Latest News and Comment from Education
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“Reading Research Is Getting Lost in Translation. What You Need to Know” - Reading Research Is Getting Lost in Translation. What You Need to Know is the headline of my latest Education Week column. There’s a yawning gap between wh...6 hours ago
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PA: One Moms For Liberty Alternative--Grandmas for Love - Shirley Hershey Showalter's has certainly had a journey, and right now that journey has led her to help lead a group set up to counteract the influence of ...14 hours ago
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Whatever Happened to School Lunches? - Hard to believe that school hot lunches began in some urban districts in the 1890s. Federal and state subsidies over the decade expanded the school lunch p...15 hours ago
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Johanna Garcia on the long, hard struggle for smaller classes - I interviewed Johanna Garcia, chief of staff to Sen. Robert Jackson and co-chair of the Class Size Working Group, on my podcast, Talk out of School. She...16 hours ago
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STARVING TEACHERS CHOOSE THE RIGHT GIG JOB TO AVOID GETTING FIRED - *STARVING TEACHERS CHOOSE THE RIGHT GIG JOB TO AVOID GETTING FIRED* Attention all starving teachers! Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Do you...16 hours ago
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Are We Replaceable? The UAW and Writer Strikes and Technology: Lesson for Teacher Unions - For the last half century unions have been under attack and the numbers of non-government workers in unions has steadily declined, today only 6% of non-gov...18 hours ago
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Heather Cox Richardson: Biden Speaks Out for Democracy in Arizona - Heather Cox Richardson wrote about President Biden’s homage to democracy and his tribute to the Late Senator John McCain. Biden traveled to Arizona to spea...19 hours ago
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Writing Is Learned by Writing: 2023 - The odd nostalgia for sentence diagramming popped up again so a thread that builds on an older post of mine—Diagramming Sentences and the Art of Misguided ...20 hours ago
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Will Grady Judd save Polk's 10th Circuit from "consolidation" in Orange/Osceola's 9th? - A harebrained scheme to make judicial circuits huge and reduce your right to vote for prosecutors who fit your community is racing toward a critical moment...22 hours ago
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Letter from France. The French defense industry seeks an expanded position in the Ukraine military marketplace. - My Crohn’s flare has retreated and I’m feeling pretty good today. Thanks for all the messages wishing me well. Tomorrow we fly back to JFK and then sweet h...1 day ago
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How to Improve Public Schools: Expanded Homerooms - “Homeroom” for most high school students is the equivalent of the starting blocks in a track meet. They touch base, listen to (or maybe ignore) morning ann...1 day ago
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NIH study suggests measurement bias in common child behavior assessment tool - *Researchers identify less biased questions that could reliably capture childhood behavior problems.* [image: ECHO logo] IMAGE: ECHO INVESTIGATORS ...1 day ago
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The Hidden Bias Against Male Teachers - Male teachers are not seen as teachers first and foremost. We’re the enforcers of school rules. And it’s driving so many of us from the field or discouragi...1 day ago
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This Is How We Do It by Joyce Vance - The standard practice for prosecutors who are trying to hold the leaders of a group of criminals accountable is to “go up the chain.” In a drug traffi...1 day ago
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Grassroots Education Network- September 2023 Newsletter - The NPE Grassroots Education Network is a nationwide network of over 195 grassroots organizations that have joined together to preserve, promote, improve...1 day ago
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Invitation for RDRSSP Appointment - An invitation by the California State Board of Education (SBE) for applications for appointments to serve on the Reading Difficulties Risk Screener Selecti...2 days ago
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Nancy Bailey's Education Website: 10 Years Later: The Continuing Intentional Unraveling of America’s Public Schools - Nancy Bailey's Education Website: 10 Years Later: The Continuing Intentional Unraveling of America’s Public Schools School reform continues to privatize a...2 days ago
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Thinking Ought to Trump Believing - “Believing is a disposition. We could tire ourselves out thinking, if we put our minds to it, but believing takes no toll.” ― Willard Van Orman Quine Mor...2 days ago
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"Slice Me Up For Dinner, Dearie" - Three girls were playing together on the outdoor stage. I approached just as a fourth girl asked them, "Can I play with you?" This is tricky question to...2 days ago
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Alexandria Ocasio Cortez - Solidarity Is the Strategy. UAW - AOC Speaks at UAW Strike Rally Solidarity IS the strategy3 days ago
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Items of Note - Update: Here's the info for the candidate forum; thanks to a great reader. *A consortium of education nonprofits is proud to announce a public, communit...3 days ago
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How the attacks on small class size don’t add up - September 28, 2023 I wanted to share with you my piece in Monday’s Washington Post, written in response to Michael Bloomberg’s attacks against the new clas...3 days ago
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Protecting Public Education to Protect Democracy: A Challenge for Our Times - I find myself struggling these days to understand how those of us who prize our U.S. system of public education seem to have lost the narrative. As I liste...3 days ago
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Keep your nose on - Advice from my mother, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” FEEDING THE ECONOMY We’ve been told that to keep society running smoothly, people shou...4 days ago
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How PICTURE Books Help TEACH Comprehension and Phonics! - When he looks at the pictures, he’ll get so excited he’ll want to draw one of his own. He’ll ask for paper and crayons. ~Laura Joffe Numeroff, illustrat...4 days ago
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What Tenure-Track Professors at UF May Expect - The NYTimes has an extensive piece on Ron DeSantis's choice for president of Florida's flagship public university, and there's lots to consider, particul...4 days ago
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Gompers Preparatory Academy is Non-Union - By Thomas Ultican 9/25/2023 In June, the school named after famed labor leader Samuel L. Gompers voted 25-17 to become non-union. This San Diego Unified Sc...6 days ago
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Will KIPP NYC Be Disqualified (Again) From U.S. News & World Report Best High School Rankings? - There is exactly one KIPP high school in New York City. KIPP NYC College Prep High School was started in 2009 to serve students graduating from KIPP middle...6 days ago
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My Restroom Humiliation - Last week, I was humilated in front of my students by an administrator for needing to use the bathroom. It was awful. This year is my 22nd teaching public ...1 week ago
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September’s (2023) Useful Parent Engagement Resources – Part One - The #EL Family Toolkit consists of 6 chapters and each chapter includes an overview, family and student rights, questions to ask schools, tips, and #resour...1 week ago
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How Deep Canvass Conversations Can Transform America - Here at People’s Action Institute, we feel the way Jill Murphy, a Michigan schoolteacher who is now a full-time organizer for one of our affiliates, felt w...2 weeks ago
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Florida’s New College Entrance Exam: Is CLT A Trojan Horse for Ideological Indoctrination? - The education community is buzzing about Florida’s new Classic Learning Test (CLT) college entrance exam, a significant departure from traditional standard...2 weeks ago
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9/12 - I did not want to write about 9/11 on 9/11. I was in Christopher Columbus High School. Teaching Math. My AP showed me the news, but I assumed that it was a...2 weeks ago
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Left of Black S13 · E20 | Left of Black | Dr. Kimberly Mack & Groundbreaking Black Rock Band Living Colour's Album 'Time's Up' - In 1988, the world was introduced to the groundbreaking Black rock band, *Living Colour*, with their debut record, *Vivid*, which dominated the charts and...2 weeks ago
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Abolish School Supply Lists, Too - My son and I ran over to a super convenience store (you’ll know which one) to do some last-minute grocery shopping when we happened upon ... Read More T...2 weeks ago
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The Worst Medical School In The United States - Deciding which medical school to attend is one of the most important decisions a future doctor can make. While there are... The post The Worst Medical Sc...3 weeks ago
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Multiple acting Oscars in one picture - Not necessarily for that picture. I can think of two pictures in which the actors appearing during their careers won a total of 8 Oscars *Bad Day at Bla...3 weeks ago
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POSTPONED: Florida’s Impact on Social Studies - POSTPONED: discussion with Florida and DC educators and advocates on the impact of Florida's new laws Continue reading3 weeks ago
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Teacher Shortage, or Good Job Shortage? - We have long heard the statement that 3 out of every 5 new teachers will leave the profession in the first five years. However, it seems that the survey on...4 weeks ago
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Jacksonville Van Winkle - Saturday, a violent racist young white man decided that it was time for him to murder Black people for being Black. I do not apologize if that’s too blunt ...4 weeks ago
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Rethinking the time spent at school: Could flexibility improve engagement and performance for students and teachers? - Is it possible to reduce the time students spend in classrooms and schools? Would such a reduction be better for learning and retaining teachers? How shoul...1 month ago
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WHY IS ‘WOKE’ DANGEROUS? - July 4, 2023: First and foremost, a “woke” populus scares the stuffing out of grifter politicians. Imagine trying to convince people to ignore facts and bu...2 months ago
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Lying Liars of the NYC DOE - The APPR travails continue. When last I blogged I shared how my principal, XXXXXXXX XXXXX of PS XXX did an end run around me. I was refused to be obser...2 months ago
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Got Standards? - When I was teaching I noticed that new standards, objectives, goals, and buzzwords, goals, objectives and standards got rolled out every few years or so, o...2 months ago
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Announcing The 2023 Black Education Matters Award Winners—Meet The Young Changemakers Challenging Educational Injustice! - We are excited to announce the 2023 Black Education Matters Award winners: Marta Sisay and Joyin Akinola. These two exceptional young people have done extr...3 months ago
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Vote NO on the UFT Contract. Here is Why: - 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...3 months ago
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What Is The Most Important Subject In School? A Comprehensive Analysis - Education is a crucial aspect of our lives, and the subjects we learn in school shape our...3 months ago
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Let’s talk about Dana Kriznar - There is a good chance she will be DCPS’s interim super come June 2nd, for at least six months, and because the superintendent job will be so unattractiv...4 months ago
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Learning to Teach the Middle East, Palestine, and Sabra and Shatila - by Paul Horton “Mr. Whorton, we cannot understand a wurd you sayin! You talk waaay tooo fas and you use words that are too big! You talk about places we ne...4 months ago
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Metaphors in ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech - In this article, we will explore the powerful use of metaphors in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” ... Read more5 months ago
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Louisiana legislates student protections from digital device health risks: 4th state to create health and safety guidelines for schools - by Cindy Eckard www.screensandkids.us @screensandkids on Twitter Children using digital devices are at risk for several impacts to their health, especially...7 months ago
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1825 - The wife of President John Quincy Adams. As early as 1744, Ben Franklin had worried that wood as a fuel for heating and cooking was becoming scarce ...7 months ago
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What ever happend to John Deasy, the Man From Gates? - * Here's an update on Deasy from 2020* By Thomas Ultican 7/29/2020 April 21, the Stockton Unified School District (SUSD) board accepted John Deasy’s let...7 months ago
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Two years later - It’s been two years since Joe Biden was inaugurated as our 46th President. His presidency has been an astounding success in many ways. First and foremost, ...8 months ago
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Tell Me Again What The Democratic Party Actually Is? - Well mostly, it’s a collection of folks striving to see that the Party winds up looking like what they envision…10 months ago
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Testimony to the CPS Truancy Task Force - 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...10 months ago
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Skin Deep - 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 ...1 year ago
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Tennis Memories from a Time When Racism and Anti-Semitism Still Prevailed - I learned tennis at a public park in Brooklyn- Lincoln Terrace- where the teaching pro was a mailman named Phil Rubell. Almost all the kids who took lesson...1 year ago
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There Is A Teacher Shortage.Not. - 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...1 year ago
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Reason #1 to pick Dr. Grace over Mr. Walters: The future we’ve already seen - In 2014, Oklahoma voters corrected the mistake we made in 2010. In 2022, let’s not make the mistake in the first place. Elect Dr. April Grace instead. She ...1 year ago
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THERE IS A TEACHER SHORTAGE. NOT! - 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...1 year ago
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Addendum to Mission Hill Statement - Follow up blog, Dear friends and colleagues, My friend and long-time colleague, Bonnie Brownstein, had some interesting thoughts about my Blog in regards t...1 year ago
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Abortion: Only For Those Who Need It! - 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...1 year ago
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Want to know the condition of a Philly school building? New map to help. - [image: Two students walk by a Philadelphia school building.] Aging infrastructure has been an issue for Philadelphia schools for years. A new interactive...1 year ago
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Hello world! - Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing! The post Hello world! first appeared on Just another WordPress site.1 year ago
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What can we learn by modeling existing variations in school spending and outcomes? (Reprise) - There are those in the ed reform world who would tell us that existing public schools and districts are simply inefficient in their use of existing funding...1 year ago
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STREET LIFE - My mom told me, “You should treat all people equally, but don’t bring a “colored” into the house.” I believed … Continue reading →1 year ago
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Schools Matter: Reflecting on Green Dot’s Disastrous Locke Takeover - *“Green Dot came and made it into more of a jail.” — Chris* My history of opposing the Green Dot Charter School Corporation back when I was an activist i...1 year ago
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Book Banning Turns to Dick and Jane - 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...1 year ago
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On the Edge of Silence - “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...1 year ago
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The Howlers of History and How We Must Reclaim the Narrative - “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all judgments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignor...1 year ago
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Have You Heard Has a New Website - 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...1 year ago
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Follow me at Substack - 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 ...1 year ago
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On Remote Teaching and Learning In an Ongoing Pandemic - Some recent stories I've been thinking about (all emphases mine). Tennessee: Gov. Bill Lee’s administration is getting pushback in Memphis on new Tenness...2 years ago
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Milwaukee Bradley Foundation at Center of Attacks on U.S. Voting Rights - The Big Money Behind the Big Lie Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win...2 years ago
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Milwaukee Bradley Foundation at Center of Attacks on U.S. Voting Rights - The Big Money Behind the Big Lie Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win...2 years ago
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Aspiring Teachers Get New Help Paying For College - [image: colorful classroom pattern] *; Credit: shuoshu/Getty Images* Cory Turner | NPR New rules kick in today that will help aspiring teachers pay for c...2 years ago
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Major victory over a corporate charter school chain and their trade association - Original post at Robert’s page on Medium. On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, I got my second big win in court against a charter school corporation. It was also a ...2 years ago
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Tips Akses Situs Judi Qq Tanpa Perlu Takut Nawala - Kegiatan berjudi slot melalui situs judi qq online, sekarang sudah dilakukan oleh banyak penjudi Indonesia. Tentu, Kamu yang sedang membaca artikel ini a...2 years ago
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CEJ’s Virtual Mayoral Candidate Forum; Racial Justice in Public Schools - On Thursday, February 18th, over 1,000 students, parents, educators, community members, and activists alike, joined CEJ to hear the mayoral candidates’ vis...2 years ago
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GA run-offs need your help! - Extremely important. Volunteer if you can. Thank you if you are already doing so. Out of state opportunities here: Ralph … Continue reading →2 years ago
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Pandemic Teaching – What’s up? - Responding to the call from Pocketful of Primary to answer questions about how teaching during the pandemic is going.2 years ago
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The Threat of Integration - 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...2 years ago
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New Teacher Evaluation Report Released by the Network for Public Education - A new report on current teacher evaluation systems throughout the US was just released by the Network for Public Education. The report is titled, “Teachers...2 years ago
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www.job-applications.com - https://www.job-applications.com/bed-bath-and-beyond-job-application/2 years ago
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Teacher Creates National Database Tracking COVID-19 Outbreaks in Schools - Kansas educator Alisha Morris's online coronavirus news-tracker goes viral, now hosted on a new NEA website.3 years ago
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School Year 2020-21: We Are Asking the Wrong Questions - It is perfectly understandable that many in our country want public school buildings to be open for in person instruction this year. Among the many hardshi...3 years ago
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Correction for July 10th Post on School District Audit - On July 10, 2020 we published a post “School District Caught Manipulating Attendance Records to Get More Money” which incorrectly cited Valley Park School ...3 years ago
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We fight for a democracy worthy of us all! - 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...3 years ago
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A Citizens’ Rebellion 2020 - The United States began to form after the rebellion against the King of England when the settlers in the colonies along the eastern coast reacted to the in...3 years ago
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Giving Private Schools Federal Emergency Funds Slated for Low-income Students Will Shortchange At-risk Kids - Low-income Seattle students began to pick up bagged lunches in March after their school closed. Karen Ducey/Getty Images Derek W. Black, University of Sout...3 years ago
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A Fundamental Redesign of Our Schools - I climbed the hill leading up to one of my favorite coffee shops in Seattle this morning to enjoy a coffee while taking in a phenomenal view of the city o...3 years ago
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The Passing Of Chaz 1951-2020 Age 69 - 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...3 years ago
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Thoughts on schooling in the era of COVID-19 - 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...3 years ago
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What are You Going to Do when Disaster Capitalism Knocks on the Public-School Door? - “Schools will be closed until at least April 20, after the upcoming spring break, but could stay closed for significantly longer, Mr. de Blasio said.” Whe...3 years ago
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Let The Next Round Of Anti-Semitic Ads Begin - All four pro-public education candidates came in first in their LAUSD school board elections, but two will face run-offs in November.3 years ago
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NAEP scores and "the science of reading" - *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...3 years ago
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2019 NAEP Scores: Achievement Gap or …? - Here you go: A ‘Disturbing’ Assessment: Sagging Reading Scores, Particularly for Eighth-Graders, Headline 2019’s Disappointing NAEP Results NAEP 2019: Re...3 years ago
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Glasgow High School In Middle Of Scandal With Fake IEP Meetings & Loss Of Funding - The quickest way to lose special education funding is to lie about holding IEP meetings. Such is the case with Glasgow High School in the Christina School...3 years ago
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Cara Menang Bermain Judi Bola Online - Bermain judi bola online tentu saja memiliki kesenangannya tersendiri baik itu mendapatkan keuntungan maupun ketika menantikan hasil skor pada sebuah perta...4 years ago
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What Cory Booker isn’t telling us about the Newark water crisis. - BY GUY STERLING Guy Sterling, a longtime resident of Newark and a member of the Newark Water Group, spent almost 30 years as reporter with The Star-Ledger ...4 years ago
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A Storm is Coming! (…again) - A new Commissioner will have as much impact on our state ed system as a new meteorologist will have on … Continue reading →4 years ago
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JerseyCAN Can't Hide From Opioids Crisis Billionaire Founder - [image: Image result for jerseycan] NJ Spotlight needs to stop giving space to billionaire-backed corporate reform groups like JerseyCAN. JerseyCAN does n...4 years ago
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Déjà vu: 2019 ELA Assessment: Dear Board of Regents - Dear Board of Regents, I have copied below an email I sent to you almost a year ago, after the 2018 ELA assessment's computer-based testing failures and mo...4 years ago
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This Week in Education Organizing - February 15, 2019 - Coalition for Education Justice to Release Report on CRE Eighty-five percent of public school students in New York City are Black, Latinx, or Asian and y...4 years ago
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Black Lives Matter at Schools National week of Action: Feb 4 - Feb 8 - Join the National Week of Actions for Black Lives Matter at Schools. Starting Monday, February 4th educators in cities across the country will draw closer...4 years ago
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Judi Togel - Permainan Judi Togel Online Mudah Dijalankan Di Indonesia Permainan judi online Indonesia terpercaya kini memang menjadi salah satu tempat bermain game yan...4 years ago
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13 Things I Learned While Blogging for Education Week - This is the 500th blog I've written as the Teacher in a Strange Land, for Education Week Teacher. As it turns out, it's also my final blog for EdWeek. Here...5 years ago
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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...5 years ago
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New York Times piece on '68 Democratic Convention Protest - ‘The Whole World Is Watching’: The 1968 Democratic Convention, 50 Years Later On Aug. 28, 1968, violent clashes in Chicago between demonstrators and the ...5 years ago
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My Letter to the NYS Board of Regents and Commissioner Elia Regarding ESSA Opt Out Provisions - commissioner@nysed.gov Regent.cashin@nysed.gov ESSARegComment@nysed.gov Regent.Rosa@nysed.gov Regent.Reyes@nysed.gov Regent.Chin@nysed.gov Regent.Young@n...5 years ago
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Corruption on Top of Corruption: How Rahm’s Response to Sexual Abuse of Students Reveals His Core Function - Rahm Emanuel’s response to the Chicago Tribune investigation that found CPS failed to protect hundreds of students from sexual abuse is cowardly. It is co...5 years ago
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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...5 years ago
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3rd Grade Reading: Who is Failing? - Education Trust Midwest has just released its study on third grade reading and, predictably, the results aren’t great. This study uniquely compares Michiga...5 years ago
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Why Poetry? Why Now? – a poem from Linda Christensen and an invitation - My dear friend Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. sent me a phenomenal book on poetry called Rhythm and Resistance – Teaching Poetry for Social Justice. Here is...5 years ago
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Opting out of the Dinosaur (end of year test) - 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...5 years ago
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Resurrection - 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...5 years ago
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Chicago Collegiate Charter School Must STOP Expansion Plans - So I did a little digging into Chicago Collegiate Charter Schools, the tiny school looking to expand into the empty Kohn Elementary School building. A sch...5 years ago
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IDEA Is Still The Law Of The Land - 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 ...5 years ago
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Education Is a Civic Question - 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...6 years ago
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Education reform should come from within by Wendy Lecker - In her latest Stamford Advocate commentary piece, education advocate Wendy Lecker observes, Education reform should come from within. Wendy Lecker write...6 years ago
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Site News: New Home for Education News & Commentary - 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...6 years ago
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An Open Letter to NC Lawmakers - 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 ...6 years ago
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CANCER IS BACK AND THIS TIME IT HURTS RIGHT OFF THE BAT! - APRIL IS STILL POETRY MONTH AND LIBRARY MONTH. MANY WONDERFUL THINGS TO CELEBRATE. But in the middle of the month I received some bad news about my ca...6 years ago
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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...6 years ago
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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...6 years ago
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IBO REPORT: NYC Charter School Costs To Grow More Than Budgeted! - *New York City Charter School Costs To Grow More Than Budgeted!* Although the preliminary budget forecast of charter school enrollment is lower than project...6 years ago
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Education Bloggers Daily Highlights 3/2/2017 - Education Bloggers Daily Highlights 3/1/2017 Education Bloggers Daily Highlights Courtesy of Big Education Ape A special thank you to education blogger Mik...6 years ago
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Attitude Determines Altitude* (*conditions apply)… and the Importance of Humane District Themes - It has been a tumultuous few years in the South Brunswick community, specifically the South Brunswick School District. All you have to do is google the dis...6 years ago
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Capturing the Spark - 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...6 years ago
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Prison Gerrymandering: Incarceration Weakens Vulnerable Voting Communities - One person equals one vote: seems simple enough. Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked out for many Americans throughout history, specifically women and peop...7 years ago
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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...7 years ago
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WTU Peterson Slate: Not a 1 Woman Dictatorship - Candi Peterson & GeLynn Thompson Candidates for WTU Prez & GVP 2016By Candi Peterson, WTU Gen. Vice President *Statements or expressions of opinions herein...7 years ago
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WHY SCHOOL START TIMES PLAY A HUGE ROLE IN KIDS’ SUCCESS - Teens are severely sleep-deprived. This needs to change. Rebecca Klein Editor, HuffPost Education| https://t.co/zInVJoy29W evgenyatamanenko via Getty Image...7 years ago
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Feminism-in-Schools Featured at First International Girls’ Studies Association Conference - Leaders in the feminism-in-schools movement recently made history at the inaugural International Girls’ Studies Association (IGSA) conference when we were ...7 years ago
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MY NEW BLOG - 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...7 years ago
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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...7 years ago
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GLSEN Massachusetts Educator Retreat - *GLSEN Massachusetts Educator Retreat* *SAVE-THE-DATEMarch 8-10, 2019 • Provincetown, MA* The GLSEN Massachusetts Educator Retreat in Provincetown is a s...8 years ago
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I am Retiring - 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...8 years ago
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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...8 years ago
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Joanne Barkan: One of my favorite writers on #EdReform… - I’ve been going through some of my Twitter “favorites” and retweeting them. I thought I would pass on to you some information about one of my favorite writ...8 years ago
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Pay Teachers Less to Improve School Efficiency - hmmm! - As I was reading through education news on several of the news sites I regularly visit, I came...9 years ago
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Kimberly Olson, Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2005 - Kimberly D. Olson, Colonel, USAF (retired), is currently the Executive Director of *Grace After Fire*, an online social support network for women veteran...12 years ago
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Monday, November 16, 2020
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES
These educators ran for office—and won! - Education Votes
By Amanda Menas
When Kenneth Tang retired from teaching elementary school in California’s Garvey School District, it was his mission to do all he could to continue to help his students. When a position on the school board for his district became open, his former students urged him to run.
“[My students] were telling me that they felt unheard [at to school board meetings] and about all these issues that they had in school,” said Tang, who was elected to the Alhambra Unified School District School Board this year. “They felt that I could be their voice.”
Tang was one of more than 80 educators, including many educators of color, who ran for office in 2020 and won. He used his experience as a participant in See Educators Run–NEA’s non-partisan political candidate training program designed especially for educators–to propel his campaign to victory.
“In this political environment it is even more critical now for educators to really step into the political arena, especially running for political office, because many times decisions are being made for us outside of the classroom,” said Tang.
Sue Cahill, who teaches in the Marshalltown Community School District in Iowa, knows that well as she begins to transition back to all distance learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a long time educator and another participant of the See Educators Run program, Cahill knew that prioritizing education issues on her campaign platform meant not only supporting her students while they were in her classroom, but throughout their entire lives.
“Education involves from early childhood, helping families of newborns and toddlers be CONTINUE READING: These educators ran for office—and won! - Education Votes
The Election Is Over. How Do We Help Our Students (And Ourselves) Heal? - Philly's 7th Ward
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” -Audre Lorde
After one of the most tumultuous and fraught elections of our lifetime, Joe Biden was chosen to be our next President, and Kamala Harris the next Vice President. A time for celebration in many corners, to be sure, but let’s not forget that over 70 million Americans voted the other way.
And we cannot forget that, just two weeks ago, Walter Wallace, Jr. was senselessly murdered at the hands of the Philadelphia Police Department and, before that, Breonna Taylor’s killers went unpunished and lack of accountability across the board signaled to everyone that business will go on as usual. 2020 has been punctuated with tragedy after tragedy, trauma after trauma—the ongoing convulsions of a national reckoning with racial inequity.
The election was clearly a divisive, stressful time for our country, and especially for our students. And this stress came on top of a nation already in shock and mourning from COVID-19 that is still forcing us to face the deadly racial and social inequities worsened by four long years of a discordant CONTINUE READING: The Election Is Over. How Do We Help Our Students (And Ourselves) Heal? - Philly's 7th Ward
Teacher Tom: Time Travel
Betsy DeVos' Legacy: Transforming How The Education Department Treats Civil Rights | HuffPost
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has spent months failing to make meaningful progress on urgent complaints of education discrimination relating to COVID-19, even as the pandemic continues to turn schools upside down and put vulnerable students at an even further disadvantage, according to multiple sources.
In September, employees in at least some of the department’s regional offices were informed that civil rights complaints specific to COVID-19 ― such as for children who have not been receiving accommodations for their disability during remote learning ― would require scrutiny from the highest levels of management, a development that would substantially slow the pace by which any of these complaints could get resolved.
A parent and an advocate have also been given the message that coronavirus-related complaints are unlikely to be addressed in the near future. After disability rights advocate Marcie Lipsitt filed several complaints on behalf of families whose children with disabilities were not receiving appropriate services from their school during shutdowns, she received a call from a department attorney informing her that complaints referencing COVID-19 were receiving greater scrutiny than non-coronavirus complaints and rewriting them without references to the pandemic could help them get processed faster.
HuffPost has also reviewed an email from regional management to a group of employees telling them that COVID-19 complaints are requiring additional review from headquarters. Still, the Education Department has denied that such levels of scrutiny are taking place.
“This information is categorically false and represents the viewpoint of a low-level employee CONTINUE READING:
Students deserve an explanation for the origins of the Electoral College
The reactionary and undemocratic system by which we select our president was an insult to the urgency of the moment. Although millions more people voted for Joe Biden than for Donald Trump — the difference is now 5.4 million — it took several days to learn who won, thanks to the Electoral College. To the relief of many, it appears that this time — unlike in 2000 and 2016 — the candidate who got the most votes nationwide also won the presidential election.
If our students only learn about this exceptionally strange system from their corporate-produced history and government textbooks, they will have no clue why this is how we choose our president. More importantly, they will have a stunted sense of their own power — and little reason to believe they might have the potential to create something better.
To review: A voter in Montana gets 31 times the electoral bang for their presidential ballot than a voter in New York. A voter in Wyoming has 70 times the representation in the U.S. Senate as a voter in California, while citizens in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. have none. The Republican Senate majority that recently confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court was elected by 14 million fewer votes than the 47 senators who voted against her confirmation.
Yet politicians and pundits regularly pronounce the United States a “democracy,” as if that designation is self-evident and incontrovertible. Textbooks and mainstream civics curricula make the same mistake, CONTINUE READING: Students deserve an explanation for the origins of the Electoral College
Epidemiologist: How to Reopen Schools Safely | Diane Ravitch's blog
Benjamin P. Linas, an epidemiologist, writes in VOX that both blue and red states are doing the wrong things about the pandemic. The blue states are too quick to close down schools and the red states are too quick to keep them open without proper safety measures. The Trump administration has provided no guidance at all and left it to states to craft their own responses, which mostly fall along partisan lines.
He describes a plan that he hopes the new Biden administration will adopt that will both contain the pandemic and enable schools to be open for in-person instruction.
Linas offers a plan that he hopes will be the basis for a new approach:
Our current political leaders are failing to provide a clear, national plan for reopening America’s schools. The incoming Biden-Harris administration has announced that it will provide new funds and guidance, but details have not yet emerged. Below are four essential elements for such a plan.
1) Clear guidance for when and how to open (and close) schools
Such guidance includes two components. One is CONTINUE READING: Epidemiologist: How to Reopen Schools Safely | Diane Ravitch's blog
Donald Trump Exemplifies Plutocratic Populism Run Amok: the Implications for All of Us | janresseger
The United States has become a textbook case, and I don’t mean merely a textbook case of pandemic denial, although that is also true. Last July, two political science professors, Jacob Hacker of Yale University and Paul Pierson from the University of California at Berkeley, published a thorough analysis of the politics of today’s Republican Party. They explain that President Donald Trump is a mere symptom of what the Republican Party has become.
In Let Them Eat Tweets, Hacker and Pierson define “plutocratic populism.” They preview what we subsequently watched through the fall’s presidential election campaign, and what we were still observing this past weekend in Washington, D.C. as Donald Trump’s bullies paraded en masse, ending in a violent melee. Here are Hacker and Pierson on the rise of Republican plutocratic populism over recent decades:
“As the GOP embraced plutocratic priorities, it pioneered a set of electoral appeals that were increasingly strident, alarmist, and racially charged. Encouraging white backlash and anti-government extremism, the party outsourced voter mobilization to a set of aggressive and narrow groups: the National Rifle Association, the organized Christian right, the burgeoning industry of right-wing media. When and where that proved insufficient, it adopted a ruthless focus on altering electoral rules, maximizing the sway of its base and minimizing the influence of the rest of the electorate through a variety of anti-democratic tactics, from voter disenfranchisement to extreme partisan gerrymandering to laws and practices opening the floodgates to big money. And more and more, it coupled this vote rigging with even more extreme strategies to undermine the checks and balances in our system, weakening CONTINUE READING: Donald Trump Exemplifies Plutocratic Populism Run Amok: the Implications for All of Us | janresseger
CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: The Extra Screen
Every Monday, I'm making a donation to someone on Donors Choose, a well-rated charity site that lets folks offer financial support to teachers across the country. No, we shouldn't have to do this. Yes, some of the requests might raise an eyebrow (is that something you really need, really?) But we are where we are in the world right now, and this is a small way to help support individual classrooms in a concrete way.
This week I'm looking at a request for a second screen. Actually, there are many such requests on the site. If you have never had a second screen, well-- it's heaven. Two or three windows open at once, able to work on this without having to minimize that. And in the age of the zoom meeting (or Google Meet or whatever software you're using during the pandemess), a second screen can be one of those things that just makes life a bunch easier. It's exactly the kind of thing that a teacher can really benefit from and administration would label an unnecessary luxury.
So I'm donating to a teacher at the Young Women's Leadership School in the Bronx. The dollar CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Choose Monday: The Extra Screen
America Might Not Know Biden’s Choice for US Ed Sec Until January | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog
Given President-elect Joe Biden’s “deliberative approach” in choosing his Cabinet, it seems that his selection for US ed sec may well follow the January 05, 2021, runoff elections for the two US Senate seats in Georgia.
If Democrats are tied with Republicans for the number of Senate seats– which can only happen if both Georgia Democratic contenders, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, win their races– then as president of the Senate, Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris becomes the decisive vote, thus giving Democrats de facto control.
Whether the Senate is controlled by Republicans or Democrats may well determine who, exactly, Biden is able to have confirmed in his Cabinet, including in the position of US ed sec.
Both former National Education Association (NEA) president, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, and current American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president, Randi Weingarten, have been in the news as potential candidates for US ed sec. However, I think it is a bad idea for Biden to choose either Eskelsen Garcia or Weingarten because they have both had lengthy careers in national union leadership, which would make it seem that the position of US secretary of education is little more than an extension of a national teachers union. California State Board of Ed president, Linda Darling-Hammond was also mentioned as a contender (and is also heading Biden’s education transition team, which she did for Obama in 2008); however, Darling-Hammond has clearly removed her name from consideration.
Biden could choose from any number of state education superintendents, which may or may not lead to someone with a solid history as a classroom teacher. There is also the possibility of Biden selecting someone with a higher ed background, a door apparently left open by CONTINUE READING: America Might Not Know Biden’s Choice for US Ed Sec Until January | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog
Who’s Whispering in Biden’s Ear? (And who is he listening too …?) | Ed In The Apple
The late 1920’s saw seemingly everlasting increases in stock prices, the Hoover Boom Market; in September and October of 1929 the market stumbled and on October 29th, Black Tuesday the market tumbled and the nation fell into the Great Depression. President Hoover saw the “crash” as a “correction,” the “invisible hand” would intervene; the market and the economy would revive as it always had in the past; by November 1932 the nation was in a deep depression, unparalleled unemployment, and the economy continued to tumble,
On March 4th, 1933, Inauguration Day, FDR delivered his “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” speech – listen to excerpts here.
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
In the inaugural address FDR also threatened Congress,
“I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. …
And while he “hoped” Congress would work with him he made it clear,
It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority CONTINUE READING: Who’s Whispering in Biden’s Ear? (And who is he listening too …?) | Ed In The Apple
When we return from remote… | JD2718
Will New York City public schools switch to all remote? Wrong question. First of all, it’s not “will we go remote?”, but “when will we go remote?”. But that’s not the right question either.
When we return from all-remote, how will we return? Because blended learning sucks. There’s the question. In the real universe, in person regular school is best. Remote is bad. But blended is the worst.
Already there are schools that have made their instruction remote, and do academic, emotional and social support in school. There are other schools where students come into the building, and sign onto zoom classes. There are other schools which are blended in name only, where instruction only happens when the kids come to the building. And then there are schools where the teachers are assigned to teach in person AND remote. Many of those teachers will burn out.
Blended, the way Carranza and de Blasio defined it, and the way Mulgrew pitched it, is not the reality in most NYC schools. Didn’t make sense. Couldn’t be.
The hand off between two teachers per class was unrealistic. The erratic in school / out of school schedule is problematic. Curricula were not redesigned for this strange modality. And the agreement to almost double class size for blended remote was ridiculous.
What other options do we have? My question is about what happens when the positive rate in NYC drops back down.
Short version:
- Expand the RECs
- Banish Blended. Bring some students in full time. Teach the rest fully remotely.
- Real PD, practitioner-led, for remote teaching.
- Lower class size
- Adjust curricula. Adapt curricula.
- Expand prep time.
- Go easy on the kids.
- Suspend standardized testing.
- Expand the Regional Education Centers. “Staffed by DOE CONTINUE READING: When we return from remote… | JD2718