KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all

 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG 

A site to discuss better education for all

Missouri Lowers Standards for Substitute Teachers

by dianeravitch / 20min

In an amazingly alarming move, the state of Missouri plans to lower standards for substitute teachers. One superintendent of a rural district has floated the idea of bringing in National Guard units as substitute teachers. Matt Davis, superintendent of Eldon, Missouri, schools, made the suggestion to Gov. Mike Parson in a July meeting, according to a report in the Fulton Sun. On Tuesday, the Miss

Biden and Harris May Forge a New Path on Education

by dianeravitch / 1h

Evie Blad of Education Week writes that a Biden-Harris administration may forge a new path on education issues. They have pledged to increase funding, regulate charters, and back away from standardized testing. They also have pledged to support the right to collective bargaining. This heartens advocates of public education, but frightens the corporate reformers who have controlled education for 2

Emily Harris: Have Faith in Tulsa Public Schools

by dianeravitch / 2h

Emily Harris teaches A.P. U.S. History at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. She writes here about her faith in the public schools. She is concerned that some students have enrolled in the EPIC virtual charter school, which has a 

Bill McKibben: Don’t Let Trump Kill the Postal Service

by dianeravitch / 32min

Bill McKibben writes frequently about the environment, climate change, and rural life for the New Yorker.. Here he writes that Trump’s attack on the Postal Service Threatens democracy. The irony, McKibben points out, is that rural voters who heavily support Trump will lose the most by his actions. I’ve lived most of my life in small towns in pretty remote rural areas. Some were in red regions, so

YESTERDAY

Saturday: Demonstrations in D.C. to Demand Support for USPS

by dianeravitch / 10h

Friends and Neighbors, Join us tomorrow, Saturday, August 22nd from 11:00 am until 12 noon, outside the Chevy Chase, DC Post Office on Connecticut Ave. and Northampton St., NW, just south of Chevy Chase Circle in Washington, DC to show support for: The constitutional mission of the U.S. Postal Service, including priority for the secure delivery of ballots mailed from state election offices to vot

Jan Resseger: The Joy of Seeing Democrats Acknowledge the Importance of Public Schools

50by dianeravitch / 20h

Jan Resseger points out the contrast between the two major parties’s treatment of public schools. Trump treats them as a babysitting service. Joe Biden’s wife Jill gave her Convention speech from a high school where she was a teacher. Trump and DeVos pledge to defund them. Biden and Harris pledge a massive infusion of funding. Trump pledges four more years of massive neglect. Biden and Harris ple

David Dayen Explains Why Steve Bannon Was Indicted

by dianeravitch / 21h

David Dayen writes a regular column for The American Prospect. In this post, he explains why Bannon was indicted. He and some of his friends created a website to “Build the Wall.” None of them had any engineering experience. They raised $25 million, and they paid personal expenses. Dayen says this scam was part of a long history of grifting by con artists. It was ironic that Bannon was taken into

Glen Brown: Trump’s Ignorance is an Ongoing Plague

20by dianeravitch / 22h

Glen Brown, retired teacher in Illinois, suggests that Trump’s ignorance has had real consequences. In fact, it is dangerous and has contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Brown has maintained a running roll of actions Trump has taken to avoid controlling the coronavirus, updated to mid-August 2020. Check with Worldometer for the latest count of cases and deaths. Here are the w

Carol Burris: For-Profit Charter Aims to Take Control of Entire District in Pennsylvania

34by dianeravitch / 23h

Carol Burris writes in Valerie Strauss’s “Answer Sheet” blog about a for-profit charter corporation that about to take over the entire Chester-Upland school district in Pennsylvania. This district is one of the poorest in the state. Burris writes: Chester Community Charter School (CCCS) first opened its doors in 1998, just a few years after the school district found itself in financial distress.

Joe Biden: The Right Man for the Moment

21by dianeravitch / 1d

Joe Biden gave a wonderful speech last night. He was sharp, hopeful, eloquent, compassionate, determined, visionary. If you missed it, watch it now. He was superb. He laid out a vision of a renewed America, united to conquer the virus, rebuild our infrastructure, bring people together, and heal the deep wounds inflicted on us during the past four years. After his speech, Republican consultant Ric

AUG 20

Barack Obama Speaks to the Democratic Convention—and the Nation

by dianeravitch / 1d

Barack Obama was president of the United States for eight years without a single scandal. None of his aides were arrested and jailed. I disagreed with his education policies but I respect him as a man of integrity and a patriot. This is the speech he delivered to the virtual Democratic National Convention. Please watch. It was riveting.

Grassroots Arkansas: An Open Letter to Superintendent Mike Poore of Little Rock

by dianeravitch / 1d

Grassroots Arkansas is a coalition of parents and civil rights activists. When reading anything about Arkansas, bear in mind that in the background is the Walton Family. They pull the strings. Grassroots Arkansas sent the following letter to Mike Poore, the state-appointed superintendent of the Little Rock School District: Mr. Poore, We realize that you have been serving the LRSD community as Sup

The Intercept: Rightwing Media Planted in Trump News Conferences

by dianeravitch / 1d

Robert Mackey of The Intercept reports that the White House plants far-right journalists in Trump’s press conferences and he makes sure to call on them. In the past, these fringe media never had White Gouse press credentials. He writes: IN AN APPARENT effort to make his daily news conferences even more like campaign events than they already are, the White House press office has been packing the b

Trump Defends QAnon Conspiracy Theorists as “People Who Love Our Country”

39by dianeravitch / 1d

Trump defended the QAnon conspiracy theorists at a news conference as “people who love our country.” President Trump on Wednesday offered encouragement to proponents of QAnon, a viral conspiracy theory that has gained a widespread following among people who believe the president is secretly battling a criminal band of sex traffickers, and suggested that its proponents were patriots upset with unr

New York: Demand Cuomo Restore School Funding!

30by dianeravitch / 1d

Governor Cuomo slashed school funding across the state of New York. Other governors have found ways to protect their schools and children. Please sign the petition of the Network for Public Education Action , calling on Governor Cuomo to restore school funding. Schools cannot safely reopen with less money.

A Shameful Shortage of School Nurses

29by dianeravitch / 1d

The New York Times reports today on the shameful shortage of school nurses. Students are returning to schools even when there are no trained health professionals there. The previous post described the response to the pandemic a century ago. At least in the cities, every school had a nurse and some had doctors. That was the Progressive Era. This is the Regressive Era, where schools are expected to

What Schools Did During the Spanish Flu Pandemic a Century Ago

40by dianeravitch / 1d

CNN published a very good article about what happened to the schools and their students during the so-called “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1917-18. Many schools closed. Three large urban districts stayed open because officials believed that children were better off in schools than in their crowded tenements. The striking point in the article is that the schools were well-supplied with nurses and doct

Gail Collins’ Annual Contest for the Worst Trump Cabinet Member

by dianeravitch / 2d

Gail Collins, regular columnist for the New York Times, former editor of its editorial page, conducted her annual contest for the worst member of Trump’s Cabinet. Previously, the contest was won by Betsy DeVos. This year there was a new winner. She writes: If you run into Attorney General William Barr over the weekend, be sure to congratulate him. The readers have spoken! Barr was the runaway win

AUG 19

My Reaction to Day 3 of the Virtual Democratic Convention

20by dianeravitch / 2d

I really really like Kamala Harris. I find her warm, intelligent, thoughtful. I love her smile and her laugh. But Barack Obama blew me away. He was intense, coiled, quietly angry, and very powerful. His words were gripping. The video of his speech is not yet online. The transcript is. But if you didn’t see it, you should. In the morning, I will post the video. You have to see him. You have to se

Harold Meyerson on Day 2 of the Democratic Convention

by dianeravitch / 2d

Harold Meyerson, editor of The American Prospect and a prominent spokesman for the American left, explains here what he liked and did not like about the second day of the Democratic National (virtual) Convention. I loved Bernie Sanders’ speech on the first night. I loved the roll call on the second night. In a usual convention, the roll call is a succession of politicians making political stateme

Fred Klonsky: Mailboxes Are Disappearing Across Chicago and It Matters

by dianeravitch / 2d

Fred Klonsky says there are many reasons to worry about postal service , including delivery of medicines. Open the link and see the photograph of the discarded mailboxes. Destroying federal property is a crime, isn’t it?

Los Angeles: Vote for Scott Schmerelson and Patricia Castellanos for LAUSD School Board

34by dianeravitch / 2d

Control of the Los Angeles Unified School District is up for grabs in the 2020 election. You can be sure that the LAUSD prioritizes public schools by voting for incumbent Scott Schmerelson and newcomer Patricia Castellanos. The issue now is the same issue that has drawn a sharp divide on the school board for the past decade. Will the schools be controlled by a cabal of billionaires who favor priv

South Carolina: The Hoax of School Choice

67by dianeravitch / 2d

Jen Gibson, who lives in Charleston, writes about how school choice will drain resources from underfunded public schools while not providing access to better schools or better education: Normally this time of year, my son and I are on the hunt for new shoes and the perfect pencil pouch. This year, we are struggling with masks and stocking up on hand sanitizer. Like most parents, our family is wre

Peter Greene: Rhode Island is a Henhouse Controlled by Foxes

by dianeravitch / 3d

Peter Greene turns his attention to Rhode Island and finds that it has been subject to a corporate education reform takeover. Not only is the governor a former venture capitalist who made her reputation by taking an axe to teachers’ pensions, but her husband Andy Moffitt is a TFA alum who moved on to McKinsey. Not only that, he co-authored a book with Michael Barber of Pearson about “Deliverology

AUG 18

Bernie Sanders’ Great Speech at 2020 Virtual Convention

27by dianeravitch / 3d

I watched the Democratic virtual convention from start to finish. While all the commentary afterwards focused on Michelle Obama and her gracious remarks, the speech that wowed me was that of Bernie Sanders. He was focused, powerful, and passionate. He spoke for less than 9 minutes. Please watch. Trump tweeted yesterday afternoon about divisions between the Sanders and Biden camps. That’s not what

North Carolina: Voters Get Absentee Ballot Notice with Trump Message on It

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

CNN reports that voters in North Carolina received a notice to request an absentee ballot, adorned with Trump’s photograph and a political message. Given the crisis facing the United States Postal Service before a presidential election, the last thing John Herter expected to receive in the mail Saturday was an absentee ballot request form with President Donald Trump’s face on it. “Is this a joke?

Darcie Cimarusti: How Charters in New Jersey Double-Dipped into Federal CARES Funding

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

Darcie Cimarusti is a school board member in New Jersey and Communications Director of the Network for Public Education. Her telling of charter school greed in New Jersey reminded me of the song called “On That Great Come and Get It Day” from “Finian’s Rainbow.” No “Come and Get It Day” for public schools, onLy for politically connected charter schools. And for those who believe that charters pla

Teacher in Alabama: Why I Have a Sharpie in My Emergency Bag

31by dianeravitch / 3d

Jen Coleman, a teacher in Alabama, explains why she keeps a sharpie in her emergency bag . I’m thinking about one Sharpie pen in particular. It’s black, medium thickness. And it stays in the blue emergency bag that I keep on the filing cabinet closest to my classroom door. Our school’s emergency bags are remarkably sparse. No band-aids, no first aid materials. We have one flashlight, one sign wit

Maurice Cunningham: Koch $$ for “National Parents Union”

59by dianeravitch / 4d

Maurice Cunningham is a dogged researcher into Dark Money and its role in the pursuit of privatizing public education. Cunningham is a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts. Open the link and read in full. In his latest post , he reports that Koch money as well as Walton money, Zuckerberg money, Gates money, and Dell money, is supporting the “National Parents Union,” a fr

AUG 17

Arkansas: Mock Funeral for Students, Teachers, and Schools Today at 6 PM

by dianeravitch / 4d

Media Advisory August 17, 2020 For more information, contact: Chris Danforth (501)912-0168 Arkansas Public School Communities Funeral, Sponsored By: Grassroots Arkansas, the Central Arkansas Democratic Socialists of America, Arkansas Community Organizations, the National Association of Social Workers in Arkansas, and Arkansas Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Little Rock,

Los Angeles: LAUSD Announces Massive Testing and Tracing Program

23by dianeravitch / 4d

In an ambitious effort to restart safe schooling, Superintendent Austin Beutner announced the launch of a massive program of testing and tracing for students and staff in Los Angeles. Laura Newberry and Howard Blume report in the Los Angeles Times: The Los Angeles Unified School District on Sunday said it was launching an ambitious coronavirus testing and contact tracing program for all students

Anette Carlisle: Mike Morath’s Plan to Abandon Local Control and Public Schools in Texas

100+by dianeravitch / 4d

Anette Carlisle, public education advocate in Texas, describes how State Commissioner Mike Morath, a non-educator, bought into the anti-democratic strategy of killing local school boards and privatizing public schools. He swallowed whole the disruption program of the Center for Reinventing Public Education, one of the Gates-funded think tanks that call for the abandonment of public schools. Despi

Europe: Schools Open with Apparent Success

29by dianeravitch / 4d

This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal in August 14. Unlike the U.S., European countries first controlled the virus by strict measures, then reopened schools. And Europe, unlike the U.S., does not have a significant portion of the population that refuses—as a matter of principle—to wear masks or practice social distancing. BERLIN—European countries are pushing ahead with reopening schoo

The Internet Crisis: Why Isn’t Access Free Like Radio?

38by dianeravitch / 5d

The Washington Post published a story about the millions of students who are effectively denied an education during the pandemic because their family can’t afford to pay for access to the Internet. The Post called the situation “a national crisis.” It is. The Internet has become as essential as free water and air. Why isn’t it a public utility, regulated by the FCC and free to all? When you turn

AUG 16

Leonie Haimson: More on Success Academy Settlement: SA Has Not Paid Attorney Fees, As Ordered

31by dianeravitch / 5d

This morning I posted Gary Rubenstein’s post revealing that Success Academy agreed—after five years of litigation—to pay $1.1 million to parents whose children with disabilities were on the SA “got to go” list. Leonie Haimson has more on the story. SA never produced the documents demanded by parents. They never paid the attorneys’ fees. Here is the August 2018 decision by the US District Court Ju

Why You Won’t Get Christmas Cards Until January of 2021

by dianeravitch / 5d

Whether Trump wins or loses in November, it will take months or years to repair the damage he is inflicting on the United States Postal Service. Read about “Trump’s War on Christmas.”

Democrats in House Accelerate Hearings on Postal Service

21by dianeravitch / 5d

Trump is obsessed with the U.S. Postal Service. He is certain that the U.S. mail is his enemy. One of his aides told him that he lost the 2016 popular vote because of mail fraud, and he’s ranted about the USPS ever since. He openly admitted in a recent news conference that he wants to block mail-in voting in hopes of cutting Democratic votes. Trump forced out the career professional who was runni

Alexandra Petri: Children Too Can Be Heroes!

33by dianeravitch / 5d

Alexandra Petri is a humorist for the Washington Post. She explains here that Trump, Pence, and DeVos are offering the nation’s children a chance to be heroes by forcing them to return to school without safety measures in place. She writes: Wonderful news this week for those children who have long envied essential workers and sacrificial-economy grandparents their plaudits and wished that they, t

Job Posting: ELA Teacher Who Is Also Nurse, COVID-19 and Anti-Racism Specialist, and More

by dianeravitch / 5d

Samuel Jayne Tanner and Ben Stasny write a satirical posting for a middle-school English language arts teacher that appeared in McSweeny’s. Area School District is looking for a Language Arts Teacher/ Cheerleading Coach/ Custodian/ Nurse to help lead our COVID-19 and anti-racism instruction during this unprecedented moment. The Language Arts Teacher/ Cheerleading Coach/ Custodian/ Nurse/ COVID-19

Katherine Stewart: Betsy DeVos’s Plot to Transfer Public Funds to Private Schools During the Pandemic

79by dianeravitch / 5d

Katherine Stewart, a scholar of rightwing evangelicals, writes in The New Republic about Betsy DeVos’s brazen transfer of public funds to private schools during the pandemic. Stewart is the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. Stewart surveys the generous distribution of federal funds to private and religious schools, far more generous than the fede

Gary Rubinstein: Success Academy Pays $1.1 Million to Settle with Parents on “Got to Go” List

26by dianeravitch / 5d

Gary Rubinstein writes here about a lawsuit filed by parents of children on Success Academy’s “got to go” list. The celebrated charter chain settled for $1.1 million. The corporate chain fought the lawsuit for 4.5 years, refused to turn over documents but finally settled. Gary writes: Success Academy is the largest and most controversial charter chain in New York. By one measure — state test scor

Trump Announces Plan to Dispatch CDC Teams to Schools; CDC in the Dark

100+by dianeravitch / 6d

According to CNN, the Centers got Disease Control was ”blindsided” when Trump announced today that he was dispatching teams fron the CDC to help schools reopen safely. He didn’t mention sending money to equip schools to reopen safely. CDC blindsided by Trump’s statement it could deploy teams to schools this fall Leaders at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were blindsided this wee

AUG 15

Trump Acts to Dismantle U.S. Postal Service to Deter Mail-in Voting

57by dianeravitch / 6d

Trump has convinced himself that the only way he can win is by suppressing the vote, by any means possible. He has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting as fraudulent, although both he and his wife filed to vote by mail in Florida and he hailed that state’s mail-in plans. He appointed Louis DeJoy, a major Republican donor , as Postmaster General of the United States. DeJoy has begun systematically u

California: The Year of Teaching Dangerously: The Series

39by dianeravitch / 6d

Please read the articles in Capital & Main’s series on teaching in the age of COVID-19, which is titled “The Year of Teaching Dangerously.” They spell out the frustrations and the learning curve that teachers and students have coped with in these uncertain times. Routines went out the window. Teachers had to improvise, to be creative and innovative, and to learn to live with unprecedented challen

California: The Year of Teaching Dangerously, Part 1

by dianeravitch / 6d

Capital & Main published a five-part series on teaching during the pandemic. The series is called “The Year of Teaching Dangerously.” Sasha Abramsky launched the series with an article about how schools in California were adapting to the pandemic . Abramsky writes about the uncertainty, confusion, and conflict that accompanied the shutdown, as teachers were required to address new realities and t

Fred Klonsky: Retired Teachers in Illinois Don’t Collect Social Security, Does It Matter if the GOP Kills It?

68by dianeravitch / 7d

Fred Klonsky is a retired teacher in Illinois. Retired teachers in that state, like many others, don’t collect Social Security. Politicians of both parties have tried to cut teachers’ retirement benefits. Should he care that Trump wants to 

 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Rep. Barbara Lee on what it would take to end child poverty in America - Vox

Rep. Barbara Lee on what it would take to end child poverty in America - Vox

What it would take to end child poverty in America

Rep. Barbara Lee on why rebuilding the economy should mean investing in our kids.

In 2019, about one in six children in America — 12 million kids nationwide — lived in poverty. That’s a rate about two or three times higher than in peer countries. And that was before the worst economic and public health crisis in modern history.

The scale of child poverty in America is a disgrace, not only because of the suffering it creates and the potential it drains from our society, but also because it’s easily avoidable. Child poverty is not an inevitability; it’s a policy choice. And we’ve been making the wrong choice for far too long.

So for the second episode of our economic remobilization series on The Ezra Klein Show, I wanted to focus on a simple set of questions: What if we started taking our moral responsibility to America’s kids seriously? What would that world look like? How would we get there?

Rep. Barbara Lee is the chair of the Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity — and she’s someone who raised two kids, as a single mom on public assistance. In 2015, Lee and her colleague Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard commissioned a landmark report from the National Academy of Sciences to better understand child poverty in America and what we could do to reduce it. Released last year, the report lays out a series of concrete policy proposals that would cut child poverty in half while paying for themselves 10 times over in social benefits.

In this conversation, Lee and I discuss the psychological impact that poverty has on kids, why investing in children is one of the best investments a society can make, what other countries do right on this front that we can learn from, what it would take to end child poverty as we CONTINUE READING: Rep. Barbara Lee on what it would take to end child poverty in America - Vox

Level Up – Life In A Post Pandemic Video Game – Wrench in the Gears

Level Up – Life In A Post Pandemic Video Game – Wrench in the Gears

Level Up – Life In A Post Pandemic Video Game

This Saturday August 22, 2020 from 10am to 1pm EST, Joseph Gonzalez and I will host a three-hour program through Incite Seminars exploring what it would mean to live in an augmented reality gamified police state. Capitalism isn’t dying. It has, in fact, jumped into the virtual world. A predatory digital infrastructure of surveillance and value extraction is being rolled out now in response to Covid-19. Very few people are aware of the bigger picture. This isn’t about a single outbreak, but rather the coercive normalization of technocracy using ongoing biosecurity threats as a mechanism of global domination. It is the billionaire oligarchs who will be controlling the data dashboard panopticon.

Pre-registration for the seminar is required. Sign up here. We’re asking for a donation in an amount that feels right to you. Joseph and I are volunteering our services, but it takes resources to run the platform we’re using, and we’re also hoping to direct some funding towards Lakota food growing efforts described in my prior post,  Timpsila, Medicine for Tech-No-Logic. Proceeds from the seminar will be split between the two. I know folks found a lot of comfort in the Timpsila post, so if you’re in a position to lend support directly, I know Chas Jewett (Venmo @chas-jewett-1) will definitely put a gift in any amount to good use.

My understanding is that this seminar will be recorded, and I plan to post a link once I get it. For those of who’d  like to start wrapping your head around what we’re planning to talk about, I’ve posted a glossary of terms. I invite you to consider them in relation to this short video about a poor family’s involvement with a “community care coordinator” named Kathy.

Given what I know is coming, I’ll take the liberty to read between the lines and offer my take on this video. The entire family is under state supervision CONTINUE READING: 

Can Schools Deliver Services To Students With Disabilities This Fall? : NPR

Can Schools Deliver Services To Students With Disabilities This Fall? : NPR

Schools Say They Have To Do Better For Students With Disabilities This Fall

For Sarah McLaren, who lives in a suburb of Minneapolis, talking about the spring is painful. Her daughter, a rising fourth-grader, struggles with auditory processing and receives special education services. But McLaren says her daughter had trouble keeping up with teachers on an iPad because the instruction was almost all talk.

"They'd tell her, 'Look at this problem, look at that problem. No, show me your worksheet,' " McLaren remembers. "The teachers were doing the best they could, but all those rapid verbal directions just overwhelmed her."

McLaren says her daughter went from loving school to dreading it. "[She] would literally run away from the iPad and hide in the closet or under the bed."

More than 7 million schoolchildren receive special education services in the U.S. But this spring, when the nation's schools were forced to teach remotely, many of those children were left behind, and some vital services — including physical, occupational and speech therapies — simply stopped. With many districts planning to continue remote learning in the fall, parents and caregivers expect better this school year. And school leaders know: They've got to do better.

Special education teacher Nikki Allinson, in Washington, D.C., says one of the greatest challenges she faced trying to teach remotely was that many of her students learn with the help of tactile, classroom-based tools — like laminated cards or magnetic letters for word decoding. But, in the spring, kids weren't given those tools for use at home. Allinson says that also made it "nearly impossible" to teach abstract math concepts. "I recorded so many videos of me with Legos, you know, trying to find things that they CONTINUE READING: Can Schools Deliver Services To Students With Disabilities This Fall? : NPR

NYC Educator: De Blasio's Circus

NYC Educator: De Blasio's Circus

De Blasio's Circus

I've got an inbox full of worry, and I'm as worried as anyone. Full disclosure--I've asked for and received an accommodation to teach from home. I've encouraged everyone I know to do the same. If you have applied and been denied, or ignored, here's a form you can fill out to get help from the UFT. 



Meanwhile, we're facing de Blasio's plan, which relies heavily on teachers who don't actually exist. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, says the mayor. Can you imagine making such nonsensical arguments at work? At your home?

Here's a story about a teacher who's going to go in, but also live in a tent in her backyard so as not to infect her family. I know people who are planning to live in hotels rather than risk hurting family members. I know people who will take unpaid leaves rather than potentially sicken or kill their elderly or immuno-compromised relatives. 

When you look at his actual plan, it's really hard to figure how it works. I know of one school in which students will attend once every four days. That means they will mostly be in once a week. The other days, they will get asynchronous instruction. It's hard for me to imagine teaching like that, but it's good enough for Mayor de Blasio. And what will happen on day five, when students are actually in the building?

Well, everyone will be socially distanced, as mandated by the state, except when they aren't. Kids tend to move, you know, and not always when you ask them to. Mayor de Blasio may not be aware. The teacher desk and student desks will all face in the same direction, as per the state directive. Perish forbid we should face CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: De Blasio's Circus

How to Assess Digital Literacy for Students (and Educators!) - NEA Today

How to Assess Digital Literacy for Students (and Educators!) - NEA Today

How to Assess Digital Literacy for Students (and Educators!)

For years, educators have been buzzing about the importance of “digital literacy.” But what do those words really mean? According to the American Library Association, digital literacy is “the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.” A growing reliance on web-based testing has forced many schools to confront the lack of digital literacy among their students and staff. And, as the COVID-19 outbreak showed us, assessing digital literacy is more important than ever—for students and for educators.

What Students Need to Know

So what kind of tech savvy do students need to succeed? Beyond the rudimentary skills needed to answer online test questions, students must understand how to do online research and use a wide array of digital tools. They should know how to create video and audio, participate in video conferencing, share and collaborate remotely, and use slideshows and online posters.

And, as the COVID-19 pandemic has made painfully clear, remote learning skills are essential today. Even before the pandemic, the popularity of online classes had been growing exponentially as a complement to classroom learning. This includes taking online college-level classes and enriching learning through webinars. Both require the ability to manage audio and video on digital devices, submit homework and classwork online, communicate with the teacher and classmates remotely, and stay on top of grades.

We can also start preparing students now for college and career tasks, such as writing resumes, preparing an online curriculum vitae, connecting digital devices to local area networks (LANs) and Wi-Fi, and managing the security of their personal device and information.

How to Determine Your Assessment Needs

Before you can choose an assessment tool, it’s important to figure out your goals. Consider the following questions:

How comprehensive should the tool be? Do you want a tool that’s diagnostic, CONTINUE READING: How to Assess Digital Literacy for Students (and Educators!) - NEA Today

How America's Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice | Dissident Voice

How America's Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice | Dissident Voice

How America’s Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice

Any conditions that compel the teacher to take note of failures rather than of healthy growth give false standards and result in distortion and perversion.— John Dewey,¹

Academic Fredrik deBoer has written a book, The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice (All Points Books, 2020), that questions the enormous value attached to people based on their academic talent. The author defines the Cult of Smart thus: “It is the notion that academic value is the only value, and intelligence is the only true measure of human worth. (p 5-6)

I am of the mind that if the average person puts in sufficient effort and the environment is not prohibitive, then such a person can attain her academic goals. I have never thought that the degree of difficulty or ease of learning would be the same for each person. I considered this to be the case in most fields of endeavor be it sports, art, writing, music, etc. However, the truly elite levels would favor those who had the predilection, natural gifts, and put in the effort to succeed in a chosen field.

DeBoer departs from the convention thought that holds academic success is tied to effort; he acknowledges that there is inequality on academic aptitude.

DeBoer does not refrain from emphasizing that there is a strong genetic component to intelligence, but he also acknowledges the role of the environment, even stating, “Profoundly unequal environments for children can drown out genetic effects. (p 23) He downplays group genetic differences and focuses on individual genetic differences. Intelligence is not attributed to CONTINUE READING: How America's Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice | Dissident Voice

Carol Burris: For-Profit Charter Aims to Take Control of Entire District in Pennsylvania | Diane Ravitch's blog

Carol Burris: For-Profit Charter Aims to Take Control of Entire District in Pennsylvania | Diane Ravitch's blog

Carol Burris: For-Profit Charter Aims to Take Control of Entire District in Pennsylvania

Carol Burris writes in Valerie Strauss’s “Answer Sheet” blog about a for-profit charter corporation that about to take over the entire Chester-Upland school district in Pennsylvania. This district is one of the poorest in the state.

Burris writes:

Chester Community Charter School (CCCS) first opened its doors in 1998, just a few years after the school district found itself in financial distress. Vahan Gureghian, a Pennsylvania lawyer who runs a billboard company and is one of the state’s top Republican donors, owns CSMI, the for-profit management company that helped open Chester Community Charter School.

Although the charter school began small, it now educates about half of the district’s students. Despite its growth, its academic record is dismal.
CCCS students perform worse on standardized tests than students at several of the Chester Upland public schools. “This is the charter whose test scores have been below those of several district-run schools, ever since it was cited for cheating on said test scores,” said Chester resident Will Richan, “[cheating] not by one or two rogue teachers but across CONTINUE READING: Carol Burris: For-Profit Charter Aims to Take Control of Entire District in Pennsylvania | Diane Ravitch's blog

Restorative circles, online wellness rooms and grief training: How schools are preparing for the Covid mental health crisis - The Hechinger Report

Restorative circles, online wellness rooms and grief training: How schools are preparing for the Covid mental health crisis - The Hechinger Report

Restorative circles, online wellness rooms and grief training: How schools are preparing for the Covid mental health crisis
More students are experiencing anxiety and depression, forcing schools to prioritize mental health needs over academic work

The calls started at 6 a.m., and Patrick McCauley was ready, having retreated to the privacy of his garage where he sat waiting for Angelenos to share how they’re coping with the stresses of the coronavirus pandemic.

For the last 14 years, McCauley has worked as a mental health counselor and consultant in the Los Angeles Unified School District. In April, he began staffing a new hotline the district created to reach students, parents and teachers in need of mental health supports and other services as the virus forced people into isolation and cost jobs and lives.

One day he heard from a fifth grader who was terrified that her parents would catch the illness. Another day, a mother wanted advice on her once mild-mannered daughter, who had started throwing tantrums and yelling profanities after the quarantine began. Teachers wanted to know how to respond to students who appeared distraught during Zoom lessons, or what to do about the kids who didn’t log on at all.

McCauley, who has a soothing voice and a surfer’s unruffled mien, listened carefully and reassured the callers that they were experiencing understandable reactions to highly abnormal circumstances. Their testimony amounted to a warning, though, of what schools may face when they restart this fall: kids with a history of mental health problems whose symptoms have worsened, students who maybe experiencing anxiety or anger for the first time, children in households that have become CONTINUE READING: Restorative circles, online wellness rooms and grief training: How schools are preparing for the Covid mental health crisis - The Hechinger Report

“Confessions of a School Reformer” (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

“Confessions of a School Reformer” (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

“Confessions of a School Reformer” (Part 3)

Continuing story of my teaching history at Glenville High School in Cleveland (OH), 1956-1963

Then I got married in 1958.  Evenings which I had used for grading homework and preparing lessons and weekends for completing graduate papers were no longer as available as when I was single. Fatigue and the growing awareness that I could have a life outside of Glenville brought me face-to-face with choosing how to combine the demands of work and being with Barbara and eventually my two daughters, Sondra and Janice. Threading that needle was never easy for me as a teacher and later, as an administrator.

In seven years of teaching, I had created in fits and starts, with many stumbles, a home-grown history course than I had neither expected when I arrived at Glenville in 1956.  I was an unheralded, unknown classroom reformer creating a different American history course in a de facto segregated school.

I came to believe that any teacher could adopt and adapt lessons tailored to their students, especially economically disadvantaged students in segregated schools. My belief in engaging classroom materials turning around such students and schools grew out of those lessons I had created. If more teachers and schools did what I did, I believed, then urban schools would improve. Although my reform-driven belief turned out to be too narrow and too demanding of teachers given the working conditions they faced, the ideas I offered and practiced in my classrooms of getting students to connect the racial-inflected past to the present, I hoped would help my students understand what was happening in the South with Freedom Riders and student sit-ins in segregated restaurants and bus boycotts. Without fully knowing it myself, my belief in the power of education to reform society, as Dewey put it, lay behind the materials I developed and classroom activities I managed.  That is my small part in the civil rights movement.

In the next decade working in Washington, D.C. my work as a classroom CONTINUE READING: “Confessions of a School Reformer” (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Democrats Recognize Essential Role of Public Schools, Whose Needs Trump and DeVos Don’t Bother to Notice | janresseger

Democrats Recognize Essential Role of Public Schools, Whose Needs Trump and DeVos Don’t Bother to Notice | janresseger

Democrats Recognize Essential Role of Public Schools, Whose Needs Trump and DeVos Don’t Bother to Notice

In a refreshing development this week, as Democrats held their convention to nominate Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for President and Kamala Harris for Vice President, public education was made visible again as an institution of vital importance to American life.

For President Donald Trump, opening schools matters only to enable parents to go to work.  I have never heard Trump or his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, speak about the needs of children or acknowledge the importance of our nation’s system of universally available public schools in cities, towns, rural areas and suburbs across America.

If you watched the Democrats on Tuesday night, however, you know that Jill Biden spoke from the Brandywine High School classroom where she once taught in Wilmington, Delaware. Education Week‘s Andrew Ujifusa reports her remarks: “You can hear the anxiety that echoes down empty hallways. There’s no scent of new notebooks or freshly waxed floors… The rooms are dark as the bright young faces that should fill them are now confined to boxes on a computer screen… I hear it from so many of you: the frustration of parents juggling work while they support their children’s learning—or are afraid that their kids might get sick from school. The concern of every person working without enough protection. The despair in the lines that stretch out before food banks.” Ujifusa continues: “Joe Biden appeared at the end of her video segment to underscore his wife’s role in schools: ‘Just think of your favorite educator who gave you the confidence to believe in yourself.'”

And you may also remember that, as she announced Arizona’s votes in the nomination Roll Call, Marisol Garcia, a public middle school teacher and the vice president of the Arizona Education Association, wore a “Red4Ed” t-shirt and spoke about the needs of her state’s public schools.

On Tuesday, the delegates passed a strong, pro-public schools platform that reflects Joe Biden’s priorities. As Education Week’s Andrew Ujifusa reports, the Democratic Platform supports CONTINUE READING: Democrats Recognize Essential Role of Public Schools, Whose Needs Trump and DeVos Don’t Bother to Notice | janresseger

Joe Biden: The Right Man for the Moment | Diane Ravitch's blog

Joe Biden: The Right Man for the Moment | Diane Ravitch's blog

Joe Biden: The Right Man for the Moment

Joe Biden gave a wonderful speech last night. He was sharp, hopeful, eloquent, compassionate, determined, visionary.

If you missed it, watch it now. He was superb.

He laid out a vision of a renewed America, united to conquer the virus, rebuild our infrastructure, bring people together, and heal the deep wounds inflicted on us during the past four years.

After his speech, Republican consultant Rick Wilson—active in the Lincoln Project—said on Brian Williams’ MSNBC show that the choice in the election is stark. He said, “it’s a choice between a good man and a very bad man; between a decent man and an indecent man; between a moral man and a deeply immoral man.”

After listening to Biden lay out an inspiring call to rebuild and uplift our nation, I saw clips of Trump speaking spitefully in Scranton, Biden’s hometown. Trump was vicious, ridiculing Biden and accusing him of abandoning Scranton 70 years ago! Same old, same old: mean-spirited, nasty, divisive, sowing hatred and chaos. Again, he broke a norm of American politics in which each party goes silent while the other convenes. Not Trump. He was desperate to rain on Biden’s big night, but his me-me-me failed. It was Biden’s night.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post said that Biden spoke from a place unknown to Trump: the heart.

He wrote: CONTINUE READING: Joe Biden: The Right Man for the Moment | Diane Ravitch's blog

Why We Need to Call for “All-Remote” Now | JD2718

Why We Need to Call for “All-Remote” Now | JD2718

Why We Need to Call for “All-Remote” Now

Mulgrew sounded militant Wednesday. Talked about a strike. Made demands about safety. But the message was wrong. By continuing to fight to open schools safely (which might seem reasonable) the UFT leadership is diverting us. We should be leaning, as hard as we can, on de Blasio to open remotely. Everyone, including de Blasio, notices that the UFT has not called for “All-Remote.”

1a. Parents need to know what their schedules will be, where their children will be, and when. A million parents being forced to make personal decisions (remote vs hybrid) is unfair. The City should be creating solutions for New York City’s parents.

1b. Parents need this now, not three weeks from now. The City needs time to create arrangements and options, and time to meet the needs of families.

2a. Teachers need to create plans for their classes. While some schools have managed to create a hybrid plan that makes sense, they are in a tiny minority. Most teachers in the city either do not have a set-up for their class schedule, or have one that does not make sense.

2b. Teachers need to know this now, to allow us three weeks to at least mentally prepare for fully remote planning.

3. In particular, “blended learning” in high schools is a mess; it is an idea conceived (poorly) for elementary schools. It was never going to work in high schools. We don’t need three more weeks to figure that out. We knew it in June. If I teach part of my class Monday, another part Tuesday, another on Wednesday, and the last group on Thursday, what are the kids who are not in class doing while I am teaching? What, am I saying “read section 3.4 and do all the odd numbered CONTINUE READING: Why We Need to Call for “All-Remote” Now | JD2718