Extinction is the rule, Survival is the exception. | Live Long and Prosper

Extinction is the rule, Survival is the exception. | Live Long and Prosper

Extinction is the rule, Survival is the exception.

Carl Sagan: November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996

For Carl Sagan Day…exercise your critical thinking skills with this collection of quotes.

ON CRITICAL THINKING

Broca’s Brain Book, 1986

Both Barnum and H. L. Mencken are said to have made the depressing observation that no one ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the American public. The remark has worldwide application. But the lack is not in intelligence, which is in plentiful supply; rather, the scarce commodity is systematic training in critical thinking.

Carl Sagan’s Last Interview Television, 1996

Science is more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking; a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility.

If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then, we are up for grabs for the next charlatan (political or religious) who comes ambling along.

It’s a thing that Jefferson lay great stress on. It wasn’t enough, he said, to enshrine some rights in a constitution or a bill of rights. The people had to be educated and they had to practice their skepticism and their education. Otherwise we don’t run the government. The government runs us.

ON THE EARTH’S CLIMATE

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space Book, 1997

Those who are skeptical about carbon dioxide greenhouse warming might profitably note the massive greenhouse effect on Venus. No one proposes that Venus’s greenhouse effect derives from imprudent Venusians who CONTINUE READING: Extinction is the rule, Survival is the exception. | Live Long and Prosper

Philadelphia: Kendra Brooks Made History in the Election! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Philadelphia: Kendra Brooks Made History in the Election! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Philadelphia: Kendra Brooks Made History in the Election!

For the first time in 70 years, a third-Party Candidate was elected to the City Council in Philadelphia. 

Kendra Brooks of the Working Families Party just won a seat that has long been Republican.

Working Families Party candidate Kendra Brooks held an insurmountable lead of 10,000 votes over her nearest rival, according to unofficial election returns. The insurgent third-party candidate, who campaigned on ousting Republicans from City Hall, declared victory just after 11 p.m. on Tuesday night

With nearly 95% of votes tallied, the five Democratic nominees clinched the remaining at-large seats, with the five highest vote totals. Two of Council’s seven at-large seats are reserved for candidates from a minority political party — and it was that bottom-ticket contest that proved the most competitive on Tuesday’s ballot.

Brooks was endorsed by the “wildly popular” Helen Gym.

Philadelphia: Kendra Brooks Made History in the Election! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Houston ISD stays quiet after Texas announces state takeover of district | The Texas Tribune

Houston ISD stays quiet after Texas announces state takeover of district | The Texas Tribune

After state takeover news, Houston ISD clams up, leaving parents and teachers scrambling for insight

The state's announcement that it will seize control of its largest school system has been met with notable silence from Houston ISD administrators and local elected officials.

Two days after Texas education officials announced plans to seize control of the state’s largest public school system, the Houston Independent School District finds itself enveloped in a fog of muted uncertainty.

Officially, the district has issued nothing beyond a terse, two-sentence statement acknowledging the news. The district’s interim superintendent isn’t commenting publicly. The nine members of its elected school board — whose combative, dysfunctional behavior helped prompt the state takeover — have largely fallen silent. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has commented only in passing on the unprecedented decision.

That has left community leaders, parents and teachers to scour social media and news reports, searching for clues about what the future holds for the more than 200,000 students who attend more than 270 Houston ISD schools.

“I don’t know whether we’re worse off here or worse off in the unknown,” said Sineria Ordóñez, whose son is a kindergartener in Poe Elementary’s bilingual program.

In a strongly worded letter, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced Wednesday that he will oust the district's elected school board and replace it with a state-appointed board of managers. The elected board’s repeated violations of state law, and the longstanding academic failure of one high school, compelled drastic state action, Morath wrote. The state will also appoint a superintendent.

“People are just like, ‘Hold on, what? What’s going on?’”

— Karina Quesada-León, Houston ISD parent activist

Rocketing forward with what is expected to be a lengthy, complex process, the education agency immediately began accepting applications from community members to sit on the appointed board, and it scheduled a slate of community meetings at local schools. A lawsuit filed by Houston ISD seeking to stave off a state takeover that was filed before Morath's decision will also continue in federal court, CONTINUE READING: Houston ISD stays quiet after Texas announces state takeover of district | The Texas Tribune

Big Education Ape: Houston: The Double Standard That Favors Charters | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/11/houston-double-standard-that-favors.html

Big Education Ape: Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier is stepping down. | abc13.com - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/09/houston-isd-superintendent-terry-grier.html

Big Education Ape: TEA says it will replace Houston ISD’s elected school board - HoustonChronicle.com - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/11/tea-says-it-will-replace-houston-isds.html

Why the Denver school board ‘flipped’ and what might happen next

Why the Denver school board ‘flipped’ and what might happen next

Why the Denver school board ‘flipped’ and what might happen next

Carried by momentum from February’s teachers strike and a broader backlash against the status quo, candidates opposed to the policies that made Denver Public Schools a national exemplar for education reform now control the school board for the first time.

Instead of five members backed by pro-reform organizations and two backed by the teachers union, the seven-member board will now feature five members backed by the teachers union: Jennifer Bacon and Carrie Olson, who won seats in 2017, and Tay Anderson, Scott Baldermann, and Brad Laurvick, who won seats this week.

The question now is what this “flip” will mean for teachers, students, and parents.

Those who have supported the district’s approach to school improvement fear that families will have fewer choices and schools won’t be held accountable for how well they serve students. Backers of the new board majority say the previous approach still left too many students behind. They’ve pledged to put more dollars in the classroom, make faster progress against achievement gaps, and not close neighborhood schools.

“Schools are reflections of the community,” said Tiffany Choi, a high school French teacher who recently became president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. “If we call a school ‘failing’, it’s almost like we’re calling the community ‘failing.’”

Denver Public Schools is Colorado’s largest school district with nearly 93,000 students. Once the lowest-performing large district in the state, Denver’s student test scores have improved to within a few points of the state average. But the district is still plagued by persistent problems of equity. For example, 74% of white students, but only 29% of black students, in grades three through eight met expectations on the state literacy test this spring.

The strategies employed by the district, which included fostering a “portfolio” of CONTINUE READING: Why the Denver school board ‘flipped’ and what might happen next

Why are we even bargaining sick days? It should be the law. – Fred Klonsky

Why are we even bargaining sick days? It should be the law. – Fred Klonsky

WHY ARE WE EVEN BARGAINING SICK DAYS? IT SHOULD BE THE LAW

For some reason the change to the Chicago Public School/Chicago Teacher Union contract regarding sick days has popped up as something controversial.

The contract that came out of a two week strike by CTU members resulted in a significant increase in the number of sick days that could be banked and applied as pensionable credit.

Then CPS lied by a factor of six about how many sick days teachers were using and the media ran with the bogus numbers.

Then the Tribune’s liberal columnist, Eric Zorn, declared the practice of applying unused sick days as pensionable credit was not what he considered an actual benefit and so, wasn’t fair.

It is difficult to argue with what Eric Zorn thinks because it rarely makes a lot of sense. I was just going to ignore it.

But it started me thinking about sick days.

Many non-union and low-paid workers in the U.S. don’t get any sick days. By making a thing about teacher sick days, the Sun-Times, people like Zorn and his right-wing counter part in the Illinois Policy Institute are pushing a politics of resentment.

Just like what they do with public employee pensions.

They want folks mad at those fellow workers who get a little more, hoping it will CONTINUE READING: Why are we even bargaining sick days? It should be the law. – Fred Klonsky

For Sale: SAT-Takers’ Names. Colleges Buy Student Data and Boost Exclusivity - WSJ

For Sale: SAT-Takers’ Names. Colleges Buy Student Data and Boost Exclusivity - WSJ

For Sale: SAT-Takers’ Names. Colleges Buy Student Data and Boost Exclusivity
For 47 cents, the College Board will sell an individual’s information, feeding admissions frenzy

Jori Johnson took the practice SAT test as a high-school student outside Chicago. Brochures later arrived from Vanderbilt, Stanford, Northwestern and the University of Chicago.

The universities’ solicitations piqued her interest, and she eventually applied. A few months later, she was rejected by those and three other schools that had sought her application, she said. The high-school valedictorian’s test scores, while strong by most standards, were well below those of most students admitted to the several schools that had contacted her.

“A lot of the rejections came on the same day,” said Ms. Johnson, a 21-year-old senior film major at New York University, one of three schools that accepted her out of 10 applications. “I just stared at my computer and cried.”

The recruitment pitches didn’t help Ms. Johnson, but they did benefit the universities that sent them. Colleges rise in national rankings and reputation when they show data suggesting they are more selective. They can do that by rejecting more applicants, whether or not those candidates ever stood a chance. Some applicants, in effect, become unknowing pawns.

Feeding this dynamic is the College Board, the New York nonprofit that owns the SAT, a test designed to level the college-admissions playing field.

The board is using the SAT as the foundation for another business: selling test-takers’ names and personal information to universities.

That has helped schools inflate their applicant pools and rejection rates. Those rejection rates have amplified the perception of exclusivity that colleges are eager to reinforce, pushing students to invest more time and money in preparing for and retaking exams College Board sells. Colleges say the data helps them reach a diverse pool of students they might have otherwise missed.

“The top 10% of universities don’t need to do this. They are buying some students’ names who don’t have a great chance of getting in,” said Terry Cowdrey, an enrollment consultant for universities and Vanderbilt University’s acting dean of undergraduate admission in 1996 and 1997. “Then the kids say, ‘well why did you recruit me if you weren’t going to let CONTINUE READING: For Sale: SAT-Takers’ Names. Colleges Buy Student Data and Boost Exclusivity - WSJ

Education Matters: Gary Chartrand's company going bankrupt raises some troubling questions

Education Matters: Gary Chartrand's company going bankrupt raises some troubling questions

Gary Chartrand's company going bankrupt raises some troubling questions

From the Jax Daily Record

Jacksonville-based Acosta Inc. announced Friday it will file a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan, with a majority of creditors in agreement.

The sales and marketing company said the plan will be filed “in the coming weeks.” The plan provides for vendors to be paid in full during the Chapter 11 process and for all employees to receive their usual compensation.

Pickett, a 28-year veteran of the company, was promoted to chief executive officer in July.“This process will enable us to continue to operate our business without disruption to clients, customers, employees, and business partners,” CEO Darian Pickett said in a news release.

The plan will eliminate $3 billion in debt by converting it into equity, and investors have committed $250 million in new equity capital.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/jacksonville-based-acosta-to-file-prepackaged-chapter-11-bankruptcy-reorganization-plan?

Here are some facts, the KIPP school owes Chartrand three million dollars and they recently changed their structure so they can use capital funds to pay lease payments. Chartrand led the fight against the tax referendum, so charters could get millions more CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: Gary Chartrand's company going bankrupt raises some troubling questions

Chaz's School Daze: Time For Charter Schools To Dump Unwanted Students

Chaz's School Daze: Time For Charter Schools To Dump Unwanted Students

Time For Charter Schools To Dump Unwanted Students

On October 31st, school funding for the year is based on student enrollment as of that date.  Once November sets in, the school funding is set.  Its in November that charter schools will start to expel unwanted students and dump them into the public school system since the money is already allocated to the school..

Because of a quirk in how schools are funded, charter schools will do everything possible to retain all their students up to October 31st to get their funding.  However, after that date, charter schools will start to push out misbehaving and or academically challenged students to the public schools.  That also includes Special Education and English Language Learners who need extra services.

Obviously, New York State's school funding must be changed so as to discourage student dumping that the charter school get away with and still retain the funding as if that student is still in the charter school.. 

Chaz's School Daze: Time For Charter Schools To Dump Unwanted Students

When Facts Get In The Way, Change Them

When Facts Get In The Way, Change Them

When Facts Get In The Way, Change Them

What can you do, thought Winston, against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself; who gives your arguments a fair hearing and simply persists in his lunacy?”– 1984

When Six Flags purchased two identical Intamin Impulse Coasters in 2001, they placed one of them in Marine World (now Discovery Kingdom) in Vallejo, California. The ride’s height surpassed the city’s limitation of 150 feet so they solved the problem by changing the marketing. The press release announcing the coaster being built at Six Flags Great America stated that “the vehicle rockets up a 185-foot spiral tower”. It then went on to state that “after traversing the first peak, the guests swoop backward through the station and up a second, 185-foot tower.” However, the Marine World release touted the identical roller coasters as having “two 150-foot vertical sky towers.” Both rides were described as having a “630 feet of U-shaped” track.

Eventually, Vallejo city officials noticed that there were 35 additional feet of steel on each of the coaster’s two towers. Before opening in 2002, the coaster was modified so that it conformed to the city’s building codes.

Trump’s fans are more gullible than the city of Vallejo. They think that their president has saved the economy even if it has been almost five years since the GDP grew by 5.5% in a quarter. Also, by this point in the Obama presidency, stocks had risen by 50.6%. Trump’s supporters think that he is doing better with a growth of 37.7%. Even with the tax cuts that plunged our country deeper into debt, 1.493 million fewer jobs were created during Trump’s first 31 months in office than in CONTINUE READING: When Facts Get In The Way, Change Them

Do Students in the Big Five, Rural Schools and Low-Wealth Districts Receive the Same Rigorous, Robust, Well-Balanced, Coherent Curriculum as Students in High-Wealth Districts? | Ed In The Apple

Do Students in the Big Five, Rural Schools and Low-Wealth Districts Receive the Same Rigorous, Robust, Well-Balanced, Coherent Curriculum as Students in High-Wealth Districts? | Ed In The Apple

Do Students in the Big Five, Rural Schools and Low-Wealth Districts Receive the Same Rigorous, Robust, Well-Balanced, Coherent Curriculum as Students in High-Wealth Districts?

Every month I sit in the audience at the NYS Board of Regents meetings, listen to the discussion/debate over a wide range of issues and tweet  – you can follow me @edintheapple.

The major topic on every agenda will be Graduation Measures, a wide ranging discussion of graduation requirements including the exit exams: the Regents examinations.

See the Graduation Measures website here.

Some of my twitter repliers were cynical, “…there already is a plan,” “Gates is manipulating the process,” and like. I tweeted back that reaching consensus among the members of the Regents (BOR) is akin to herding cats; no disrespect to cats or the members. The BOR members, thirteen representing geographic sections of the state (judicial districts) and four at-large are an fiercely independent group. They are unpaid and unstaffed, and, are expected to attend meetings and visit schools across their region.

Although they are selected in a political process, they are “elected” for five year terms by a joint meeting of both house of the state legislature, in reality by the Democratic majority. While there is no statutory or regulatory process at the end of a five year term or if a member leaves the positions are posted and anyone can apply. All applicants are interviewed in Albany at open meetings by the chairs of the education committees and other members who choose to attend. In the Westchester/Rockland district the legislators have held public interviews in their region, in others consultations with stakeholders. While Speaker Silver selected BOR members without any scrutiny Speaker Heastie has followed the opinions of local legislators.

Five of the BOR members have served as superintendents (Cashin, Chin, Rosa Young, Ouderkirk), Susan Mittler was a teacher union president, Dr. Collins a CONTINUE READING: Do Students in the Big Five, Rural Schools and Low-Wealth Districts Receive the Same Rigorous, Robust, Well-Balanced, Coherent Curriculum as Students in High-Wealth Districts? | Ed In The Apple

THIS WEEK Education Research Report

Education Research Report

THIS WEEK 

Education Research Report

High numbers of youth report using prescription opioids in the past year

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 17h

A new analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health finds a surprisingly high prevalence of prescription opioid use among youth. As recently as 2015-2016, 21 percent of adolescents and 32 percent of young adults said they had used these drugs in the past year. Nearly 4 percent and 8 percent, respectively, reported misusing opioids. Findings were published this week in PLoS Medi

U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Targeted School Violence

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 22h

[no content]

NOV 07

Ensuring strong and stable substitute teacher pools

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

Many districts around the country face difficulties in attracting enough substitutes to fill in for teachers who are absent. Given that students are likely to lose ground when their teachers are out, districts are also faced with the added challenge of ensuring that their substitute teachers are proficient. With this in mind, what can districts do to improve the quality of substitute teachers? NC

Importance of postsecondary education in U.S. prisons

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

As the overwhelming majority of those in U.S. prisons will rejoin society, it is imperative to prepare individuals to transition with effective rehabilitative programs. This report finds that although there is a gap between incarcerated adults and the general public in both literacy and numeracy skills, completion of a postsecondary credential and participation in job training ameliorates the gap

Failure of a Principal Professional Development Program Focused on Instructional Leadership

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

Principals can play a key role in improving instruction and student achievement. The Institute of Education Sciences conducted a random assignment study of a professional development program for elementary school principals to support state and local efforts to improve school leadership. The program focused on helping principals conduct structured observations of teachers’ classroom instruction a

Crisis in Rural Schools

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

Despite greater attention to rural America after the 2016 presidential election and bold promises from many state - level and national leaders, many children and families in rural America still don’t have the educational resources and opportunities they dese rve. That’s among the findings of the Rural School and Community Trust’s new 50 - state report on rural education. Why Rural Matters 2018 -

Comparing Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d

The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales, including the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale–Revised (Harms et al., 2005) and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Third Edition (Harms et al., 2015) are the most widely used observational assessments in early childhood learning environments. The most recent version of the scale addresses some of the criticisms in the research lite

Report about Homeschooling Overreaches on Claims

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d

The Cato Institute recently released a report arguing that homeschoolers should support school choice proposals because greater educational freedom empowers parents to provide richer learning opportunities for their children. Robert Kunzman, Managing Director of the International Center for Home Education Research and a professor at Indiana University, reviewed Homeschooling and Educational Freed

NOV 06

School-based sleep program may benefit adolescents

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d

A recent study uncovered potential long-term benefits of a school-based sleep education program for adolescents. The study, which was published in the Journal of Sleep Research , included 3,622 adolescents, 286 in the intervention group and 3336 in the control group. Data were collected before the intervention and at a one-year follow-up. The intervention consisted of five sessions, 50-60 minutes

NOV 05

The job market is strong for college graduates

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d

Despite fears about a recession, the job market is strong for college graduates - for the 10th consecutive year, according to Michigan State University's Recruiting Trends , the largest annual survey of employers in the nation. In fact, job opportunities are expected to expand by 12% across all degrees in 2019-20, said Phil Gardner, survey author and director of MSU's Collegiate Employment Resear

Many California classrooms don't have sufficient ventilation

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d

Roughly 85 percent of recently installed HVAC systems in K-12 classrooms investigated in California did not provide adequate ventilation, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). For the study, published in the journal Building and Environment , researchers visited 104 classrooms in 11 schools throughout California th

Early Decision Harms Students of Color and Low-Income Students

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d

Source: Center for American Progress In early November, thousands of hardworking students across the country will send in their early decision or early action applications for coveted spots at the nation’s most prestigious colleges. These early admissions processes—which provide a way for colleges to identify the most passionate applicants and give them a better chance of admission to their dream

Study Reports High Use of Electronic Cigarettes Among US Students in 2019

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d

About 1 in 4 high school students and 10% of middle school students in 2019 reported current use of electronic cigarettes based on nationally representative survey data from U.S. students in grades six to 12. The findings suggest an estimated 4.1 million high school students and 1.2 million middle school students are using e-cigarettes in 2019. This study included about 19,000 participants in the

Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) Shows Positive Findings for Community College Students

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d

The What Works Clearinghouse recently reviewed the research on Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and its impacts on community college students. The results are summarized in an intervention report released today , November 5, 2019, by the Institute of Education Sciences. ASAP is a three-year program that is designed to remove barriers to college success and completion for students se

How U.S. 8th-grade students’ computer and information literacy and computational thinking compared internationally in 2018

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 4d

The United States participated in the 2018 International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) along with 13 other education systems . ICILS is sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). ICILS assesses 8th-grade students in two domains: computer and information literacy (CIL) and computational thinking (CT) . It also compares U.S. stu

NOV 04

Decline in College Readiness Continues: New ACT Report

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 4d

Some students buck the trend by taking rigorous courses in high school ACT score data show mixed results in terms of college readiness among ACT-tested 2019 U.S. high school graduates. This is according to nonprofit ACT’s annual report, The Condition of College and Career Readiness 2019 , which was released today. A slight decline in college readiness is continuing in general, particularly longer

High School Performance Matters Most in College Admission Decisions

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 4d

While this past year’s news about college admission was largely dominated by the Varsity Blues bribery scandal , new survey data from the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) shows that — for most students — getting into college is a fair and straightforward process. According to NACAC’s recently released 2019 State of College Admission report , a student’s high school re

The Effects of Financial Aid Grant Offers on Postsecondary Educational Outcomes:

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 5d

This study analyzes the effects of need-based financial aid grant offers on the educational outcomes of low-income college students based on a large-scale randomized experiment (n=48,804). Th´ authors find evidence that the grant offers increase two-year persistence by 1.7 percentage points among authorsfour-year college students. The estimated effect on six-year bachelor’s degree completion is o

Common App Has Wide-Ranging Effects on College Admissions

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 5d

After they join the program, colleges experience a 10 percent jump in the number of applications for admission; over a decade, that growth rises to 25 percent. The rapid expansion of a program enabling students to fill out a single application when applying to multiple colleges and universities has enabled participating institutions to enroll a larger percentage of out-of-state and foreign studen

NOV 01

Nearly 1 Million Students with Some College Returned and Earned a Degree Since 2014

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 7d

“Some College, No Degree” Report Reveals 3.5 Million Americans with Some College Have High Potential to Return and Finish College The United States saw nearly one million former students, in just five years, return to postsecondary education and earn their first undergraduate credential, according to a new report, “Some College, No Degree: A 2019 Snapshot for the Nation and 50 States,” released t

Student engagement and hope are significantly related to student academic outcomes

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 7d

Complete report With the current shift in U.S. education policies putting a priority on social-emotional learning (SEL), the importance of teachers and schools having SEL resources -- proven to create positive student outcomes -- 

Education Research Report