CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Another Week That Lasted Ten Years Edition (10/4)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Another Week That Lasted Ten Years Edition (10/4)

Another Week That Lasted Ten Years Edition

Holy crap. Let's take a moment to wax nostalgic about last weekend, those happy times when a story like the First Lady talking about how we should [expletive] Christmas would have gotten at least fifteen minutes of attention instead of being completely wiped out by a raging news cycle. Those happy times when the national news seen was merely a dumpster fire and not a dumpster fire dragged across a wasted landscape by the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The best we can say is that there was a lot of worthwhile writing that appeared, and here's some of it--

How The School Choice Debate Is Failing Our Public Schools 

I am not always a Samantha Bee/Full Frontal fan; on a bad day she just feels like the Lefty version of Ann Coulter. But she does a really nice job of covering the school choice issue in less than seven and a half minutes. Worth watching and sharing with your non-education policy friends.

Epic Owes Oklahoma $8.9 Million
Tulsa World has the story of Epic schools, one more charter business that managed to rip off the state by making off with millions and millions of dollars.

Significant Lack of Equity in K-12 Education
Michigan Civil Rights Commission took a hard look at equity in Michigan schools, and it found many, many problems. Covered here by Michigan Live

New Jersey Spent 35 Years and $100 Billion Trying To Fix School Inequity 
Speaking of states that have failed to straighten equity issues out, here's Politico taking a look at New Jersey. And wonder of wonders, rather than talking to Mike Petrilli, they talked to Bruce Baker (School Finance 101) instead.

Public Schools and School Libraries: The Hubs of Democracy Face Crises
Nancy Bailey takes a look at how the current crisis is eroding some pretty important institutions

Battling for the Soul of Black Girls
Erica Green (along with Eliza Shapiro and Mark Walker) has put together a serious and moving look at the problems growing for what is ":arguably the most at-risk student group" in the country. This is a hell of a piece.

How the SAT Failed America 
And speaking of in-depth reporting, here's Susan Adams at Forbes covering both the broad swath and important details of the College Board's business woes under David Coleman (who, shockingly, does not come off looking good, once again).

The Wealth Gap 
Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat explains how measuring income rather than wealth leaves many families in financial straits unseen.

Student Absences and Juvenile Justice 
Yes, I know you may not read the reformy Bellwhether blog often, but this piece about how the involvement of juvenile justice system in student lives tends to make things worse--well, this is some research worth knowing about. One more piece of the school-to-prison pipeline

In Internet Dead Zones, Rural Schools Struggle With Distance Learning   \
True that. This is NPR reporting about an issue that some of us are far too familiar with.

The Rich and The Rest 
Nothing about this Have You Heard podcast will likely surprise you, but still listen/read as Jennifer and Jack explain just how the rich and the rest of us do not have the same priorities when it comes to public education.

My Way 
Grumpy Old Teacher gives a picture of a real teacher dealing with the real issues of this miserable pandemess in the classroom.

Weird Al Yankovic: We're All Doomed
Just in case you missed it-- Weird Al + Autotuned Candidates = verion of this week's debate that is actually tolerable.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Another Week That Lasted Ten Years Edition (10/4)

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION

AND DON'T FORGET PETER GREENE ON FORBES CLICK HERE 

Pennsylvania Poised To Turn CARES Money Into School Vouchers - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/09/30/pennsylvania-poised-to-turn-cares-money-into-school-vouchers/#7a3b1e7c6910 by @palan57 on @forbes

What You Don’t See: Confidentiality And The Distance Classroom - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/09/29/what-you-dont-see-confidentiality-and-the-distance-classroom/#64eb2ff0602c by @palan57 on @forbes

Survey: How Pandemic Schooling Affects Early Childhood Education - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/09/25/survey-how-pandemic-schooling-effects-early-childhood-education/#62ab677716ef by @palan57 on @forbes

DeVos Awards Another $131 Mill From Failed Federal Charter Fund

80by Peter Greene / 21h

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced Friday that the department will pump yet another $131 million into the charter school industry (you may have missed the news; a few other things have happened in the last 48 hours). The grants go to 19 different organizations, primarily charter school "developers." Amounts range from a tiny $299,988 to Acadia Academy in Maine up to $18 mill to Florida's

Covid Slide Panic Is Still Baloney

45by Peter Greene / 1d

Back in April, NWEA (the MAP test folks) issued a "report" about what we've taken to calling the Covid Slide , which is sadly not a cool new line dance, but is instead an important tool for people in education-flavored businesses who want to try to panic school districts and bureaucrats. Now Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) yesterday threw their weight behind

No, The Next Debate Moderator Should Not Be A Teacher

50by Peter Greene / 3d

Within ten minutes, the comments started, and they haven’t stopped since. This is why kindergarten teachers should be paid a million dollars. Next time, pick a middle school teacher—they know how to handle this. It was like watching squabbling children. Referring to Trump as “President Manbaby.” The comparisons are unfair to teachers and children both, and while I know we’ve all got a few things

DeVos Wants To Revisit Failed Merit Pay

300+by Peter Greene / 3d

Seriously. Yesterday's announcement of education department grants came packed in a lot of air-stuffed puffery from some alternate universe where we're expected to believe that these programs announced by Betsy DeVos "build on her commitment to elevating the teaching profession and empowering teachers." Because if there's anybody who's known for having teachers' backs, it's the DeVosinator. "Great

DeVos and the Problem of the "Right Fit"

by Peter Greene / 3d

Betsy DeVos has been talking about the “right fit” for a while now. In 2017 : “It shouldn’t matter what type of school a student attends, so long as the school is the right fit for that student.” During Charter Schools Week this year : “... to celebrate the millions of students who have found the right fit for their education...” In her recent letter to parents : “...we believe families need more

Dear Joe Biden:

74by Peter Greene / 4d

If someone has a pipeline to the campaign, please feel to send this along. Dear VP Biden: I know that this evening, you have your hands full with the Great Orange Loon in Cleveland. But you've got an education flavored fundraiser tomorrow night, and we really need to talk. Here's the event: It might have been of interest to educators, except, of course, the price of admission is, well-- a "champi

AI: Still Not Ready for Prime Time

by Peter Greene / 5d

You may recall that Betsy DeVos sued to say, often, that education should be like hailing a Uber (by which she presumably didn't intend to say "available to only a small portion of the population at large). You may also recall that when the awesomeness of Artificial Intelligence is brought up, sometimes in conjunction with how great an AI computer would be at educating children. Yes, this much sal

ICYMI: Hanging In There Edition (9/27)

26by Peter Greene / 7d

Well, that was another week. Just keep trying to avoid being crushed by what feels like a physical increase in the air pressure over the entire country. Here's the list. And I'll remind you-- share the stuff that speaks to you. Everyone is an amplifier. Give Teachers Stat

CURMUDGUCATION - http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/

Reimagining the Public High School, 2015-2020 (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Reimagining the Public High School, 2015-2020 (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Reimagining the Public High School, 2015-2020 (Part 2)

The system of public high schools in America really hasn’t undergone any kind of serious transformation in 100 years,” [ Super School Project CEO, Russlyn H.] Ali said. “It was built for an economy and a system that is no more.”

“What if you’re the one who helps America rethink high school?”

“This is a challenge to empower all of America to change high school. Together, we can transform communities and build schools that inspire new possibilities.”

From these quotes taken from the website for Super School Project, philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and chief executive Russlyn Ali are interested in transforming the existing high school.

After the initial announcement in 2015, the Super School Project accepted proposals from 700 teams across the nation in a competition to design and execute a new kind of high school that would make this hardy–seemingly unchanged–institution relevant to their daily lives . A year later, XQ announced that $10 million would be awarded to 10 teams to put their ideas into practice within five years. Since 2016, nearly $140 million has gone to 19 teams to re-imagine the American high school.

Matt Barnum wrote about the project a year ago and said:

Most of the XQ winners are now up and running. There’s a Washington, D.C. CONTINUE READING: Reimagining the Public High School, 2015-2020 (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

“Free to Choose: Can School Choice Reduce Student Achievement?” | Diane Ravitch's blog

“Free to Choose: Can School Choice Reduce Student Achievement?” | Diane Ravitch's blog

“Free to Choose: Can School Choice Reduce Student Achievement?”

For the past thirty years, school choice advocates have claimed that the best way to improve education was to give families public money to send their child to a private or religious school. The very fact of “privateness,” they said, meant better quality. This turns out not to be the case. Students never receive a voucher that is enough to pay for elite private schools. Typically, the voucher schools are lesser quality than the public school the cHold leaves, because voucher schools are not required to have certified teachers. In recent years, numerous studies show that children who leave a public school and go to a voucher school lose ground academically.

This study was published in 2018. Its findings are consistent with studies of voucher effects in the District of Columbia, Ohio, Indiana, and other states. Voucher schools are free to teach scientific nonsense and fake history. In Florida and elsewhere, they are free to CONTINUE READING: “Free to Choose: Can School Choice Reduce Student Achievement?” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Baltimore Teachers Demand ‘Masks, Tests And Plexiglass!’ - PopularResistance.Org

Baltimore Teachers Demand ‘Masks, Tests And Plexiglass!’ - PopularResistance.Org

BALTIMORE TEACHERS DEMAND ‘MASKS, TESTS AND PLEXIGLASS!’

On Sept. 30, the Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU) held a protest and die-in in front of the Baltimore City Public Schools headquarters in Baltimore City.

Diana Desierto, BTU member and speech language pathologist, explained: “I am out here for the National Day of Resistance to make sure that our students, families and staff in Baltimore City are prepared and will be accommodated with all the things they need to return to school safely. 

“I’m here to support my students and their families. It’s been a struggle for them and for all of us. Of course we want to go back to school, we just want to go back safely.” 

Baltimore County teacher Jen Russo said: “I want to make sure that all teachers and students are heard in this crisis. Really, the Board of Education in all counties isn’t listening to teachers, even though it’s their safety and lives at stake.” 

Among the attendees were two members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Worker Jeffery Reeve explained why he came in solidarity: “UFCW Local 400 members have been on the frontlines since day one. Two hundred and sixty-nine of UFCW-represented grocery workers have gotten COVID. They’re union, I’m union, and I’m always looking for some good trouble.” 

BTU leaders led a chant that clarified some of their demands: “Masks, tests, and plexiglass!”

Baltimore Teachers Demand ‘Masks, Tests And Plexiglass!’ - PopularResistance.Org

Cops In Schools Are Dangerous to Black Children - Philly's 7th Ward

Cops In Schools Are Dangerous to Black Children - Philly's 7th Ward

COPS IN SCHOOLS ARE DANGEROUS TO BLACK CHILDREN

Earlier this year, Dr. Tamar Klaiman, member of the Abington Board of School Directors, came under fire for saying the following:

We know that the Black and Brown students are much more likely to be shot by the officer, especially school resource officers, than other students, and I have serious concerns about anybody in the building having firearms, regardless or not of whether they are police.

Some parents called for Klaiman’s removal from the board and while Abington Township Police Chief Patrick Molloy forgave the comments, he said they were hurtful to his officers, their family and the law enforcement community.

However, hurtful doesn’t mean untrue.

Chief Molloy said himself,

“There are instances and the data supports some of this stuff that they were suggesting about African American males being more likely shot by police.”

What I wonder if the focus of any on-going dialogue between Abington Police and the Abington School District is on Klaiman’s comments being hurtful or CONTINUE READING: Cops In Schools Are Dangerous to Black Children - Philly's 7th Ward

EdAction in Congress October 4, 2020 - Education Votes

EdAction in Congress October 4, 2020 - Education Votes

EdAction in Congress October 4, 2020

GOP refuses to let voters choose next Supreme Court justice

Amy Coney Barrett, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, has expressed misgivings about many vital rights and protections, including stare decisis—the rule that the Supreme Court should follow its own prior decisions, even when a justice disagrees with them. That is grave cause for concern, especially since Barrett’s record shows she is likely to:

• Support overturning the Affordable Care Act. Barrett has openly disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the law. The Court will revisit that decision on Nov. 10, when it hears a case that could lead to overturning the entire law. If that happens, 21 million Americans will lose health coverage, premiums will skyrocket for the 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps on coverage will return, and children will be kicked off their parents’ health plans before age 26.

• Support limiting workers’ tools to fight employment discrimination. Barrett joined an opinion that says the Age Discrimination in Employment Act applies only to current employees, not job applicants.

• Oppose holding students accused of sexual assault and harassment accountable. In a lawsuit against Purdue University, a student claimed that disciplining him for sexual misconduct violated his Title IX and constitutional rights. Barrett allowed the suit to proceed.

• Support denying procedural protections for immigrants. Barrett dissented when the court blocked Department of Homeland Security “public charge” regulations that make it more difficult for people to obtain green cards and become U.S. citizens. 

• Oppose common-sense protections against gun violence. Barrett does not support prohibiting all convicted felons from owning guns.

Next week, the Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on Barrett. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) plans to confirm her nomination before Election Day, even though a dozen polls have found the majority of Americans want to wait. Like NEA, they say the winners of the 2020 elections, which are already underway, should choose and confirm the next Supreme Court justice. TAKE ACTION

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Senate majority continues to block COVID-19 relief

In a mostly party-line vote of 214-207, the House passed an updated HEROES Act that includes a dramatic $225 increase in school funding, an additional $12 billion to help narrow the digital divide and close the homework gap, $436 billion in aid for states and localities, and $75 billion for coronavirus testing, tracing, and treatment. Discussions between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the White House continue, but significant gaps remain.

The updated HEROES Act fulfills key NEA goals: at least $175 billion to stabilize education funding and provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for students and educators and at least $4 billion in emergency funding to close the homework gap during the pandemic. As many as 16 million students—roughly 1 in 3—are unable to do schoolwork at home due to lack of internet access and devices. A disproportionate share of those students are Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, and live in rural areas or low-income households. Additional relief for student loan borrowers is also among NEA’s top priorities. TAKE ACTION

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Still time to be counted in 2020 Census

Thanks to a federal judge, the Census Bureau may have the time it needs to provide a complete and accurate count—until Oct. 31 to gather information and until April 2021 to deliver the results. The administration has pushed the Census Bureau to rush the job—stop counting by Oct. 5 and deliver results by Dec. 31—and is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court to get its way, which will take some time. For now, the court has ordered the Census Bureau to continue the head count. Truncating the census would deprive many communities and schools—especially those with large Black and Hispanic populations—of billions of dollars in federal aid, as well as political representation. If you haven’t already, be sure to complete the census questionnaire.

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Trump and DeVos have failed students and educators on COVID-19

President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have threatened to withhold funding from our nation’s public schools, hindered the ability of students to be safe in classrooms and on campuses, and furthered discriminatory practices that are detrimental to productive learning environments. Scroll through this timeline to see how Trump and DeVos have left students and educators in the dark during the coronavirus pandemic, and what former Vice President Joe Biden is doing to step up and lead.

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Cheers and Jeers

Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA) introduced the Protecting Our Students in Schools Act (H.R. 8460), which would prohibit corporal punishment in schools.

Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) introduced the Supporting Teachers with Residency Opportunities and New Grants (STRONG) Act, which would support educator pipeline programs like teacher residencies.

Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Robin Kelly (D-IL), and Haley Stevens (D-MI) led 20 of their colleagues in a letter asking CDC Director Robert Redfield to begin collecting and publishing data to track the spread of COVID-19 in schools and help develop best practices for safely reopening schools for in-person classes.

Led by Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), all 11 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) a letter protesting the rush to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. 

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have announced they will not meet privately with Judge Barrett because doing so would legitimize rushing to replace Justice Ginsburg when the Senate should instead be rushing to provide COVID-19 relief. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) gave an eloquent and impassioned speech about everything that’s wrong with the GOP’s rush to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by Justice Ginsburg’s death.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the Keeping Schools Safe Act, which authorizes the Secretary of Education to award $1 billion in grants to improve indoor air quality in schools using proven technologies—like air filtration, ventilation, and air purification—to help limit the spread of the COVID-19.

EdAction in Congress October 4, 2020 - Education Votes

I Have Met the Enemy, and It Is iPhone | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

I Have Met the Enemy, and It Is iPhone | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

I Have Met the Enemy, and It Is iPhone

With the advent of coronavirus-induced, hybrid instruction, I find myself not only having to learn how to teach using Google Classroom to deliver lessons but also having to learn how to combat a higher level of cheating enabled by the wedding between Google Classroom and the iPhone in my students’ hands.

My lesson this week: The iPhone enables screenshots of my out-of-class, Google Classroom quizzes to be shared among my students.

For my Google Classroom quizzes, I usually disable the options for students to immediately see their final grade upon submitting an assignment and also to view correct answers for each question after submitting work. Well, last week, I forgot to disable these features on one quiz, and a handful of my students were able to see the answer key, so to speak, once they submitted their assignments. I found this out because one sent me a message asking to retake the quiz because “a 55 is unacceptable.”

When I saw that he knew his actual score, I thought, “Uh, oh.” And I immediately disabled the two features mentioned above. (Once I disabled the features, students who initially saw the answer key could no longer view it.) I did remember to disable “edit after submit,” so students could not take a quiz, see the answers, then retake the quiz after viewing the answer key. At the time, only six of my 110 students had completed the quiz, so I thought I might have caught it in time. 

Apparently not.

My quizzes are difficult, and I usually curve. I noticed that one student scored remarkably well– not perfect, but well.

Over the next two days, five other students scored exactly the same, remarkable CONTINUE READING: I Have Met the Enemy, and It Is iPhone | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Trump Has COVID. What That Means For Public Schools | gadflyonthewallblog

Trump Has COVID. What That Means For Public Schools | gadflyonthewallblog

Trump Has COVID. What That Means For Public Schools

It had to happen eventually.

Donald Trump, the ultimate science denier, got bit in the butt by science.

He’s got Coronavirus, and is in Walter Reed National Medical Center fighting for his life.

Apparently the virus isn’t a hoax.

You don’t catch it by testing for it.

You don’t treat it with hydroxychloroquine.

It’s a global pandemic, and the only way to fight something like that is with rationality and logic.

You have to wear a face mask, dumb-ass.

You have to practice social distancing.

You can’t just CONTINUE READING: Trump Has COVID. What That Means For Public Schools | gadflyonthewallblog