Thursday, February 4, 2021

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Wednesday, February 3, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKHISTORYMONTH

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES

NYC Educator: Nobody Wants to Talk to the Principal - http://nyceducator.com/2021/02/nobody-wants-to-talk-to-principal.html

Don’t Listen to David Brooks - Progressive.org - https://progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/dont-listen-to-david-brooks-greene-210203/

Free Webinar Dealing With Learning Disabilities In Delaware On February 10th | Exceptional Delaware - https://wp.me/p4JboV-5Nm via @ExcptlDelaware

Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Raynard Sanders - Network For Public Education - https://networkforpubliceducation.org/diane-and-raynard/

Justice Department Drops Race Discrimination Lawsuit Against Yale University https://www.scpr.org/news/2021/02/03/96455/justice-department-drops-race-discrimination-lawsu/ via @kpcc

Education Research Report: Promoting School Choice with Questionable Evidence - http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/2021/02/promoting-school-choice-with.html

Philadelphia schools could get $300 million more in Wolf’s proposed budget https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2021/2/3/22265337/philadelphia-schools-could-get-300-million-more-in-wolfs-proposed-budget via @ChalkbeatPHL

International Mother Language Day Is On Feb. 21st – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/?p=115344 on @Larryferlazzo

Seeing the Pentagon Papers in a New Light http://feeds.propublica.org/link/9499/14262259/seeing-the-pentagon-papers-in-a-new-light

San Francisco sues school district over closed campuses 'with no end in sight' https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/02/03/san-francisco-sues-school-district-over-closed-campuses-with-no-end-in-sight-1361744

Morehouse College to Offer Online Program for Black Men Who Have College Credits but No Degree https://www.theroot.com/morehouse-college-to-offer-online-program-for-black-men-1846192275

Principal of Tennessee Middle School Apologizes for Choosing ‘All Lives Matter’ as the Theme for Black History Month https://www.theroot.com/principal-of-tennessee-middle-school-apologizes-for-cho-1846189752

Children's Books That Feature Characters With Disabilities https://www.huffpost.com/entry/childrens-books-characters-disabilities_l_6014669dc5b6aa4bad33ea80

In testimony during his confirmation hearing, Cardona, who most recently served as Connecticut's education commissioner, received bipartisan praise. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/miguel-cardona-confirmation-hearing_n_601af027c5b6c2d891a5907f?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004 via @HuffPostPol

Teachers face pressure to return even before COVID-19 vaccinations completed http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/0X1TltJEYSU/california-debates-teacher-vaccines-reopening-schools

Schools can safely move to reopen even if teachers are not all vaccinated, Newsom says http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/2okMRvfydR8/schools-can-reopen-before-all-teachers-get-covid-vaccine

Jeff Bryant: DeVos Is Gone, But the Voucher Movement Presses Forward | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tpS via @dianeravitch

Five key moments from education secretary nominee Miguel Cardona’s confirmation hearing - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/02/03/five-key-moments-at-cardona-education-confirmation-hearing/

Money Storm – Tennessee Education Report - http://tnedreport.com/?p=5138 via @TNEdReport

Arizona lawmakers advance expansion of school vouchers - https://www.abc15.com/news/state/arizona-lawmakers-advance-expansion-of-school-vouchers#new_tab on @abc15

MN school accountability plan would dump attendance data, minimize impact of tests during pandemic – Twin Cities - https://wp.me/p79gJ9-fZPh on @pioneerpress

California schools consider extending next school year while mental health remains a concern http://edsource.org/?page_id=647930 via @edsource

Baltimore City schools delay plans to expand in-person learning - Baltimore Sun - https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-city-schools-reopen-push-back-20210203-xb4ilkymjnepdjvhcj5mkpllzi-story.html#new_tab via @baltimoresun

Senate panel approves expanding Florida school voucher programs - Orlando Sentinel - https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-senate-voucher-bill-first-vote-20210203-vnzwsoticfgwrdqp3xzrx5izxa-story.html#new_tab via @orlandosentinel

GOP states weigh limits on how race and slavery are taught - https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-race-and-ethnicity-arkansas-iowa-slavery-6e31deb459407841b0957f5f3451bfdd#new_tab on @ap

COVID school: Year later, students still lack internet, computers - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/02/04/covid-online-school-broadband-internet-laptops/3930744001/#new_tab via @usatoday

With 1 of every 5 high schoolers not attending classes with regularity, Dallas ISD launches reconnection effort - https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2021/02/04/with-1-of-every-5-high-schoolers-not-attending-classes-with-regularity-dallas-isd-launches-reconnection-effort/#new_tab via @dallasnews

First Semester DOE Data Shows Graduation Rate On Downward Slope https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/02/first-semester-doe-data-shows-graduation-rate-on-downward-slope/

NJ Supreme Court: Schools can pay teachers to work full time for union - https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/education/2021/02/03/nj-supreme-court-schools-can-pay-teachers-work-full-time-union/4371575001/#new_tab via @northjersey

Big Education Ape: Rachel Levy Is Running for the Virginia House of Delegates. She Deserves Our Support! | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/rachel-levy-is-running-for-virginia.html

Big Education Ape: Shawgi Tell: Charter Schools Distort the Modern Socialized Economy | Dissident Voice - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/shawgi-tell-charter-schools-distort.html

On Trans* Students and Level Playing Fields | Eclectablog

by Mike Simpson / 33min

On Trans* Students and Level Playing Fields Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas spent some time today questioning President Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardonas, and decided to focus on the issue of transgender students playing sports in school. Here’s what Sen. Marshall had to say… I’m going to take Mr. Marshall at his word, and instead of suggesting that he u

CURMUDGUCATION: More Absurd Learning Loss Data + Update: How Pandemic School Is Going In One Rural Area

by Mike Simpson / 33min

CURMUDGUCATION: More Absurd Learning Loss Data More Absurd Learning Loss Data Pandemic education has featured a great deal of chicken littling about "learning loss " that is largely ridiculous . Test manufacturers and folks in test-adjacent edu-biz endeavors are selling the picture of students as buckets and education as water, and now the education is just leaking out at a rate so alarming that

Caroline LeCount, Black Educator Hall of Fame - Philly's 7th Ward

by Mike Simpson / 33min

Caroline LeCount, Black Educator Hall of Fame E’ry day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development , in partnership with Phillys7thWard.org , will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer. But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month. February is just the Blackest. Today, our featured Black Educator is Caroline LeCount . Eduactivist Caroline LeCount, born in Philadelphia in 184

5 things we learned from Miguel Cardona’s confirmation hearing - Education Votes

by Mike Simpson / 33min

5 things we learned from Miguel Cardona’s confirmation hearing By Amanda Menas Dr. Miguel Cardona, President Biden’s nominee for Education Secretary and the first Latino to hold the position, spoke with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions during a hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 2. Educators across the country were excited to hear from the former educator and union memb

The “Science of Reading”: A Movement Anchored in the Past – radical eyes for equity

by Mike Simpson / 33min

The “Science of Reading”: A Movement Anchored in the Past One of the defining moments of my first-year writing seminar is my reading aloud the first few paragraphs from A Report from Occupied Territory by James Baldwin. This essay in The Nation from July 11, 1966, offers students dozens of powerful examples of compelling and purposeful writing, Baldwin at his best. But the circumstances of the e

EdTrust and Other Groups Ask Cardona NOT to Allow Testing Waivers | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 33min

EdTrust and Other Groups Ask Cardona NOT to Allow Testing Waivers One of the first and most important decisions that Secretary-designate Miguel Cardona will make is whether to grant waivers to the states that want to suspend the annual federal testing mandated by the Every Student Succeeds Act. Some states–like New York–intend to request waivers, in light of the turmoil and unequal access to edu

Teacher Tom: Their Play is Not Evidence That They are Fine

by Mike Simpson / 33min

Their Play is Not Evidence That They are Fine We've all seen recordings of children playing in refugee camps and in war zones. In Peter Gray's book Free to Learn , he tells about the games Jewish children played even in concentration camps. They were games of survival, for the most part, like challenging one another to touch an electrified fence, but they were games and it was play. Children pla

Black & Smart: Stop Using Black Children as an Excuse to Open Your Schools | National Education Policy Center

by Mike Simpson / 33min

Black & Smart: Stop Using Black Children as an Excuse to Open Your Schools It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog. The Corona Virus has forced me to address so many things virtually, that the last thing I’ve had the energy for was sitting down in front of the computer for yet another thing. I didn’t even want to think about an Op-Ed. However, the current chatter about returning to schools h

What You Need to Know About Standardized Testing | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 33min

What You Need to Know About Standardized Testing Valerie Strauss posted this article that I wrote on her Washington Post site “The Answer Sheet.” The tests now required by federal law are worthless. The results are reported too late to matter. The reports to teachers do not tell them what students do or do not know. The tests tell students whether they did well or poorly on a test they took six

Kentucky back at cutting teacher pensions. – Fred Klonsky

by Mike Simpson / 33min

KENTUCKY BACK AT CUTTING TEACHER PENSIONS In 2018 the Republican Kentucky legislature and their Republican governor went after teacher pensions which resulted in a massive spontaneous revolt among their already low-paid teachers. The pension cutting bill passed but the court tossed it out. And the Republican governor, Matt Bevins was also tossed out in the next election, replaced by the state’s

WHAT’S THE PROBABILITY? – Dad Gone Wild

by Mike Simpson / 33min

WHAT’S THE PROBABILITY? “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” ― Louis D. Brandeis, Other People’s Money And How the Bankers Use It I grew up a military brat and therefore spent my formative years on or nearby military bases. My father proudly served for 24 year

CURMUDGUCATION: Third Grade Reading Retention: Still A Bad Idea

by Mike Simpson / 33min

Third Grade Reading Retention: Still A Bad Idea A former colleague of mine, a math teacher, used to say, "Don't even teach primary students math. Just teach them to read. By the time they get to me, if they can read well, I can teach them all the math you want." That was many years ago, long before the rise of third grade reading retention laws . But those laws, while (usually) well-intentioned,

NYC Educator: Today in NY Post--Dog Bites Man

by Mike Simpson / 33min

Today in NY Post--Dog Bites Man Whenever I read headlines, I think about what they mean. In the Post is a story suggesting 60% of DOE employees would leave if they could . That's pretty shocking. There must be almost no morale whatsoever among us, you'd think. But what does it mean when they say, "if they could?" I mean, anyone could. I could send a nasty email and never go to work again. But he

Does New Generation of Teachers Also Care about Pay, Benefits, Retirement and Tenure? | Cloaking Inequity

by Mike Simpson / 33min

DOES NEW GENERATION OF TEACHERS ALSO CARE ABOUT PAY, BENEFITS, RETIREMENT AND TENURE? Teaching is one of the most altruistic professions. Despite constant attacks on their profession and ongoing public criticism from some quarters in the modern era— teachers are the willing and expert caretakers of our nation. Education is the compass of our democracy. As teacher shortages and high attrition con

New CA Digital Divide Innovation Challenge - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

by Mike Simpson / 33min

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces $1 Million Competition to Spur Innovation that Closes the Digital Divide for California Students, Educators and Families State lawmakers also provide overview of latest proposals to expand connectivity SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today announced the new “California Digital Divide Innovation Challenge,” a global

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Wednesday, February 3, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKHISTORYMONTH

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES The High Stakes of Miguel Cardona’s Senate Confirmation Hearing | Education News | US News - https://www.usnews.com/news/education-

Big Education Ape

Rachel Levy Is Running for the Virginia House of Delegates. She Deserves Our Support! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Rachel Levy Is Running for the Virginia House of Delegates. She Deserves Our Support!

I have known Rachel Levy for about a decade as a strong and fearless supporter of public schools. She just announced her candidacy for the Virginia House of Delegates. I will help her in every way possible, including a donation to her campaign. I hope you will help her too.

Dear Friends,

It’s time. I’m ready. I’m running.

I am a teacher, a parent, and a community leader with a PhD in education. I believe public education is the backbone of a healthy democracy, healthcare is a human right, and that we must protect our environment and conserve our natural resources.

I believe that Virginia’s 55th District deserves independent-minded, principled, service-oriented, and competent representation.

Right now, I’m in the “soft” launch period. I am spreading the word and building my campaign. You can sign up to receive campaign emails and updates, and to be informed of events and volunteer opportunities by completing this form: http://eepurl.com/hoNLiX. All future campaign updates should be coming via that email service.

Again, to sign up for my email list, go here.

Want to know more? Check out my campaign website and follow the campaign on facebook, twitter, and instagram. You can even donate.

Thank you for your support.

Best,

Rachel

Rachel Levy Is Running for the Virginia House of Delegates. She Deserves Our Support! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Shawgi Tell: Charter Schools Distort the Modern Socialized Economy | Dissident Voice

Charter Schools Distort the Modern Socialized Economy | Dissident Voice

Charter Schools Distort the Modern Socialized Economy

Every year billions of public dollars and assets flow into the hands of private businesses like charter schools, leaving public schools, the economy, the public interest, and the nation worse off. This is due to the fact that competing owners of capital are using deregulated charter schools to atomize the socialized economy for private gain. As pay-the-rich schemes, privately-operated charter schools drain the large-scale socialized economy of a huge amount of social wealth produced by working people and meant for the public interest.

When public funds leave the public sector and end up in the hands of deregulated private entities like non-profit and for-profit charter schools, that means narrow private interests are benefitting at the expense of the public. It means less added-value is used by and benefits the public. It means all public wealth is not reinvested fully and directly back into the public sector. Instead, a large portion of social wealth produced by workers is illegitimately claimed by external private claimants whose aim is to maximize profit as fast as possible.¹ This distorts the economy and undermines public schools and the public interest. It is a net loss for society. It is socially irresponsible. Funneling public funds to private interests undermines modern nation-building that relies on a diverse, self-reliant, balanced, and pro-social economy under public control.

It may be asked: Why don’t public funds stay in public hands? Why aren’t CONTINUE READING: Charter Schools Distort the Modern Socialized Economy | Dissident Voice

On Trans* Students and Level Playing Fields | Eclectablog

On Trans* Students and Level Playing Fields

Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas spent some time today questioning President Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardonas, and decided to focus on the issue of transgender students playing sports in school. Here’s what Sen. Marshall had to say…

I’m going to take Mr. Marshall at his word, and instead of suggesting that he used his time with the microphone to engage in a cheap publicity stunt designed to roil up the far right fringe of his conservative base, that he truly believes that one of the biggest problems facing students and schools today is that allowing transgender students to play school sports means “there is not a level playing field.”

Given Mr. Marshall’s seeming fascination with matters of student and school equity and unfairness, I’m also going to assume that he shares my concerns about the following issues:

how underfunded urban and rural schools are forced to “compete” against wealthy suburban teams in interscholastic athletics, pitting schools and players who practice on expensive playing fields, pools, tracks, and courts; with certified trainers; new equipment; experienced coaches; and many other advantages–while less well resourced schools struggle with (literally) uneven basketball courts, soccer and football fields with holes, rocks, and dead grass; no trainers; old and damaged helmets, shoulder pads, and leaky basketballs; and CONTINUE READING: On Trans* Students and Level Playing Fields | Eclectablog

CURMUDGUCATION: More Absurd Learning Loss Data + Update: How Pandemic School Is Going In One Rural Area

CURMUDGUCATION: More Absurd Learning Loss Data

More Absurd Learning Loss Data

Pandemic education has featured a great deal of chicken littling about "learning loss" that is largely ridiculous. Test manufacturers and folks in test-adjacent edu-biz endeavors are selling the picture of students as buckets and education as water, and now the education is just leaking out at a rate so alarming that it's kind of amazing that people have not turned into drooling couch potatoes once they've been out of school for a decade.

NWEA's report from last April is oft-cited, along with its sexily simply assertion that students will learn days and months of learning. That's baloney, and what it really means is that the folks at NWEA are guessing that test scores will probably go down X points. And if that isn't enough evidence this was a nothingburger, note that in November NWEA announced that their guesstimate had turned out to be over-stated.

But the learning loss drama continues, with Hechinger Report this week emailing links to some research from Amplify (motto: "Trying to make a buck off education since 2000), launched by Rupert Murdoch, later sold to Joel Klein after the company failed to make a killing with their flawed school CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: More Absurd Learning Loss Data

Update: How Pandemic School Is Going In One Rural Area

I've been reporting periodically on how pandemic school is going in my own rural/small town county. Since nobody is doing any kind of systematic large-scale tracking of which schools are doing what and how it's going, I'm just throwing one more batch of data into the general big-city-dominated noise (here's the most recent post on the subject, from the beginning of November).

Numbers have continued to climb here, though deaths are still relatively low. The four local districts moved to save winter sports season, so basketball and even wrestling have been going on scholastically. In Pennsylvania we experienced a tightening of the rules around the holidays, but now they're loosened and restaurants are operated at limited capacity again.

A couple of local school districts (there are four) mostly decided to go back to full face-to-face at the beginning of the second semester last week, while the others remained hybrid and anticipated going full face to face in a week or two. That plan lasted a couple of days, until it turned out that a cafeteria worker at my old high school had tested positive for covid. That triggered a two day shut down, but while that shutdown was happening, more positive cases turned up and now the school CONTINUE READING: Update: How Pandemic School Is Going In One Rural Area

Caroline LeCount, Black Educator Hall of Fame - Philly's 7th Ward

Caroline LeCount, Black Educator Hall of Fame

E’ry day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development, in partnership with Phillys7thWard.org, will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer.

But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month. February is just the Blackest.

Today, our featured Black Educator is Caroline LeCount.

Eduactivist Caroline LeCount, born in Philadelphia in 1846, personified the spirit of Philadelphian persistence with a passion for Black people. Her passion came honestly; her father, James LeCount, used his house as a stop along the Underground Railroad. A graduate of the prestigious Institute for Colored Youth, LeCount became a teacher and principal in Philadelphia. She was also active within the Black community; segregated from white society.

She worked at the Ohio Street School for nearly fifty years; the first three as a teacher and then as principal for the remainder of her time. She stood up for CONTINUE READING: Caroline LeCount, Black Educator Hall of Fame - Philly's 7th Ward

FRANCIS M. JACKSON COPPIN, BLACK EDUCATOR HALL OF FAME

E’ry day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development, in partnership with Phillys7thWard.org, will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer.

But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month. February is just the Blackest.

Today, our featured Black Educator is Fanny J. Coppin.

Francis (Fanny) M. Jackson Coppin was born enslaved in Washington D.C. in 1837. But enslaved she would not remain. Her aunt purchased Fanny’s freedom for $125. She supported herself at age fourteen, while excelling in school; first at Rhode Island Normal School, then at Oberlin College. Coppin, who said that to get an education to teach Black people was “an idea deep in her soul,” was so gifted and talented, she was the first Black teacher-pupil at Oberlin.

So great an instructor, so filled were her classes, the college halted any more students from joining her class – the living legend’s class was filled beyond capacity. Despite the heavy load of preparing and perfecting lessons, CONTINUE READING: FRANCIS M. JACKSON COPPIN, BLACK EDUCATOR HALL OF FAME

5 things we learned from Miguel Cardona’s confirmation hearing - Education Votes

5 things we learned from Miguel Cardona’s confirmation hearing

By Amanda Menas

Dr. Miguel Cardona, President Biden’s nominee for Education Secretary and the first Latino to hold the position, spoke with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions during a hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 2. Educators across the country were excited to hear from the former educator and union member; they know Cardona will ensure educators’ voices are heard in the Department of Education.

“Miguel Cardona’s experience as an educator was on full display today at his Senate confirmation hearing. He demonstrated deep knowledge of the many challenges our students and educators face and the just, equitable solutions we need,” said NEA President Becky Pringle.

Throughout the hearing, Secretary-designate Cardona walked the Senate Committee through his priorities for the Department of Education and students across the country, bringing his classroom experience to bear on a variety of topics. Specifically, Cardona committed to bridge gaps exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and continue the work after all students and educators are vaccinated and return to school buildings.

“If we really want to recover, we really need to invest now, or we’re going to pay later,” said Cardona.

Here are five things educators heard Cardona commit to during his confirmation hearing:

Cardona will bring students back to classrooms, support mental health resources

“We will work to reopen schools SAFELY, so that students can return to classrooms,” said Cardona. Students are resilient in times of crisis, noted Cardona, but they need to have the necessary support structures in place to receive the best education possible.

Cardona prioritized increasing mental health resources as central to school responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Educators take on the stressors that students are experiencing,” said Cardona. He noted specifically that President Biden endorses tripling funding for Title I, which would increase wraparound supports for students during and after the pandemic. Cardona also supported full federal funding for IDEA, which he called a “game changer” for schools and communities.

Cardona will support all LGBTQ+ Students

“It’s non-negotiable to make sure that our learning environments are places that are free of discrimination and harassment for all learners, including our LGBTQ students,” said Cardona. When asked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) about allowing students to compete in sports regardless of gender identity, Cardona confirmed that he would uphold the civil rights of all students.

“I think that it’s critically important that the education systems and educators respect the rights of all students, including students who are transgender,” Cardona said. He continued, “[it is the] legal responsibility of schools to allow students to participate in extracurricular activities, including transgender students.”

Cardona reiterated again that discrimination based on gender is illegal. His commitment to CONTINUE READING: 5 things we learned from Miguel Cardona’s confirmation hearing - Education Votes

The “Science of Reading”: A Movement Anchored in the Past – radical eyes for equity

The “Science of Reading”: A Movement Anchored in the Past

One of the defining moments of my first-year writing seminar is my reading aloud the first few paragraphs from A Report from Occupied Territory by James Baldwin.

This essay in The Nation from July 11, 1966, offers students dozens of powerful examples of compelling and purposeful writing, Baldwin at his best. But the circumstances of the essay are what first strike my students.

“There was a great commotion in the streets, which, especially since it was a spring day, involved many people, including running, frightened, little boys,” Baldwin writes. “They were running from the police.”

We note that Baldwin uses “police[men]” five times in the first paragraph, which focuses on people in the Harlem “in terror of the police” because “two of the policemen were beating up a kid.”

Students immediately noted that Baldwin was addressing exactly the same racism grounded in policing that has been the source of social unrest in the CONTINUE READING: The “Science of Reading”: A Movement Anchored in the Past – radical eyes for equity

EdTrust and Other Groups Ask Cardona NOT to Allow Testing Waivers | Diane Ravitch's blog

EdTrust and Other Groups Ask Cardona NOT to Allow Testing Waivers

One of the first and most important decisions that Secretary-designate Miguel Cardona will make is whether to grant waivers to the states that want to suspend the annual federal testing mandated by the Every Student Succeeds Act. Some states–like New York–intend to request waivers, in light of the turmoil and unequal access to education caused by the pandemic. Others–like Texas and Arkansas–plan to proceed with their regular testing program regardless of the harm inflicted on students, teachers, and families by the past year.

Education Trust, headed by former Secretary of Education John King, has organized several groups to demand that Secretary Cardona refuse any requests by states for waivers. It makes no sense for a group of corporate reformers to insist that the Secretary of Education reject the requests of states that sincerely believe their students will be harmed if the federal government refuses to grant waivers at their request. Shouldn’t states have the authority to decide what is in the best interests of their students?

As I explained in my article in the Washington Post, the standardized tests have no diagnostic value. The tests are given in the spring, and the results are returned in the fall, six months later. Teachers never learn what their CONTINUE READING: EdTrust and Other Groups Ask Cardona NOT to Allow Testing Waivers | Diane Ravitch's blog

Teacher Tom: Their Play is Not Evidence That They are Fine

Their Play is Not Evidence That They are Fine

We've all seen recordings of children playing in refugee camps and in war zones. In Peter Gray's book Free to Learn, he tells about the games Jewish children played even in concentration camps. They were games of survival, for the most part, like challenging one another to touch an electrified fence, but they were games and it was play. Children play with or without toys. They play with or without freedom. They play alone and together. They play when afraid. They play when they're sad. They play when they're confused.

We point to the irrepressibility of childhood play as evidence of the resilience of children, and they certainly are resilient, but we make a mistake when we point to their play as evidence that they are "fine."

Children don't play because they are fine: they play because play is how children instinctively process (or, in other words, learn about) the world around them. I watched children who could only have been frightened and confused (because we were all frightened and confused) fly their toy airplanes into block towers over and over in the weeks after 9/11. My CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Their Play is Not Evidence That They are Fine

Tired of butting heads with kids? Scolding them? Bossing them around? Do you feel like they just don't listen? Sign up now for my new 6-part e-course, The Technology of Speaking With Children So They Can Think, in which I pull the curtain back on the magic that comes from treating children like fully formed human beings. This course is for educators, parents, and anyone else who works with young children. It's the culmination of more than 20 years of research and practice. I've been speaking on this topic around the world for the past decade and know that it can be transformative both for adults and children. For more information and to register, click here. Thank you!

Black & Smart: Stop Using Black Children as an Excuse to Open Your Schools | National Education Policy Center

Black & Smart: Stop Using Black Children as an Excuse to Open Your Schools

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog. The Corona Virus has forced me to address so many things virtually, that the last thing I’ve had the energy for was sitting down in front of the computer for yet another thing. I didn’t even want to think about an Op-Ed. However, the current chatter about returning to schools has me thinking about how Black children are once again being used to serve the needs of Whites. This is not a new slight-of- hand—claim something serves the needs of “the least of these” but in reality, the rich continue to get richer.

The current conversation regarding re-opening school is all about how closed schools are hurting the most vulnerable students—Black students, Latinx students, English Language Learners, poor students, and students with disabilities. But, in truth the parents clamoring the most about opening schools are the parents of the most privileged children. They are concerned that their children’s resumes are being tarnished by missing all of this school. They are comparing their children’s progress with that of their private school peers who they perceive to be moving ahead of them. They are concerned that their kids’ inability to participate in varsity sports and athletics may be hurting their scholarship chances. They are recognizing that having their kids at home and having to plan for each and every hour of their school day or perhaps having to sit beside them and assist with their virtual learning does not help one climb the corporate ladder. Actually, none of these reasons for wanting schools to be opened is a bad one. Just say that’s why you want schools to open!

Don’t pretend you have some deep conviction to the education of Black children. If that’s your motivation, where was it last year when school was in session? Weren’t Black children struggling then? Weren’t they over identified for special education placement? Weren’t they more likely to be suspended and expelled? Weren’t they least likely to be placed in honors or Advanced CONTINUE READING: Black & Smart: Stop Using Black Children as an Excuse to Open Your Schools | National Education Policy Center

What You Need to Know About Standardized Testing | Diane Ravitch's blog

What You Need to Know About Standardized Testing

Valerie Strauss posted this article that I wrote on her Washington Post site “The Answer Sheet.” The tests now required by federal law are worthless. The results are reported too late to matter. The reports to teachers do not tell them what students do or do not know. The tests tell students whether they did well or poorly on a test they took six months ago. They do not measure “learning loss.”

Diane Ravitch is a former assistant secretary of education and historian. For more than a decade, she has been a leading advocate for America’s public education system and a critic of the modern “accountability” movement that has based school improvement measures in large part on high-stakes standardized tests. 

In her influential 2010 book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” Ravitch explained why she dropped her support for No Child Left Behind, the chief education initiative of President George W. Bush, and for standardized test-based school “reform.” 

Ravitch worked from 1991 to 1993 as assistant secretary in charge of research and improvement in the Education Department of President George H.W. Bush, and she served as counselor to then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander, who had just left the Senate where he had served as chairman of the Senate Education Committee. She was at the White House as part of a select group when George W. Bush first outlined No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a moment that at the time she said made her “excited and optimistic” about the future of public education. 

But her opinion changed as NCLB was implemented and CONTINUE READING: What You Need to Know About Standardized Testing | Diane Ravitch's blog

Kentucky back at cutting teacher pensions. – Fred Klonsky

KENTUCKY BACK AT CUTTING TEACHER PENSIONS

In 2018 the Republican Kentucky legislature and their Republican governor went after teacher pensions which resulted in a massive spontaneous revolt among their already low-paid teachers.

The pension cutting bill passed but the court tossed it out.

And the Republican governor, Matt Bevins was also tossed out in the next election, replaced by the state’s Attorney General, Democrat Andy Beshear.

A rare Democratic win in red state Kentucky.

Thousands of Kentucky teachers march on the state capitol during the 2018 Red State Teacher Revolt.

Teacher pensions are under attack again in Kentucky,

The legislature is about to pass a bill that would deny new Kentucky teachers the benefits of current retirees.

Today the Kentucky legislature will start to take action on a bill intended to create a CONTINUE READING:Kentucky back at cutting teacher pensions. – Fred Klonsky

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Thursday, February 4, 2021