CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Homecoming Edition (12/19)
My daughter and her family are on a plane today, returning with considerable trepidation to the area for Christmas stuff. Scary to have them navigate the current pandemic wave, but boy do I want to see my children and grandchildren. Ho ho ho, indeed. Here's some reading from the week.
College, Career, or Whatever Readiness
Jose Luis Vilson talks about the resurgence of college and career readiness, and why it misses the mark.
Pitt launches teacher prep program
This should be interesting. Here in NW PA we've seen multiple college teacher prep programs fold or down-size because of decreased enrollment, but Pitt thinks maybe it can help address the state teacher pipeline problem by opening up a new program. Let's see how this goes.
Ben Simmons and education testing
Akil Bello with a perfect analogy about how putting testing emphasis on the wrong things leads to lousy consequences.
Not getting into it: How critical race theory laws are cutting short classroom conversations
Chalkbeat looks at the chilling effect of these gag laws which encourage teachers to just not address the topics at all.
"You're not going to teach about race. You're going to go ahead and keep your job."
EdWeek takes a look at just how chilling gag laws like Oklahoma's are. Spoiler alert: Very.
Oklahoma bill seeks to alter teaching of slavery
Also in Oklahoma, legislators want to force teachers to talk about slavery in a particular way (everybody was doing it and white people weren't any more slave-holdery than anyone else).
Teachers, parents file lawsuit against New Hampshire divisive concepts law.
US News as the story as folks fight back against the NH version of the race gag law.
Businesses: Idaho education politics are hurting state
Idaho is at #9 on the Public Education Hostility Index, and that hostility to public education is turning out to be bad for business. This is an AP story.
DeSantis unveils plan to let parents sue schools
Florida will not be outdone for hostility to public ed. Now borrowing from the Texas anti-abortion model, DeSantis now wants parents to sue schools for teaching crt.
As parents protest critical race theory, students fight racist behavior at school
NBC notes that increased attacks over any attempt at addressing equity at school are spilling over into students' lives in school, and it's not a good thing. More attacks on boards embolden more harassment of students of color.
There's a lot for conservatives to embrace in critical race theory
Gary Abernathy in the Washington Post offers that crt has some good parts, and conservatives ought to be embracing them.
Four Memphis schools to return to local control
A while back, Tennessee decided that they would create a state-run school district to take over "failing" schools, and then magically turn them into Very Successful Schools. It has failed, repeatedly, consistently, to do that. Here it is, failing again. Marta Aldritch in Chalkbeat.
Researchers take a look at funding "effort"-- how much states are spending as a share of their economic output. Fuess what--the effort is shrinking.
Lawmakers concerned about plan to increase frequency of standardized tests
In Illinois, some legislators note that increasing standardized test might be a dumb idea. They are not wrong.
How the viral Wayfair sex trafficking lie hurts real kids
All that QAnon baloney about pedophile sex trafficking rings is having real negative consequences for real human beings. This Washington Post piece hangs on the story of a runaway who was being reported as a Wayfair "victim" weeks and months after she had returned home.
Six gigantic problems, six wrong solutions in public ed
Nancy Flanagan with some spot on analysis
Ohio department of education concludes investigation of Bishop Sycamore; it's a scam
You may remember the story of the fake high school in Ohio that was caught after they got hammered in an ESPN high school game of the week. The department of ed has now officially announced what everyone had pretty much concluded on their own--the school is a massive scam.
Johnson county teacher's message to parents: You can be angry, but we can also leave
Mostly just watch the three minute video of a veteran teacher's address to one of the many school boards operating in the midst of angry parent firestorms. It's a masterful, emotional speech.
The endless humiliation of teachers
Steven Singer reacts to that viral image of teachers on their knees in a hockey rink, scarmbling for cash in order to entertain the crowd.
The Great American Teacher Exodus
Noa de la Cour at The Jacobin with a pretty solid overview of the many reasons that teaching positions have been harder and harder to fill.
Also, this week in Things I Wrote Elsewhere, at Forbes I wrote about the current SCOTUS case aimed at destroying the wall between church and state
CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION
