The End of Public Schools Would Mean the End of the Common Good - https://jacobinmag.com/2020/12/public-schools-privatization-wolf-schoolhouse-door-review#new_tab
Colleges share lessons learned about the coronavirus pandemic during the fall semester - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/colleges-fall-semester-classroom-infections-coronavirus/2020/12/09/f6b7288a-3586-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_local-education
Ed Notes Online: FAIR Exposes NYT Ed Reporter Eliza Shapiro Bias on school closings (and what else?) - https://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2020/12/fair-exposes-nyt-ed-reporter-eliza.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FDOJOw+%28Education+Notes+Online%29
Talking to kids about Covid-19 as the pandemic continues https://hechingerreport.org/as-the-pandemic-trudges-on-what-to-say-to-our-kids/
Let’s reimagine prevention for gun violence in schools https://hechingerreport.org/as-we-reimagine-schooling-lets-reimagine-gun-violence-prevention-too/
Former teachers union chief vying for education secretary - Midland Reporter-Telegram - https://www.mrt.com/news/education/article/Former-teachers-union-chief-vying-for-education-15786464.php on @mwtnews
The Chicago Teachers Union Plays Hardball - The New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/us/chicago-teachers-union-school-reopening.html
School closures are not teachers unions’ fault. - https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/12/school-closures-teachers-unions-covid.html on @slate
Worse than Betsy DeVos: The Disturbing Story of 2020 School Board Elections | Ed Politics - https://edpolitics.org/?p=303
‘There has been a learning loss’: NYC Education Department launching plan to address ‘COVID achievement gap’ https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-nyc-schools-covid-achievement-gap-plan-20201210-mdin2lda6zb4vjiasxglitieri-story.html#ed=rss_www.nydailynews.com/arcio/rss/category/new-york/education/
SC Supreme Court again stops Gov. McMaster from spending COVID-19 aid on private schools | News | postandcourier.com - https://www.postandcourier.com/news/sc-supreme-court-again-stops-gov-mcmaster-from-spending-covid-19-aid-on-private-schools/article_0f22bcfe-1d27-11eb-8f12-e3434165cde2.html#new_tab by @https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks on @postandcourier
Want to fix inequities in school funding? Top legislators say property tax reform solves the problem. - https://wp.me/paQK0g-3Rk5 by @jacquelinerabe on @CTMirror
With a reopening date set, will Chicago teachers come? - Chalkbeat Chicago - https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/9/22166547/with-a-reopening-date-set-will-teachers-come#new_tab on chalkbeat
Remote learning deemed ‘disaster’ at K-12 education committee meeting – The North State Journal - https://nsjonline.com/?p=54936 by @apdillon_
Appeals court: Mississippi school lawsuit may go forward - https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-mississippi-lawsuits-courts-tate-reeves-b5dd76ae5755663032ca0ffb4bb82aa9#new_tab on @ap
School district seeks social media posts of Parkland victims’ families - South Florida Sun-Sentinel - https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-ne-parkland-lawsuit-social-media-20201208-35lbkmsy5nft5jorj3o6ugy7dm-story.html#new_tab via @SunSentinel
Indiana cracks down on loophole, counting 1,000 ‘hidden dropouts’ - Chalkbeat Indiana - https://in.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/9/22166587/indiana-cracks-down-on-home-school-counts-1000-hidden-dropouts#new_tab on chalkbeat
Legislature poised to accept $46 million charter school grant at Friday meeting | Education | unionleader.com - https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/legislature-poised-to-accept-46-million-charter-school-grant-at-friday-meeting/article_fb6e1a7b-0a1a-5359-ad6b-0b7804b4ce7c.html#new_tab by @https://twitter.com/josie_UL on @UnionLeader
Attending virtual school: Should cameras be on or off for remote learners? - https://www.inquirer.com/news/nj-education-remote-learning-cameras-virtual-classes-coronavirus-20201210.html#new_tab via @PhillyInquirer
Free learning centers help Columbus students with online school - https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2020/12/10/free-learning-centers-help-columbus-ohio-students-with-online-school/6225238002/#new_tab via @DispatchAlerts
Departing Trump administration wants to weaken nutrition rules for school meals | Education | stltoday.com - https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/departing-trump-administration-wants-to-weaken-nutrition-rules-for-school-meals/article_059a6746-334d-5159-b544-194849c066f1.html#new_tab on @stltoday
Is it fair to rate teachers based on student scores in the pandemic? - Chalkbeat Newark - https://newark.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/9/22165845/newark-teacher-evaluations-sgo-pandemic#new_tab on chalkbeat
Black and disabled students disproportionately restrained in Texas schools, report says - HoustonChronicle.com - https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/Report-Disabled-and-Black-students-15784899.php#new_tab on @houstonchron
Proposed bill would require in-person instruction at schools when a county’s COVID stats improve – Orange County Register - https://wp.me/p8Ac4j-y3Zr
The First Grades Of The New School Year Are In — And Hawaii's Students Are Struggling - Honolulu Civil Beat - https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/12/the-first-grades-of-the-new-school-year-are-in-and-hawaiis-students-are-struggling/#new_tab via @civilbeat
'Very low' rates of coronavirus in schools, British study finds - https://www.yahoo.com/news/very-low-rates-of-coronavirus-in-schools-british-study-finds-221627184.html#new_tab on @YahooNews
Countering Anti-Semitism in Education to End Hate - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel100.asp
We are 'scared, frustrated, and anxious'; Weingarten says this Yale course can help educators NEW HAVEN — The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence has created an online course designed to aid educators battling the anxiety and stress of teaching during the pandemic and, in turn, students. The course came after a recent YCEI survey “of over 2,500 educators nationwide found that their top emotio
Ventilation is the key to helping students, staff and families stay safe Thoughts on SFUSD’s Return Safely to School Together Plan Last night district staff shared a plan for bringing students back to schools for in-person learning. Click the following links to see the proposed plan and presentation . (When the conversation becomes available via SFGovTV I will post it as well below.) Click the i
Sucking the Joy From Their Lives I was sitting on a bench near a playground merry-go-round watching our three and four-year-olds play. A pair of boys decided they wanted a spin. They mounted the apparatus, then one of them turned to me, "Teacher Tom, you push us." I answered, "Sorry, I'm busy sitting here. You'll have to find someone else." As the first boy tried pleading with me, the second sai
Suspend High-Stakes Testing for Spring 2021! Add Your Name! FAIRTest and other assessment reform allies call on the new Biden administration to suspend high-stakes standardized testing this spring. Please add your name to their petition! Open the link to add your name to this petition. To: U.S. Secretary of Education and state education policymakers From: [Your Name] We call on the U.S. Departme
SomeDAM Poet: Education Needs Variation, Not Standardization Those who seek to apply business thinking on education make a huge error. SomeDAM Poet, a regular commenter, cites the work of the brilliant education scholar Yong Zhao, who has consistently argued that progress and creativity relies on diversity, not standardization. This is, for example, a fundamental flaw of the Common Core, which c
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/12/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos.html The Smithsonian’s “24 Hours In A Time Of Change” Seems Like A Great Opportun
McKinsey & Company Uses Falling Behind Talk to Ramp Up School Toughness McKinsey & Company Uses Falling Behind Talk to Ramp Up School Toughness For years McKinsey & Company has had a premier seat at the school reform table for the U.S., England, and worldwide, despite faulty reporting. Because of Covid-19, plans are being put in place to get tougher on students to make up for lost learning time.
Does the Pandemic Help Us Make Education More Equitable? (Pasi Sahlberg) “Pasi Sahlberg is a Finnish educator who has worked as a schoolteacher, teacher-educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems and advised education leaders around the world..” I have excerpted Sahlberg’s description of how Finland’s and Australia’s schools responded to the Covid-19 pa
THE GLASS JUST MIGHT BE HALF FULL “There are two ways to be fooled One to believe what isn’t true The other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Soren Kierkegaard The battle between those who believe that school buildings should be open and those who believe they are unsafe under current circumstances shows no sign of abatement. In fact just the opposite, as opposing sides cling tighter to the
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Additional Educator Trainings and Grants to Address Equity and Learning Gaps SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced Tuesday that the California Department of Education (CDE) is launching additional virtual educator trainings and mini-grants designed to accelerate ongoing efforts to address equity gaps, strengthen
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Researcher Says Law Hiding Fiscal Effects of ‘Tax-Credit Vouchers’ from Public View Undermines Valid Analysis Earlier this week, two Kennesaw State University economists wrote about their study that suggests the private school tax credit program saves Georgia money. Today, another researcher questions their conclusions and their analysis, saying they relied on flawe
After such a polarizing election, as the nation grapples with how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and its financial fallout, many people wonder what can bring us together. In his new book, Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy, Derek Black convincingly argues that, historically, public education can, and frequently has, unified a divided country. Black’
When a Biden victory in the 2020 presidential election became certain, supporters of public education gleefully took to social media to say good riddance to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. DeVos came into office with an agenda to further the privatization of public education by expanding charter schools and by encouraging families to opt out of public schools by any means possible. Durin
Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Are Covid cases spreading in DC schools? - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-released-data-showing-
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and Experts Discuss Approaches to Countering Anti-Semitism in Education to End Hate Virtual Classroom Series
SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today joined leaders from the Museum of Tolerance in a virtual classroom session on countering anti-Semitism, part of the ongoing Education to End Hate initiative designed to explore and confront multiple forms of racism, hate, and bigotry that persist in schools and communities today.
Today’s webinar, titled “Understanding Contemporary Anti-Semitism: An Introduction for California Educators,” focused on how anti-Semitism has evolved over time, how it spreads in digital spaces, and provided tools to identify contemporary anti-Semitism and hate. Speakers included Liebe Geft, Director of the Museum of Tolerance, and Emily Thompson, Associate Director of the Research Department at the museum, which is dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination in our world today.
“Tragically, anti-Semitism and many other forms of hate and bigotry did not only exist in dark periods of our history but in fact still continue to impact us today, and I believe education can be a powerful tool for creating the change we need,” said Thurmond. “Today’s professional development session gave educators tangible strategies that are immediately applicable and that illustrate how our classrooms can create pathways to healing and understanding.”
Today’s presentations included a robust overview of the history of anti-Semitism, clear examples of what contemporary anti-Semitism looks like, and how educators can identify contemporary anti-Semitism. Resources offered by the Museum of Tolerance included a lexicon booklet of anti-Semitic symbols and language, an action card from the museum’s Combat Hate program, and sample lesson plans.
The Education to End Hate initiative has three components: Educator training grants, which have been awarded to schools and districts across the state and will be used to support the improvement and development of curriculum as well as address systemic problems in policies and procedures; this virtual classroom series; and finally, the upcoming creation of a roundtable with leaders, social justice organizations, educators and lawmakers, to brainstorm additional ideas for ways schools can influence the change necessary to ensure a physically and emotionally safe learning environment that is inclusive for all students.
Today’s session followed last month’s professional development event which focused on pedagogical approaches to teaching about Native Americans. The webinar series continues January 12, 2021, centering on countering Islamophobia and held in partnership with the Islamic Networks Group. More details about that classroom session and further Education to End Hate Initiative updates will be posted on CDE’s social media channels.
Members of the public with questions and feedback on the initiative are encouraged to reach out at edtoendhate@cde.ca.gov.
# # # #
Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
Early in 2016, when it became apparent that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee for president, the question emerged: just what percentage of the population actually endorsed his brand of brash white nationalism? It always felt impossible that more than a small sliver of the country would honestly embrace (not just tolerate) his behaviors and proclamations.
There was a gut-wrenching piece in the Washington Post yesterday about a mask mandate in Mitchell, South Dakota. If there ever were a place where neighborly norms and civility ought to reign, where people would be willing to help others, it’s small-town South Dakota. A friend of mine used to live there. Her husband was a Methodist minister. If people in Mitchell were like Donna and Dick, they’d be masked up, washing their hands, and dropping food off on ill neighbor’s porches.
But it turns out that they’re not. In fact, many of them are adamantly anti-mask, anti-science. As beloved coaches and grandmothers are dying, they’re insisting on falsehoods. These people aren’t evil, and it’s wrong to dismiss them as dumb and worthless. They are still following community norms. It seems to me that what’s CONTINUE READING: Norms, Ethics and Civility. Plus Education. | Teacher in a strange land
JEFF BRYANT IN THE PROGRESSIVE: DEREK BLACK: WE NEED PUBLIC SCHOOLS NOW MORE THAN EVER
After such a polarizing election, as the nation grapples with how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and its financial fallout, many people wonder what can bring us together.
In his new book, Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy, Derek Black convincingly argues that, historically, public education can, and frequently has, unified a divided country.
Black’s deftly rendered historical account stretches from the nation’s founding to the Civil Rights Movement and into modern times. It describes how public education has long been the touchstone for the nation to recommit to its founding principles.
And though his book is mostly a historical account, Black is as concerned with the past as with the present, especially in anticipation of a post-Betsy DeVos world where public schools have been falsely portrayed as anachronistic. I recently talked with Black about his book and whether public schools are in danger of going away. The following discussion has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: You write in the book’s introduction that the nation is in the middle of a battle for the long-term viability of public education. How might this battle continue under a Biden presidency?
We are 'scared, frustrated, and anxious'; Weingarten says this Yale
course can help educators
NEW HAVEN — The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence has created an
online course designed to aid educators battling the anxiety and stress of
teaching during the pandemic and, in turn, students.
The course came after a recent YCEI survey “of over 2,500 educators
nationwide found that their top emotions were
anxious, exhausted, frustrated, stressed, and overwhelmed,”
prompting members of the center to strive to “preserve the well-being of
the nation’s school staff and their ability to teach and work” through the
new educational offering, according to a university statement.
The course, “Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty and Stress,” will
offer participants information on “why social and emotional learning is an
important component of education” and how to “identify and manage
emotions, including how to support their students with their emotions in
scientific and culturally responsive ways.”
Participants will use what they’ve learned to fill out weekly plans,
which as designed to give them a guide toward lasting change, according to
the statement.
“Research shows that school staff who are better at managing their
emotions have greater physical health, well-being, and job satisfaction,”
said Dr. Marc Brackett, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional
Intelligence and professor in the Child Study Center. “They also create
more supportive learning environments for students where there’s more
CONTINUE READING: We are 'scared, frustrated, and anxious'; Weingarten says this Yale course can help educators
Ventilation is the key to helping students, staff and families stay safe
Thoughts on SFUSD’s Return Safely to School Together Plan
Last night district staff shared a plan for bringing students back to schools for in-person learning. Click the following links to see the proposed plan and presentation. (When the conversation becomes available via SFGovTV I will post it as well below.)
Click the image above to read the draft plan presented to the Board.
In reviewing the presentation, I made a request at the meeting for the plan to incorporate several revisions focused on increasing student and staff safety in returning to schools in the following areas: ventilation, masking and family agreements in following preventative measures, and testing availability.
Anyone who watched our hours-long discussion on school reopening last night knows each topic is deserving of its own lengthy discussion. In the interest of educating the public, I wanted to share my recommendations and our Board’s incorporated input into the final plan which we will approve next week.
Ventilation is the key to preventing the spread of Covid-19
I was sitting on a bench near a playground merry-go-round watching our three and four-year-olds play. A pair of boys decided they wanted a spin. They mounted the apparatus, then one of them turned to me, "Teacher Tom, you push us." I answered, "Sorry, I'm busy sitting here. You'll have to find someone else."
As the first boy tried pleading with me, the second said, "I'll get my brother to push us. He likes doing the things I like," and jogged off in the direction of where their classmates where playing. He called out to them, "Who will push us?" They ignored him so he returned to the merry-go-round. As he mounted it, he gave it a little push with his foot and the two boys began turning slowly. As the momentum began to die, a couple of girls found their way to the merry-go-round. Without being asked, they CONTINUE WORKING: Teacher Tom: Sucking the Joy From Their Lives
To: U.S. Secretary of Education and state education policymakers From: [Your Name]
We call on the U.S. Department of Education to waive provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act that require states to administer standardized exams to students in the 2020-2021 academic year. We also call on the states to cancel their own additional testing mandates and to waive any consequences attached to their results, at least for the current school year.
Simply reducing testing stakes is not enough. It is critically important to suspend all government-mandated standardized exams so that educators, who know their students firsthand, may focus on teaching and learning, address students’ social and emotional well-being, and connect with families.
The use of standardized tests in public education has long raised concerns. Too often, these tests have supplanted teacher assessments of student performance; forced schools to focus on a narrow set of skills and subjects; limited opportunities for low-income students, students of color, English language learners, and students with disabilities; and penalized schools for test results without providing them with the support they need to succeed. Instead of being a good measure of teaching and learning, test scores have always correlated closely with students’ socioeconomic status.
In light of the disruptions caused by COVID-19, waiving standardized testing requirements is especially important right now. The time and resources required to test students this year would be better spent educating and supporting them.
● The results won’t be valid, reliable, or useful. Teaching, learning, and testing conditions vary widely and continue to be in a state of flux. Since students will not have covered all the material the tests are supposed to measure, the results will not be comparable to results from other years or jurisdictions. We don’t need test scores to know that low-income children in poorly resourced schools have fallen even farther behind in a pandemic. In addition, more parents than usual are likely to opt their children out of taking the tests, further skewing the results.
● There are better ways to know how students from different backgrounds and learning needs fared during the pandemic. In addition to classroom-based assessments, sampling exams can provide data on trends in learning without distorting the curriculum or subjecting all students to standardized tests this year. Instead of more testing, we should be focusing on solutions that address poverty, racial inequities, and school funding disparities.
● Most parents oppose testing this spring. According to the Understanding America Study done by the University of Southern California, support for canceling the tests rose from 43 percent in mid-April to 64 percent in mid-October. The opposition is strong across all demographic groups but is especially high among Black parents, 72 percent of whom favor cancellation.
In a time of scarcity, funding must be used to support underserved and at-risk students, not enrich commercial test makers. It’s time to waive federal testing requirements and eliminate high stakes for state and local assessments.
Let’s seize this opportunity to provide better options for our students. Our children, their families, and their teachers deserve it.
SomeDAM Poet: Education Needs Variation, Not Standardization
Those who seek to apply business thinking on education make a huge error. SomeDAM Poet, a regular commenter, cites the work of the brilliant education scholar Yong Zhao, who has consistently argued that progress and creativity relies on diversity, not standardization. This is, for example, a fundamental flaw of the Common Core, which claims without evidence that the imposition of national standards for teaching, testing, teacher education, and curriculum will lead to vast improvements. Predictably, over a decade, it has failed to produce what was promised.
Bill Gates saw the Common Core standards, which he funded in their entirety, as necessary and beneficial standardization that would transform education. In 2014, he told a conference of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards that teachers should defend the Common Core.
McKinsey & Company Uses Falling Behind Talk to Ramp Up School Toughness
For years McKinsey & Companyhas had a premier seat at the school reform table for the U.S., England, and worldwide, despite faulty reporting. Because of Covid-19, plans are being put in place to get tougher on students to make up for lost learning time. They use terms like high impact and high dosage tutoring. These plans often echo how students must learn for the future economy. But such pressure, after a year like no other, could be devastating to children.
The narrative goes like this: poor children of color from Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities have fallen behind in school due to Covid-19, so the country needs to ramp up instruction.
Does the Pandemic Help Us Make Education More Equitable? (Pasi Sahlberg)
“Pasi Sahlberg is a Finnish educator who has worked as a schoolteacher, teacher-educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems and advised education leaders around the world..”
I have excerpted Sahlberg’s description of how Finland’s and Australia’s schools responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. For readers who wish to see the entire article, it appeared in Educational Research for Policy and Practice online October 31, 2020.
Australia and Finland, the two homes of mine at the moment, are not just geographically as
distant from each other than possible, but they are also very different societies with distinct
histories, traditions, values and cultures. Australia is sunny and hot. Finland is,many believe,
snowy and cool. The Australians prefer things big and fast. The Finns think small is beautiful.
“There are two ways to be fooled One to believe what isn’t true The other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Soren Kierkegaard
The battle between those who believe that school buildings should be open and those who believe they are unsafe under current circumstances shows no sign of abatement. In fact just the opposite, as opposing sides cling tighter to their positions.
Personally, my focus isn’t on either option, but rather encouraging policymakers to find means to ensure that students are getting what they need, be it in school buildings, rec centers, churches, or individual homes. Obviously, the benefits of in-school learning are well known, but we are still discovering the potential of remote learning. Yes, it is difficult, inconvenient, and the jury is out on its effectiveness. But in its defense, it is still in its infancy, so potential in addressing long standing issues with in-person instruction remains untapped.
Because remote learning is so new, and we don’t have reliable data on which to draw from, there is a concern with so-called learning loss. Policymakers and administrators are leaping to use that supposition as a weapon against schools. Whether the belief is backed by evidence, or not, is immaterial.
On a recent, Zoom call with Nashville’s PROPEL, State Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn went so far as to proclaim that when children are not in classrooms, learning can’t take place. In her words, “Learning does not happen through osmosis.” Yeah…that’s not exactly right. I would CONTINUE READING: THE GLASS JUST MIGHT BE HALF FULL – Dad Gone Wild
