Sunday, September 26, 2021

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Curtain Up Edition (9/26)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Curtain Up Edition (9/26)




Curtain Up Edition 

The challenge of mounting and opening a full sized show in the age of covid is--well, in a couple of weeks I'm going to lie down and take a huge nap. And maybe I'm a little behind on my reading. But here's some stuff for this week.

School hasn't changed in 100 years. So saith TFA.

The indispensable Mercedes Schneider on the Teach for Awhile version of the popular unchanged education idea...

Whatever happened to the classroom of Tomorrow?

Those of us of a Certain Age recall Apple's big education idea. Larry Cuban looks at where that actually went.

Is the big test headed for the big crash?

Dad Gone Wild with a look at the Big Standardized Test on the ropes.

To achieve educational justice, we need more black teachers

I suspect that there are many areas in which Sharif El-Mekki and I disagree, but I see no flaws in his continued argument that we need more Black teachers in our classrooms. Here he is making it again, this time in EdSurge

Questioning Valor Charters

Cult-style SEL and a big bucks charter chain. Nancy Bailey blogs about what is going on with this set of aggressively marketed charters.

The myth that better schools will reduce inequalities in wealth

Somehow, Larry Cuban makes not one but two rare appearances on this list today. This piece is a thoughtful look at one of the major tensions in education, between public good and private advantage.

Teachers are not okay

Steven Singer talks about wear and tear and stress in the education trenches.





State Task Forces Want To Root Out Indoctrination In Schools. How’s That Going? - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2021/09/17/state-task-forces-want-to-root-out-indoctrination-in-schools-hows-that-going/?sh=b10374d2edb0 by @palan57 on @forbes

Ron DeSantis Just Trashed More Jeb Bush Policies. Is That Good News For Education In Florida? - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2021/09/15/ron-desantis-just-trashed-more-jeb-bush-policies-is-that-good-news-for-education-in-florida/?sh=438043c75a09 by @palan57 on @forbes




Almost unlocking a mystery of SAT scores
So close. Sooooo close!! Covering the release of SAT scores this year, WTOP news noted two results and put them right in the headline: Va., Md. SAT scores rise, but number of test-takers plunges It's the "but" that tells us that somehow, they didn't manage connect the dots, which is a shame, given there were only two. Of course, they mean average test scores rose, and understanding averages is im
Critical Race Theory Panic Continues To Widen Its Aim
Moms for Liberty is one of the frontline group s fighting against "critical race theory" and a whole lot of other things. Launched initially as anti-maskers and anti-school closers, they quickly moved on to anti-race stuff. They are another of the groups that has hired some pros and generally displayed available resources that are impressive--even unbelievable-- for just a group of moms. They're
If You Have Missed Michelle Rhee...
She Who Must Not Be Named is back, a little. One of the early examples of how one can parlay two years in Teach for America into a career as an educational "expert," she took over DC schools, launched some advocacy groups, established herself as a major brand (the Kim Kardashian of education reform), and then--poof. Her career turned out to be brief after all . Dogged by controversy and revelatio
ICYMI: Tech Sunday Edition (9/19)
Yes, I'm directing a community theater production again, and in the time of covid it's quite the adventure. This time it's the Wizard of Oz, and today we enter the final run-up to performance, so if I don't seem to be logging as many hours at the Institute, that's why. But we have reading for today. Ida's Wild Ride The indispensable Mercedes Schneider keeps us updated on her Ida-related adventure
School Choice Isn't Uber. It's LulaRoe.
I didn't mean to watch; I really didn't. But my wife started in on the LulaRoe documentary and I was sucked in. Mostly because the founding couple, DeAnne Brady and Mark Stidham are such truly awful people, but they were awful in a way that immediately rang a bell. There are some superficial similarities. In particular, the multi-level marketing pyramid scheme aspects of LulaRoe, where the focus
FL: The Big Standardized Test is dead. Long live the Big Standardized Test!
As widely noted, Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis has had a testing epiphan y. "More learning and less test prep," he says, and his right hand education man Richard Corcoran says, gee, testing really is a waste of as lot of time (he only just noticed this during the pandemic BS Test suspension period). Man, that Big Standardized Test is bad news, says the top guys in the state that wrote the book
How To Undermine The Teaching Of Reading
No, this is not yet another salvo in the reading wars, because I don't care where you fall on the pure phonics -- just take your holistic guess continuum, you have to believe in the power of content knowledge. There's plenty of evidence of the importance of content knowledge, though I'm partial to the old baseball experiment , in which it turned out that students have a higher reading comprehensi
What's Too Controversial for the Classroom
John Wallis was a fresh new teacher, hired to teach drama, world mythology, and speech and debate at Neosho Junior High in southwestern Missouri. He hung a gay pride flag and a sign saying "In This Classroom, EVERYONE Is Welcome." He was told a parent complained, so he took the items down. Students asked why. He explained, said the flag did not represent what he would teach in his class, and went
ICYMI: 9/12 Edition (9/12)
9/11 was one thing; what started to happen in this country on the twelfth is something else entirely, but we don't have national days of remembrance about that. Meanwhile, there's plenty to read about in the world of education. NH "education freedom" accounts cost soaring NH implemented vouchers; now it's turning out to be way more expensive than advocates promised. Proctorio's awful reviews disa
Arne Duncan and Pedagogical Badger Hats
Arne Duncan was at it again, popping up on Fareed Zakaria's CNN show to talk about post-covid education (looking kind of Herman Munster-ish on his Zoom screen). Much of his shtick was predictable. Students are months behind ( which actually means , of course, scores on the Big Standardized Test are down, we think). We have to meet their social emotional needs, as we accelerate learning (just, you
Backpacks Full Of Cash
Jeanne Allen's magical phrase , turned into a rhetorical weapon against her and other free market choicers, never seems to quite go away, perhaps because all sides find it an apt description of free-market choice. Right now they're getting ready to load up more backpacks out in LA . Allen was sure