Neil deGrasse Tyson blames U.S. schools for flat-Earthers — and teachers aren’t amused - The Washington Post

Neil deGrasse Tyson blames U.S. schools for flat-Earthers — and teachers aren’t amused - The Washington Post:

Neil deGrasse Tyson blames U.S. schools for flat-Earthers — and teachers aren’t amused

Neil deGrasse Tyson, perhaps the most famous astrophysicist in the world and a seemingly affable guy, upset teachers and started something of a Twitter frenzy with a tweet blaming U.S. schools for people who believe the world is flat:

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The rise of flat-Earthers in society provides some of the best evidence for the failure of our educational system.

5:23 PM - 18 Jul 2017

 
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With this tweet, which had more than 72,000 retweets and more than 188,000 “likes” late Friday afternoon, Tyson was expressing alarm at “flat-Earthers,” people who believe the Earth is flat and who have been able to grab some headlines in recent months as videos insisting the Earth is not a sphere have become popular on social media.

The Daily Mail recently ran a story titled, “Inside the World of flat Earthers,” and the famous former basketball Shaquille O’Neal was in the news a few months ago when he said the Earth was flat — and then later said, “I’m joking, you idiots.” And the Courier just published a story noting that flat-Earthers had posted signs along a highway in Scotland urging people to research the flat Earth.

Flat-Earthers believe NASA is part of a broad conspiracy to fake the evidence of a spherical Earth, and there are societies of people, such as this Flat Earth Society, that produce materials “proving” the conspiracy. For example, this is the description of one of the podcasts available on this group’s website:

In this series we will be dispelling a number of globularist claims. This week we take a look at lunar eclipses in the ball model and using the Parallaxian mind-set put forth by Samuel Rowbotham showing the globe earth theory to be incoherent with observed phenomena.

Tyson’s tweet blames America’s schools — most of which are traditional public schools — for Neil deGrasse Tyson blames U.S. schools for flat-Earthers — and teachers aren’t amused - The Washington Post:

CURMUDGUCATION: Dear E: Mind the Old Farts

CURMUDGUCATION: Dear E: Mind the Old Farts:

Dear E: Mind the Old Farts

Dear E:

You have landed your first teaching gig straight out of college. That's a great thing. Back in 1979, I landed my first job on the sixteenth try-- and then was laid off at the end of my first year, after which I came back here, where it took me several more years to move from covering sabbaticals to getting a job of my own. And as you know, it took my wife several years to finally land a gig of her own. Despite everything you've heard about a teacher shortage, it can still be tough to land a job straight out of school, so kudos to you.

You're getting packed and ready (congrats on the new apartment) because you leave in about a week, so I won't get to see you long enough to ramble on like an old teaching fart. Instead, I'm just going to write you letters which I'll stash here where they're easy to find. You are both a former student and family-- it's the least I can do. Ha.

You're headed for Kansas, which means you are probably going to encounter that a species that exists in almost every school-- the cranky old farts.

Cranky old farts are not always actually old; I've known teachers who were cranky old farts in their twenties. But when I say "mind the old farts" I mean it in the same way as "mind the first step" or "mind the poison ivy by the door."

Cranky old farts will not only tell you why you're making a mistake to work in their district, but why CURMUDGUCATION: Dear E: Mind the Old Farts:

We Are Not A Small Group Of People – Educate Louisiana

We Are Not A Small Group Of People – Educate Louisiana:

We Are Not A Small Group Of People

President Lyndon B. Johnson

Let’s face it. Politics reside in our classrooms whether we like it, or not. In the Spring of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). If I had to pinpoint when politics entered the classroom, I’d say it was the moment Johnson laid down that pen.

Though largely ignored by people who aren’t educators, political influence over the classroom has increased steadily with the passage of each major piece of education legislation, including No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). From the moment John White was appointed as Superintendent of Education, political influence over education has become an increasing topic of conversation at the dinner tables and in the living rooms of Louisiana.

In the 2015 elections, there was a tremendous unified effort to regain control over our elected Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). While we didn’t gain full control over BESE, we did manage to elect one seat to our advantage and essentially blocked their ability to reappoint John White. The people involved in this effort were parents, grandparents, teachers, and other community members. This was an impressive grassroots effort to fight the Goliath sized education reform candidates who were financially backed by large lobbying organizations and out of state billionaire philanthropists. In BESE District 7, Mike Kreamer had a campaign budget just over $20k, and opponent, Holly Boffy, had well over $100k. In addition, a political action committee funded by out of state billionaires financed a negative media campaign against Kreamer, and Mary Johnston Harris in District 4, spending roughly $250k. The result? A 6% spread between Kreamer and winner, Boffy. Just 3% more of the vote would have been a victory for Kreamer. Same outcome in the District 8 race. Carolyn Hill received 48% of the vote despite the smear campaign launched against her, and Jada Lewis grabbed a victory with We Are Not A Small Group Of People – Educate Louisiana:

Teachers to march against Trump’s education agenda - The Washington Post

Teachers to march against Trump’s education agenda - The Washington Post:

Teachers to march against Trump’s education agenda

Teachers are planning to gather on the Mall in D.C. on Saturday to march in support of public schools — and against the Trump administration’s efforts to slash federal education funding and expand private-school vouchers.

Organizers of the “March for Public Education” say they expect several thousand demonstrators at the D.C. event, which is set to begin at the Washington Monument at 10 a.m. And they expect thousands more to show up for sister marches in 15 cities around the country, including Detroit, Austin, Miami and Lincoln, Neb.

They say they want to send a message that public education is essential to a strong democracy, and that the Trump administration’s proposal to cut federal funds by nearly 14 percent — while reinvesting in private-school vouchers and other forms of choice — is unacceptable.

“We’re educators that care about our profession, and we’ve just felt that public education is under threat,” said Steve Ciprani, a high school social studies teacher in West Chester, Pa., who is co-chairing the march.

Ciprani said he and other teachers were inspired to organize the demonstration after attending the Women’s March on Jan. 21, the day after President Trump’s inauguration. Two days later, he started a Facebook group dedicated to an education march, he said — and within a week, it had attracted 5,000 members.

The Women’s March took place just days after Betsy DeVos struggled through a rocky Senate confirmation hearing that turned her into an Internet meme and a household name. She was a Teachers to march against Trump’s education agenda - The Washington Post:

Demonstrators gather outside a D.C. middle school in February 2017 to protest the visit of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. (Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post)

Livermore charter schools accused of misuse of public funds

Livermore charter schools accused of misuse of public funds:

Charter schools accused of misuse of public funds in Livermore audit

LIVERMORE — An audit released Thursday suggests Livermore’s two charter schools misappropriated public funds, including a tax-exempt bond totaling $67 million, and mainly pointed the finger at former CEO Bill Batchelor.

The audit was ordered by the Alameda County Office of Education in November and conducted by the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT).

Analysis shows that the Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, which oversees the charter schools: Failed to disclose numerous conflict-of-interest relationships; diverted, commingled and/or misappropriated public funds, including tax-exempt public bonds totaling over $67 million with various private entities; and contributed to an environment of significantly deficient internal controls, according to a county statement.

“The lack of internal controls coupled with financing schemes designed to divert millions of dollars by Batchelor and others through relationships fostered between board members, close associates and other professionals with his nonprofit public and private companies created an environment that made it possible for the essential elements of fraud to occur,” the report states.

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The audit states that internal controls were “so weak” that Batchelor was able to divert $2.7 million of public charter school funds without any supporting documents, covering a span of five years.

Nathan Ballard, Batchelor’s spokesman, maintained Batchelor’s innocence.

“Mr. Batchelor is innocent of any wrongdoing, and this audit doesn’t change that fact. He is just seeing the audit for the first time, but one thing is clear: Its conclusions are vague and are based a series of inaccurate assumptions,” Ballard said.

The audit revealed that Batchelor controlled to some degree eight different entities at once during the time that a 2015 bond was issued for TVLC.

TVLC and California Preparatory Academy went before the Alameda County Board of Livermore charter schools accused of misuse of public funds:

Are iPads and laptops improving students’ test scores? Not yet – Twin Cities

Are iPads and laptops improving students’ test scores? Not yet – Twin Cities:

Are iPads and laptops improving students’ test scores? Not yet

Five years after Twin Cities schools began transforming classrooms by putting computers in the hands of students, there is little hard evidence the shift has improved academic achievement.

At least nine east metro school districts have programs that issue laptops or tablet computers to students. In the rest, students share technology through computer labs and laptop carts or bring their own devices from home.

“It keeps enhancing and changing what we can do,” said Jay Haugen, superintendent of Farmington schools, one of the first Twin Cities districts to provide every student with an Apple iPad.

More than 75,000 students in St. Paul and its suburbs have a school-issued device they take home every day, and the remaining students have access to devices at school.

Last school year, east metro districts spent more than $17 million on student technology.

Lakeville school administrator Jason Molesky awaits the release of the latest iPad in 2012. (Ben Garvin / Pioneer Press)

The biggest bills were in the largest districts. St. Paul spent $9 million, and Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan spent about $2.7 million. Smaller districts where students share devices had significantly lower bills, such as the $250,000 student technology budget in the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale district.

Meanwhile, student scores on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, or MCAs, which are given each year in English, mathematics and science, have largely remained stagnant.

Furthermore, Minnesota’s work to close the achievement gap between low-income and minority students and their peers has not been as successful as educators had hoped. Students who are black, Hispanic and Native American continue to score proficient on state tests at significantly lower rates than white students.

WILL RESULTS TAKE MORE TIME?Are iPads and laptops improving students’ test scores? Not yet – Twin Cities:

John Thompson: A modest proposal for defending the cigarette fee - NonDoc

A modest proposal for defending the cigarette fee - NonDoc:

A modest proposal for defending the cigarette fee

We’re painfully aware of the decision the U.S. Supreme Court must make in terms of the Trump administration’s ban on refugees from Muslim-majority nations. President Donald Trump has made it clear through his words and actions that his unmistakable intent is targeting Muslims, but he will argue that the SCOTUS should only heed the carefully crafted words in his legal brief.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court will soon face the same dilemma. Voters amended the Oklahoma constitution to require a three-fourths legislative majority to raise taxes and to prohibit tax increases during the last five days of the legislative session. During the last week of session, new revenues were realized without the three-fourths majority. Multiple lawsuits have been filed on those measures, and the one challenging the state’s new “cigarette fee” might be the most likely to find success.

The state’s leadership will find itself echoing the Trump administration, arguing that the justices shouldn’t trust their lying eyes and ears about the so-called cigarette fee that was belatedly passed. And that won’t be an easy case to make. Even the Republican legislative majorities and Gov. Mary Fallin acknowledged that repeated tax cuts caused a financial crisis. All year long, Republican leadership warned that we have reached a point where revenues must be raised, and a $1.50 cigarette tax had been put up for multiple votes before lawmakers unveiled the cigarette fee.

After months of rare candor about the need for bipartisanship, Republicans even said that A modest proposal for defending the cigarette fee - NonDoc:

Teaching and Purpose: A Response to Bill Gates and his Purpose Problem

Teaching and Purpose: A Response to Bill Gates and his Purpose Problem:

Teaching and Purpose: A Response to Bill Gates and his Purpose Problem

I recently ran across Bill Gates’s blog. He was reviewing Yuval Noah Harari’s book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. The title of his post was, “The Purpose Problem: What if People Run Out of Things to Do?”

Gates ironically reflects on what it means to have purpose in one’s life.

I say ironically, because many blame Bill Gates for the current push to replace teachers in our public schools with technology—calling it personalized or competency-based learning.

Not only will teachers lose their profession and their purpose, a whole segment of society will be displaced—careers shattered.

This will drastically affect how and what students learn. Even our youngest children will obtain their knowledge on machines.

Brick and mortar schools will be a thing of the past. Children will learn on devices anyplace and anytime. Or they will attend online charter schools with baby-sitter-like facilitators instead of teachers. Connections to humans for learning will be distant.

School Privatization?

Gates ruminates on Harari’s argument that progress towards “bliss, immortality, and Teaching and Purpose: A Response to Bill Gates and his Purpose Problem:

AFT President Randi Weingarten Frames David vs. Goliath Battle to Resist Injustice and Reclaim Promise of Public Education in TEACH Keynote – MilTech

AFT President Randi Weingarten Frames David vs. Goliath Battle to Resist Injustice and Reclaim Promise of Public Education in TEACH Keynote – MilTech:

AFT President Randi Weingarten Frames David vs. Goliath Battle to Resist Injustice and Reclaim Promise of Public Education in TEACH Keynote

WASHINGTON—Educators, families and communities are in a David versus Goliath battle against powerful interests seeking to destroy public education and rip opportunity from children and families, AFT President Randi Weingarten proclaimed to more than 1,400 educators during her keynote address at the union’s TEACH (Together Educating America’s Children) conference.

Weingarten offered a stinging critique of the agenda of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other school privatization advocates and drew parallels between the history of school choice, which is rooted in segregation, and today’s private school voucher movement. And Weingarten offered a path forward to both resist the attacks on public schools and reclaim the promise of public education for all children to meet their needs and aspirations.  

“The moment we’re in is the result of an intentional, decades-long campaign to protect the economic and political power of the few against the rights of the many. It has taken the form of division—expressing itself as racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia and homophobia. And its intentions are often disguised. For example, take the word ‘choice.’… Decades ago, the term ‘choice’ was used to cloak overt racism by segregationist politicians like Harry Byrd, who launched the massive opposition to the Brown v. Board of EducationSupreme Court decision.”

Weingarten described how after the Brown decision, many school districts resisted integration, detailing the history of Prince Edward County, Virginia, where white officials closed every public school in the district and opened private schools with public money where only white parents could choose to send their children. These were places where AFT members sent resources and even set up schools for African-American students in church basements and public parks. And Weingarten made clear that, far from being the “pioneers of school choice,” as DeVos labeled them, historically black colleges and universities actually arose from the discriminatory practices that denied black students access to higher education.

“Make no mistake: The ‘real pioneers’ of private school choice were the white politicians who resisted school integration,” said Weingarten.  

Weingarten said that today’s voucher proposals have their insidious sides.

“After decades of experiments with voucher programs, the research is clear: They fail most of the children they purportedly are intended to benefit. … These choices do not increase student achievement. They do not reduce inequity or segregation. And they move us further away from the choice every child in America deserves—well-supported, effective public schools near their home.”

Weingarten continued, “This privatization and disinvestment are only slightly more polite cousins of segregation. We are in the same fight, against the same forces who are keeping the same children from getting the public education they need and deserve. And what better way to pave the path to privatize education than to starve public schools to the breaking point, then criticize their shortcomings, and let the market handle the rest. All in the name of choice.”

In the speech, Weingarten characterized DeVos as a “public school denier” and the most “anti-public education secretary of education ever.” She detailed how her proposed budget cuts take “a meat cleaver to public education” by zeroing out resources for reducing class size, for teacher professional development, and for community schools and after-school and summer programs—all to fund tax breaks for the wealthy and increase funding for vouchers. She discussed how cuts to Medicaid would result in the loss of school nurses and health screenings, wheelchairs and feeding tubes, for our most vulnerable kids in the almost 80 percent of school districts that rely on those funds.

“But I haven’t lost heart or faith, because, although we face formidable adversaries, we are David to their Goliath,” said Weingarten, explaining that just as David beat the powerful Goliath and his army with a sling and five smooth stones, AFT members also have five smooth stones, or principles, that the AFT is translating into action.

“No matter where people are from, or their political persuasion, there is a common set of aspirations—for themselves and their families. When we connect on values—these values, these five stones—we win. We help make people’s lives better, and we repair the common ground that has been jackhammered apart.”

The five values Weingarten called on AFT members to unite their communities around include: 1) good jobs that pay a decent wage and provide a voice at work and a secure retirement; 2) healthcare so people are not one illness away from bankruptcy; 3) public schools that are safe and welcoming and prepare young people for life and citizenship, career and college (including making college affordable); 4) a strong and vibrant democracy (including a free press, independent judiciary, thriving labor movement, and the protection of the right to vote); and 5) safeguarded civil rights for all (fighting bigotry and discrimination—like the attacks on immigrants, Muslims and transgender kids, and the rising tide of anti-Semitism and racism). 

Weingarten expanded on creating great neighborhood public schools and lifted up the great things already happening in public schools across the country—for instance, poetry slams, Socratic seminars, science fairs, speech therapy, students checkmating their chess coaches, and once-struggling students reading on grade level.

“Our public schools are filled with dedicated teachers, paraprofessionals and administrators who are doing their level best—despite never having enough funding, despite the relentless attacks, despite misguided policies gussied up as ‘reforms,’ despite the challenges children bring from home. … And with some key investments and the right strategies, we’ll not just have the will, we’ll have the way,” said Weingarten.

Weingarten added, “We get that public schools are not perfect and every one doesn’t always work for every one of its students. We know that schools in America have always been unequal, often based on race and class. … But I’ve never heard a parent say, ‘That school doesn’t work for my kid. So I want to engage in an ideologically driven market-based experiment that commodifies education and has been proven to be ineffective.’”

Instead, she said, parents want a neighborhood public school that works for their child, is safe, has adequate resources and small enough class sizes; they want their school to have music, art and science; they want their child to soar in challenging classes and get support when they struggle; and they want their child to fill the dinner table conversation with stories about what they did in school that day.

Weingarten also detailed the fierce opposition to the Trump-DeVos agenda. According to a poll recently commissioned by the AFT, 74 percent of voters oppose cutting education funding while reducing taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals. Seventy-six percent of voters say it is unacceptable that the Trump-DeVos budget takes away funding from public schools that serve poor children while increasing funding for private school vouchers and the expansion of charter schools.

“So as far as I’m concerned,” Weingarten said, “the only choice is: Do we as a nation strengthen and improve our public schools, or don’t we?”

Weingarten outlined what works to create great public schools—investment in and focus on the four pillars of powerful, purposeful public education: children’s well-being, powerful learning, educators’ capacity, and collaboration.

In a call to action, Weingaren highlighted the energy and activism since Election Day, framed the importance of elections, and offered guidance from Yale professor Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.

“[Snyder] reminds us that we can’t take our institutions for granted. That dictators throughout history have built power by kneecapping trade unions and co-opting or undercutting public education,” said Weingarten.

She continued, “Of course, our responsibility is to resist injustice, … but it is more than that. It is to reclaim the future. Classroom by classroom. Community by community. … If I could ask you to do anything, it would be this: Tell your stories. Write to your local paper. Advocate for your students. Do it in public. Shine a light. Show the people here in Washington what’s happening at home. Show them what a budget cut means in very human terms.”

And in closing, Weingarten said, “By resisting injustice and reclaiming the promise of public education for all of our students, we will preserve our democracy. We will protect our most vulnerable. We will strengthen our communities. We will take on Goliath. And we will win.”AFT President Randi Weingarten Frames David vs. Goliath Battle to Resist Injustice and Reclaim Promise of Public Education in TEACH Keynote – MilTech:

California proposes minimal sanctions for low participation in state tests | EdSource

California proposes minimal sanctions for low participation in state tests | EdSource:

California proposes minimal sanctions for low participation in state tests

In passing a new school accountability law — the Every Student Succeeds Act — Congress gave states more latitude to decide how to use federal education funding, particularly in improving schools serving low-income students and English learners. What hasn’t changed is the requirement for nearly all students to take annual standardized tests — and for states to see that schools and districts comply.

The minimum participation rate is 95 percent in math and reading tests, as under the No Child Left Behind Act, the previous law. Some states, in their compliance plans for the new law, are proposing to hit violating schools hard to bring them into line. California’s actions would be mild by comparison.

Connecticut is proposing that a school that otherwise would get the highest or second-highest rating on the state’s 100-point index of school performance would be knocked down one ranking, according to an Education Week summary of the 17 states that submitted their draft state plans to the U.S. Department of Education in March.

 In Illinois, a school wouldn’t be eligible to receive a top score for academic proficiency if fewer than 95 percent of students took the test. In Louisiana, every student who didn’t take a test would get a score of zero, effectively lowering the overall results for a school or district.

In California, schools not meeting the 95 percent mandate would be singled out in the state’s accountability system. That system, the California School Dashboard, rates schools and districts on several performance measures. The dashboard would include an icon for those schools in which less than 95 percent of students took the test. Depending how far off the mark they are, that may be the only consequence.

At last week’s marathon discussion on the draft state plan, the State Board of California proposes minimal sanctions for low participation in state tests | EdSource:

Senate bill proposes to give undocumented immigrants legal status

by Mikhail Zinshteyn / 8h

Trump administration signals it would not support the bill. One analysis says the bill could make as many as 379,000 Californians eligible for permanent legal immigration status. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

California proposes minimal sanctions for low participation in state tests

by John Fensterwald / 9h

A new icon in the school dashboard would signify less than 95 percent participation. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Understanding California charter schools: a quick guide

by Mikhail Zinshteyn / 9h

Charter schools are frequently in the news, but it’s not always clear how they compare to traditional public schools. EdSource has compiled the following FAQ to give readers a quick and clear primer on these public schools that are often the subject of heated political debates. Find out how many charters are in California and in the U.S., what the major fault lines are between charter...... [[ Thi

Betsy DeVos and teachers’ union leader trade barbs

by Theresa Harrington / 10h

U.S. Education Secretary and American Federation of Teachers President's comments highlight division that exists between some school choice advocates and those who back traditional public schools. [[ This is a content summary only.