Monday, February 22, 2021

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Monday, February 22, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKHISTORYMONTH #openonlywhensafe

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES

LAUSD to resume limited in-person classes, hoping for wider elementary school reopening in April http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/oQK6dtxrgSU/lausd-resume-limited-in-person-classes-amid-covid-19

A Beginning List Of The Best Resources To Support Concurrent/Hybrid Teaching | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/?p=115755 on @Larryferlazzo

Education Research Report: Charter Schools’ Effectiveness - http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/

Column: Take it from me: The longer kids are out of classrooms, the more they'll suffer academically http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/qwGe3ILhuaE/skelton-schools-reopening-covid-19-vaccine-newsom-california

Fine Print: NJ request to waive student testing https://www.njspotlight.com/2021/02/nj-request-to-waive-student-standardized-testing/

The Struggle To Reopen Schools: Teachers Don't Feel Safe; Kids Are Struggling https://www.npr.org/2021/02/21/970001639/the-struggle-to-reopen-schools-teachers-dont-feel-safe-kids-are-struggling

Pandemic Leaves Undocumented Students More Vulnerable https://www.npr.org/2021/02/21/970001625/pandemic-leaves-undocumented-students-more-vulnerable

Monday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/?p=115749 on @Larryferlazzo

Sacramento City Unified School District releases plan for return to classrooms https://www.abc10.com/article/news/education/sacramento-city-unified-school-district-reopening-plan/103-df6be147-4260-4203-b00e-6ff00afba5de via @ABC10

Biden Aides Continue to Drive for School Reopenings by April - Bloomberg - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-21/biden-aides-continue-to-drive-for-school-reopenings-by-april on @bpolitics

Curtis Cardine: The Cost of Funding the Arizona Voucher Legislation | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tzq via @dianeravitch

In-person classes. Old buildings. Almost no COVID. Are Philly Catholic schools a blueprint? https://whyy.org/articles/in-person-classes-old-buildings-almost-no-covid-are-philly-catholic-schools-a-blueprint/

Half of Wisconsin schools used seclusion and restraint, new data shows - https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/education/2021/02/18/half-wisconsin-schools-used-seclusion-and-restraint-new-data-shows/4263084001/#new_tab via @postcrescent

Parents, particularly in Black families, say past experiences with CPS are coloring their view of how safe schools are now. https://www.wbez.org/stories/deep-seated-mistrust-in-cps-is-keeping-some-families-from-choosing-in-person-learning/5f83a7c0-3f97-4682-b2d0-f611a065f64e?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Web-Share

Full Interview Teacher Union Pres.: 'There's no perfect solution' to reopening schools - https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/full-interview-teacher-union-pres-there-s-no-perfect-solution-to-reopening-schools-101356613515#new_tab by NBCNews on @NBCNews

L.A. teachers union is not budging from vaccination demand - Los Angeles Times - https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-21/la-teachers-union-vaccination-demand-school-reopening#new_tab by @howardblume on @latimes

40% of Colorado teachers are considering quitting after pandemic school year, survey finds – The Denver Post - https://dpo.st/3s9ScgK on @denverpost

Esports offers youths new way to connect virtually | Illinois | pantagraph.com - https://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/esports-offers-youths-new-way-to-connect-virtually/article_1c963664-ecaf-5b65-a32f-7764eb6c06f3.html#new_tab on @pantagraph

Union head won’t say whom teachers should get priority over for COVID vaccine https://www.axios.com/teachers-union-randi-weingarten-covid-vaccines-4c9874bb-76fd-4e39-bdb7-356b6d8d8561.html?utm_campaign=organic&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=twitter

Area private schools see more applicants due to coronavirus impacts on public schools - https://www.journal-news.com/news/coronavirus-fallout-private-schools-seeing-jump-in-applications-by-families-unhappy-with-remote-learning/CAHEQ3WR6RA6HGALMXO4OAGQ7M/#new_tab on @journal-news

WV House pulls back likely unprecedented non-public school vouchers bill, citing financial issues | Education | wvgazettemail.com - https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/education/wv-house-pulls-back-likely-unprecedented-non-public-school-vouchers-bill-citing-financial-issues/article_71453a0e-530d-57d5-9b9c-c20a21169c64.html#new_tab on @wvgazettemail

Millions of kindergartners skip public school: COVID-19 redshirting - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/02/21/millions-kindergartners-skip-public-school-covid-redshirting/6759277002/#new_tab via @usatoday

A Somerville mother is stunned: How can school officials accuse her 6-year-old son of sexual misconduct and report him to the police? Charges of racism ensue - The Boston Globe - https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/20/metro/somerville-mother-is-stunned-how-can-school-officials-accuse-her-6-year-old-son-sexual-misconduct-report-him-police-charges-racism-ensue/#new_tab on @BostonGlobe

Court rejects Jacksonville challenge to armed school 'guardians' - https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/courts/2021/02/19/court-rejects-jacksonville-challenge-armed-school-guardians/4504650001/#new_tab via @jaxdotcom

Texas students slammed again as storm scrambles already chaotic school year https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/19/texas-school-power-outage/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social via @TexasTribune

CDC study shows teachers could play 'central role' in Covid spread at schools where masks aren't worn https://cnb.cx/3pR9QEx

San Francisco calls halt to plan to rename 44 schools | The Sacramento Bee - https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article249425290.html#new_tab on sacbee_news

Keeping the Promise: Enhanced Entrance and Exit Counseling on StudentAid.gov https://blog.ed.gov/2021/02/keeping-promise-enhanced-entrance-exit-counseling-studentaid-gov/

Big Education Ape: Eve Ewing Is Wrong About Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/eve-ewing-is-wrong-about-charter.html

Big Education Ape: #JusticeIsTheFoundation: New Data on Racial Equity and Racial Justice Funding in Education Philanthropy | Schott Foundation for Public Education - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/justiceisthefoundation-new-data-on.html

Big Education Ape: Russ on Reading: Joyous Read Alouds: The Books of Audrey and Don Wood - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/russ-on-reading-joyous-read-alouds.html

Big Education Ape: Interactive: Explore who gains most from student debt forgiveness - The Hechinger Report - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/interactive-explore-who-gains-most-from.html

Big Education Ape: Teacher Tom: How We Become Blind to the Chicken - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/teacher-tom-how-we-become-blind-to.html

Big Education Ape: Schools Matter: Biden's Blockheaded Approach to Teachers and Covid - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/schools-matter-bidens-blockheaded.html

Big Education Ape: Shawgi Tell: What is a “Strong” Charter School Law? | Dissident Voice - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/shawgi-tell-what-is-strong-charter.html

Big Education Ape: NANCY BAILEY: Time for a NEW National Reading Panel to Study Reading Instruction - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/nancy-bailey-time-for-new-national.html

Steve Nelson Believes America’s Obsession with School Policy Based on Standardized Tests Is All Wrong | janresseger

by Mike Simpson / 43min

Steve Nelson Believes America’s Obsession with School Policy Based on Standardized Tests Is All Wrong Steve Nelson is the former Head of School at the private, progressive Calhoun School in Manhattan, but he has also spoken passionately about the danger of current trends in public school policy. I recommend his book, First Do No Harm: Progressive Education in a Time of Existential Risk , and I a

CURMUDGUCATION: Big Brother Knows What's In Your Heart

by Mike Simpson / 43min

Big Brother Knows What's In Your Heart Well, this is creepy. Before the pandemic, Ka Tim Chu, teacher and vice principal of Hong Kong's True Light College, looked at his students' faces to gauge how they were responding to classwork. Now, with most of his lessons online, technology is helping Chu to read the room. An AI-powered learning platform monitors his students' emotions as they study at h

The Education Development Center and The Urban Collaborative | tultican

by Mike Simpson / 43min

The Education Development Center and The Urban Collaborative By Thomas Ultican 2/22/2021 A North Carolina resident asked “what do you know about the Urban Collaborative?” She was concerned about a company providing free airfare to school leaders in her child’s district; airfare to meetings in far-off cities. She wondered, “What is their motive? Is it more about money and power than special educa

Kids need to play this summer, not catch up on school - The Washington Post

by Mike Simpson / 43min

Kids need to play this summer, not catch up on school Yes, the pandemic has been long and hard. That’s no reason to lock students in classrooms all year. The global pandemic has taken its toll on families and children. Children have not been able to engage in their normal routines, sit in a classroom with friends and teachers, visit extended family or participate in social activities without a m

Back To School Covid Myths (Doug Green) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by Mike Simpson / 43min

Back To School Covid Myths (Doug Green) I have had a hard time locating actual classroom observations of hybrid teaching and learning. I did find that The New York Times sent journalists to visit seven different urban and rural districts that provided some evidence of what occurs in schools during the pandemic. Doug Green emailed me that he had visited a small district near where he lives. I ask

YESTERDAY

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Neither Cat Nor In Cancun Edition (2/21)

by Mike Simpson / 15h

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Neither Cat Nor In Cancun Edition (2/21) Neither Cat Nor In Cancun Edition This week seemed.... long, somehow. It's a big list this week. Remember to share, and take a minute to hug someone you love, too. Stop calling this generation 'lost.' Selena Carrion has written a really great piece about students and remote learning and the rhetoric surrounding our current flap. I wr

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Sunday, February 21, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKHISTORYMONTH #openonlywhensafe

by Mike Simpson / 15h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Why are negotiations over reopening Philadelphia schools dragging on so long? - Chalkbeat Philadelphia - https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2021/2/20/22293351/why-are-negotiations-over-reopening-philadelphia-schools-dragging-on-so-long on chalkbeat Voters want Biden to cancel $50,000 in student debt, by huge margin: poll https://www.sal

¡Corran la voz!: “Exacerbated Inequalities” Webinar | Cloaking Inequity #MASBAwebinar

by Mike Simpson / 15h

¡Corran la voz!: “Exacerbated Inequalities” Webinar | Cloaking Inequity ¡CORRAN LA VOZ!: “EXACERBATED INEQUALITIES” WEBINAR ¡Corran la voz! Check out #MASBAwebinar entitled “Exacerbated Inequalities” featuring

Big Education Ape

Eve Ewing Is Wrong About Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Eve Ewing Is Wrong About Charter Schools

Eve Ewing is a writer and scholar whose work I very much admire. When her book Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side was published in 2018, I called it the best book of the year. Today, however, she published an article in the New York Times about charter schools that completely misses the point about the damage that charter schools do to public schools.

Basically, she says we should be happy whenever any school–whether public or charter–provides a good education. That is what I believed when I was an advocate for charter schools from the late 1980s until about 2007. It was then that I realized that charter schools were not producing better outcomes than public schools and were diverting money and the students they wanted from public schools. The more I learned about charter operators, their billionaire benefactors, their drive for money and power, and the corruption associated with their lack of accountability, the more I realized that this nation needs a strongly resourced, equitable, and excellent public school system. After thirty years of directing funding to charter schools, we have seen no CONTINUE READING: Eve Ewing Is Wrong About Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

#JusticeIsTheFoundation: New Data on Racial Equity and Racial Justice Funding in Education Philanthropy | Schott Foundation for Public Education

#JusticeIsTheFoundation: New Data on Racial Equity and Racial Justice Funding in Education Philanthropy

Register for Thursday's Funder Briefing on #JusticeIsTheFoundation >

Education is the second most-funded issue area in philanthropy. This is a broad category that includes capital campaigns for universities, measures of teacher effectiveness, and charter schools. How much of philanthropic funding is allocated to reduce inequities so that all students have fair access to a quality K-12 education? And how would we measure that with the data available?

Funders Briefing:
New Data on Racial Equity and Racial Justice Education Funding in Philanthropy

Thursday, February 25, 2021
1-2pm ET / 10-11am PT

In this historical moment, many of us in philanthropy are shaping our grantmaking to better support systemic transformation and advance racial equity. Black and people-of-color led organizations have recently delivered substantial wins for racial equity in schools across the country — from reforming discipline to fighting for safer and healthier in-person learning. These wins underscore the critical opportunity to support grassroots movements who are on the front lines of advancing justice. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., how can funders help "bend the arc" toward racial justice in education?

The Schott Foundation for Public Education has worked with Candid over the past several months to critically examine the ultimate measure of education philanthropy's priorities: where the grant dollars go. For the first time, thanks to this joint effort, we can view this philanthropic sector with an equity and justice lens, telling the story of what we prioritize as a sector and revealing blind spots in our collective response. This data has deepened Schott's understanding, and we invite you to learn more and join us. You can view our findings here.

You'll learn from this conversation:

The state of racial equity and racial justice funding for the K-12 education sector
The impact that current funding is — and isn't — making to support transformational and systemic change
Clear action steps every funder can take to deepen your commitment to funding justice

Speakers:

Dr. John H. Jackson, President & CEO, Schott Foundation for Public Education
Dr. Leah Austin, Director of the Opportunity to Learn Network, Schott Foundation for Public Education
Letha Muhammad, Director, Education Justice Alliance
Edgar Villanueva, Senior Vice President of Programs & Advocacy, Schott Foundation for Public Education

The Schott Foundation for Public Education worked with Candid to critically examine the ultimate measure of education philanthropy's priorities: where the grant dollars go. For the first time, we can assess the collective philanthropic impact of giving in the education sector through a lens of racial equity and racial justice, telling the story of what we prioritize and revealing blind spots in our collective response.

Finding 1: Both Racial Equity and Racial Justice are Drastically Underfunded by Education Philanthropy

Register for Thursday's Funder Briefing on #JusticeIsTheFoundation >

Racial Equity and Racial Justice: What’s the Difference?

Register for Thursday's Funder Briefing on #JusticeIsTheFoundation >

For the purposes of our study, we took care to parse out grants that may look similar on the face, but actually have significant differences.

Racial equity refers to grants designed to close the achievement gap that persists between racial groups. Grants for racial equity include support for programs such as racial bias trainings for teachers or mentorship programs for Black and brown students.
Racial justice refers to grants designed to close the opportunity gap — the underlying systemic injustices that create the achievement gap in the first place. Racial justice grants focus explicitly on empowering people closest to the problem (families and students) organizing in their communities to change the systems and structures that generate and reinforce racial inequity. Racial justice grantmaking supports building community power, supporting policy change, engaging with policymakers, building partnerships with advocates to advance racial equity.

In short, racial equity grants address symptoms, while racial justice grants address root causes by strengthening the foundation, or bedrock, of efforts to achieve equity.

Here’s a sampling of the language used in grant descriptions that were considered “racial justice”:

Register for Thursday's Funder Briefing on #JusticeIsTheFoundation >

Finding 2: While the Need is Growing, Funding is Shrinking

Register for Thursday's Funder Briefing on #JusticeIsTheFoundation >

Funding data from 2011 to 2018, indicate that overall philanthropic giving increased dramatically, growing 48%. At the same time, the proportion of philanthropic dollars for K-12 education shrunk slightly, by 7%. Funding for racial equity and justice took a hammering, shrinking by 36% in the same interval.

Finding 3: Racial Justice Funding is Unevenly Distributed

Register for Thursday's Funder Briefing on #JusticeIsTheFoundation >

K-12 racial justice funding is concentrated in the Northeast. The majority of dollars, 63%, went to organizations based there. Only 16% went to those located in the South and 17% to those in the West. Meanwhile, 43% of all K-12 public school students of color are enrolled in the South and 29% in the West.

In some cases, the recipients of grants spend those resources in a different region — for example, the Schott Foundation is based in the Northeast but funds organizations across the country. However, the fact that so few grant recipients are located in the region with the plurality of students of color is a serious disproportionality that Schott will examine closely in future research.

What Can Be Done?

Movements for racial justice in education are growing in a moment when, due in large part to the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic and the uprisings for racial justice, the future direction of public education is more open to change than ever before. Now is our chance to re-imagine and make systemic changes in education that lay the foundation for equity of opportunity for children of color, if funders across the philanthropic spectrum invest now in racial justice in K-12 education. There’s never been a more pertinent time.

For almost 30 years, the Schott Foundation has put the struggle for racial justice at the heart of our grantmaking strategy. In that time we’ve worked closely with other funders who are looking to shift their priorities in a similar direction.

We invite you to partner with us to make the critical investments needed to help move the arc of our nation’s public education system toward greater racial justice in the years ahead. Children of color, indeed our nation’s future, depend on it.

Register for Thursday's Funder Briefing on #JusticeIsTheFoundation >

Methodology

Click here to download a FAQ about the methodology used in researching the philanthropic data.

Register for Thursday's Funder Briefing on #JusticeIsTheFoundation >

#JusticeIsTheFoundation: New Data on Racial Equity and Racial Justice Funding in Education Philanthropy | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Russ on Reading: Joyous Read Alouds: The Books of Audrey and Don Wood

Joyous Read Alouds: The Books of Audrey and Don Wood

There is a house
A Napping House
Where Everyone is Sleeping

Thus begins one of the great read aloud books of all times, The Napping House, by Audrey Wood, illustrated by her husband, Don Wood. Audrey Wood's parents worked as tent and mural painters for the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus, which wintered for years near Wood's home in Sarasota, FL. Audrey loved to listen to the stories the circus performers told. When she grew up, she wrote her own stories driven by the tales and cadences she heard from the circus people's stories. The playful use of language is evident everywhere in Wood's stories, which are perfectly matched by the raucous world depicted in Don Wood's illustrations. It is that playful language, plus those large and comic illustrations that make these books perfect read alouds. CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Joyous Read Alouds: The Books of Audrey and Don Wood

Interactive: Explore who gains most from student debt forgiveness - The Hechinger Report

Interactive: Explore who gains most from student debt forgiveness

Interactive: Explore who gains most from canceling student debt

As economists and policymakers debate the merits of loan forgiveness, a peek into federal data shows how different proposals could affect different groups of borrowers

President Joe Biden, congressional leaders and debt experts continue to argue over student loan debt forgiveness — both how much should be canceled and which branch can offer relief. Biden told a questioner at last week’s CNN town hall he did not think he had the authority to cancel $50,000 for student loan borrowers, and instead would limit relief to $10,000. Earlier, the administration had said it was reviewing its options for forgiveness through executive action. Even the more modest figure of $10,000 per student would represent one of the most ambitious projects under the new administration, erasing an estimated $377 billion in debt.

Student debt forgiveness is popular among voters, but a handful of economists have questioned whether it helps those most in need. They argue that middle-class families will benefit more than poor and marginalized Americans.

There are many ways to look at the types of people loan forgiveness would benefit: Should we consider household income? What about net wealth? How would borrowers of different races be affected? A Hechinger analysis of federal data provides additional dimensions to the picture of student debt. We show more detail about where student debt falls most heavily and how different cancellation plans would affect different groups of Americans.

First, here is the overall picture of student loan debt and its rapid growth.

Americans amassed trillions of dollars in student loan debt in the course of just a few decades. Throughout most of the Department of Education’s life as a guarantor of loans and a direct lender, student borrowing remained below $20 billion per year, according to a 1998 report from the Institute for CONTINUE READING: Interactive: Explore who gains most from student debt forgiveness

Teacher Tom: How We Become Blind to the Chicken

How We Become Blind to the Chicken

In 1961, Professor John Wilson of the African Institute of London University published a paper in which he tells of an experience he had while trying to use film to teach an audience. He was working with a sanitary inspector who had the specific goal of educating people about the importance of getting rid of standing water in order to combat mosquito born illnesses like malaria. They chose film as their medium because the audience was illiterate. They likewise knew that the audience wasn't familiar with film, so they kept things deliberate and simple. There was only one character, the sanitary inspector himself, talking to the camera, giving careful demonstrations. They screened it to an audience of 30 or so who were then asked what they had seen. "The chicken," they answered.

There hadn't been a chicken in the film, but every member of the audience talked about seeing the chicken. Upon further questioning, they said they had also seen the sanitary inspector, but he hadn't made nearly the impression as this non-existent chicken. It was only when the filmmakers went back and studied their film frame-by-frame did they finally see that, indeed, a chicken, startled by something, had briefly flown across the corner of the screen. It had appeared for less than a second in a five minute film. Until this audience had seen it, the makers of the film had been literally blind to CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: How We Become Blind to the Chicken

Schools Matter: Biden's Blockheaded Approach to Teachers and Covid

Biden's Blockheaded Approach to Teachers and Covid

Everyone wants schools open, particularly teachers engaged online with disengaged children online. But teachers, being the selfish sort they are, would like live out their lives, rather than dying alone while a machine pumps air into their Covid-melted lungs.

The Biden Administration messaging on reopening schools that would be safe for teachers and staff has been the biggest mess I have seen from what, otherwise, appears to be a well-oiled machine on top of most of the chaos left by T---p. Yesterday's appearance by Jen Psaki did not help:

“The CDC is saying in order to be safe, there are a number of steps that can be taken. Vaccinating teachers is one of them,” Psaki said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” before listing an array of other measures, including smaller class sizes, separating children on CONTINUE READING: Schools Matter: Biden's Blockheaded Approach to Teachers and Covid

Shawgi Tell: What is a “Strong” Charter School Law? | Dissident Voice

What is a “Strong” Charter School Law? | Dissident Voice

What is a “Strong” Charter School Law?

Every year the billionaire-funded National Alliance for Charter Schools (NAPCS) produces a glossy report ranking state charter school laws. This year’s 72-page report is titled: Measuring up to the model, a ranking of state public charter school laws, twelfth annual edition.

The main goal of the report is to rank state charter school laws in terms of how “strong” or “weak” they are. This is supposed to signal to privatizers and neoliberals which states are most conducive to privatizing public schools and which are the least conducive to privatizing public schools.

When the report refers to a state’s charter school law as being “strong” what it means is that the door is wide open in that state to unfettered privatization of public schools. In other words, a state with a “strong” charter school law enables and empowers privatizers and neoliberals to create more privately-operated segregated charter schools than a state with a “weak” charter school law. States with “strong” charter school laws, for example, have less charter school accountability and fewer laws, rules, and regulations upholding public standards for non-profit and for-profit charter schools. Being able to dodge teacher unions and being exempt from collective bargaining agreements is also considered a feature of a state with “strong” charter school laws. States with “strong” charter school laws also tend to have more “charter school authorizers,” which means that it is easier to start a charter school in that state because if one authorizer rejects a charter school application, the applicant CONTINUE READING: What is a “Strong” Charter School Law? | Dissident Voice

NANCY BAILEY: Time for a NEW National Reading Panel to Study Reading Instruction

Time for a NEW National Reading Panel to Study Reading Instruction

Time for a NEW National Reading Panel to Study Reading Instruction

Reading. It’s one of the most important and controversial topics in education. Reading is the foundational skill required of children to learn. With a new President and educators Dr. Miguel Cardona and Cindy Marten, the time is right to convene a new, inclusive National Reading Panel (NRP).

Here’s why this is important, along with some brainstorming as to what it could involve. Please share your ideas.

National Reading Panel

The last NRP convened in 1997, submitting its report to Congress in February 1999, almost 25 years ago. Much has changed.

The NRP is mired in controversy. In his recent book, education scholar P.L. Thomas states:

A central component of No Child Left Behind was the NRP; however, as a key member of the panel has detailed, that report was neither a comprehensive and valid overview of the then-current state of research on teaching reading nor a foundational tool for guiding reading practices or policy. Yet, media coverage routinely references the NRP CONTINUE READING: Time for a NEW National Reading Panel to Study Reading Instruction

Steve Nelson Believes America’s Obsession with School Policy Based on Standardized Tests Is All Wrong | janresseger

Steve Nelson Believes America’s Obsession with School Policy Based on Standardized Tests Is All Wrong

Steve Nelson is the former Head of School at the private, progressive Calhoun School in Manhattan, but he has also spoken passionately about the danger of current trends in public school policy. I recommend his book, First Do No Harm: Progressive Education in a Time of Existential Risk, and I also enjoy his new blog, where, last week, he warned against the problems in federally mandated standardized testing—a big issue right now as education advocates are urging the new U.S. Secretary of Education to grant states waivers to cancel federally mandated standardized testing in this COVID-19 school year.

Where did our fixation and obsession with standardized testing come from? Nelson weighs in: “Education reformers and so-called policy ‘experts’ are constantly collecting and analyzing data. Many of these experts are, not surprisingly, economists. It’s not for nothing that economics is sometimes called ‘the dismal science.’ The hostile takeover of education by non-educators is filled with intelligent sounding phrases: ‘evidence-based,’ ‘data-driven,’ ‘metrics and accountability.’ At every level of schooling, mountains of data are collected to inform ‘best practices’ based on the alleged cause and effect implications of data-based instruction and the feedback gleaned from tests.”

Today’s accountability-based school reform is, writes Nelson, “an increasingly rigid, closed loop of assessment… systematically making schools worse: CONTINUE READING: Steve Nelson Believes America’s Obsession with School Policy Based on Standardized Tests Is All Wrong | janresseger

CURMUDGUCATION: Big Brother Knows What's In Your Heart

Big Brother Knows What's In Your Heart

Well, this is creepy.

Before the pandemic, Ka Tim Chu, teacher and vice principal of Hong Kong's True Light College, looked at his students' faces to gauge how they were responding to classwork. Now, with most of his lessons online, technology is helping Chu to read the room. An AI-powered learning platform monitors his students' emotions as they study at home.

The software is called 4 Little Trees, and the CNN article only scratches the surface of how creepy it is. So let's work our way down through the levels of creepiness.

4 Little Trees is a product of Find Solution AI, a company founded in 2016. This product appears to be the heart and soul of their company. Though their "about us" mission statement is "FSAI consistent vision is to solve the difficulties that the society has been encountered with technology." They might want to look at their placement of "with technology" in that sentence. Anyway, on to 4 Little Trees.

It uses the computer webcam to track the movement of muscles on the student face to "assess emotions." With magical AI, which means it's a good time for everyone to remember that AI is some version of a pattern-seeking algorithm. AI doesn't grok emotions any more than it actually thinks-- in this case it compares the points it spots on the student's face and compares it to a library of samples. And as with all AI libraries of samples, this one has issues--mainly, racial ones. 4 Little Trees has been "trained" with a library of Chinese faces. The company's founder, Viola Lam, is aware "that more ethnically-mixed communities could be a bigger challenge for the software."

But aren't emotions complicated? The sample image shows the software gets to choose from varying amounts of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise and neutral. The company calls these CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Big Brother Knows What's In Your Heart

The Education Development Center and The Urban Collaborative | tultican

The Education Development Center and The Urban Collaborative

By Thomas Ultican 2/22/2021

A North Carolina resident asked “what do you know about the Urban Collaborative?” She was concerned about a company providing free airfare to school leaders in her child’s district; airfare to meetings in far-off cities. She wondered, “What is their motive? Is it more about money and power than special education?”

The Urban Special Education Leadership Collaborative was founded by Dr. David Riley, Educational Co-Chair of the Summer Institute on Critical Issues in Urban Special Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Riley was the Executive Director of the Collaborative until he succumbed to cancer May 2, 2016. The Collaborative is a national network of education administrators responsible for youth with disabilities in urban school districts. It is a national version of the Massachusetts Urban Project, a state-wide network that Dr. Riley founded in 1979. In 1994, The Education Development Center (EDC) expanded the Urban Collaborative into a national organization.

An October 1, 2019 announcement from Arizona State University stated:

“The Urban Collaborative has a rich history of collaboration with school districts — more than 100 in 25 states — committed to leading inclusive and equitable education. It has resources, sponsors and partners, consultants and data-driven review processes, and annual meetings of education leaders from the nation’s largest urban school districts.”

“This fall, the Urban Collaborative joins Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College [MLFTC]. It was formerly an initiative of the nonprofit Education Development Center.

“Lauren Katzman, Urban Collaborative executive director, joins MLFTC as associate research professor.”

The Education Development Center

In 1956, Dr. Jerrold R. Zacharias an atomic physicist at the Massachusetts CONTINUE READING: The Education Development Center and The Urban Collaborative | tultican

Kids need to play this summer, not catch up on school - The Washington Post

Kids need to play this summer, not catch up on school

Yes, the pandemic has been long and hard. That’s no reason to lock students in classrooms all year.

The global pandemic has taken its toll on families and children. Children have not been able to engage in their normal routines, sit in a classroom with friends and teachers, visit extended family or participate in social activities without a mask. Most parents are more concerned about their children’s emotional well-being than they were before the pandemic, a Pew Research Center survey in the fall found. And that situation may have grown more dire, as children have spent much of the school year online and maintaining social distance from other people.

Facing this year of loss, Democrats in Congress have framed the problem as primarily one of lower projected test scores; their solution is to make kids in high-poverty schools spend the summer inside preparing for standardized tests. This is exactly the wrong approach to the sadness and loss of the covid era: This summer, children need to do self-initiated activities that are rewarding for their own sake. This will create happier children now and, as research has shown, lead to improved physical, cognitive, social, emotional and creative outcomes later in life.

At the end of 2020, Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, explained how he wanted to address the learning loss caused by the pandemic: “You can’t just tell cash-strapped states and localities that they’ve got to cancel summer vacation. For the federal government, if we’re going to suggest that, we’ve got to help pay for it.”

So early this year, Scott introduced the Learning Recovery Act of 2021 to establish a grant program; the bill could become law by mid-March. It would authorize $75 billion over the next two years to address learning loss in Title I schools with high concentrations of economically disadvantaged students by funding school extension programs — including longer school days, an extended school year and summer school. It’s a lot of money: Congress allocated about $16 billion for Title I schools in 2019.

The money has strings attached. The bill stipulates that state educational agencies shall support school districts “to effectively use data and evidence-based strategies to address learning recovery needs for students.” To collect this data, a school district may administer “high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable to accurately assess students’ academic progress.” The bill also authorizes funding for the CONTINUE READING:

Back To School Covid Myths (Doug Green) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Back To School Covid Myths (Doug Green)

I have had a hard time locating actual classroom observations of hybrid teaching and learning. I did find that The New York Times sent journalists to visit seven different urban and rural districts that provided some evidence of what occurs in schools during the pandemic.

Doug Green emailed me that he had visited a small district near where he lives. I asked him to send me the results of his observations. Dr. Doug Green is a former teacher and principal in upstate New York. He blogs at https://DrDougGreen.Com

Since March of 2020, I have read countless articles about remote schooling. I have yet to see a convincing study on the relative quality of remote and in-person schooling, but I have seen many authors make unequivocal statements in favor of the in-person model. Whenever I see people stating hypotheses as facts I try to come up with reasons why they might be wrong, so here are the problems I find with the general consensus.

As part of my post-retirement professional life, I am the independent observer for a local school district. There I get to observe 120 teachers from K to12 thanks to the fact that our government doesn’t trust our principals to fairly evaluate CONTINUE READING: Back To School Covid Myths (Doug Green) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

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Monday, February 22, 2021