CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Actually Nice Out Edition (3/10)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Actually Nice Out Edition (3/10)

ICYMI: Actually Nice Out Edition (3/10)

Here's an assortment of goodies to read from last week. I know I say this all the time, but it takes readers to make a piece of writing spread. So always share what you think needs to be shared. Everyone can amplify the important voices, and these days that is super-important.

Winning At Any Cost   

Arkansas gives prize money to its top schools. How far did the charter Haas Hall Academy go to stay on top? Too far, by quite a bit. This is a pretty appalling story.

Cybercharters Widespread Reports of Trouble

This is not exactly a new resource, but I discovered it for the first time this week and it deserves a bookmark. EdWeek has collected numerous reports, sorted state by state, of cybercharter problems.

People Who Regulate Charters Make Millions From Them

This time we go to Utah, where a television news department has discovered that lawmakers writing charter regulations also have a financial stake in the charter industry.

Diverting Funds From Public Schools Hurts The Community

An op-ed in the Palm Beach Post argues that Florida's choice programs are not good for public education.

Lies You Have Been Told About Education Technology

A good set of rebuttals for the "Oh, but you must" crowd.

Strange Things Happening in Newark

In Newark, the state is losing control of the local school system, leading to an assortment of odd other shenanigans. Bob Braun is covering it all.

Jonathan Sackler’s Bouncer Foundation: Opioid-Funded Ed Reform

The same family that brought us the opioid problem is also working on charters. The indispensable Mercedes Schneider has been working it all out, and she shows her work.

The Bible Bill

Oh, Florida. A new bill proposes Bible courses in every school. One teacher imagines how the course might not live up to its sponsor's hopes.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Actually Nice Out Edition (3/10)

TX: Charters Don't Want To Serve All Students

62by Peter Greene / 2d

The charter school pitch often focuses on the idea that all students deserve choices, that families should be able to explore options. Here's the CEO of KIPP Texa s, speaking about the big Texas KIPP merger: We realized our organizations wanted to improve student success across the state and we wanted to create an environment to serve more KIPPsters. And here's Starlee Coleman, CEO of the Texas Ch

MAR 07

Can HAL 3000 Take Your Class Notes For You (And Is EdWeek Starved For Story Ideas?)

by Peter Greene / 2d

Can a piece of computer software take notes for students in a K-12 classroom? No. Okay, we should be done here, but Benjamin Herold, staff writer, has posted a curious article at EdWeek. The headline (Could Artificial Intelligence Automate Student Note-Taking?) might have alarmed you if you saw it, but I'm going to explain why you can relax. Here's how he leads off: "I'm afraid I missed the part a

Why Do Teachers Have Such Lousy Parental Leave?

100+by Peter Greene / 3d

At Working Mother, Amy Sherman asks a really good question-- It's a Mom-Dominated Profession. So Why Are Teachers Getting the Shaft on Maternity Leave? Of course, we're talking about US teachers, because we rank at the very bottom of the barrel for developed (or in some cases, even semi-developed) countries when it comes to maternity leave. For all our noise about babies and motherhood and how par

MAR 06

Teacher Merit Pay Is A Bad Idea

72by Peter Greene / 4d

Florida's governor is planning to boost the state bonus program for teachers , even as Denver teachers walked off the job over their district's version of an incentive program. So it's worth taking a moment to step back and remember why teacher merit pay and bonus systems are just a bad idea. First, they can't work like a private sector bonus system. In the business world, bonuses and incentives

MAR 04

The $5 Billion DeVos Money Laundromat

200+by Peter Greene / 5d

You have read by now that Betsy DeVos is finally going to get one of her favorite policy ideas floated past Congress . But what the heck is it, and why is it a problem? To understand, we have to look first at what's been happening in some states. The financial device we're talking about is a Tax Credit Scholarship, and it's a bit of a clever dodge. Let's say I'm the State of New West Virkota. The

MAR 03

ICYMI: In Like A Snow-Covered Lion Edition (3/3)

by Peter Greene / 7d

Things to read from this week. Keep sharing. Keep posting. Keep putting the word out there. And don't forget to keep an eye on the bloglist in the right hand column. The more you read, the more you know. When Will We Stop Blaming Teachers Another look at TNTP's Opportunity Myth-- one more attempt to explain that education problems are teachers' fault. Why Did Indiana Teachers Leave the Classroom A

MAR 02

Will Florida Abolish The Common Core

82by Peter Greene / 7d

This post ran at Forbes three weeks ago. Anyone notice anything happening since then that would change my mind? Didn't think so. Newly-elected Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced last week that he will, via executive order, remove every "vestige" of Common Core from the state. Unless he changes his announced plan, he probably won't. Yeah, probably not. Florida is unique in the US when it come

MAR 01

Teach For America: Now With Less Teaching

100+by Peter Greene / 9d

Teach for America has always been a work in progress, an evolving enterprise in search of a reason to keep existing. Once upon a time it was all about teaching and plugging holes in the system. Then it was about supplanting traditional teachers (and trying not to say out loud that they needed to be supplanted because they sucked and the Best and the Brightest had better swoop in like a shining whi

FEB 28

OK: Voting With 60,000 Feet

by Peter Greene / 10d

Fans of market dynamics have a deep and abiding faith in the power of the podiatric plebiscite. When parents vote with their feet, schools will get better. Unions and minimum wage are not necessary, because if workers vote with their feet, employers will be forced to improve their offer. And yet, we have Oklahoma and teachers. The red flags have been numerous. The Oklahoma State School Boards Asso

FEB 27

OH: Lorain Schools In State Of Emergency

200+by Peter Greene / 10d

The state takeover of Lorain City Schools continues to spiral out of control (if you are joining us for this ongoing mess, you can start the story here ). Here's what has happened in the last couple of days. After announcing last Thursday that teachers at Lorain High School would have to reapply for their jobs, CEO David Hardy went on the television box to do an interview to try to-- well, it's no

FEB 25

FL: Further Dismantling Public Education

200+by Peter Greene / 12d

Here are two not-entirely-academic questions: Is it possible to end public education in an entire state? Can Florida become any more hostile to public education than it already is? Newly-minted Governor Ron DeSantis and a wild cast of privatization cronies seem to answer a resounding "yes" to both questions. But how would you do it? What resources would you need? What tactical moves would you make

FEB 24

OH: Lorain CEO's Purge Announcement Raises Fury

100+by Peter Greene / 13d

Last Thursday night, David Hardy, the state-appointed takeover CEO for Lorain City Schools told the public that all teachers at the high school would have to reapply for their jobs. If you want to read about how they arrived at this point, that story is here . This is just the next chapter in the story. After telling the public, Hardy then sent a letter to staff (because when you want to drop thi

ICYMI: So Long, February Edition (2/24)

by Peter Greene / 14d

Well, that just flew by. Here's a good batch of reading from the week. Remember, if it speaks to you, help it speak to somebody else. Betsy DeVos vs. Student Veterans By easing up on predatory for-profit colleges, DeVos has really stuck it to veterans trying to get an education. TFA Celebrates New 

Is Career And Technical Education Good News Or Bad?

Is Career And Technical Education Good News Or Bad?

Is Career And Technical Education Good News Or Bad?

In the last two decades of education reform, a great deal of emphasis has been put on sending high school graduates to college. President Obama in his 2009 State of the Union address proclaimed that by 2020 America would "once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world" (though he hedged that a bit by later saying simply that everyone would need some kind of post high school education.) We've repeatedly used college enrollment and completion as a measure of K-12 success. While the modern reform movement paid lip service to "college and career," policies have always suggested that college is the superior part of that team.

Now it is finally occurring to some folks that A) college is not necessarily the best choice for all students and B) the world needs people who do what Mike Rowe always called the jobs "that make civilized life possible for the rest of us." Done well, new studies show, it can boost both academics and wages for students. It might even help solve the mystery of the missing non-college educated male workers. And so Career and Technical Education (CTE) is coming back into its own.

This movement does not come without some concerns. Mishandled CTE can end up replacing a full education with simple vocational training, reducing public education to a provider of free meat widgets for selected employers, but opening up a limited future for the students who receive the narrow education. CTE programs are most effective when schools partner with relevant industries, but that partnership can't be one-sided, with schools subordinated to HR  CONTINUE READING: Is Career And Technical Education Good News Or Bad?

Reading Instruction, The Attack on Teachers, and Two Areas of Concern

Reading Instruction, The Attack on Teachers, and Two Areas of Concern

Reading Instruction, The Attack on Teachers, and Two Areas of Concern

Almost every day there’s another report attacking teachers for how they teach reading. It divides parents and teachers. It’s also dangerous at a time when there’s a teacher shortage and teachers are banding together to try to save not only their profession, but public education.

I don’t like to see my profession criticized so harshly by those who don’t teach and who have never taught. I fear that with this animosity towards teachers, those with minimal teacher preparation will end up in classrooms pretending to be teachers.

However, I also know parents with children who have dyslexia or reading and writing difficulties. Having taught students with such disabilities in middle and high school, I understand how frustrating it is for young people to struggle with reading and writing.

But everyone focuses on phonics while there are many other variables that could be problematic for children when it comes to reading instruction.

Here’s what’s being said and my questions and concerns about two of those areas.

Children with dyslexia don’t get intensive reading instruction based on science.

What happened to resource classes? For years public schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels offered smaller classes involving intensive remedial reading for students with reading and math disabilities. Resource classes should be CONTINUE READING: Reading Instruction, The Attack on Teachers, and Two Areas of Concern

Jersey Jazzman: The Case For Stable, Adequate, and Predictable School Funding

Jersey Jazzman: The Case For Stable, Adequate, and Predictable School Funding

The Case For Stable, Adequate, and Predictable School Funding

Here in New Jersey, we're entering budget season -- and that means the beginning of the annual ritual of declaring "winners and losers" in state aid to school districts. Governor Phil Murphy just released his budgetary plan for schools, showing which districts will get more or less aid from the state this year.

In a $38.6 billion budget, PreK-12 school aid in all its forms totals $15.5 billion -- that's 40 percent of the total budget (and includes payments into the school staff pensions). But in the past several years, the total amount of aid has not been as controversial as where the aid goes.

A particular sore spot has been adjustment aid, a category of state aid that has kept some districts' total aid higher than it would otherwise be, even as those districts have seen declines in enrollment or rises in the ability to collect local taxes.

There will, undoubtedly, be plenty of analysis about whether the winners and losers are being treated fairly. I'm sure I'll have a few things to say in the coming weeks and months.

But right now, I want to take a step back and see the larger picture, both here in New Jersey and in other states. Because focusing on winners and losers can keep us from thinking about why we have state school aid programs, what we want from them, and how we can make them better.

That's not to say the effects of particular policies on individual districts isn't important, and isn't worthy of our time. But if we don't have a clear vision of what we want in a school funding system, we can get caught up in who's up and who's down, rather than whether the entire system is being served well.

So, in no particular order, here are some principles I believe should be applied to any analysis of a statewide school funding plan:

- State funding programs should pursue (at least) two major goals: getting more funding to the students who need it, and making taxes more fair for local residents.

In the wonky world of school finance research, we've started to establish a new normal: money does matter. Taking the opposite position has become akin to being a climate CONTINUE READING: Jersey Jazzman: The Case For Stable, Adequate, and Predictable School Funding