TOP POSTS THIS WEEK 6/13/20 #REDFORED #tbats #ICantBreathe #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #justiceforfloyd #BlackLivesMatter

by Mike Simpson / 38min

There Trump goes again bashing ‘bad government schools’ President Trump was in Texas on Thursday, where he was part of a discussion about race and policing, and used the opportunity to take new shots at public schools. At Gateway Church in Dallas, Trump met with law enforcement officials, pastors and business owners and talked about his four-point plan to “build safety and opportunity and dignit

by Mike Simpson / 38min

‘This is cruel’: Betsy DeVos bars certain students, including DACA recipients, from COVID-19 relief funds “These extreme eligibility requirements will not only harm students, but they are also contrary to congressional intent,” said Sen. Patty Murray. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sparked outrage Thursday by doubling down on an April guidance that bars U.S. higher education institutions from g

by Mike Simpson / 38min

About Joe Biden… If you only read this blog for thoughts and opinions about education, here’s one you can skip. I’ve been thinking about Joe Biden. If you think this is going to be one of those ‘Joe Biden was not even close to my favorite candidate but we all have to vote for him because we’re at the edge of the abyss’ blogs—it’s not. (Although that’s true.) It’s also not a blog about how we hav

by Mike Simpson / 38min

Wendy Lecker: Combatting Racism—on the Streets and in School Wendy Lecker is a civil rights lawyer who writes frequently for the Stamford (CT) Advocate, where this article appeared. The brutal police killing of yet another unarmed African-American man, Minneapolis’ George Floyd, preceded by the midnight police killing of EMT Breonna Taylor in her home in Louisville, and followed by the police ki

by Mike Simpson / 38min

To add value to Black communities, we must defund the police and prison systems To add value to Black communities, we must defund the police and prison systems The Minneapolis Police Department’s murder of George Floyd epitomizes what Black taxpayers have never truly received: quality law enforcement. Black people are overrepresented in stops, arrests, convictions, and deaths at the hands of poli

by Mike Simpson / 38min

What’s the Real Purpose of Classroom Management? Everyone knows why classroom management skills are considered a critical part of teacher training. The reason we need to minimize “misbehavior” and get students to show up, sit down, and pay attention is so we can teach them stuff. That proposition is so obvious that it’s rarely defended or even spelled out, except maybe on the first day of Classr

by Mike Simpson / 38min

Dabo Swinney and the White-Man No-Apology Apology After a series of critical challenges to the highest paid college football coach in the U.S., Dabo Swinney, concerning weak responses to the uttering of racial slurs by a Clemson coach (and Swinney) and Swinney sporting a “Football Matters” shirt in the wake of George Floyd’s death underneath the knee of a police office, a calloused death sentenc

by Mike Simpson / 38min

Resolution to End Police Contract with Milwaukee Public Schools Milwaukee Public Schools: Resolution Advanced by Directors Paula Phillips and Sequanna Taylor WHEREAS, The Milwaukee Public Schools for many years has contracted with the Milwaukee Police Department for School Resource Officers (SROs), the original intent of which was that they would be deployed in schools to respond proactively in

by Mike Simpson / 2h

NewBlackMan (in Exile) “Truth is On It’s Way”: Nikki Giovanni Takes the Revolution to Church by Mark Anthony Neal / 9h by Mark Anthony Neal | @NewBlackMan| NewBlackMan (in Exile) “the church is a great archive of Black music.” -- Nikki Giovanni Amiri Baraka once wrote that Black music, “to retain its freshness, its originality, its specific expression of its own history and contemporary reality

by Mike Simpson / 2h

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all School Funding in the COVID-19 Era by dianeravitch / 19min The coronavirus has caused incalculable harm to millions of people. Two million people have been infected. More than 100,000 have died. The death toll increases daily. The scientific resp

by Mike Simpson / 2h

School in the Time of Covid Florida has set a new record for new Covid cases. This, evidently, is what happens when you have some MAGA moron in charge whose sole interest is promoting business and commerce at the expense of humanity. What can the rest of us learn from that? Israel opened schools. They have about 40% more students than NYC does. However, since they reopened, they've had to close

by Mike Simpson / 2h

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS UPDATE Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Three Resources With Good Ideas For Encouraging Online Student Interaction by Larry Ferlazzo / 21min Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay I’m adding these resources to THE BEST IDEAS F

by Mike Simpson / 2h

A Powerpoint is not a Plan / NYC Schools in September The New York City Department of Education issued a planning document for September, on June 9. They were very, very late. And, big surprise, it turns out not to be a planning document. It’s more like a poorly thought out framework. The story gets worse, but for now, let’s look at their powerpoint. Nothing special about the cover, except you s

by Mike Simpson / 2h

Remembering Medgar Evers Bob Dylan at civil rights gathering in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1963, singing ‘Only a Pawn in Their Game'. On this day in 1963, Medgar Evers , Mississippi’s first field secretary for the NAACP, was gunned down in his Jackson driveway just as he proclaimed, “you can kill a man, but you can’t kill an idea.” Medgar Evers It was Byron De La Beckwith Jr ., a white supremacis

by Mike Simpson / 2h

Education Research Report THIS WEEK Education Research Report Better reading proficiency linked to fewer youth homicides by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d A good education system has long been linked with providing opportunity for people to get better jobs and escape poverty. However, less is known about the impact of education on youth violence. By analyzing data about the residents of 55 Baltimore, M

by Mike Simpson / 2h

Never Mind The Personalized Learning. Let's Do Personalized Learning Instead As the education world scrambles to figure out what next fall will look like, many, many voices are speaking up for reimagined schooling. One particular model has surfaced repeatedly, and it’s not at all new—but it could be. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has set aside some of the stimulus fund for a competitive gra

by Mike Simpson / 2h

Webinar: Making CEP Work for your District The California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Services Division (NSD) is excited to partner with No Kid Hungry California to co-host a webinar to discuss Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). This webinar will be targeted towards districts that are considering adopting, expanding, or renewing CEP at their school sites. You will hear from a pan

by Mike Simpson / 22h

Teachers Face A Summer Of Soul Searching. What Do They Do In The Fall? We know a handful of things. We know that virtually nobody wants to continue the pandemic shut-down crisis school model in the fall (with the possible exception of ed tech companies that hope to keep cashing in on it). Elected officials across the country are calling for schools to open again, a position that’s easy for them

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Maryland: Privately-Operated Online Charter Schools Should Remain Illegal | Dissident Voice Maryland: Privately-Operated Online Charter Schools Should Remain Illegal It is no surprise that many are exploiting the “COVID Pandemic” to advance their narrow self-serving agendas. Charter school advocates are no exception. Crises often generate instability, chaos, and confusion that can make it easier

by Mike Simpson / 1d

BIDEN’S U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION SHORTLIST? It’s a honor to even be mentioned on @8BlackHands1 list for US Secretary of Education. The @UKCollegeofEd community of 2,500 students, 200 faculty and 150 staff & tens of thousands of alumni endeavor everyday to serve our community, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond! My vote now and always will be for my Stanford mentor Linda Darling-Hammond.

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Moving from Teacher to Superintendent: A Political Odyssey After teaching for fourteen years, I wanted to be an urban superintendent. To do that, I had to get a doctorate. Accepted at Stanford as a middle-aged graduate student, I arrived in 1972 with family in tow. The two years I spent at Stanford was a powerful intellectual experience. I had told David Tyack, my adviser then, (years later my t

by Mike Simpson / 1d

A Reader for Confronting Whiteness, Supporting #BLM: “How Do I Open Their Eyes?” A former student and current college student sent me an email with the subject line “How Do I Open Their Eyes?” Their story is one that resonates with me since they have found themselves quarantined during Covid-19 “with my parents and neighbors, all of which I would say are very religiously right leaning.” During t

by Mike Simpson / 1d

The End of Police in Schools As demonstrations over the death of George Floyd spread across the country, school districts are reevaluating the use of resource officers. DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS became the third school district in two weeks to sever a million-dollar contract with its city's police department to remove officers from schools – a move that at least a dozen other school districts are co

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Ohio Legislative Democrats Remind Ohio Congressional Delegation that Ohio’s Public Schools Desperately Need More Federal COVID-19 Relief Thank you, members of the Democratic Caucus of the Ohio Legislature, for reaching out to members of the Ohio Congressional delegation on behalf of urgently needed additional federal COVID-19 relief funding for our state’s public schools. On June 4, Ohio legisla

by Mike Simpson / 1d

DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY? A site to discuss better education for all Trump vs. Congress and the Military re Renaming Bases by dianeravitch / 26min Trump tweeted that he absolutely opposed renaming military bases named to honor Confederate heroes. The renaming was proposed by military leaders and the Defense Department. Hours later, the Republican Senate Armed Services Committee vo

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 SPECIAL EDITION PROTEST AND EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 TODAY CBS News Video: “Confederate statues across the country are being removed” by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h I’m adding this new CBS News video to The Best Resources For Teachi

by Mike Simpson / 1d

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY Left of Black S10:E16—Chaédria LaBouvier on Basquiat’s “Defacement” by Mark Anthony Neal / 3h Writer and curator Chaédria LaBouvier has cemented her place in the art world as the first African-American person to curate an exhibition at the famed Guggenheim Museum. A scholar of the celebrated artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat , LaBouvier sat down with co-host Sasha Panaram

by Mike Simpson / 1d

On Remote Learning--Show Me Their Faces Remote learning is a big topic these days. I'm always reading about it. Not only that, I've been doing it for three months. WSJ and the Post say it's awful, though I don't remember them ever saying that about the cyber charters that infest these United States. They're pretty well-known as simply awful. A lot of them are scammers who get paid for students w

by Mike Simpson / 1d

The Third Letter This one is different from the other two. There’s a letter from DoE central staff . There’s a similar letter by a bunch of teachers (mostly) and principals . And then, this. Jose Vilson, The Jose Vilson , is the first signature. Not surprisingly, the letter aims for systemic change, and spells out steps in some detail. This comes closer to my own views than the other two letters

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Assessing Creativity in the Classroom? Ep2 of Creativity in Crisis In Episode 1 of Creativity in Crisis , we discussed large scale assessment of creativity. Guests Bill Lucas and James Kaufman and hosts Ron Beghetto and Yong Zhao had a very interesting discussion. You can watch it here . In Episode 2, we would like to talk about creativity assessment in the classroom. Should it be done? If so, h

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Please join us Saturday, June 20 for a conference: Sharing Ideas & Solutions for Reopening Schools: The Path Forward Class Size Matters and NYC Kids PAC will be holding a conference via Zoom called Sharing Ideas & Solutions for Reopening Schools : The Path Forward on Saturday, June 20 from 11 AM to 1 PM. During this conference, we will collect ideas from parents, guardians, teachers, students an

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Five Examples Of What's Wrong With Ed Tech I get pitches-- e-mails from PR folks who have noticed that I write about education and want to offer me a chance to talk to an up-and-coming visionary who can tell me all about Bunkadiddle Corporation's new program! The pitches have taken on a pandemic sheen for a few months now ("In these trying times, when students and teachers are all struggling, we

by Mike Simpson / 1d

4 Ways Racial Inequity Harms American Schoolchildren The police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., have sparked a national conversation around racial justice. But the country's racial justice problems aren't limited to policing — American schools have long struggled with racial inequity. "Our students of color are treated differently in our schools," K

by Mike Simpson / 1d

How Betsy DeVos is using the pandemic to get what she wants – Alternet.org How Betsy DeVos is using the pandemic to get what she wants As American deaths from COVID-19 crested 100,000, the New York Times reported U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos declared her intention to “force” public school districts to spend a large portion of federal funds they’re receiving through the Coronavirus Aid,

by Mike Simpson / 1d

California school reopening guidelines include continuing online learning Local districts have for weeks been working on their own guidelines to reopening, some of which hint at drastic changes to public schooling SACRAMENTO, Calif — California's Department of Education has released a detailed how-to guide to safely reopen schools in the age of face masks and physical distancing. State Superinte

by Mike Simpson / 1d

Pandemic-Stricken Schools Tell Senate They Need Help to Reopen The Senate Education Committee held a hearing on returning to “normalcy” this fall, but education leaders said they were struggling with budget cuts and demands to meet health guidelines. WASHINGTON — Without a large federal investment in the nation’s public school system, districts hit hard by the coronavirus will struggle to meet t

by Mike Simpson / 2d

No One Has Fallen Behind Seattle's schools closed due to the coronavirus on February 27, which means the kids have been out of school for 15 weeks. Yes, there have been valiant efforts at online schooling, but neither the teachers with whom I've spoken, nor, more importantly, the kids think it amounts to much. They're going through the motions because that's what's expected of them, but when I r

by Mike Simpson / 2d

Instruction for the Vulnerable Reader: Comprehension This is the fourth in a series on instruction for vulnerable readers that is a companion to my series on Why Johnny Can't Read. Other posts in this series addressed decoding , spelling and vocabulary . In this post we turn our attention to comprehension. There are three key concepts to keep in mind when thinking about teaching reading comprehe

by Mike Simpson / 2d

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Calls on Counseling Groups to Strengthen Mental Health Supports for Students SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond on Wednesday called on counseling groups across California to work together in a coordinated effort to expand services that can close gaps in mental health supports for students experiencing increased levels of trauma

by Mike Simpson / 2d

Senate Panel Asks: When Can K-12 Schools Safely Reopen? Safely reopening the nation's public schools will be an expensive and Herculean task without additional help from the federal government. And, until schools do reopen, the nation's most vulnerable children will continue to be hardest hit — losing consistent access to meals, valuable learning time, and vital social-emotional support. Those w

by Mike Simpson / 2d

Black Students in Poor Schools: It’s Still NCLB! Black Students in Poor Schools: It’s Still NCLB! In The Shame of the Nation : The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America, Jonathan Kozol refers to a comment by President George W. Bush about Bush’s goals for education. President Bush said, I went to Washington to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. Later, in 2004, he said, It’s w

by Mike Simpson / 2d

Big Education Ape AB 1835 Passed the California Assembly yesterday, and is sent to the Senate. this would resolve our long standing conflict with Sacramento City Unified on funding of English Language Learners. AB 1835 would require districts and other local educational agencies to identify any unspent supplemental and concentration funds by annually reconciling the estimated amounts of these fu

by Mike Simpson / 2d

2020 Medley #12 — Post-pandemic Education POST-PANDEMIC EDUCATION Have you read anything lately about “when schools reopen after the pandemic is over?” There are ideas galore…some good, some ridiculous. It’s good to plan ahead, of course, but we don’t really know what the situation will be in three months. One thing is sure, with the pandemic there came an economic downturn — a recession, which

by Mike Simpson / 2d

Letter from the Chancellor Dear Colleagues, I hope you and your families are safe and healthy. At this moment the entire country is in turmoil, and none of us know what to do about it. I don't either, but it's important that you think I'm somehow in control, even though I have no idea how to handle what the hell is going on not only in the city, but also in the state, the country, and the world.

by Mike Simpson / 2d

NYC Public School Parents: Today's "Talk out of School" - removing School Safety Agents from police control, saving youth jobs and ending admission screens Today's "Talk out of School PODCAST" - removing School Safety Agents from police control, saving youth jobs and ending admission screens Today on "Talk out of School," I spoke to Matt Bromme, former NYC principal and Superintendent of District

by Mike Simpson / 2d

How a Taxi Ride Changed My Life (Ed Bridges) June is commencement time for American students and nearly all will be done remotely. Commencement speeches are a genre unto themselves. Occasionally, a talk doe not follow the well-worn ruts. A professor I knew well gave one such speech a few years ago. Ed Bridges was Professor Emeritus of Education at Stanford University. His focus on educational ad

by Mike Simpson / 2d

The Play First Summit: Let's Build a Paradise from Hell I despise the novel Lord of the Flies . I hope they're still not making kids read it. As I passed through middle school, high school, and college I had to read this mean, nasty piece of work no less than three times. I'm not saying it isn't well written. I'm not even saying it isn't worthy literature. No, what puts this book on my bottom sh

by Mike Simpson / 2d

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG TODAY? A site to discuss better education for all TODAY Watters: Toward a Future Of Humanity, Caring, and Grace by dianeravitch / 16min Audrey Watters gave a talk at the Academic Technology Institute. I am always interested in her writing because she is truly an original thinker. She sees the futur

by Mike Simpson / 3d

SPECIAL EDITION PROTEST AND EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 TODAY Most Popular Posts Of The Week by Larry Ferlazzo / 3min I’m making a change in the content of the regular feature. In addition to sharing the top five posts that have received the most “hits” in the preceding seven days (though they may have originally been pu

by Mike Simpson / 3d

"We Must be in It for the Long Haul" - Black Foundation Executives Request Action by Philanthropy on Anti-Black Racism “We are managing a pandemic within a pandemic. Police brutality is a scourge, it is a pandemic. The pre-existing condition before COVID, and it still exists, is racism.” -- Representative Ayanna Pressley While COVID-19 is novel as a virus, the pestilence of anti-Black racism tha

by Mike Simpson / 3d

New Estimate to Reopen Schools After Coronavirus: $116.5 Billion A projection by the American Federation of Teachers estimated that America’s K-12 schools will need an average of $1.2 million each to reopen from coronavirus-related closures. A SOBERING NEW ESTIMATE for how much it will cost schools to reopen in the fall – both safely and with the proper academic and emotional supports in place f

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Arkansas: Preparing to Sell the Children to Tech Entrepreneurs Cathy Frye is a veteran journalist who worked for the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, then quit when she decided she could no longer stomach being part of the Walton Goubdation machine. She writes here about the plan to outsource schooling this fall to a tech corporation that is under investigation. She writes: I got curious

by Mike Simpson / 3d

“Science of Reading” Advocacy Stumbles, Falls First, the stumble. Yet another education journalist (also identified as a novelist and historian), Natalie Wexler, has weighed in on the “science of reading” (SoR). Wexler isn’t an educator, and she seems to suffer from the Columbus Syndrome far too common among journalists covering education. I am not linking to the article, but it has already been

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Minneapolis and Growing List of Other School Districts Cease Employing Armed Police as School Resource Officers In the aftermath of the tragic police killing of George Floyd and the widespread protests of police brutality that have followed, the Schott Foundation for Public Education comments : “We want to lift up one ray of hope in this dark moment: The Minneapolis Board of Education made in im

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Without The Big Standardized Test, Would Schools Be Flying Blind? The future of the big standardized test is in doubt. This year’s pandemic pause made the annual rite of spring both logistically impossible and generally pointless as a means of data collection. With the year thoroughly disrupted, there was no chance that the tests would generate any sort of usable information, but their cancellat

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Upcoming: 2020 Summer Webinar Series No Need to Catch Up: Teaching Without a Deficit Lens with Paul Thomas Thursday, June 25, 2020 4:00 p.m. EST See Also No Need to Catch Up: Teaching without a Deficit Lens Upcoming: 2020 Summer Webinar Series – radical eyes for equity

by Mike Simpson / 3d

COVID 19: FSMC Monitoring and Allowable Costs Q&A Coronavirus (COVID-19) Main Web Page On June 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released Policy Memorandum SP 21-2020, CACFP 12-2020, SFSP 12-2020: Questions and Answers (Q&A) related to Food Service Management Company (FSMC) Contracts and Allowable Costs during the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF) . It provides further guidance related to the fl

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Organized to Disrupt By Thomas Ultican 6/10/2020 The New Schools Venture Fund (NSVF) is the Swiss army knife of public school privatization. It promotes education technology development, bankrolls charter school creation, develops charter management organizations and sponsors school leadership training groups. Since its founding in 1998, a small group of people with extraordinary wealth have bee

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Yup, Police PACS Give A Lot Of Money There’s been some shock about LA City Council members receipt of monies from the LA Police Protective League. But they all do it, accept money from these PACS. Here’s the collected contributions to politicians between 2017-2020 from off calaccess of LAPPL, ID# 743579. There are 170 currently active “Recipient Cmtes” registered throughout the state with the na

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Teach for America’s 2020 Trainees to Enter the Classroom with Only Tutoring Experience In this time of school closures and social distancing, teacher temp agency, Teach for America (TFA), has decided to “train” its 2020 corps members online. As former TFAer-gone-career teacher, Gary Rubinstein, writes , pre-COVID, TFA trainees actually teach on average one hour per day over the course of four we

by Mike Simpson / 3d

An “Economy of Care” or of Institutional Protection? N ow we have seen manifest the power of budgets. In the wake of the profoundly inequitable calamity of Covid19, has grown an international paroxysm that Black Lives Matter . In Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti is calling for “$250 million in cuts from city departments, including the LAPD, … steer[ing] the funds to invest in job programs, health init

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Earl "Butch" Graves Jr.: "I Am Tired...The Pandemic Of Racism Must End" Black Enterprise CEO: "I Am Tired...The Pandemic Of Racism Must End" by Earl "Butch" Graves Jr. | @EarlButchGraves | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile) Over the past few days, civil unrest has gripped our entire nation. This was due to the unwarranted and senseless murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week by a police o

by Mike Simpson / 3d

The American teacher crisis is getting rapidly worse amid coronavirus pandemic Tom Rossiter got the official notice on June 1. The 33-year-old teacher, who taught seventh and eighth grade math at the Rochester City School District in Rochester, New York, was told that he was being let go at the end of the school year. His school district had been struggling with a $150 million budget deficit sin

by Mike Simpson / 3d

“In Solidarity…” A call to action for educators, students, and families I am so inspired by SFUSD educators. This email was shared with me via the principal, Caitlin Boyle, at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts , a visual and performing arts-focused high school in SFUSD, and is a great example of what allyship looks like. The letter and list of resources were compiled in partnership with Jyairrah Mar

by Mike Simpson / 3d

COLUMN: Time for white people to have ‘the talk’ with their kids Every black parent has numerous, ongoing talks about racism with their kids. Nothing will change until white parents start talking to their kids about racism all the time, too Every black parent, at some point, has to have “the talk,” the proverbial sit-down where we engage our children in a serious discussion about how black peopl

by Mike Simpson / 3d

PA: Charter Advocacy Chief Booted For Offensive Post Ana Luiza Lannes Meyers is known to folks who follow the charter school debates in Pennsylvania as a vocal charter advocate as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public [sic] Charter Schools. But as of yesterday, she is out of a job, one more casualty of emotional blowback from the current Black Lives Matter demonstrations

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Passing Counterfeit Money and Other Thoughts on Policing Here’s a story about passing counterfeit money: I was traveling, in Amsterdam, about five years ago. I was nearly out of cash, so I went to an ATM in a modern mall, part of the Centraal Station area, where trains and trams transport passengers from all over the world. I got 100 euros, using my debit card. I did a little tourist-shopping. T

by Mike Simpson / 3d

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 SPECIAL EDITION PROTEST AND EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 TODAY “Visions for the Next School Year” by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h Visions for the Next School Year is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four educators

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Six Months From Now I've whittled away at this post for days, which is unusual for me and usually means I'm making things worse, not better. And my first impulse in these days has been to stay quiet and listen, because a national conversation about racism doesn't really need one more white guy's voice. But 1) silence is not an option right now and 2) this all has implications for educators. But

by Mike Simpson / 4d

NO Television for My Birthday Ride! 3PM, Monday, June 8: This morning was a perfect day for my birthday ride, so I called ESPN to discuss plans for live-streaming on ESPN-27, the channel devoted to amateur athletes. I recorded the conversation. ESPN: Good morning, ESPN. How may I help you? ME: May I speak to the Executive Producer at your ESPN-27 Channel please? I’m calling about the live-stream

by Mike Simpson / 4d

No Teachers Teach Average Students The average height of the staff here at the Curmudgucation Institute is about 4.5 feet (the Board of Directors really pulls the average down). Yet if you buy clothes that fit a 4.5 foot frame, those clothes will not fit anyone here. The average guy named Peter Greene has made at least one major film. And yet, here I sit, with no IMDB entry or residual checks co

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Now is the Time (whether you want it to be, or not) I attended a NYSUT virtual vigil just now. It was mostly local presidents. The overall thrust was for reform and electing better people, but especially as some hearkened back to the civil rights movement, or to their own personal experiences, there was a current of long-term struggle as well. Interesting, for me, was Michael Mulgrew, who was br

by Mike Simpson / 4d

UTLA Calls For School Board To Defund The Police (LASPD) Yesterday, the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) Board of Directors voted on a motion demanding that the school board de-fund the Los Angeles Schools Police Department (LASPD), the largest school police department in the country. While the full details of the motion and its reach are not public information as of this writing, UTLA has

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Pissed Off: Our Students Our Students and the NEW MATH Internet learning is not working. I spoke to the dad of a ninth grader today. The student has two concerned bright parents and a stay at home mom. The parents try and try but they can’t get her to do much school work, her schedule is screwed up. She is awake at night and then sleeps all day. The dad told me many of his friends are seeing the

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Save the date! and please answer our survey on reopening schools | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes Save the date! and please answer our survey on reopening schools June 7, 2020 Dear friends — Class Size Matters and NYC Kids PAC are holding a conference on Saturday, June 20 from 11 AM to 1 PM called Sharing Ideas & Solutions for Reopening Sch

by Mike Simpson / 4d

10 Of The Most Heavily Armed School Districts In The US - Listverse 10 Of The Most Heavily Armed School Districts In The US Big Education Ape: A Big Education Ape Brief History of Police in Education News #BlackLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool #CounselorsNotCops ! - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-big-education-ape-brief-history-of.html On August 12, 2014, video footage emerge

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Big Education Ape Big Education Ape A brief History of Police in Education News Big Education Ape: We Came to Learn: A Call to Action for Police-Free Schools - Advancement Project - Advancement Project - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/09/we-came-to-learn-call-to-action-for.html Big Education Ape: empathyeducates – “To This Mayor [Rahm], Black and Brown Lives Do Not Matter” #DumpRahm -

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Revisiting Predictions On Technology in Classrooms My record on predictions is abysmal. If I get half of the forecasts I make correct, I puff out my chest. Yet humans are wired to speculate about the future, particularly when times are uncertain. Considering the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, nearly everything has become uncertain about the next year and for sure, the next five years. So like mos

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Video: Watch Bill Gates Defend His Decision to Fund the Common Core This is a fascinating interview of Bill Gates in 2014 by Washington Post reporter Lyndsey Layton. Layton wrote a comprehensive account of how the Common Core was funded single-handed by Gates. Gates engineered a “swift revolution,” a near coup, by subsidizing and promulgating the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), with cheerlea

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Instruction for the Vulnerable Reader: Vocabulary Previous posts in this series on quality instruction for vulnerable readers have addressed word work and spelling . this post will address vocabulary. I have addressed the topic of vocabulary in a number of posts over the years. There are three key things I think we need to keep in mind when helping vulnerable readers build on their vocabulary. 1

by Mike Simpson / 4d

Stronger Together - Health Services & School Nursing (CA Dept of Education) Stronger Together A Guidebook for the Safe Reopening of California's Public Schools Coronavirus (COVID-19) Main Web Page This guidance was created through the statewide reopening schools task force that fostered a collaborative process for our educators and stakeholders to lend their important voices. Also informed by the

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Schools and Communities First Earn a Ballot Spot Back in April , backers of Schools and Communities First submitted a record-breaking 1.7 million signatures to the Secretary of State to qualify the funding measure for the fall ballot. While the state had to verify the signatures, less than 1 million were needed so it was all-but-certain the measure would earn its ballot spot. And over the weeken

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Covid-19’s Devastating Impact on Our Children Interviews with Five Educational Professionals I had the privilege of asking five educational professionals to give their perspectives on the current pandemic by providing their thoughts, concerns, and advice. Most are retired teachers. Their insights come from many years of experience within the Los Angeles school district. Some of these educational

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Asian-Americans for Black Lives Being a friend means standing up for folks, even when they aren’t in the room. Because it’s Best Friends Day, I decided to share a post written by one of my very best friends, Tula Jeng . I’m deeply grateful for her voice, her friendship, and her unwavering advocacy in service of Black liberation. Thank you Tula Jeng for being one of my closest friends. For always

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Rich schools get richer School spending analysis finds widening gap between top 1% and the rest of us n his 2013 book, “ Capital in the Twenty-First Century ,” French economist Thomas Pikkety made a provocative argument about rising income inequality and the growing importance of disparities in wealth. He suggested that the world was returning to a sort of 19th century dynastic capitalism where

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Will Congress Provide Fiscal Relief to Public Schools at an Austerity, Subsistence, or Investment Level? In a NY Times column last week, David Brooks responded to the tragic police killing of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, and the massive protests responding to the evident racism and inequality that underpin our society: “This moment is about police brutality, but it’s not only about poli

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Report: No Way to Reopen Schools Safely Without Federal Bailout A new cost estimate from school superintendents shows reopening following CDC guidelines is cost-prohibitive IN ORDER TO ADHERE TO the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention safety recommendations for reopening, school districts will be forced to spend nearly $2 million per district that they hadn't budgeted for – a cost so proh

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 SPECIAL EDITION PROTEST AND EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 National Superintendents Organization Estimates The Added Costs Of Reopening Schools & It Looks Bad by Larry Ferlazzo / 6min Report: No Way to Reopen Schools Safely Withou

by Mike Simpson / 5d

MN Police Union President, Bob Kroll, Needs to Go. I am pro-union. I believe that as a public school teacher, I benefit from belonging to a union and from the collective bargaining that my local union engages in on behalf of teachers and staff in my school district. That does not mean that I would bend to the pressure of union leadership to support colleagues whose actions disparage the professi

by Mike Simpson / 5d

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Just One Thing After Another Edition (6/7) Just One Thing After Another Edition So things have been a little quieter than usual on this page (and I'm late today) in part because what the current conversation about Black Lives Matter needs is not more input from middle aged white guys, and partly because things have been a bit upheaved here at the Institute (not all bad-- th

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Technology Fails Students. Will It Matter? What’s Next? Private, Parochial, Charters, and Online Programs? Technology Fails Students. Will It Matter? What’s Next? Private, Parochial, Charters, and Online Programs? How are schools going to look in the fall? Local school district educators and parents are meeting to draft plans. Weighing heavily on the minds of many is this question, will public sc

by Mike Simpson / 5d

A Call For The College Board To Oust David Coleman A Call For The College Board To Oust David Coleman When David Coleman joined the College Board as CEO and president in 2012 , it must have seemed like a natural step forward; he had overseen the redesign of K-12 education via the Common Core standards, and now he could use the leverage of College Board’s flagship programs—AP courses and the SAT—t

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Defund the Police to Fund Public Schools Back in the pre-Coronavirus days when we still had in-person classes I used to come to school in a suit. Every day, suit and tie . I didn’t have to – the dress code allowed me to wear pretty much whatever I wanted and most teachers dressed much more casually. Now let me be clear – I’m not saying my way was the only way . Each teacher has his or her own wa

by Mike Simpson / 5d

John Thompson: Save My Former Student John Thompson writes about his former student, who is scheduled to die: As the nation wrestles with the latest police killings and Black Lives Matter protests, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board must decide whether to allow the execution of my former student, Julius Jones. Julius’ request for commutation has gained the support of the Congressional Black Ca

by Mike Simpson / 5d

That Open Letter about School Safety Turns out, it’s about much more than school safety. For purposes of full discussion, we should have the text, not just the New York Daily News headline . It looks like it was started by a Brooklyn principal, and signed by teachers, principals, APs, counselors, coaches, Chapter Leaders, and some central staff. But mostly by teachers. Looks like about 950 signa

by Mike Simpson / 5d

EdAction in Congress June 7, 2020 Demand social justice and an end to police brutality George Floyd struggled for his life for 8 minutes and 46 seconds as a police officer thrust a knee against his neck, maintaining the pressure even as he repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe” and bled on the ground. Americans saw what happened with their own eyes—bystanders recorded it on their cell phones—and res

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Schools Turn to Surveillance Tech to Prevent Covid-19 Spread Administrators hope tracking beacons will identify where students congregate and who should be isolated if someone contracts the coronavirus. WHEN STUDENTS RETURN to school in New Albany, Ohio, in August, they’ll be carefully watched as they wander through red-brick buildings and across well-kept lawns—and not only by teachers. The sch

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Government job losses are piling up, and it could get worse WASHINGTON (AP) - Jobs with state and city governments are usually a source of stability in the U.S. economy, but the financial devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic has forced cuts that will reduce public services — from schools to trash pickup. Even as the U.S. added some jobs in May, the number of people employed by federal

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Hybrid Learning I'm wary of hybrids. About a year ago, I bought the car you see here, a Rav4 hybrid. It's supposed to get over 500 miles to a tank of gas, but for some reason, it registers full at 10 rather than 14.5 gallons. Toyota tells me they're working on the problem, but they've been saying that since September. I'm growing to doubt their good intentions. Speaking of September, it's rapidl

by Mike Simpson / 5d

STATE OF CALIFORNIA RELEASES SCHOOL REOPENING GUIDELINES – IT’S GOING TO BE A HELL OF A FALL The State of California just released school re-opening guidelines . I don’t think there is anything surprising in their recommendations (you can read a summary at The San Francisco Chronicle’s article Temperature checks, masks for teachers: California releases stringent school reopening rules ). There w

by Mike Simpson / 5d

Worried About Those “Big” Losses on School Tests Because Of Extended Stays At Home? They May Not Even Happen, And If They Do, They May Not Matter Much At All! (David Berliner) David Berliner is Regents Professor Emeritus at the Mary Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. This appeared on Diane Ravitch’s blog May 28, 2020 Although my mother passed away many years ago, I need now to ma

by Mike Simpson / 6d

Big Education Ape TOP POSTS THIS WEEK 6/6/20 ‘Slaying Goliath’: Diane Ravitch argues in new book that public education advocates have beat back efforts to privatize schools - The Washington Post The real story of New Orleans and its charter schools - The Washington Post George Floyd: Grief