force
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I prepared testimony for one of two public hearings held by the Chicago
Public Schools Truancy Task Force, a body mandated by state legislation.
The meetin...
Skin Deep
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She spends so much time on her outward appearance. There is never a hair
out of place. Her makeup is perfect and her clothes are stylish and match
to ...
There Is A Teacher Shortage.Not.
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THERE IS A TEACHER SHORTAGE. And just to be sure you understand, it’s not
that teachers don’t want to teach. It’s not that there aren’t enough
teachers cer...
THERE IS A TEACHER SHORTAGE. NOT!
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There is a teacher shortage.And just to be sure you understand, it's not
that teachers don't want to teach.It's not that there aren't enough
teachers certi...
Abortion: Only For Those Who Need It!
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NOTE: This post contains my opinions on Catholicism based on my experiences
as a child in the 1960's and 70's. Take what you like and leave the rest. I
m...
Book Banning Turns to Dick and Jane
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Breaking News: Dateline February 4, 2022 - Parents in Dimwitty, Alabama
have asked the Dimwitty Board of Education to ban the children's primer *Fun
with...
On the Edge of Silence
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“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.
Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the
fundamen...
Have You Heard Has a New Website
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TweetHave You Heard has a new website. Visit us at
www.haveyouheardpodcast.com to find our latest episodes and our entire
archive. And be sure to check out...
Follow me at Substack
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I've moved. Follow me at Substack
I'm now posting regularly at Substack. You can subscribe for free to my new
Edu/Pol blog at michaelklonsky.substack.com
...
Aspiring Teachers Get New Help Paying For College
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[image: colorful classroom pattern]
*; Credit: shuoshu/Getty Images*
Cory Turner | NPR
New rules kick in today that will help aspiring teachers pay for c...
Tips Akses Situs Judi Qq Tanpa Perlu Takut Nawala
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Kegiatan berjudi slot melalui situs judi qq online, sekarang sudah
dilakukan oleh banyak penjudi Indonesia. Tentu, Kamu yang sedang membaca
artikel ini a...
GA run-offs need your help!
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Extremely important. Volunteer if you can. Thank you if you are already
doing so. Out of state opportunities here: Ralph …
Continue reading →
The Threat of Integration
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I have lived in the same house in the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles
for over 30 years, where up until now I have had little or no interaction
with th...
We fight for a democracy worthy of us all!
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The nation stands at a crossroads, said NEA President Lily Eskelsen GarcÃa
in her final keynote address to the 2020 NEA Representative Assembly and
it’s up...
The Passing Of Chaz 1951-2020 Age 69
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I am the son of Chaz and like to inform you that he passed away this
afternoon from the COVID virus. My father passed in peace beside his loved
ones. We ar...
Thoughts on schooling in the era of COVID-19
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Well, a whole lot has changed since I returned to blogging a month and half
ago. In case you didn't notice, and I'm sure everyone reading this did,
there's...
NAEP scores and "the science of reading"
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*Sent to US News. They just informed me that they no longer publish
letters to the editor. *
*Re: “National reading emergency” November 12*
*[https://www...
Poverty vs District School Performance
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This ranking lists all Louisiana school systems and certain individual
schools in order of increasing poverty. The table includes the district
performanc...
2019 NAEP Scores: Achievement Gap or …?
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Here you go: A ‘Disturbing’ Assessment: Sagging Reading Scores,
Particularly for Eighth-Graders, Headline 2019’s Disappointing NAEP Results
NAEP 2019: Re...
Cara Menang Bermain Judi Bola Online
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Bermain judi bola online tentu saja memiliki kesenangannya tersendiri baik
itu mendapatkan keuntungan maupun ketika menantikan hasil skor pada sebuah
perta...
A Storm is Coming! (…again)
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A new Commissioner will have as much impact on our state ed system as a new
meteorologist will have on …
Continue reading →
The World According to Michelle Rhee
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The men behind the curtain fashioning the brave new world of corporate run
education in America! Michelle Rhee is the founder of StudentsFirst, The
New T...
Blockchain: Life on the Ledger
-
Originally posted on Wrench in the Gears:
I created this video as a follow up to the one I prepared last year on
Social Impact Bonds. It is time to examine...
New Local Businesses in Sacramento
-
Starting a new local business in Sacramento is a monumental task, but can
be accomplished with footwork, perseverance and knowledge. One must learn
the loc...
3rd Grade Reading: Who is Failing?
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Education Trust Midwest has just released its study on third grade reading
and, predictably, the results aren’t great. This study uniquely compares
Michiga...
Opting out of the Dinosaur (end of year test)
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Today I sent in a second letter to refuse PARCC/CMAS for my son, Luke. The
first email I sent at the beginning of the year was not sufficient as they
requi...
Resurrection
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I realized it's Lent, but this blog, bless Jesus Christ, can't wait.
Ok, so with that said, I plan to discuss Class Action suits in existence,
as well as w...
IDEA Is Still The Law Of The Land
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Unless you've been living under a rock, you know the US Department of
Education (USDOE) rescinded 72 Dear Colleague and other letters of
explanation to ...
Education Is a Civic Question
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In their final post to end Bridging Differences' decade-long run, Deborah
Meier and Harry Boyte urge readers to put the energy, talents, wisdom, and
hard w...
Site News: New Home for Education News & Commentary
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Quick! Get over there! The daily education news roundup and education
commentaries that you're probably looking for are now being published over
at The Gra...
An Open Letter to NC Lawmakers
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An Open Letter to NC State Lawmakers and NC State Superintendent Mark
Johnson: I am a NC native, voter, and public school teacher. I am
addressing you all ...
The Secret to Fixing Schools (My Next Bestseller)
-
The Secret to Fixing Schools (My next bestseller) Prologue I just finished
watching a fascinating documentary on Netflix entitled, “The Secret”. The
film p...
Farewell, Sleep
-
Today is the official last day of my spring break. I've done a scientific
survey: My natural bedtime is 2 AM, and my natural wake up time is 9:41
AM. Tom...
Capturing the Spark
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It’s been a long time since InterACT was an active education blog, though I
remain quite proud of what we did here. Those of us who wrote blog posts
here h...
Random Musings and Observations. . . .
-
I’ve been gone a while from the blogging scene. Some of my more regular
readers no doubt noticed but did not hassle me about it. Thank you for
that. Sinc...
MY NEW BLOG
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My new blog will consist of fictitious headlines, meant to be a blend of
humor and satire. I apologize ahead of time if any other satirical site has
simila...
Dear White Educators
-
Dear White Educators,
I struggle with you. I struggle with me. I struggle with how, if, and when
to write us this letter. There is no perfect time, no per...
Thank you
-
Dear Readers,
Thank you for visiting *The Perimeter Primate*. This blog is being retired
for the time being. Although I no longer post here, I do still s...
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...
Flaws at the Heart of Current Education Reforms
-
Originally posted on Creative by Nature:
“Teaching is an art form rooted in the wise and careful use of educational
research and assessment tools. When gove...
The MAP Test
-
Teachers will be voting this afternoon on the contract that has been
tentatively agreed upon. I am asking all teachers to not allow an
evaluation system th...
My friends remember, vividly, waking up after Election Day in 2016. The shock. Their personal emotions, from disbelief to outrage, the sense of betrayal. Who voted this racist, sexist joker in? What can we do?
What was born that day, and later refined, by a vast web of progressive people, media and organizations, has been a big driver of my life for the last four years, beginning with the Women’s March in January of 2017. The Trump presidency daily impacts my beliefs and my actions—so much worrying about the country I love. Maybe it’s the retired teacher in me, but I want to help. I want to live in a more just and peaceful world.
I would have sworn, until yesterday, that all that Indivisble-ing and anti-gerrymandering and election challenging was going well in my state and in the country, in general. The Democratic listening tour, the inspired improvised campaigning during a pandemic, the fact that our candidate was mainstream and inoffensive—it all felt like it was going someplace.
A better place.
I’m writing on Thursday morning, so the election is No Sure Thing, although there’s reason to hope, and to be glad that Michigan shifted roughly 80,000 ballots—a paltry amount– in the right direction over four years. There may be other very modest but CONTINUE READING: In Some Ways, This is Worse than 2016 | Teacher in a strange land
Pastors for Texas Children on the Election Results
The Network for Public Education is allied with Pastors for Texas Children. PTC has been a courageous leader in the fight for our public schools and against privatization.
The leader of PTC wrote the following statement:
Statement from Reverend Charles Foster Johnson on the 2020 Elections
Pastors for Texas Children extends a hearty congratulations to all those elected and re-elected to serve our children in the 87th Texas Legislature! Both incumbents and challengers fought hard and often confrontational, contentious campaigns that produced untold stress on them and their families. This is the messy price we pay for open and free elections, and we honor all candidates for serving the public in this important and sacrificial way. We have held every candidate in our prayers, and will continue to do so. We note with profound gratification the emphasis on public education in this electoral cycle. Virtually every incumbent and challenger ran on a strong public education platform. It is clear that the people of Texas want their House of Representatives to be fully affirming of great public schools for all 5.4 million Texas children, promote policies that protect and provide for them, and oppose policies that harm them. It is crystal clear what public education support means:
*Opposition to any voucher proposal, regardless of its name, that diverts funding away from our neighborhood public schools to underwrite private and home schools.
Support for budget plans that adequately fund our children’s public education, for a comprehensive study that determines what that education actually costs in current dollars, and for new sources of state revenue to sustain HB3.
Opposition to charter school expansion that drains money away from public schools.
Support for charter school transparency and accountability.
Opposition to burdensome standardized testing that teachers and parents clearly abhor.
Support for teacher authority and compensation.
We will be working closely with all 150 House members and 31 Senate members to make sure these promises are put into action in the 87th Legislature.
Universal education, provided and protected by the public, is an expression of God’s Common Good as well as a Texas constitutional mandate. Our children are counting on us all to advocate for it.
Questions and Answers relating to the Nationwide Waiver to allow Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option Operations during School Year 2020-2021.
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond announces Education to End Hate grant recipients and dates for first three virtual classrooms.
SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today announced that the California Department of Education (CDE) has selected recipients of mini grants totaling nearly $200,0000 that will fund educator trainings across the state to combat hate, bigotry, racism, and other forms of bias or prejudice in schools as part of the Education to End Hate initiative.
More than 300 schools and districts across California applied for the grants funded by a contribution from philanthropic partner, the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. Topics addressed by the first round of grantees include anti-racist pedagogy, implicit bias and its impact on students and families, privilege and systems of oppression, improving coursework on California and Native American Studies, and more.
“The overwhelming response to this grant program speaks volumes: California’s educators are more committed than ever to educational equity through the creation of safe, inclusive learning environments for all students, and they are hungry for more training and tools,” Thurmond said. “Congratulations to these school districts for showing their communities that education has the power to make meaningful, lasting change.”
The State Superintendent launched the Education to End Hate Initiative in September as a multifaceted effort to confront incidents of hate, bigotry, and racism rising across the state and nation, including anti-Semitic behavior, bullying of Asian American students, Islamophobia, LGBTQ discrimination, and violence directed at historically marginalized and oppressed peoples.
The first round of Education to End Hate mini grant recipients are:
Eureka City Schools - $20,000
Lucia Mar Unified School District - $14,600
Madera Unified School District - $19,999
Mountain Empire Unified School District - $15,000
Ojai Unified School District - $20,000
Petaluma City Schools District - $20,000
San Lorenzo Unified School District - $20,000
Union Elementary School District - $20,000
Willits Elementary Charter School $6,200
Wright Elementary School District - $20,000
Grant recipients indicated they are seeking workshops and training opportunities for both staff and teachers. Some applicants also indicated providing opportunities to students and parents. Recipients noted that training and professional development would support the improvement or development of curriculum and address systemic problems in policies and procedures.
Virtual classroom series dates announced: As part of the Education to End Hate Initiative, the CDE will also host a series of virtual classroom and educator professional development sessions broadcast live throughout the state that will be designed to engage students, educators, and families in a wide-ranging dialogue about the many forms of bias young people face across California—and ways schools can lead efforts to end discrimination.
The first three dates and topics in the webinar series will be:
Week of November 16, 2020: Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching about Native Americans
December 8: Countering anti-Semitism
January 12, 2021: Countering Islamophobia
More details will be announced in advance of each virtual event.
All questions regarding the Education to End Hate Initiative can be directed to edtoendhate@cde.ca.gov.
# # # #
Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
“The concept of ‘local control’ is grounded in and reflective of systemic racism”
How good are America’s public schools? It depends on where you live.
Education funding is like any other public infrastructure investment. School systems with sufficient funding tend to get better results. Schools that lack resources are less effective and resilient in the face of ordinary challenges, let alone unprecedented catastrophes like the coronavirus pandemic.
Even as distance-education removes the spatial component from public education — lessons no longer happen in a particular classroom, or at a particular school, but on the (ostensibly worldwide) web — these lines still separate children from one another. The endless Covid-19 crisis is revealing the primary weakness of decentralizing the funding of public services: Stark resource divides that fuel some of the deepest social inequities.
This starts with interstate funding gaps. In states like Kansas and Arizona, leaders have long underfunded their public education systems. This led to the spectacle, early in the pandemic, of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announcing that the state would “donate” 200 mobile hotpots to its public schools in an effort to kickstart private hotspot donations. We see even bigger disparities in public preschool spending: In 2019, the District of Columbia spent $18,669 per child, while North Dakota and Nebraska each spent less than $2,000 per child.
At the local level, these resource disparities regularly align with — and exacerbate — longstanding racial, socioeconomic, ethnic and linguistic divisions in American society. According to 2017 data from EdBuild, a nonprofit focused on inequitable education funding, schools in Pennsylvania’s Lower Merion School District were funded to the tune of $25,068 per student, while schools in neighboring Philadelphia received just $12,044. It’s bitterly unsurprising that Lower Merion schools are CONTINUE READING:
When Jesus Needs A Visitor's Badge: Church-State Issues In Public Education
A “Hall of Separation”
That’s a horrible title and I wish I could stop thinking it’s not.
As you probably know, given that it’s pretty much all I talk about these days, I’ve been researching Supreme Court cases involving issues of church-state separation in relation to public education. My hope is to have something ready before the entire system collapses and any benefit one may derive from it is no longer relevant.
Given the state of the 2020 elections as I post this, I’m probably way too late.
Nevertheless, I’ve been wrong before. Democracy may cough and bleed its way through another generation or so in some form, in which case I may sell as many as eleven copies of this lil’ liber sui generis. A few people may even find it helpful, enlightening – or at least mildly diverting.
Who am I kidding with all the humility? So far, it’s bloody brilliant and everyone will want seven copies just to show off.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share three of the books I’ve been reading as I continue researching my own. While the cases I’m including aren’t exactly obscure or difficult to document (most reached the Supreme Court, after all), the issues involved are often less universal than most “landmark” cases. Plus, as the subject suggests, most involve religion on some level. That means that while my trademark wit and brilliance will no CONTINUE READING: When Jesus Needs A Visitor's Badge: Church-State Issues In Public Education | Blue Cereal Education
DFER is an organization of hedge fund managers and financiers who are supporters of charter schools, merit pay, high-stakes testing, and value-added evaluation of teachers. In 2008, DFER successfully advocated for the appointment of Arne Duncan, a supporter of their goals.
Democrats for Education Reform is coordinating a behind-the-scenes push for Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson, the head of Baltimore schools Sonja Brookins Santelises, or Philadelphia superintendent William Hite, according to an email sent to supporters Monday by the group’s president Shavar Jeffries and obtained by Chalkbeat. All three, Jeffries wrote, would represent a “‘big tent’ approach to education policy making….”
In their book The World of the Newborn, Daphne and Charles Maurer write:
"His world smells to him much as our world smells to us, but he does not perceive odors (as we do) . . . His world is a melee of pungent aromas -- and pungent sounds, and bitter-smelling sounds, and sweet-smelling sights, and sour-smelling pressures against the skin. If we could visit the newborn's world, we would think ourselves inside a hallucinogenic perfumery."
And it's not just the sense of smell. The human brain does not simply represent the information we receive through our senses, it constructs it. In fact babies are born perceiving the reality as it "really" is, meaning that their brains have not yet learned to assemble the photons and waves and particles that make up the universe into anything that we adults would recognize. As psychologist and researcher Mike Gazzaniga puts it: "This is what our brain does all day long. It takes input from various areas of our brain and from the CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: This Miracle of Creating a World
CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools said classrooms are ready for students and teachers to safely return Wednesday after the district installed air purifiers and took other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Last month, the Chicago Teachers Union said neither teachers nor students should return to class because school buildings are old and not designed to sufficiently ventilate and purify air during a pandemic.
CPS said it addressed those concerns by spending $8.5 million to put a HEPA air purifier in every classroom. District officials said the 20,000 purifiers are capable of removing “99.9% of ultrafine particles,” including airborne mold, bacteria and viruses like COVID-19.
Twenty years ago, Sarah Deschenes, David Tyack and I wrote an article published in the Teachers College Record called: “Mismatch: Historical Perspectives on Schools and Students Who Don’t Fit Them.”
Because of the pervasiveness of the age-graded school since the middle of the 19th century, “normal” students were those who satisfactorily acquired the slice of curriculum 1st, 5th, or 8th grade teachers distributed through lessons in their self-contained classrooms Those students who met their teachers expectations for grade-level academic achievement, behavior during lessons, and the school’s requirements for attendance and performance were “normal.” And “normal” students were the majority.
But a sizable fraction of students, for many reasons deviated from the “normal.” They didn’t fit. Since the mid-19th century until the present, these students have been given labels. They were (and are) “educational misfits.”
Examining the changes in the language of labels attached to students who strayed from the definition of “normal” required in age-graded schools offers reformers pause in considering the power of these labels over time. Especially now as the U.S. schools enter the fourth decade of the standards, testing, and accountability reform movement, surely an added template for judging “normal” performance.
Start: Thursday, November 12, 2020 • 7:30 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)
End: Thursday, November 12, 2020 • 9:00 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)
The Network for Public Education invites you to join us for a video
conference with NPE President Diane Ravitch. Diane's guest will be
author and University of Colorado Boulder professor, Kevin Welner. Join
Diane and Kevin in conversation about Kevin's new book, Potential Grizzlies: Making the Nonsense Bearable.
On November 2, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released Policy Memorandum SP 04-2021, CACFP 03-2021, SFSP 03-2021. This Policy Memorandum includes questions and answers intended to provide clarification to State agencies and program operators of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Seamless Summer Option (SSO), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).
For any questions regarding these waivers, please contact your respective program’s County Specialist. The County Specialist for each program can be found in the following Form IDs in the CNIPS Download Forms section: