NEWS FROM DR. MIGUEL CARDONA AND THE US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Thursday, May 13, 2021
Teachers union leader calls for 'fully reopening’ schools this fall - POLITICO
Teachers union leader calls for 'fully reopening’ schools this fall -
POLITICO
Teachers union leader calls for 'fully reopening’ schools this fall
Randi Weingarten is promising a campaign that resembles a "get out the
vote" effort, but for school reopening.
Nothing should stop public schools from fully reopening this fall, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten will declare this morning in a speech that will also set out details of a $5 million union outreach campaign to coax families back to in-person classes.
"Given current circumstances, nothing should stand in the way of fully reopening our public schools this fall and keeping them open," Weingarten is expected to say in an address scheduled for 11 a.m. ET.
"Public health experts caution that, unless many more people get
vaccinated, we will not reach herd immunity against COVID," Weingarten
said of returning to classes in a draft version of the address. "But we
can manage the threat by encouraging people to get vaccines and following
guidance from the CDC to prevent the spread of disease — which currently
includes the layered mitigation of masking and distancing, ventilation and
sanitizing, handwashing, and COVID testing and contact tracing that help
prevent outbreaks and minimize quarantines."
Outreach campaign: Weingarten is promising a campaign that resembles a
"get out the vote" effort, but for school reopening.
She's expected to note local unions, such as the Pittsburgh Federation of
Teachers, will go door to door to visit students’ homes and encourage
families to send their children back for in-person learning, and cite
Covid-19 vaccination events in Los Angeles and Chicago.
The union released new polling results Wednesday that concluded 73
percent of parents — but only 59 percent of Black parents — said they are
comfortable with in-person learning for their child this fall. By
contrast, 94 percent of parents (and 87 percent of Black parents) said
they’d be comfortable with in-person learning this fall if schools adopt
safety measures such as mask-wearing and physical distancing requirements
and make Covid-19 vaccines available at school buildings.
"These mitigation measures are vital," Weingarten is expected to say. "So
is collaboration with parents to create trust and transparency."
Looking ahead: Weingarten will also use her speech to continue union
calls CONTINUE READING: Teachers union leader calls for 'fully reopening’ schools this fall -
POLITICO
Oklahoma: State Officials Say It’s “Racist” to Teach About Racism | Diane Ravitch's blog
Oklahoma: State Officials Say It’s “Racist” to Teach About Racism | Diane Ravitch's blog
Oklahoma: State Officials Say It’s “Racist” to Teach About Racism
John Thompson, historian and retired teacher, reports that the Republican Governor and Legislature are determined to stop teachers from teaching about racism, sexism, and bias because such topics Dow discord and racism. This “cancel culture” at its worst. Every sentient adult who has studied American history knows that racism runs deep and strong in our history and present culture and the best way to eliminate it to confront it honestly.
Thompson writes:
As Education Week explained, across the nation, legislators are attempting to “make it harder for teachers to talk about racism, sexism, and bias in the classroom,” and directly or indirectly ban Critical Race Theory. Oklahoma passed HR 1775 banning mandatory gender or sexual diversity training or counseling, while implicitly threatening lessons about racism.
Oklahoma provides just one example of the way public education and civil discussions are under assault. But it CONTINUE READING: Oklahoma: State Officials Say It’s “Racist” to Teach About Racism | Diane Ravitch's blog
Plagiarism, Accountability, and Adult Hypocrisy – radical eyes for equity
Plagiarism, Accountability, and Adult Hypocrisy – radical eyes for equity
Plagiarism, Accountability, and Adult Hypocrisy
You said “I think I’m like Tennessee Williams”
“CITY MIDDLE,” THE NATIONAL
I wait for the click. I wait, but it doesn’t kick in
A refrain by my father throughout my childhood and into my adolescence has shaped how I try to live my life; it remains possibly the strongest impulse I have as an adult.
My father’s parenting philosophy was possibly as misguided as it was reflective of the essential problem with how adults interact with children and teens: “Do as I say, not as I do.”
As a child growing up in the rural crossroads of Enoree, South Carolina, I witnessed my father announcing his dictum, sitting in our living room with a glass of Crown Royal in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
By the time I was a teen, the scenes were often far more physical, occasionally ending with me on the floor as my father attempted to wrestle me into compliance.
A game of him demanding, “Don’t say another word,” and me replying, “Word,” as he tightening his hold on me against the faux-brick linoleum of a different CONTINUE READING: Plagiarism, Accountability, and Adult Hypocrisy – radical eyes for equity
Teacher Tom: The Practice of Purpose
Teacher Tom: The Practice of Purpose
The Practice of Purpose
When parents say they just want their child to be happy or that they just want their child to love to learn, I think what they are saying, without really knowing it, is that they want their child to find their purpose. Of course, it sounds a bit ridiculous to talk about a two-year-old finding something as significant as their "purpose." That's something that takes decades to discover, and only then after much trail, error, and introspection. It seems to us that most adults haven't figured that out, if we ever do. No, that's too much pressure to put on a kid, to find their purpose, but we wish for them what we perceive as the products of a life with a purpose -- curiosity, passion, direction, a sense of being worthy, determination, resilience, contentment, and a place in community.
But I wonder if we sometimes get purpose all wrong. It gets mixed up with such things as doing well in school or career or the day-to-day purpose behind things like caring for a family. We think we see it in people who are driven towards a goal, while shaking our heads over those who seem aimless. When we really step back, we might be generous and philosophical enough to see purpose as a journey and that while our very CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: The Practice of Purpose
Kansas City Schools’ Accreditation Woes: Are the Philanthropic Vultures Circling? | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog
Kansas City Schools’ Accreditation Woes: Are the Philanthropic Vultures Circling? | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog
Kansas City Schools’ Accreditation Woes: Are the Philanthropic Vultures Circling?
On April 02, 2021, the Kansas City Star reported that an “outside group” spent $100K in the Kansas City (MO) School Board election in support of two contenders, locals Tanesha Ford and Kandace Buckener.
In the April 2021 KC board election, two other members were unopposed. Ford and Buckener were buoyed by $100K in mystery money funneled through Blaque independent expenditure committee. Since Blaque is not directly connected to the candidates it supports, the “non-committee” is not required to disclose to the public who, exactly, is funding its efforts.
Members of the KC public in support of traditional public schools are concerned that Blaque’s undisclosed money comes from school choice promoters, as the April 23, 2021, KCUR reports:
Advocates for the district are worried about money that poured into the school board election from school choice proponents — BLAQUE gets funding from SchoolSmart KC, which in turn gets money from the Kauffman and Hall foundations.
Based on the KCUR article, Ford and Buckener appear to be concerned about “student achievement,” which certainly involves the test scores upon which KC’s longstanding accreditation woes critically depend. Other components of Missouri CONTINUE READING: Kansas City Schools’ Accreditation Woes: Are the Philanthropic Vultures Circling? | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog
SPI Praises Governor's $15B Schools Plan Proposal - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)
SPI Praises Governor's $15B Schools Plan Proposal - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)
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State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Praises Governor’s Proposed $15 Billion for Schools Plan for Putting Needs of Students and Families First
SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond joined Governor Gavin Newsom, Secretary of Health and Human Services Mark Ghaly, and State Board of Education President Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond at Elkhorn Elementary School in Castroville to herald a bold plan to propel public education in California back to the top in the nation.
State Superintendent Thurmond cheered the unprecedented investments proposed for class-size reduction; learning acceleration; afterschool programs; universal transitional kindergarten; and critical wraparound mental health, social, and family services so critically needed to put students and families back on track as California continues to make its way out of the pandemic. Underscoring how students and schools are facing “the toughest experience of our lifetime,” Thurmond praised the proposal for the much-needed investments in social-emotional and mental health supports. Drawing on his personal history, Thurmond recounted experiencing tragedy at age six when he lost his mother to cancer and was uprooted to be raised by an unknown cousin across the country. He emphasized the importance of recognizing the personal trauma of students who may have lost family members to COVID-19; face housing and food insecurity; or struggle emotionally with the acceleration of hate, bigotry, and racism throughout our communities and nation.
“It is not lost on me,” Thurmond stated, “That as more and more students return to classrooms, as much as it is important for us to focus on how we accelerate learning and provide tutoring and professional development for educators to offset learning gaps that our students have experienced, I can’t think of anything more important than how we address the social-emotional learning needs of our students and their mental health and their well-being.”
Specifically, Thurmond commended the Governor for committing billions of dollars to help the behavioral health systems that support California students. Thurmond cited a stretched and fractured system that has existed for decades trying to support student mental health through a patchwork created by school and county health resources. He called for the investments to be used to fill gaps and to layer resources that address trauma and support the well-being of students.
Sharing the essence of the California Roars Back plan for schools, Thurmond underscored, “As we come out of this difficult circumstance, we are capturing the moment to make the investments that propel us forward to support the needs of our students and, at the same time, to reimagine how we approach education. We must look at all the things that didn't work for our students and families before and take that knowledge to support them going forward.”
View Governor Newsom’s Transforming Public Schools proposal.
.# # # #
Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
Testing Industry Scores Big in California | tultican
Testing Industry Scores Big in California | tultican
Testing Industry Scores Big in California
By Thomas Ultican 5/13/2021
At 1:45 PM this Wednesday, the California State Board of Education (SBE) adopted a “student growth model” to evaluate student learning. It is a method fans of standardized test based accountability have been trumpeting. The big winner here is the testing giant Education Testing Services (ETS) who created the model to be used.
Board member Sue Burr who was appointed to the board by then Governor Jerry Brown made the motion for using the growth model. She carefully presented her motion directly from the state’s California Department of Education (CDE) staff report which recommended:
“The student growth model methodology, which includes using RG [residual growth] scores and the EBLP [Empirical Best Linear Prediction] hybrid approach to report aggregated student growth, and that the following score reporting be adopted:
“1. Report the EBLP weighted average for:
- Schools
- Student groups in a school
- The “All” student group in an County or District
- Student groups in a district with 500 or fewer students (with test scores)
“2. At the Local Education Agency level, report the simple average for all race/ethnicity and program participation student groups with more than 500 scores.”
Board member Patricia Ann Rucker seconded the motion. She is a legislative CONTINUE READING: Testing Industry Scores Big in California | tultican
NYC Public School Parents: "Talk out of School" podcast with PEP member Tom Sheppard and Regent Kathy Cashin
NYC Public School Parents: "Talk out of School" podcast with PEP member Tom Sheppard and Regent Kathy Cashin
"Talk out of School" podcast with PEP member Tom Sheppard and Regent Kathy Cashin
Check out our latest "Talk out of School" podcast with Tom Sheppard on pushing the envelope on Panel for Educational Policy to empower parents on issues such as school mergers, closures, and larger educational policies regarding testing, funding and class size; and Regent Kathy Cashin on how smaller classes transformed her schools when she was Superintendent of D23 & Regional Superintendent in Brooklyn and Queens.
Resources:
Panel for Educational Policy agenda for May 18 meeting and contract list; instructions on how to listen or comment here.
Daily News article on proposed closure of PS 88 in the Bronx
NY Times 2006 profile of Kathleen Cashin and her work as a Superintendent and Regional Superintendent in Brooklyn and Queens.
Regent Cashin’s op-ed on what happened in her schools when class size was reduced.
CURMUDGUCATION: Elon Musk Buddy Ready To Fix Education And The World
CURMUDGUCATION: Elon Musk Buddy Ready To Fix Education And The World
Elon Musk Buddy Ready To Fix Education And The World
You may recall that Elon Musk started a school a few years ago, because of course he did. It was sort of a private school, sort of the most expensive homeschool project ever launched (Musk has five kids--one set of twins, and one set of triplets, so God bless him and his wife). He was single-handedly funding the thing (almost a cool half-mill a year). And now one of his buds is ready to spin it off and monetize it.
We have seen this process before--launch a boutique private super-school, then spin it off and scale it up into a branded product that provides sort-of-the-same-but-not-really educational experience for a broader range of customers. Max Ventilla, formerly of Google, tried it with Altschool, not entirely successfully. Summit Schools also followed this trajectory, looking to scale up a version of its original edu-product across the country.
Leading the investor bandwagon jumping this time is Anthony Pompliano, entrepreneur and investor and podcaster and investment letter guy, all under the name Pomp. He announced a new round of investment for this plan in his substack-- The Pomp Letter-- under the title "Fix The Education, Fix The World." So we're aiming high here.
Musk's original school was called Ad Astra, then Astra Nova, and will "this game-changing educational CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Elon Musk Buddy Ready To Fix Education And The World
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