UPDATE: THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES #REDFORED #tbats #COVIDVACCINE #newyear

 Big Education Ape

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES 

7 key California school superintendents blast governor’s new school reopening plan - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/01/06/7-key-california-school-superintendents-blast-governors-new-school-reopening-plan/

Most Americans Foresee Biden Improving Environment, Education - https://news.gallup.com/poll/328289/americans-foresee-biden-improving-environment-education.aspx#new_tab on @Gallup

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Double win in GA could provide resources needed for a safe national school-reopening campaign - http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/2021/01/double-win-in-ga-could-provide.html

Education Research Report: Reopening Florida schools followed by uptick in COVID-19 infections - http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/

This Is Probably A Good Time To Learn (& Teach) About The Work Of Stacey Abrams & Her Colleagues – Here’s A Good Start | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/?p=114596 on @Larryferlazzo

ACTION ALERT: Delaware Superintendents & Boards MUST NOT Send Students & Staff Into Hybrid Learning Next Monday | Exceptional Delaware - https://wp.me/p4JboV-5KH via @ExcptlDelaware

Protesters at Biden Philly HQ Demand Student Debt Relief on Day One - In These Times - https://inthesetimes.com/article/biden-philly-student-debt-relief via @InTheseTimesMag

Chicago Teachers Are Considering a Strike Amid Pandemic Surge - With Covid cases rising, the Chicago Teachers Union and its allies are resisting Mayor Lightfoot's plan to force educators back into the classroom—and could walk off the job. https://inthesetimes.com/article/chicago-teachers-strike-pandemic-school-reopening-covid

Child Welfare Revolution Long Overdue https://www.laprogressive.com/child-welfare-2/

The "Invisible" And Costly Tax That Black Teachers Are Being Forced To Pay - Philly's 7th Ward - https://wp.me/p7sbg2-v2

Education Research Report: Non-immigrant kids respond differently when immigrant children are bullied - http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/2021/01/non-immigrant-kids-respond-differently.html

40% Of Chicago Teachers And Staff Didn’t Report To Schools As Ordered https://popularresistance.org/40-of-chicago-teachers-and-staff-didnt-report-to-schools-as-ordered/

Free Grocery Store Opens In District With High Number Of Poor Students https://popularresistance.org/free-grocery-store-opens-in-district-with-high-number-of-poor-students/

Secretary DeVos Quickly Makes Available an Additional $54 Billion in COVID Relief Aid for K-12 Students, Teachers, and Schools https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-quickly-makes-available-additional-54-billion-covid-relief-aid-k-12-students-teachers-and-schools

Texas unveils plan to have all students take STAAR online by 2022 https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/05/texas-staar-online/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social via @TexasTribune

In San Antonio, an ambitious effort to expand pre-K is crumbling as parents shield their children from the pandemic https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/06/san-antonio-pre-k-coronavirus/?utm_campaign=trib-social-buttons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social via @TexasTribune

Want Americans to graduate college? Make it affordable. https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/college-affordability

Ohio Puts Teachers At The Front Of The COVID-19 Vaccine Line https://www.npr.org/2021/01/06/953857365/ohio-puts-teachers-at-the-front-of-the-covid-19-vaccine-line

NYC Education Dept. shortens COVID-19 quarantine requirement from 14 to 10 days https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-covid-school-quarantine-reduced-20210105-houy4fz3jvefzjlpq5manx4jsm-story.html#ed=rss_www.nydailynews.com/arcio/rss/category/new-york/education/

Teachers Union Says It Will Plan Its Own Vaccination Effort https://www.ny1.com/share/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2021/01/06/teachers-union-says-it-will-plan-its-own-vaccination-effort?cid=share_twitter

Connecticut will become the first state to require high schools to offer Black and Latino studies in fall 2022 | KNBR-AF - https://www.knbr.com/?p=819583

Chicago push to reopen city schools becomes more contentious - https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-education-chicago-coronavirus-pandemic-d2b43baa4643819d4e497a7d741349f8#new_tab on @ap

Ritenour School District investigating home visit by police officer over failing grade | Education | stltoday.com - https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/ritenour-school-district-investigating-home-visit-by-police-officer-over-failing-grade/article_7205ff4c-38c7-5671-9212-c46d3947071c.html#new_tab by @https://twitter.com/blythebernhard on @stltoday

Salt Lake City won’t reopen junior high and high schools until teachers can get vaccinated - https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2021/01/06/salt-lake-city-delays/#new_tab by https://www.facebook.com/saltlaketribune on @sltrib

Fight Over Closing Schools Reignites as N.Y.C. Positive Rate Tops 9% - The New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/nyregion/nyc-school-closings-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=13#new_tab

Delay, dismantle, resist: DeVos leaves a legacy like no other Education secretary - POLITICO - https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/04/betsy-devos-education-secretary-legacy-454872#new_tab

NY teacher retirement applications skyrocketed last year, data shows https://nypost.com/2021/01/05/ny-teacher-retirement-applications-skyrocketed-last-year-data/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons via @nypmetro

COVID food delivery: Free school lunch effort gives teachers surprise - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/01/03/covid-food-delivery-free-school-lunch-teachers/4078529001/#new_tab via @usatoday

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Double win in GA could provide resources needed for a safe national school-reopening campaign - http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/2021/01/double-win-in-ga-could-provide.html

Answer Sheet: What Public Education Advocates Want to See in Biden’s Pick to Succeed Betsy DeVos | National Education Policy Center - https://nepc.colorado.edu/node/10684 on @NEPCtweet

Betsy DeVos, in farewell letter, urges Congress to reject Biden’s education agenda - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/01/05/betsy-devos-farewell-letter-urges-congress-reject-bidens-education-agenda/

New Year, New Drama in New York Schools - The New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/new-year-city-schools-9-percent-close.html

NANCY BAILEY: Why Are Schools Opening When Covid-19 is Surging?

by Mike Simpson / 4min

Why Are Schools Opening When Covid-19 is Surging? Why Are Schools Opening When Covid-19 is Surging? It has become a cruel joke. Shut everything down! Stay home! Cancel the holidays! Close everything! But open schools! Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, told Americans to stay home throughout the holiday season, avoid groups, wash hands, wear masks, and stay so

State’s Poor Pandemic Response Takes Toll on Teachers + MICROVOUCHERS – Tennessee Education Report

by Mike Simpson / 4min

State’s Poor Pandemic Response Takes Toll on Teachers – Tennessee Education Report RESPONSE TAKES TOLL ON TEACHERS The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) today released the results of a statewide survey of teachers regarding the experience of teaching during the pandemic. According to the report, 74% of teachers rated the state’s handling of the issues surrounding schools and COVID-19 as “poor

The Lives They Lived (personal edition) | The Merrow Report

by Mike Simpson / 4min

The Lives They Lived (personal edition) COVID-19 was responsible for the deaths of hundreds and hundreds of teachers in 2020 , enough alone to make the year an ‘annus horribilis,’ to borrow Queen Elizabeth II’s phrase. But the world of education also lost Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Lewis, Sir Ken Robinson, Jim Lehrer and Les Crystal of the PBS NewsHour, the Reverend Darius L. Swann, David K. Cohe

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER

by Mike Simpson / 4min

NewBlackMan (in Exile) NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/this-week-with-newblackman-in-exile-blm.html Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Season 7 of 'Finding Your Roots' by Mark Anthony Neal / 2min 'Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. joins CBS This Morning to discuss his popular PBS series, "Fin

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

by Mike Simpson / 4min

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/2021/01/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos.html This Is Probably A Good Time To Learn (& Teach) About The Work Of Stacey Abr

DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY? A site to discuss better education for all #REDFORED #tbats #COVID-19 #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #edsec

by Mike Simpson / 4min

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY? A site to discuss better education for all Big Education Ape: KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all - 

Some Questions for 2021 | JD2718

Big Education Ape / 1h

Some Questions for 2021 If you are reading this, you might know me. And if you know me, you know I can ask questions that are not really questions. That’s not these. Real questions for the New Year (in the order in which I expect us to learn the answers) November – January: How will the national elections turn out? January 5 – what happens in the Georgia Senate runoffs? 2 Republicans, 2 Democrat

Using DATA and RESEARCH to Unlearn Chait’s False Opinion about Charter Schools | Cloaking Inequity

Big Education Ape / 1h

USING DATA AND RESEARCH TO UNLEARN CHAIT’S FALSE OPINION ABOUT CHARTER SCHOOLS In this blog I respond to Chait’s grossly unfounded opinions in the New York Magazine article entitled Unlearning an Answer with data, peer reviewed research and by highlighting the work of scholars who have conducted extensive research about charter schools. I will also recognize when the predominance of the research

What Do We Know about Our Next Education Secretary, Dr. Miguel Cardona?, | janresseger

Big Education Ape / 1h

What Do We Know about Our Next Education Secretary, Dr. Miguel Cardona? Today Congress will meet to certify the electoral college vote and confirm Joe Biden as our next president. Biden’s election guarantees Betsy DeVos’s exit as Secretary of Education. It looks as though, by nominating Dr. Miguel Cardona, currently Connecticut’s state Commissioner of Education, President-Elect Biden has fulfill

Thinking Beyond Bean Dad: A Reader – radical eyes for equity

Big Education Ape / 1h

Thinking Beyond Bean Dad: A Reader First, Bean Dad (as he would become known) posted a Twitter thread about teaching his daughter a lesson. The thread was flippant, snarky—and about a child not knowing how to use a can opener. I was, frankly, surprised that Bean Dad took a beating on this because his approach to his child is essentially the foundational belief system in the U.S. about child rear

John Ewing: “Learning Loss” is an Absurd Concept | Diane Ravitch's blog

Big Education Ape / 1h

John Ewing: “Learning Loss” is an Absurd Concept John Ewing, president of Math for America, skewers the concept of “learning loss” in this article in Forbes. I have been a fan of Dr. Ewing ever since I read his article “Mathematical Intimidation: Driven by the Data,” in which he eviscerated the idiotic idea of rating students by the test scores of their students. If you have not read it, you sho

Teacher Tom: Isn't This Belittling to Children?

Big Education Ape / 3h

Isn't This Belittling to Children? There was an old hamster wheel in our classroom. Most of the children had no idea what it was, but it was nevertheless an endlessly popular plaything. Someone was forever spinning it or turning it upside down to roll on the floor or otherwise employing it in their games. Over the years, I saw it used as a part of block castles, as a bulldozer in the sensory tab

NYC Educator: Desperation, Thy Name Is De Blasio

Big Education Ape / 3h

Desperation, Thy Name Is De Blasio In the face of an exploding epidemic, and in the face of a new more virulent strain, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has decided that quarantine needs to be cut rather than extended. The mayor just decided that rather than quarantine for 14 days, as recommended by CDC, he will cut it to ten, because they said it was allowable. It's remarkable in this day and age to fi

CURMUDGUCATION: About Teachers4OpenSchools

Big Education Ape / 3h

About Teachers4OpenSchools You may have run across a shiny new group on line that is agitating for teachers to be back in the classroom-- Teachers4OpenSchools . The arguments are the usual ones, from the legitimate concern about mental health to the learning loss baloney. There's not much of anything new here, and not the kind of balance we find in a piece like this one . But I'm always curious

A Teacher’s Predictions For 2021 | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Big Education Ape / 3h

A TEACHER’S PREDICTIONS FOR 2021 Some of these predictions are educated guesses that I hope don’t come true, and some may be pipe dreams. Check them out, let me know which ones are off-base, and share your own! You can see the predictions I’ve made in previous years at the end of this post. *The new stimulus package will be a much-needed boost for schools. However, it won’t be sufficient to deal

Education Matters: Poor leadership is destroying the district.

Big Education Ape / 3h

Poor leadership is destroying the district I want to acknowledge that being a superintendent is undoubtedly a hard job, and the powers that be in Florida often work to undermine public education. That being said, I can’t imagine a superintendent doing worse than Greene. Her leadership is just plain bad, and don’t take my word for it, take the Times Unions. The indifference to the pandemic. Addin

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES #REDFORED #tbats #COVIDVACCINE #newyear

Big Education Ape / 22h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Education Research Report: Addressing COVID-19’s Disruption of Student Assessment - http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/ Trump 

 Big Education Ape

NANCY BAILEY: Why Are Schools Opening When Covid-19 is Surging?

Why Are Schools Opening When Covid-19 is Surging?

Why Are Schools Opening When Covid-19 is Surging?

It has become a cruel joke. Shut everything down! Stay home! Cancel the holidays! Close everything! But open schools!

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, told Americans to stay home throughout the holiday season, avoid groups, wash hands, wear masks, and stay socially distanced. There’s a horrific death count in case you harbor doubts.

But there’s a gap between what Dr. Fauci and the medical community recommend to the public and what he and they think is A-O.K. for America’s schoolchildren and teachers. Remember back in July when Dr. Fauci told teachers they would be a part of a learning curve experiment.

Dr. Leana Wen, M.D., seems to understand that schools are no match for Covid-19 and should be closed throughout the winter. Why are other doctors, CONTINUE READING: Why Are Schools Opening When Covid-19 is Surging?

State’s Poor Pandemic Response Takes Toll on Teachers + MICROVOUCHERS – Tennessee Education Report

State’s Poor Pandemic Response Takes Toll on Teachers – Tennessee Education Report

RESPONSE TAKES TOLL ON TEACHERS

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) today released the results of a statewide survey of teachers regarding the experience of teaching during the pandemic. According to the report, 74% of teachers rated the state’s handling of the issues surrounding schools and COVID-19 as “poor.”

The findings should come as no surprise as Governor Bill Lee continues to pursue a privatization agenda while failing to actually do much of anything about the spiking COVID cases.

Here’s the full press release from the TEA:

As students and educators begin the Spring semester, a statewide Tennessee Education Association survey of educators reveals just how difficult and time-consuming the fall semester was on educators across the state. Public school educators are struggling under tough teaching conditions of the pandemic, working longer hours with little training or support—often with inadequately supplied classrooms—and enduring the daily threat and reality of infection.

“Tennessee public school educators have been staying strong for months, taking the challenges of teaching in a pandemic head-on,” said TEA President Beth Brown. “Our educators need more support and resources as they begin what will certainly be another difficult semester. As the survey showed, most public school staff are working longer hours with daily disruptions and changing tasks, but with little guidance, support or tangible encouragement from the state. The state must do more to assist with the burdens of teaching in a pandemic.”

In December, more than 7,000 teachers, education support professionals, administrators and certified personnel participated in the confidential TEA survey on education working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. An overwhelming majority of those polled said their work is more or much more difficult than in past years.

Key findings of the survey include: CONTINUE READING: State’s Poor Pandemic Response Takes Toll on Teachers – Tennessee Education Report

MicroVouchers – Tennessee Education Report - http://tnedreport.com/?p=5074 via @TNEdReport

The pursuit of privatization never ends with Gov. Bill Lee. Remember those CARES Act funds the governor and his team were NOT spending? Well, it turns out they now have a plan for those funds – a reading initiative that includes a voucher scheme.

Here’s more from The Center Square:

The new initiative, Reading 360, will provide an array of supports to districts, teachers and families, including opt-in training and coaching in literacy instruction for teachers, regional networks focused on literacy and an online platform for video lessons for teachers and families at home.

The initiative also will fund more than 13,000 microgrants for literacy tutoring for students and families.

Who will provide this tutoring? CONTINUE READING: MicroVouchers – Tennessee Education Report

The Lives They Lived (personal edition) | The Merrow Report

The Lives They Lived (personal edition) | The Merrow Report

The Lives They Lived (personal edition)

COVID-19  was responsible for the deaths of hundreds and hundreds of teachers in 2020, enough alone to make the year an ‘annus horribilis,’ to borrow Queen Elizabeth II’s phrase.  But the world of education also lost Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Lewis, Sir Ken Robinson, Jim Lehrer and Les Crystal of the PBS NewsHour,  the Reverend Darius L. Swann, David K. Cohen, Arnold Packer, and (on the island of Martha’s Vineyard) Nelson Bryant, Lee Fierro, and Dr. Susan Whiting Shanock.

Although they weren’t educators per se, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and U.S. Representative John Lewis contributed mightily to the cause of public education: Justice Ginsburg by the cases she brought as an attorney and the cases she decided while on the Supreme Court, and Mr. Lewis by his work as a student leader and his leadership in the struggle for civil rights as a protestor and as a member of Congress.  Barriers against women, in education and in the workplace, fell because of RBG. John Lewis nearly lost his life on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, but it was that savage beating that led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

I probably should have placed my tribute to Sir Ken Robinson at the end of this post, because I am going to ask that those who haven’t seen his TED talk, the most widely CONTINUE READING: The Lives They Lived (personal edition) | The Merrow Report

Some Questions for 2021 | JD2718

Some Questions for 2021 | JD2718

Some Questions for 2021

If you are reading this, you might know me. And if you know me, you know I can ask questions that are not really questions. That’s not these.

Real questions for the New Year (in the order in which I expect us to learn the answers)

November – January: How will the national elections turn out?

• January 5 – what happens in the Georgia Senate runoffs? 2 Republicans, 2 Democrats, or split?

If the Democrats win both, I do not expect that Schumer plans to win any votes 51 – 50. They will more likely try to return to business as usual, and forge some agreements not to go full-on obstructionist in the future. If the Republicans win either one, they very well might defeat stuff 51-49 or 52-48… but I think they also may want to move away from full-on obstructionism. Certainly their distancing themselves from Trump make that seem possible. Anyhow, I started writing on Sunday, and I’m wrapping this up Tuesday evening. There’s definitely a slight edge for the democrats, but it is way too early to tell. Plus, in this instant, the actual lead is split.

(finally posting, almost three hours later, and the lead is still split, but it looks like both CONTINUE READING: Some Questions for 2021 | JD2718

Using DATA and RESEARCH to Unlearn Chait’s False Opinion about Charter Schools | Cloaking Inequity

Using DATA and RESEARCH to Unlearn Chait’s False Opinion about Charter Schools | Cloaking Inequity

USING DATA AND RESEARCH TO UNLEARN CHAIT’S FALSE OPINION ABOUT CHARTER SCHOOLS

In this blog I respond to Chait’s grossly unfounded opinions in the New York Magazine article entitled Unlearning an Answer with data, peer reviewed research and by highlighting the work of scholars who have conducted extensive research about charter schools. I will also recognize when the predominance of the research supports his opinions.

Political support for Charters is waning among Democrats Chait writes that “political support among Democrats has collapsed.” Chait is right on this point, it’s true political support amongst Democrats has dropped. In a recent meeting I was shown internal polling from the last election that indicates this fact. I also saw in the same data that Republicans are bigger fans of vouchers than they are of charters. The memory of Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump’s unwavering support for charters will probably have a longstanding and poisonous political legacy for Democratic party support of charter schools. Also, this past year, I met with legislative staffs on the Hill and they relayed that previously increased federal funding for charters had been a requirement for Republicans in the budget but in recent years they have had other priorities besides charters— such as vouchers.

Charter Schools do not deliver extraordinary results— in fact on average their results are quite limited. Contrary to Chait’s argument, as an academic, I can assuredly tell you that “education researchers” HAVE NOT been shocked by charter schools gains— I think unimpressed is probably a better word. Check out this extensive list of more than 30 National Education Policy Center “top experts” whose peer reviewed research findings are largely contrary to Chait’s grandiose claims about school choice. Also, Chait cited studies produced by The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) located at the conservative Hoover Institution. CREDO studies are not peer reviewed. But Chait and charter school supporters point to CREDO’s 2015 urban charter study to say that African American and Latino students have more success in charter schools. Leaving aside the integrity of the study for a moment, what CONTINUE READING: Using DATA and RESEARCH to Unlearn Chait’s False Opinion about Charter Schools | Cloaking Inequity

What Do We Know about Our Next Education Secretary, Dr. Miguel Cardona?, | janresseger

What Do We Know about Our Next Education Secretary, Dr. Miguel Cardona?, | janresseger

What Do We Know about Our Next Education Secretary, Dr. Miguel Cardona?

Today Congress will meet to certify the electoral college vote and confirm Joe Biden as our next president. Biden’s election guarantees Betsy DeVos’s exit as Secretary of Education.

It looks as though, by nominating Dr. Miguel Cardona, currently Connecticut’s state Commissioner of Education, President-Elect Biden has fulfilled the prediction of satirist Andy Borowitz (in his funniest Borowitz Report for the year): “Betsy DeVos warns that Biden will pick Education Secretary with background in education… ‘In order to be impartial toward education, an Education Secretary must be as ignorant as possible,’ she said. ‘I don’t mean to boast, but I am going to be a tough act to follow in that respect.'”

Dr. Cardona is definitely someone with a strong background in public education. He has devoted his career to serving public schools. In his acceptance remarks, Cardona describes his life work: “I was blessed to attend public schools in my hometown of Meriden, Connecticut, where I was able to expand my horizons, become the first in my family to graduate college, and become a teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent in the same community that gave me so much. That is the power of America—in two generations. And I, being bilingual and bicultural, am as American as apple pie and rice and beans.”

For Inside Higher Education, Kery Murakami describes Cardona’s credentials: “Cardona’s background is primarily in elementary and secondary education. In 2003, Cardona, then 28, CONTINUE READING: What Do We Know about Our Next Education Secretary, Dr. Miguel Cardona?, | janresseger

Thinking Beyond Bean Dad: A Reader – radical eyes for equity

Thinking Beyond Bean Dad: A Reader – radical eyes for equity

Thinking Beyond Bean Dad: A Reader

First, Bean Dad (as he would become known) posted a Twitter thread about teaching his daughter a lesson. The thread was flippant, snarky—and about a child not knowing how to use a can opener.

I was, frankly, surprised that Bean Dad took a beating on this because his approach to his child is essentially the foundational belief system in the U.S. about child rearing: The world is dangerous so I better pound on my kid before the world does so she/he is prepared for the Real World.

In far too much of the U.S., that pounding is literal—corporal punishment—but the pounding takes many forms such as grade retention and “no excuses” policies and practices in K-12 schooling.

Gradually, the clever thing to do about the Bean Dad trending on social media was to interrogate the phenomenon as an example of everything-that-is-wrong-with-Twitter. While a valid take, I think, it is also careless to set aside how this thread (whether it was hyperbole, as he claims, or not) is one small but ugly picture of how we mistreat children in the U.S., both in our families CONTINUE READING: Thinking Beyond Bean Dad: A Reader – radical eyes for equity

John Ewing: “Learning Loss” is an Absurd Concept | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Ewing: “Learning Loss” is an Absurd Concept | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Ewing: “Learning Loss” is an Absurd Concept

John Ewing, president of Math for America, skewers the concept of “learning loss” in this article in Forbes.

I have been a fan of Dr. Ewing ever since I read his article “Mathematical Intimidation: Driven by the Data,” in which he eviscerated the idiotic idea of rating students by the test scores of their students. If you have not read it, you should.

In his latest essay, he shows how various interest groups, politicians, and pundits have used the idea of “learning loss” to promote reopening of schools, regardless of local conditions. The same concept is now used to promote the useless requirement of standardized testing in the midst of the pandemic.

You might say that he is the anti-Emily Oster; Oster is the Brown University economist who has written extensively about why schools should reopen and how young children are unlikely to catch or carry the coronavirus.

Ewing disagrees.

He writes:

With a mix of exasperation and despair, many writers CONTINUE READING: John Ewing: “Learning Loss” is an Absurd Concept | Diane Ravitch's blog

Teacher Tom: Isn't This Belittling to Children?

Teacher Tom: Isn't This Belittling to Children?

Isn't This Belittling to Children?

There was an old hamster wheel in our classroom. Most of the children had no idea what it was, but it was nevertheless an endlessly popular plaything. Someone was forever spinning it or turning it upside down to roll on the floor or otherwise employing it in their games. Over the years, I saw it used as a part of block castles, as a bulldozer in the sensory table, as a Ferris wheel for little people, as a play dough tool, and as a way to apply paint to paper. One boy spent weeks using it as a kind of impromptu puzzle, taking it apart, then putting it back together again.

Over the years, I watched hundreds of children play with it for the first time. They would mess with it for a few minutes, quickly figuring out that they could spin it, then take it from there, employing it in an endless variety of ways. In nearly two decades of playing with the hamster wheel, not a single child, ever, asked "What is this thing?" On occasion, however, a well-intended adult would take it upon themself to provide CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Isn't This Belittling to Children?