Sunday, May 16, 2021

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Grandchild Edition (5/16)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Grandchild Edition (5/16)

Grandchild Edition

No, I don't have a new one. But my newest grandchild is in town, so I get to see him for the first time in a year. A photo of his extreme cuteness to follow, but you'll have to scroll past this list of reading material from the week.

How College Became a Ruthless Competition Divorced From Learning

In the Atlantic, Daniel Markowits has written a piece that will repeatedly having you yell "Yeah!" and trying hard to decide which quote to pull. Marriage, Jane Austen, educational hierarchies, elite schools, meritocracy, rankings and ratings. This is your "if you only read one selection" selection for the week.

4 Ideas about AI that even Experts Get Wrong

Yes, I know I share lots of AI articles, but you have to remember that this is the stuff that certain people want to take teachers' jobs, and we should be paying attention.

Is Critical Race Theory Dividing the Country?

Nancy Flanagan as usual provides a thoughtful look at the hot topic of the day.

The GOP's 'Critical Race Theory' Obsession

While we're at the Atlantic, look at this Adam Harris piece explaining how a fifty year old academic theory has become central to the GOP's latest round of fearmongering.

We found the textbooks of senators who oppose the 1619 project and suddenly everything makes sense

Michael Harriot at The Root did exactly this, and it's a pretty stark, clear reminder of how much the 1619 project diverges from traditional school history texts.

Restructuring Plan "Disastrous" for PA Universities

The state of PA is looking to downsize its (very expensive) system of higher education. Economists predict that results will not be pretty.

This is a map of America's broadband problem

Not actually an education article, except that it is, because broadband problems are education problems.

I spent a year and a half at a no excuses charter school. Here is what I saw.

Joanne Golan writing at the Conversation. Blunt and to the point.

After a high point in the Obama administration, philanthropies no longer drive education policy

Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat offers a view of how the philanthropic landscape has changed in educationland. Interesting viewpoint.

What Black Men Need From Schools to Stay in the Teaching Profession

A useful and insightful interview with three Black teachers over at EdWeek

The invisible tax on Black teachers

Rann Miller talks about the extra weight that Black teachers are asked to carry, and how that is tied to keeping them in the classroom. At the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Now, as promised. Yes, he's adorable.

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Grandchild Edition (5/16)

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION

AND DON'T FORGET PETER GREENE ON FORBES CLICK HERE

Pre-K And The Importance Of Measuring The Right Things - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2021/05/14/pre-k-and-the-importance-of-measuring-the-right-things/?sh=2853767e38c3 by @palan57 on @forbes

Six Obama Era Education Policy Mistakes Joe Biden Should Avoid - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2021/05/11/six-obama-era-education-policy-mistakes-joe-biden-should-avoid/?sh=1cf376aa392d by @palan57 on @forbes

Arizona GOP Hopes To Clamp Down On Teachers - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2021/05/06/arizona-gop-hopes-to-clamp-down-on-teachers/?sh=f038b425aca3 by @palan57 on @forbes

NV: Should Charter Schools Hire Licensed Teachers?

by Peter Greene / 22h

Nevada is one of the country's leading states for privatizers; in 2015, they went all in on education savings accounts aka super-vouchers. Well, not so super- -they were not large enough to benefit the poor families that were the excuse for passing the bill. But they've got tax credit scholarships so that donors can get out of paying school taxes and support private schools at the same time. And,

If You Follow This Blog By Email--Important Alert

by Peter Greene / 1d

If you are a regular email subscriber to this blog, please note that the current system will go dark in July. E-mails from the Curmudgucation Institute will just stop arriving. If that prospect makes you sad (and why wouldn't it), help is already here. In the right hand column, you'll find a new widget for collecting e-mail subscriptions (and adding to RSS feeds, just for good measure). Sign up f

Does The Nation's Report Card Have A New Reading Problem

by Peter Greene / 2d

Chester "Checker" Finn has concerns about the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the folks who bring us the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) , aka The Nation's Report Card, aka that Big Standardized Test that periodically fuels massive freak outs about the Youths and their Learnings. Finn recently expressed concern over a "gag order" placed on the group by the chair, Hale

More Koch Ed Privatization

by Peter Greene / 2d

The Koch Network is getting with the times and launching an edu-reform substack. Yay. The substack is co-hosted by Lisa Snell , director of K-12 education policy for Stand Together , aka the Charles Koch Institute . Previously she spent 23 years as Director of Education at the Reason Foundation . Her co-host is Adam Peshek , who is part of the same Kochtopus, having arrived Jeb Bush's ExcelinEd (

Elon Musk Buddy Ready To Fix Education And The World

by Peter Greene / 3d

You may recall that Elon Musk started a school a few years ago, because of course he did. It was sort of a private school, sort of the most expensive homeschool project ever launched (Musk has five kids--one set of twins, and one set of triplets, so God bless him and his wife). He was single-handedly funding the thing (almost a cool half-mill a year ). And now one of his buds is ready to spin it

Let's Cut Bill And Melinda Some Slack

by Peter Greene / 3d

Warning: this is not really about education, and the title is not ironic snark. There are some things in life that you just don't get unless you've been there. Divorce is one of them. I've been through divorce school (Motto: You'll learn a lot, but the tuition is really high) and I'm getting that feeling I have every time I see famous people having their marital meltdowns plastered all over the n

Do Americans Overwhelmingly Hate "Woke" Policies?

26by Peter Greene / 5d

You may recall that Parents Defending Education recently burst on the scene as the latest education astroturf, this time tilted hard right . Their battle against "indoctrination" in schools now includes a new weapon--a poll, which they're touting under the headline "Americans Overwhelmingly Reject 'Woke' Race and Gender Policies in K-12 Education." (Have we reached the point yet where "woke" is u

The Anti-Education Economy

by Peter Greene / 6d

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education asks "Our blind faith in the transformative power of higher ed is slipping. What now?" The article looks at the long-time US love affair with higher education, an affair that is one part long-standing respect (of some folks) for more and more education and one part the relentless drumbeat of articles pointing out that college graduates make mo

ICYMI: Mother's Day Edition (5/9)

by Peter Greene / 7d

Honestly, it has been kind of a rough week here, and it's not getting better any time soon. So whatever else you do today, make sure you hug a loved one and let them know you care. Time is relentless and remorseless. Humans do not have to be. Here's some reading from the week. Teacher Evaluations (Hammers and Nails) Blue Cereal Education with a story of what teacher evaluation looks like in the f

Accountability Whiplash

36by Peter Greene / 9d

It's one of the little inconsistencies in the reformster movement. Some will point at charts showing that spending on public education has increased steadily (in constant dollars) and ask, "What have we gotten for it?" There are

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

In rare school board campaign visit, national teachers union president calls Scranton recovery plan 'immoral'

In rare school board campaign visit, national teachers union president calls Scranton recovery plan 'immoral'

May 16—SCRANTON — Calling Tuesday's election a critical moment for the Scranton School District, the national president of the American Federation of Teachers visited the city on Saturday to campaign for the union-endorsed candidates.

The unprecedented visit by Randi Weingarten comes amid the Scranton Federation of Teachers' push to elect candidates who say they will question the financial recovery plan, restore the preschool program, settle the teachers contract and hold the line on taxes.

Nearly two years into the recovery plan, the progress and the process of obtaining solvency has led to the highly contentious primary campaign. More than 100 people gathered behind the SFT Wyoming Avenue headquarters to hear Weingarten, who called the recovery plan "immoral." Using the slogan from President Joe Biden's economic recovery proposal, she challenged attendees to spend the next few days encouraging neighbors to vote for the endorsed candidates.

"You build back better by building a better school board," she said. "When you want to help a community thrive, you don't take away anchors and foundations."

With four four-year seats available, incumbent President Katie Gilmartin, Director Sean McAndrew, former Director Tom Borthwick and newcomers Danielle Chesek and Tyrone Holmes seek both Democratic and Republican nominations. Newcomers Chris Gaidos and Tucker J. Hottes seek Democratic nominations.

Former Director Greg Popil and Gilmartin seek both Democratic and Republican nominations for one two-year seat. Hottes and Gaidos also seek a Democratic nomination for the two-year seat.

The union has endorsed Borthwick, Chesek, Holmes, McAndrew and Popil. In remarks Saturday, the five candidates vowed to ask questions of the administration and chief recovery officer and push for fair funding from the state.

As teachers complete their fourth year of working under an expired CONTINUE READING: In rare school board campaign visit, national teachers union president calls Scranton recovery plan 'immoral'

Grumpy Old Teacher – Generations of public investment in a quality public education system should not be thrown away

Decisions, Decisions–What’s a School District to Do?

disney peter pan Disneyedit indianajones • — *Let’s survey the audience.*

Even as we close out the Covid school year, districts are wrestling with deciding how to open schools in August. What mitigation measures should they keep in place? What should they drop? What does the community want? Parents? Students? Teachers and staff?

Grumpy Old Teacher’s (GOT) district has put a survey online to gather stakeholder input. (Stakeholder is a fancy word that means anyone whose life is affected by what takes place in the city’s schools. Employees, parents, students, obviously. But it also includes community organizations, local businesses who depend upon the school for customers, people who live around a school, etc.) You can find the survey here.

If you’re expecting a bash post, you will be disappointed. GOT is going to CONTINUE READING: Grumpy Old Teacher – Generations of public investment in a quality public education system should not be thrown away

Schools Matter: Vouchers in FL Create Black Christian Madrassahs in Strip Malls

Vouchers in FL Create Black Christian Madrassahs in Strip Malls

Although this commentary by Billy Townsend describes a seed of hope in Florida's education desert, the bigger message points to what you get with laws that allow unregulated and unaccredited private "schools" to replace public schools that have been malignantly-neglected by segregationists who want to close them.

Orlando Sentinel, May 16

Jones High success story illustrates inadequacy of voucher schools

Six years ago, essentially zero Jones High School students took physics. Today, more than 250 do. That means 250 Orlando-area young people per year now have a better chance of becoming engineers or scientists or doctors. We should celebrate that. Physics is crucial to many educational and professional journeys.
Unfortunately, as a recent former Polk County school board member, I know all too well the rarity of serious growth in Florida’s education capacity. Our state is steadily dismantling education capacity everywhere through its contempt for public schools and indifference to voucher-school performance. Capacity destruction drives Florida’s chronic educator shortages.
It’s one reason Florida has among America’s worst state test score “learning rates,” according to The CONTINUE READING: Schools Matter: Vouchers in FL Create Black Christian Madrassahs in Strip Malls

Breaking up with your favorite racist childhood classic books - The Washington Post

Breaking up with your favorite racist childhood classic books

Philip Nel is the author of “Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books,” a 2017 book that helped launch a conversation about racism in children’s books that led to a recent decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to stop publishing six of the prolific author’s books.

Nel, who is a professor of English at Kansas State University and director of the children’s literature program there, spoke with me about the book a few years ago. I republished the conversation here earlier this year when it was falsely reported that a Virginia school district had banned the books of Dr. Seuss, the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel.

No, a Virginia school district didn’t ban Dr. Seuss books. Here’s what really happened.

Nel is back with this post, in which he discusses racism in children’s books and the way the issue has become politicized. At the heart of his piece is this:

“Why not break up with your favorite racist childhood classics? Maybe doing so will break your heart a little. But, to quote a line attributed to Rumi (but which is probably not him), ‘You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.’"

By Philip Nel

It is possible to cancel a culture. More than 300 Indigenous languages were once spoken in the United States. Only about 175 of those languages remain today. Colonization, genocide, forced assimilation have all been very effective at canceling cultures.

However, the “cancel culture” that animates professional grievance actors today refers to culture under no threat of cancellation. Dr. Seuss books. Muppets. Disney. White innocence. Because it’s hard to cancel a dominant culture. “Cancel culture” is a White supremacist fantasy that creates villains and then mobilizes anger against the villains it CONTINUE READING: Breaking up with your favorite racist childhood classic books - The Washington Post

California's biggest schools clash: To Zoom or not to Zoom? - POLITICO

California's biggest schools clash: To Zoom or not to Zoom?

California's biggest schools clash: To Zoom or not to Zoom?

Gov. Gavin Newsom and powerful California lawmakers are standing firm against allowing distance learning next school year.

SACRAMENTO — The biggest state Capitol battle this spring could pit California leaders against local school officials, civil rights groups and teachers unions over whether Zoom school should have a permanent place in the public education system.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and influential state lawmakers are standing firm against allowing distance learning next school year, saying that children are best served by returning to classrooms for social and academic reasons. They are tired of California's status as the slowest state to reopen schools despite having the lowest infection rate in the nation as vocal parents call for full in-person learning.

The debate has given “school choice” a new meaning and sparked racial justice concerns about what's best for the state’s most vulnerable students.

Newsom says that "everybody should be back in the fall and in person" and released a budget proposal Friday intended to accomplish that. He's not only a father of four young children but a governor facing a recall election. While political momentum has swung in Newsom's direction lately, even partial fall campus closures could give opponents an opening, especially if students in other states are fully back in class.

A growing number of legislative Democrats are coalescing around limits on distance learning, fearful that some schools will stay with a hybrid or virtual model in the fall — and that the approach will hurt students who have disengaged from school and lost access to vital services.

“I just question why, if we're talking about racial justice, we would want to levy all those additional things on our Black and brown children," said Sen. Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), vice chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. "I don’t think we should be doing it at the expense of the children or at the expense of CONTINUE READING: California's biggest schools clash: To Zoom or not to Zoom?

NANCY BAILEY: Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?

Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?

Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?

The pandemic showed us that public schools are critical. Understandably, Covid-19 has been front and center. But the Biden administration glosses over or is silent on critical school issues. Sometimes these topics are front and center not in a good way in State legislatures or ignored altogether.

Frustrated parents will seek alternatives, and there’s a real risk that public education will be no more.

Where’s the discussion? Here’s a list in alphabetical order. Your suggestions, ideas, or criticisms are welcome.

The Arts

How many children get access to art, music, drama, even dance in their public schools? We know that when students get the arts, they thrive.

Students artistically inclined who don’t get the arts in their schools will go elsewhere if their parents can afford private school. All students should have a quality arts program.

Why is this still an issue?

Charter Schools

The Biden administration mentions the importance of regulating charter schools, but CONTINUE READING: Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?

Chicago Eliminates Another Arne Duncan Initiative | Diane Ravitch's blog

Chicago Eliminates Another Arne Duncan Initiative

While Arne Duncan was superintendent of schools in Chicago, he received over $10 million from the Gates Foundation to begin “turning around” low-performing schools. He supported the creation of The Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), which subsequently took over 31 schools, some of which raised test scores but were criticized for pushing out low-scoring students. One of AUSL’s goals was to train teachers for urban schools.

The leadership of Chicago Public Schools decided to absorb the 31 schools back into the school district, according to Chalkbeat. AUSL will continue training teachers.

Tapped in 2006 to steer improvements at some of the city’s lowest-performing schools, the nonprofit Academy for Urban School Leadership manages 31 schools that together enrolled 14,745 students this school year, mostly on the city’s South and West sides. The contractor CONTINUE READING: Chicago Eliminates Another Arne Duncan Initiative | Diane Ravitch's blog

EdAction in Congress May 16, 2021 - Education Votes

EdAction in Congress May 16, 2021

House to vote on anti-Asian hate crime bill this week

The House is scheduled to vote this week on the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act (S. 937/H.R. 1843), which passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 94-1 on April 22. Introduced by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), it would strengthen federal efforts to address hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans in several ways: designate a Department of Justice employee to expedite the review of COVID-19 hate crimes, provide guidance for state and local officials for online reporting of such crimes, and require the department to issue guidance to mitigate racially discriminatory language in describing the pandemic. TAKE ACTION

For the People Act advances

After adopting a handful of amendments, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee deadlocked 9-9 in a party-line vote on the For the People Act (S. 1). Nevertheless, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vows to bring it to the floor. The need for action is clear: More than 360 bills introduced in 47 state legislatures include provisions to make voting more difficult—for example, by shortening the time for absentee and early voting, requiring voters show an ID at the polls, and purging voter rolls.

The For the People Act rests on three pillars: reaffirming and expanding voting rights, strengthening oversight to end big money in politics, and ensuring an ethical government. It would, among other things, institute automatic voter registration, place new limits on partisan practices like gerrymandering and purging voter rolls, and require candidates for president and vice president to release their tax returns. TAKE ACTION

Educators call on Congress to ensure healthy school meals for all students

Susan Jones, a nutrition services professional in Colonial School District, New Castle, Delaware, has seen far too many students skip lunch because they were afraid they couldn’t afford it or were embarrassed to hand the cashier the card announcing that they qualified for free meals.

“The best possible use of my tax dollar would be to feed a kid,” Jones says, who dreads seeing hungry kids avoid the line and the stigma of the “free lunch” label. “Universal school meals would make a huge difference at the register. Everyone’s going to get lunch, no questions asked. I hope it’s forever.”

If lawmakers are successful, it will be.

Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Gwen Moore of Wisconsin introduced the Universal School Meals Program Act of 2021, which would permanently provide free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack to all school children regardless of income while eliminating school meal debt. READ MORE TAKE ACTION

Victory! NEA’s push to equip students for remote learning gets results

President Biden’s first legislative package, the American Rescue Plan, created a $7.2 billion emergency fund to equip students for remote learning via the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate program, as NEA advocated. On May 11, the FCC announced that the program has launched. “The FCC’s action shows the power of the voices of educators advocating for our students,” said NEA President Becky Pringle. “In today’s world, access to the internet is essential for learning. It is critical for conducting research, doing homework, and, when school buildings are closed, attending class. This was true before the COVID-19, and is even more important now coming out of this pandemic.”

Cheers and Jeers

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) delivered a powerful speech about “freedom and our constitutional duty to protect it” before Republicans stripped her of her leadership position, number three Republican in the House of Representatives, for refusing to spread Donald Trump’s lies. “I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy,” she said.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is introducing the CARE for Kids Act, which would expand free school meal eligibility for the many children living with grandparents or other caregivers due to crises like the opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona finalized a new regulation that allows colleges to distribute tens of billions in federal pandemic relief grants to all students, regardless of their immigration status or whether they qualify for federal student aid.

Republican Sens. Roy Blunt (MO), Richard Burr (NC), Susan Collins (ME), Chuck Grassley (IA), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Rob Portman (OH) joined their Democratic colleagues in a 54-44 vote to confirm NEA member Cindy Marten as Deputy Secretary of Education.

EdAction in Congress May 16, 2021 - Education Votes

Education Matters: Greene ignores CDC guidelines, continues to put people in jeopardy + What base is Green playing to?

Education Matters: Greene ignores CDC guidelines, continues to put people in jeopardy

Greene ignores CDC guidelines, continues to put people in jeopardy

First, let me say I am over masks. I am over wearing them, I am over telling kids to wear them, and I want nothing more than for them to be in the rear window of history. That being said, I will continue to wear them; you see, I don't know most of the people out there and don't trust the ones I don't know to do the right thing, and Jacksonville's vaccination stats, that say only a little over a third of the city (41 percent over 18) is vaccinated, despite there being plenty of supply has borne that out. Even though the CDC says going maskless to large evens is ill advisable and that Jacksonville is still at substantial risk, Greene has said @&%$ it and made masks optional for graduation ceremonies.

What the CDC says about large gatherings, including graduations.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/large-gatherings

Here are Florida and Jacksonville's vaccination numbers.

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view

It's like we have run a race and decided to stop when CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: Greene ignores CDC guidelines, continues to put people in jeopardy

What base is Green playing to? It certainly isn't public education

If you are over sixteen and haven't got vaccinated yet, that's a choice you have made. Greene has now made masks optional for graduation ceremonies. Does this decision support people who believe in vaccinations and masks or those that don't?

The change the name ordeal has gone on for nearly a year, racists and deniers have come out of the woodwork over and over again. Robert. E. Lee is an option to change the name of Robert E. Lee too. Has this process benefitted the people who want the names of those schools to change or those who want to live in a time when children of color were second-class citizens?

Jeb Bush is the man responsible for most of the school reforms of the last two decades, A-F school grades, privatization, high stakes testing, and blame the teacher evaluations, or you know the things that pro-public education people are against. So when Green joins Bush's Cheifs-of Change, is she telling the people who CONTINUE READING: What base is Green playing to? It certainly isn't public education

Closing Out the Covid Year – Grumpy Old Teacher

Closing Out the Covid Year

It has been a year like no other. While a pandemic disaster did not strike to close all the schools in Grumpy Old Teacher’s (GOT) north Florida district, as we once anticipated through the holidays, Covid mitigation and adjustments have still had their effect. As we close out the school year (thirteen school days left [yay!] along with a boatload of testing [boo!], how are we doing in our schools?

Warm and sometimes humid weather has arrived, which makes mask wearing uncomfortable for students. They are weary of the mitigation measures, yet will still comply with the mandate when told to do so. Everyone is done and ready for the end, including teachers, administrators, and support staff.
Almost all parents are sending their home learning children to the campus to take the state tests. It seems that the test-taking culture is well-ingrained into our culture. They kept their children home for health and safety reasons, but it is the test after all and the almighty test must be taken.
The usual strain on school resources, time, personnel, and space, has been CONTINUE READING: Closing Out the Covid Year – Grumpy Old Teacher

Is Critical Race Theory Dividing the Country? | Teacher in a strange land

Is Critical Race Theory Dividing the Country?

When people start referring to a cultural phenomenon with initials—CRT for ‘critical race theory,’ say—you know that whatever that thing once was, it’s now morphed into something completely unrecognizable. Made less complex. Reduced to stereotype. And in the case of CRT, politicized.

In my long years of classroom practice, pedagogical strategies and hot topics went in and out of fashion. Back in the 70s, values clarification was all the rage. Parents were a little iffy on having students discuss their values, however—probably because they assumed those values were not securely embedded in their sixth graders. And God forbid a teacher should attempt to inculcate values. Or even discuss them.

After values clarification, there was lots of talk about character education. My school had a multi-year project on Reason, Respect and Responsibility. Our project was home-grown, but you could buy pre-packaged character, it seemed—complete with manuals, posters, workshops and student day planners. Every package seemed to come with a testimonial—57% reduction in suspensions!

Today, I see lots of teacher-chat about mindfulness and trauma-informed education. If you think I’m skeptical about the efficacy of these programs—I’m not. I am strongly in favor of whatever it is schools are doing to encourage students to consider their CONTINUE READING: Is Critical Race Theory Dividing the Country? | Teacher in a strange land

Impoverished Pennsylvania District About to Be Fully Charterized, Despite Parent Opposition | Diane Ravitch's blog

Impoverished Pennsylvania District About to Be Fully Charterized, Despite Parent Opposition

Chester-Upland school district is one of the poorest in the state. Seventy percent of its students are black. One big charter school, owned and operated by a wealthy Republican lawyer from Philadelphia, already dominates the district with his Chester Community Charter School. The district has been in receivership and under state control for years. Even though CCCS is a low-performing charter, the state’s only idea is to hand over all the schools to charter operators.

This is an important story, well told by this reporter. It follows the template for charterization: Underfund a predominately African-American school district for years, then have the state take control because of financial issues. Strip the school board of all power and appoint a CONTINUE READING: Impoverished Pennsylvania District About to Be Fully Charterized, Despite Parent Opposition | Diane Ravitch's blog

We're Still Waiting For The Promise Of Brown v. Board Of Education To Be Fulfilled | HuffPost

We’re Still Waiting For The Promise Of Brown v. Board Of Education To Be Fulfilled

“When the Supreme Court’s decision finally etched itself upon the country, the social stuff of that imprinting behaved in ways other than intended.”

Our house had a cottonwood tree in the backyard. In the excruciating Texas summer, it bloomed and cotton flew around the house like a summer snow. It caked over the window screens and blocked the wind from coming into the house.

Some of our neighbors had water cooler fans that blew out a cool mist. It made the whole house feel like a swamp and made everyone in the house feel like they were trying to breathe underwater. I hated those fans and was grateful we couldn’t afford one.

We were poor, but not in the ways that mattered. No one went hungry. No one was homeless. There were no drugs. No gangs and no neighborhood blight. The front door to our house was never locked. And everybody owned the home they lived in. My parents purchased our home in the 1950s, and it was a significant accomplishment for them.

When I enrolled in elementary school, all of my teachers were Black and they preached excellence like a well-rehearsed Sunday sermon. By the time I began middle school, in sixth grade, I was a track star, held first chair in the band and was among the top five grade earners.

But all of that changed in 1974, when I was in seventh grade. As part of the mandate issued by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, my classmates and I were among the first group of Dallas students to CONTINUE READING: We're Still Waiting For The Promise Of Brown v. Board Of Education To Be Fulfilled | HuffPost

C.D.C.: Schools in the U.S. Should Continue to Use Masks - The New York Times

Schools in the U.S. should continue to use masks, C.D.C. advises

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday clarified coronavirus advice for U.S. schools, recommending the continued, universal use of masks and physical distancing, after the agency’s sudden announcement that vaccinated Americans could forego masks indoors.

All schools teaching students from kindergarten through grade 12 should continue to implement proper mask-wearing through the end of the 2020-2021 school year, the C.D.C. said. The agency also kept in place its suggestions to observe physical distancing and to test for coronavirus infections.

About 122 million people had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in the U.S. as of Saturday, but the average number of vaccinations per day has dropped since its peak in April, according to C.D.C. data. News of the C.D.C.’s sweeping change to mask rules that were introduced a year ago came suddenly last week, prompting elation among many Americans but also some confusion over how to respond to the new guidance.

The C.D.C.’s advice for schools attempts to clear up some of the confusion. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds in the United States. But some parents are still hesitant about the vaccine. And no vaccines have been authorized yet for children under 12. CONTINUE READING: C.D.C.: Schools in the U.S. Should Continue to Use Masks - The New York Times

CURMUDGUCATION: NV: Should Charter Schools Hire Licensed Teachers?

NV: Should Charter Schools Hire Licensed Teachers?

Nevada is one of the country's leading states for privatizers; in 2015, they went all in on education savings accounts aka super-vouchers. Well, not so super--they were not large enough to benefit the poor families that were the excuse for passing the bill. But they've got tax credit scholarships so that donors can get out of paying school taxes and support private schools at the same time. And, of course, they have charter schools.

Charter schools in Nevada enjoy a couple of advantages. One is that charters are authorized by a state board (the Nevada State Public [sic] Charter School Authority), meaning they can bypass any local boards that are elected by local taxpayers who might not want to foot the bill for additional schools in their area.

Nevada charter schools are also excused from having to hire licensed teachers. Up to 30% of teaching staff can be unlicensed, as long as they aren't teaching certain subjects (eg English, math, special ed). The rest of the staff must be either licensed or "demonstrate subject matter expertise," whatever the heck that means.

Reportedly the state does not actually know how broadly that waiver is being used. Charter School CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: NV: Should Charter Schools Hire Licensed Teachers?

Sunday, May 16, 2021