"Parents of all income and education levels are spending more time promoting their kids’ development—yet socioeconomic gaps in childrearing behavior are growing." (How American Parents Prepare Their Toddlers for School) via The Atlantic
BEST OF THE WEEK
Slate: Teachers struggle to figure out how to respond to "Trump Effect” in K–12 schools https://t.co/sLjI8WuUyw
EdWeek:AFT Worried Joel Klein Was Helping Hillary Clinton's Campaign http://ow.ly/sdNV3056kly
Chalkbeat: AFT freaked out after Joel Klein was rumored to join Hillary Clinton’s campaign, WikiLeaks email shows https://t.co/hDrQLFZMcs
Washington Post;Obama administration releases long-delayed regulations for teacher-preparation programs https://t.co/zhjXWpPCXz
EdWeek: New Federal Teacher-Prep Rules Draw Praise and Criticism http://bit.ly/2e3aBJE
Chicago Tribune: Chicago charter school teachers remain in contract battle, could strike next week https://t.co/DfTf2uXUiG See also WBEZ
LA Times: Parents who want their kids in L.A.’s most competitive magnet schools face daunting odds http://ow.ly/HLjI305b90i
Boston Globe: Have charter schools fulfilled promise as innovators? Debate persists https://t.co/81jpMVcXCZ
Washington Post: The 100 U.S. school districts that are actively pursuing socioeconomic integration https://t.co/eDaEDCZlUG
Sacramento Bee:Sacramento emergency school sees dramatic rise in homeless kids https://t.co/jmF6mZloEl
NOLA.com: Union bloc on top, Louisiana's largest school system rethinks past https://t.co/g5vQNQcakU
MinnPost: St. Paul home visits stretch teachers and build relationships https://t.co/oihTuBRgVZ
An Unexpectedly Beautiful Story About Detroit Public Schools http://ow.ly/8EhE305a1MQ
Slate’s Revamped Education Coverage Yields Mixed Results http://ow.ly/kTGD305bH4B
KICKERS
Denver Post: Colorado schools ban clown costumes for Halloween https://t.co/vJyoEJhMsi
Yesterday at the local grocery store, I met a guy named Taylor and realized after a minor delay that he was none other than the famous-for-education teacher/poet Taylor Mali.
I accosted him, made him take a selfie with me, and got a quick update on his news. This past Fall, Mali raffled off the original version of his poem to raise funds for a favorite charity. What poem, you ask? You must be new here.
Way back in 2005, Mali's slam performance, riffing off of "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach," was an early viral hit -- and could be considered part of an early wave of teacher voices angry at longtime denigration by the public and policymakers.
See one of many versions of the performance here. See a critic's takedown of his work here.
Related posts: The Return Of "What Teachers Make" (2011); "You Want To Know What I Make?" A Teacher Responds (2008).
Here's a roundup of the Top 20 Education Next Articles of 2015 from Education Next, a magazine I've written for a few times over the years. Topics addressed include poverty, Success Academy, Common Core, AltSchools (of course!), Detroit, English Language Learners.
In a perfect world, other education outlets -- Education Week, Chalkbeat, Hechinger Report, the Atlantic Education Page, Vox -- would do the same with their best or top-read pieces. But I don't think most do -- at least not yet.
Here EdWeek rounds up which states have reported Common Core scores -- though some data are already outdated. Read the whole story here. Image used with permission.
As you may recall, the Gates Education Forum/15th Year Anniversary begins today with an address from Bill Gates and some other speeches and announcements.
The Twitter handle to follow is @gatesED, which is also the hashtag #GatesEd. You can see an unofficial list of speakers and moderators here. I saw Ted Mitchell on the attendees list, but no John King. Let's assume he's staying put in DC given recent events.
It seems hard to believe, but I'm told that this is the first big education-focused event that the foundation has done since 2008, when it shifted gears away from its early focus on smaller high schools and other things towards teacher development and high school and college completion.
I'll be moderating a panel on "unlikely allies" tomorrow morning featuring two pairs of folks who found ways to work together rather than lapsing into finger-pointing, etc.
#TBT Still can't believe edreform all-star Gaynor McCown died nearly 10 years ago at age 45 http://t.co/IPXSPINdNn pic.twitter.com/KYxZPURdjk
— alexanderrusso (@alexanderrusso) April 24, 2015
Just in case anyone's feeling a momentary lack of urgency (or has delusions of immortality), it's worth remembering that 1990s education all-star Gaynor McCown died nearly a decade ago, at 45 -- and that she's probably not as well-remembered as she should be.
Wages for education (and health services) workers went up just 1.9 percent over the past year, less than the national average. Why's that? "Low-wage workers are earning more. Leisure and hospitality employees, mainly restaurant workers, saw a 3.6% hourly pay increase over the past year.... Higher-skilled workers are also doing well.... Several big employment sectors [including education] are being left out of better pay." Via WSJ (Why Are Wages Growing Slowly Despite McDonald’s, Wal-Mart Raises?)
Social media is great, and we all know how to set up streams on Hootsuite or Tweetdeck and use hashtags and check for updates constantly and all the rest, but it's still been hard to figure out where the conversation is going without spending all day watching Twitter, right?
Until now, that is. A newish program called Nuzzel (tag line: "News from your friends") watches social media for you and lets you know when a bunch of your "friends" are going crazy over something.
That's what's happening this afternoon, with the publication of Maggie Haberman's story on DFER, Hillary Clinton and the teachers unions.
When a story like this one gets big, you get an alert and then you can click down and see who (among your friends) got the ball rolling and how it unfolded. In this case, it was @maggieNYT who quad-tweeted her story out at noon, followed by Bloomberg's Jennifer Epstein, Gotham Gazette's Ben Max, and Politico's Caitlin Emma.
Or at least, that's how it appears on my Nuzzel - perhaps you have more or better friends than I do.
But wait, there's more! Nuzzel lets you get a daily email, plus individual alerts at a threshold level of activity you can determine. You can synchronize Twitter, Facebook, and other social media accounts. You can even subscribe to custom feeds, (aka Twitter lists, whose usefulness has always been limited to vanity), and get alerts that way.
Basically, Nuzzel is a way to tame Twitter. It basically tells you what's trending within the group of folks you already know and love (or at least follow) that's not reliant on hashtags, saved streams, or Twitter's lame Trending lists.
It may not yet be a full replacement for Feedly (or for having your own social media manager pinging you in the Bahamas when something comes up), but it's a big step forward.
And, it's a big argument for following or friending folks who don't agree with you already because it makes the echo chamber pretty obvious. Don't follow your opponents or others and you won't know what they're excited or upset about.
Big thanks to JGW for tipping me off about it.Click below for some screenshots if it's still not making sense.
Continue reading "Pro Tip: With Tailored Alerts, Nuzzel Lets You Know What's Hot On Social Media " »
This year's Yale SOM Education Leadership Conference could be particularly interesting, given where were are in the education debate. It looks like there are going to be some new faces and names -- Kalimah Priforce, anyone? The theme ("Back to Why") and official goal (to refocus on "the purpose and outcomes of education reform") are full of intrigue to people like me who follow these things too closely. We all know that the fight for the hearts and minds of smart young do-gooder types (and entrepreneurs, etc.) is pretty heated, as is the rhetorical battle over who's more "social justice." Website. Facebook.For past events, look at the list here. Previous blog posts from me about the event here.
It's hard to find a more useful, far-ranging, and long-running blog than the one California teacher Larry Ferlazzo has been running the last eight years. And so its easy for me to wish him a hearty Eighth Anniversary (just a few weeks late!).
What makes Larry's work so notable is that he shares and collects so prodigiously, and his work isn't anywhere near as narcissistic as most of us online tend to be. Some example blog posts include: New Resources On Race & Racism. Or let Larry tell you: What Have Been My Most Popular Posts? His personal favorites are here, As you will see, Ferlazzo's work spans classrooms and courthouses.
Related posts: This ELL Teacher Has *Way* More Klout Than You; Blogger / ELL Teacher Makes The New York Times; Praise For This Site From A Very High High Place; Bloggers Write Books, Too;
You will meet this schlumpy lifer who five minutes into the conference makes you just feel like killing yourself, and you think, ‘I leave my child with this kid?’ And the next person you meet will be this incredibly charismatic person who sees every young person before them as this unique piece of clay about to be molded.
- Recently-deceased NYT media critic David Carr in The Answer Sheet (What David Carr told me)
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
From NBC News: "Missouri police seek a former elementary school principal, they now believe was running a heroin trafficking ring. " Click here if the video doesn't load properly. Or watch AFT video of UTLA event last week here, or Scott Walker's critique of going to college as a requirement for being President here, or Fordham's lavender-shirted Petrilli talking about the same topic over the weekend here.
One of the nice things about having been writing about education so long is that I now get to participate in #TBT (Throwback Thursday), through which the Internet celebrates (or laments) the past. This week's entry is a 2006 blog post about Anya Kamenetz, now NPR's lead education blogger and author of the exquisitely well-timed new book, The Test.Titled Another Great(?) Education Writer I've Never Heard Of, the post dates back to Blogspot days (before EdWeek, before Scholastic).
Don't be put off by the outfit (slim grey suit with pink pocket square), the TED-like bells and whistles, or even the point of view (pro-reform). This might be the best education video since Jonah Edelman's infamous 2011 Aspen Ideas Festival explainer. Or maybe it's just the best of the week, and there's not much else going on.
In this "how to make the case for education reform" video, the president of AEI tells his audience something that pretty much everyone in education advocacy has come to understand at this point, whatever side they're on: "You better make it moral, you better fight for people, and you better do it quick."
Watch it, tell us what you think (it's very much of the mind that reform ideas are fine they just haven't been communicated effectively), and extra points for calling out names from the audience reaction shots.
*Apologies for mis-spelling Jonah's name -- it's Edelman with an "E."
Maybe all these left-wing politicians who want to blame police, maybe there’s some blame here that has to go to the teachers union, for refusing to have schools where teachers are paid for performance, for fighting charter schools, for fighting vouchers so that we can drastically and dramatically improve education. - Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Giuliani Says Teachers Unions Are To Blame For Violence In Black Communities in HuffPost). See also Valerie Strauss.
Longreads and tidbits from while you were away from your desk:
NEPC's Kevin Welner: A silver lining in the #Vergara decision? http://ht.ly/xZ6aG
AirBnB / Uber meets tutoring = @WyzAnt? That's the elevator pitch, anyway http://ht.ly/xZm3K Anybody toured/tried?
Forbes contrib @AdamOzimek adresses tenure reform concerns of @danagoldstein @dianeravitch http://ht.ly/xZxLD #Vergara
In the absence of a plausible path to resurgence, the Democratic union divide is merely hypothetical, says @mattyglesias http://ht.ly/y3D41
Jay Mathews: Four gifted writers share doubts about gifted education: Unscientific survey of great writer... http://wapo.st/TWNqmz
Two boys sentenced to years in a detention facility after claiming they were going to murder kids at their school http://ht.ly/y3foB [for reals]
#Vergara will "do nothing" to change key education factors, writes Ravitch in TNYROB http://ht.ly/y3gaN
Slate: The guesstimate that struck down California’s teacher tenure laws. #vergara http://ht.ly/y3g5F
The Camden poverty story that a NYT reporter apparently lifted from the Phila Inquirer http://ht.ly/y3gZx
Wait, what? The 33 yo creator of internet meme #SlenderMan wants to become a schoolteacher!
The EWA Education Writing Awards are great but include only folks who submit themselves to the process and so often miss out on non-education publications or articles that are about education but not not directly so. As a result, it's helpful to take a look at lists like this one from The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf (Slightly More Than 100 Fantastic Pieces of Journalism), which includes some pieces I'd never seen before as well as a bunch of articles I've shared already:
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES / South L.A. student finds a different world at Cal by Kurt Streeter
"He was named the prom king, the most likely to succeed, the senior class salutatorian. He was accepted to UC Berkeley, one of the nation's most renowned public universities. A semester later, Kashawn Campbell sat inside a cramped room on a dorm floor that Cal reserves for black students. It was early January, and he stared nervously at his first college transcript. There wasn't much good to see."THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR / Survival Skills at a School in L.A. by Anne P. Beatty
"On days like this, even aloof kids displayed uncharacteristic kindness and affection. Boys lingered over handshakes and looked into my eyes solemnly. Girls threw their arms around me and wordlessly moved away. No one said enough."
WASHINGTON POST / After Newtown Shooting, Mourning Parents Enter Into the Lonely Quiet by Eli Saslow
"The room went quiet as she began reading the names. Daniel Barden. Seven. Dylan Hockley. Six. Ana Marquez-Greene. Six. Six. Six. Six. Seven. Six. How long could one minute last?"
NEW YORK / Them and Them by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
"The immigrant community and the growing population of Hasidim had eyed each other with increasing wariness. Then the Orthodox took over the public schools and proceeded to gut them."
TEXAS MONTHLY / The Other Side of the Story by Jenny Kutner
"When I was fourteen, I had a relationship with my eighth grade history teacher. People called me a victim. They called him a villain. But it's more complicated than that."Still not enough? Click below for a few more (including This American Life and RadioLab).
Continue reading "Media: 5 Great Magazine Articles You Might Not Have Read" »
It's Memorial Day Weekend and so I'll be updating the site via Twitter to the extent that I can. Have a great weekend! Tweets about "@alexanderrusso"
There was no big news made at #EWA14. No loud arguments, or big deals (other than the announcement that the next conference will be at the UofC). That's why we were all Tweeting about cakepops and other diversions. But there were still a bunch of tidbits to be noted about the state of education media and the people who provide it:
4. The rise of the nonprofit news outlets. Chalkbeat rolled deep with a rumored 21 staffers in attendance, but there were also lots of other nonprofiteers in attendance (EdWeek, EdSource Today, SCPR/KPCC, Hechinger, etc.) In comparison, there was just a single NYT and LA Times reporter there,* and but a handful of AP reporters. (There are other reasons they don't feel the need to attend, but still...)
3. Changing of the guard (from journalism to other pursuits). Banchero is out. McNeil is out. Turner is out (a year ago). Others are but a memory. They say they're sad but also look a little relieved. It feels like there may be more moves out of journalism (as well as between outlets) to come.
2. Notable outsiders/new faces in attendance included Nikole Hannah-Jones from ProPublica (who had some things to say about attendance zone "gerrymandering" that might make progressives reconsider their defense of neighborhood schools), the new communications team from College Board (fresh off their big SAT rollout success), Xian Barrett and Anthony Cody (teacher advocate/activists who've attended on and off for the past couple of years) but no Ray Salazar, alas.
1. Soft interviews with Weingarten and Duncan. All due respect to the Washington Post's Layton and NPR's Drummond, but their interviews lacked the friendly but tough questions and followups that I recall John Merrow and others (Jay Mathews?) providing at past events when public officials rambled through their usual talking points. It wasn't just me who thought so -- lots of grumbling from the back rows (though not on Twitter - cowards!).
What'd I miss or get wrong? When do we get to see or hear the panels we missed? Did everyone get home safely and easily?
*EWA's Caroline Hendrie tells me that there were two other LAT reporters there -- Stephen Cesar and Larry Gordon.
Take a look at stories from weeklies and other sites I check on weekends -- and feel free to suggest other sites or stories I might have missed:
Here's What's Wrong With Teaching "Grit," KIPP-Style - a Carleton Professor in The New Republic http://ht.ly/wHob6 @KIPP
A Startup [Quad Learning] Gives Community Colleges An Elite Makeover http://ht.ly/wHnfI @Molly_HC
PolitiFact's Top 5 most popular fact-checks for April 2014 incl #CommonCore, debunks several myths http://ht.ly/wIXyE thanks, @LouisCK
“’If I Suspend Them, I Can’t Teach Them.’” @PacificStand http://ht.ly/wHnbJ
Let's Talk About Diversity and Prejudice in America's Public Schools - @PacificStand http://ht.ly/wHnaq
Duncan, Haslam to address 400 @EdWriters at Vanderbilt | Times Free Press http://ht.ly/wHoNF
Inside LA’s ‘Teacher Jail’ | The Nation http://ht.ly/wHmXP 450 #LAUSD teachers @LASchoolReport @laweekly
Audio: Teachers Union President Weingarten to Seek Reelection - @BloombergRadio http://ht.ly/wHnsN
My weekend roundup is much shorter than usual this Monday -- and my Klout score went up as a result (tells you all about Klout):
Jobs report says we added [hired] 12,000 teachers this month - Vox http://ht.ly/wtldL Plus 1300 state ed jobs
Putting Elizabeth Warren in the White House won't save liberalism - Vox http://ht.ly/wtla2 "an airy, immature, dream-like approach"
Hundreds of School Districts Have Been Ignoring Desegregation Orders http://ht.ly/wtpcP
On the Brink in Brownsville - http://NYTimes.com http://ht.ly/wtqyL Life in one of America's poorest neighborhoods
Liberal Outside Money Groups Match Conversatives in NC - ProPublica http://ht.ly/wtq5q
From Jay Mathews: Giving aid and comfort to great teachers: The Common Core standards give big ideas more polit...
Private and public school kids share life stories -- NYT Inequality Issue http://ht.ly/wtqDt
Mixed Report for Race to the Top Education Grants - Wall Street Journal - http://WSJ.com http://ht.ly/wtj24
Anything else you came across over the weekend that should be included? Let us know in comments or via Twitter (@alexanderrusso).
Look carefully and you'll see that the pink color that predominates the map of US states' low-income grad rate image is broken up by just three orange states (NE, IO [should be IA, right?], and TN, according to this #edgif from PolicyMic (There's Some Really Good News About the State of Education). What those three states are doing differently, if anything, I have no idea.
Twitter is "scheduling" my weekend updates so they're not all yet published, but here are some good things for you to make sure you've seen:
15 Years After Columbine, Are Schools Any Safer? - WNYC http://ht.ly/vXfag
Every week, I wish/pretend that @onthemedia focused on education: ROBOTS! (and artificial intelligence) http://ht.ly/vXmj6
Including the Young and the Rich - NYTimes.com http://ht.ly/vZKpj via @sreckhow
Occupational licensing is replacing labor unions and exacerbating inequality - Vox http://ht.ly/vXf9w
How Educators Can Protect Students’ Data from Security Breaches | MindShift http://ht.ly/vXmDI #heartbleed!
Republicans See Political Wedge in Common Core - http://NYTimes.com http://ht.ly/vYxny
From Jay Mathews: Stuck on a college wait list? Here’s what you should do.: Wait lists are getting longer, but... http://wapo.st/1joyhiY
Here's a bunch of stories from magazines and blogs that I tweeted out over the weekend while you were having a real life (or whatever it is you do during the weekend):
COMMON CORE
Nearly half of strong Dems believe Common Core will help, & nearly 2/3 of moderate Dems [49 pct/64pct] http://ht.ly/vIxHJ
Parents Aren't as Afraid of #CommonCore as Conservatives Are - The Wire http://ht.ly/vIxwR @aritbenie
Roughly 2.5M students have already taken Common Core field tests, reports Vox @libbyanelson http://ht.ly/vIB7c @CCSSO
Fix, don’t remove, Common Core | http://www.ajc.com http://ht.ly/vITfh
Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong Answer — Medium http://ht.ly/vIzQy ICYMI @MichelleRhee @StudentsFirst
Colbert flunks Common Core test -- @Morning_Edu notes errors including faux CC testing item http://ht.ly/vIxWP
FUNDAMENTALS
Liberal think tank notes ineq distribution of experienced/effective teachers (does not blame charters/TFA) http://ht.ly/vKbw3
Segregation Now: 60 Years After Brown v. Board - ProPublica http://ht.ly/vIBDf Premiers Thursday 4/17
TEACHERS
Sour Patch Teachers: "An Admonishment for Veteran Educators" — @raetaulbee Medium http://ht.ly/vIzSF
Why Teachers Need To [Get Better At] Political Action — Medium http://ht.ly/vIzZf @BluffCityEd
Can NYSUT "move their union away from politics as usual?" Andrew Elrod Jacobin http://ht.ly/vKd37
Pay-for-performance, merit pay, bonuses and worker productivity: Research roundup Harvard Shorenstein Center http://ht.ly/vIzyQ
Lots more below -- it was a good weekend.
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Best Education Articles You Probably Missed" »
The ‘Kansas Revolution’ And School Funding Equity | @onpointradio Tom Ashbrook http://ht.ly/uDGBZ [277 comments so far]
How to Teach the Standards Without Becoming Standardized | MindShift http://ht.ly/uDGx1 @mindshiftKQED
The SAT Prep Industry Isn't Going Anywhere - James S. Murphy - The Atlantic http://ht.ly/uDGg4
Project-based learning is to traditional learning as driving a car is to watching someone drive, writes @et3isme http://ht.ly/uDJDl
The Revolution Is Not Being MOOC-ized - Slate http://ht.ly/uDIGO Students are educated, employed, and male.
Is One Laptop Per Child [OLPC] Dead? Sorta -- but not entirely - THE Journal http://ht.ly/uDHOC
Why'd @foreffectivegov leave USDE out of its FOIA report card report - how would compare to 15 other agencies? http://ht.ly/uDLoI
Outside nonprofit issues FOIA Report Card Letter Grades for 15 Agencies [But Not @USDE @ArneDuncan ] - On The Media http://ht.ly/uDL1G
"Trigger Warnings" Have Spread from Blogs to College Classes. That's Bad | New Republic http://ht.ly/uDMS6 [see also @onthemedia]
It's A Shame the New SAT Will Do Away with 'SAT Words' writes @juliafisher in | The New Republic http://ht.ly/uDMsl @smarick!!
@SXSWEDU "brings in interesting thinkers but doesn’t let them debate the big ideas," says Nation's @RaRapoport http://ht.ly/uDKm8
Huffington Post blogger’s case for banning hand-held devices for children: missing scientific proof. http://ht.ly/uDK2M
KAPPAN CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS, 2014-15 http://ht.ly/uDK1z
Here's some of what you might have missed over the weekend:
National Teach of the Year event with @arneduncan and @ccsso Monday afternoon FL, MD, VA, PA finalists
The worst thing about China’s education system - Quartz http://ht.ly/u8cku
Skipping a grade is rare, but it might just save the world: http://wapo.st/NkerNp [Jay Mathews]
Why the ‘Great Teacher’ Myth Doesn’t Help Kids http://ht.ly/u76dx @GatsbyInLA interviews @RoxannaElden @seemeafterclass
New paper says teachers shouldn't be held accountable in a system that fails students. Jal Mehta American RadioWorks http://ht.ly/u8sgu
The Common Core Model is Easier Said Than Done - US News http://ht.ly/u6VwA @charlesbarone @DFER
There are a few more (and throughout the weekend at @alexanderrusso).
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: "If Only Tyson's Arm Was Longer" " »
10 - Flipped classrooms: A disruptive revolution in pedagogy, or yet another educational fad? SLATE @pankisseskafka http://ht.ly/tTknT
9 - Does Stymied Educational Attainment Lead to Depression? - Pacific Standard: The Science of Society http://ht.ly/tTjXj #LSY
8 - NEA Today: "Teachers, Parents Speak Out Against Vergara Lawsuit" http://feedly.com/e/Gp4ihZXY
7 - Liberals Are Just as Morally Righteous as Conservatives | Mother Jones http://ht.ly/tTjML #notsurprised
6- Why Carl Sagan is Truly Irreplaceable | Smithsonian http://ht.ly/tUB82 @JoelAchenbach [Take that, Neil Degrasse Tyson!?]
5 - From Jay Mathews: Will Dartmouth figure out big applicant drop?: Applications to the Ivy League school have pl... http://wapo.st/1hnlL3U
4 - Edtech you can relate to: electronic (& presumably mobile) flash cards for the bus ride via @EdSurge News http://ht.ly/tUefY @cardwiki
3 - "Common Core Supporter Engages Imaginary Criticisms; Next Step: Real Opponents" http://feedly.com/e/b3T7vsjb
2 - Researchers on Opportunity Gap, Student Inputs, Outputs @bloombergradio http://ht.ly/tTjCi
1 - New Study: SAT Scores Have No Bearing On College Success | @mindshiftKQED http://ht.ly/tTjIw Calling @mrpabruno @nacac [NB this is the one that Bruno and I have some questions about]
It's pretty amazing how much good education news and commentary comes out over the weekend (or gets missed by me and others during the week). Some recent examples:
The Common Core in NY NYT editorial http://ht.ly/tHSKm "Missteps aside, the state cannot afford to let this project founder."
"Most parents don't have a public school option that's as good" as Mayor de Blasio, notes Eva Moscowitz in WSJ http://ht.ly/tENJq
AASA Report on Supe Salaries Reveals Disparity Between Pay for Men and Women -- THE Journal http://ht.ly/tFWWk
Students lose in latest #LAUSD board turf war - LA Times editorial http://ht.ly/tIjKJ @aspire@calcharters
Evidence mounting that medication for ADHD doesn't make a lasting difference to schoolwork or achievement. Nature http://ht.ly/tEbBG
Charter schools: Charter schools are working, but New York’s mayor wants to stop them The Economist http://ht.ly/tFVHi
School Improvement Grant Report Revised, Still Shows One-Third Of Schools' Scores Decreased http://ht.ly/tEZmS
From Jay Mathews: High school course too tough for you? That’s good.: D.C. schools show major strides on AP ex... http://wapo.st/1bbBhkX
Still not enough? Good. There's more below.
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Best Ed Articles You Probably Missed" »
Some fascinating reads from over the long MLK weekend, including a bunch of stuff about politics, advocacy, and over-reaching, a smattering of pieces about parenting and teaching, and the usual edtech trends and troubles:
How Organized Minorities Defeat Disorganized Majorities - Pacific Standard: The Science of Society http://ht.ly/sLTTt
Extreme voices: Interest groups and the misrepresentation of issue publics - Harvard Shorenstein Center http://ht.ly/sKTyF
Manufacturing Dissent: What happens when “community activists” falsely claim they have community support http://ht.ly/sMqr0 @petercook
Teachers Unions and Democracy | Jacobin http://ht.ly/sKNMt Lois Weiner on internal pressures @rweingarten faces leading @AFTunion
What If These TED Talks Were Horribly, Unspeakably Wrong? The Awl http://ht.ly/sIq3h [incl Gladwell, Mitra]
Why Adolescence Is More Brutal for Parents Than Teenagers -- New York Magazine http://ht.ly/sIpm0
More items below and via @alexanderrusso
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Best Education Articles You Probably Missed" »
This recent New Yorker cover, titled "All Together Now," reminds us in a new way that parents are mostly in schools for their own individual children rather than for the collective good of the school or everyone else's kids. There are many exceptions, of course, and parents aren't any worse than the rest of us in terms of altruism (better, probably). Also in this issue is a Talk of the Town about the chicken club a student wants to start at a tony private school called Avenues.
I know it's sort of a pain but you should really also be following me on Twitter (@alexanderrusso) and Facebook. Just in case you haven't gotten to that yet, here are some of the best things from over the weekend:
We Didn’t Eat the Marshmallow. The Marshmallow Ate Us. - http://ht.ly/suw96 @paultough
Deep pockets push $250M NY education tax credit | Journal News http://ht.ly/svfvc @davidmckay415 [Deep pockets will oppose it, too.]
This Year’s Best [Accountability] Reporting on Education - ProPublica @mariancw http://ht.ly/svdnX [Anything missing?]
Weingarten on Education in '14, Panel on Web, Teachers (Audio) @bloombergradio http://ht.ly/suwX8 @janewilliams @susaw
How College Pricing Is Like Holiday Retail Sales - ProPublica http://ht.ly/svdbg “carefully engineered illusion" ... “retail theater.”
The Latest Language-Learning Trend for NYC Kids: Coding -- New York Magazine http://ht.ly/suxgA
No books, no clue at "city’s worst school" | New York Post http://ht.ly/svJYP
Also: Thanks to everyone who told me that my "From Jay Mathews" tweets -- my long-running effort to make sure his stuff makes it into social media -- had been flipped with Valerie Strauss's posts. I'm working on getting the feeds sorted out.
Image via Flickr.
Here are some of the best stories, news updates, and blog posts that I came across and Tweeted out over the weekend. Take a look. What do you think? Let me know if I missed anything good.
NY Only State Still On Board With School Data Plan http://ht.ly/r7wnA AP's Karen Matthews re #inbloom
Frank Bruni Are Kids Too Coddled? NYT http://ht.ly/r8vQE [yes] @frankbruni
The Movement Against Testing in Schools -- New York Magazine http://ht.ly/r8OKH
JFK's Deeply Revealing Harvard Application Essay - Eleanor Barkhorn - The Atlantic http://ht.ly/r7vSj @eleanorbarkhorn
Oil And Gas Industry Advocates Accused Of 'Hijacking' Texas Textbooks [UPDATE] http://ht.ly/r7wgE
The Classic Classroom Management Mistake and How to Avoid It http://ht.ly/r8DOK @bamradionetwork
Beyond Minecraft: Games That Inspire Building and Exploration | MindShift http://ht.ly/r7ywn
The power of preschool done right | Hechinger Report http://ht.ly/r7wa7 re UPK Educare
PolitiFact | Fact-checking Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's new book http://ht.ly/r8EmE
Even Playing TV in the Background May Impede Kids’ Development http://ht.ly/r8FzB via @pacificstand
How Does ‘Lord of the Flies’ Fit Into Common Core? | MindShift http://ht.ly/r7ynV
Tom Harkin Says We Are Missing the Boat in Education (Audio) @bloombergradio @susaw http://ht.ly/r7xPS
Rhodes Scholars 2014: 32 American Students Announced As Winners http://ht.ly/r8wT5
Here's what I tweeted out over the weekend, including stories from sites and outlets I don't usually check during the week:
Some Chicago commenters not buying Michelle Obama's story about how she was underestimated at Whitney Young HS http://ht.ly/qSnJh
No mention of EdSec Duncan in this Politico piece about tight White House control over Cabinet members http://ht.ly/qSoHm
10 Examples of "Common Core Blarney" from @shermandorn http://ht.ly/qTdwF #ccss
Bridgeport Schools's Paul Vallas Discusses Tenure (Audio) @bloombergradio http://ht.ly/qUrTj
Scathing GAO report on poor oversight of DC's school voucher program http://wapo.st/178R67H echoes this 2012 story http://wapo.st/U7aCLg
Developing countries and MOOCs: Online education could hurt national systems. http://ht.ly/qUBSY
ICYMI: How Big Data Is Changing Science (and Society) http://ht.ly/qUtaH
Should [Hospital] Ratings Be Embraced or Despised? http://ht.ly/qUt6A Pacific Standard - Relevant for college and K12 school ratings
Why We Prefer Smaller Rewards Today Over Larger Rewards Tomorrow http://ht.ly/qUt1s #eatthemarshmallowsnow!
TEDYouth Talks Ignite Curiosity | MindShift http://ht.ly/qUsy3 @mindshiftKQED
Checklist: Are You Ready for iPads In Your School? | MindShift http://ht.ly/qUstL @mindshiftKQED
Here are some of the best long articles and blog posts from over the weekend, when you were doing something else:
Only AL CA ID IO MT NE NH ND TX VT "have no formal policy" on test-based TVAL,says @NCTQ via Economist http://ht.ly/qEYTp
Questions about coverage of bullying, teen suicide, & the simplistic links made between the two - On The Media http://ht.ly/qFyPL
Eleven Months After Sandy Hook, Incalculable Grief and an Influx of Sympathy and Money - NY Nag http://ht.ly/qG0aT
SimCityEDU: A Video Game That Tests Kids While Killing The Bubble Test | Fast Company | Business + Innovation http://ht.ly/qI91y
The Democratic Education of Unschoolers - Politics - Utne Reader http://ht.ly/qG0wL
Being a military kid is 'really hard,' but it's also full of opportunity | PBS NewsHour http://ht.ly/qHp2J
How we got to the Common Application - NYT http://ht.ly/qEYnq "From an eight-page form and a photograph to the Common App."
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Best Stuff From The Long Weekend" »
I'm a sucker for insider accounts by folks who aren't entirely comfortable with what they've been doing, so you can guess that my favorite story from the weekend was the McSweeny's pice written by a test prep tutor (bold below). What was yours?
Birth order and school performance: First-borns do better in school because parents discipline them more.ht.ly/qrVAQ
The evolution of backpack cool over the ages, from one strapping to two ht.ly/qrV7y Slate via @ForrestW
Minerva Strives for Affordable Elitism - NYT ht.ly/qs1Hd
One million kids signed up for the Hour of Code. Let the geeking out commence | PandoDaily ht.ly/qrXvI
Why Bill de Blasio’s Promise May Also Be His Problem -- New York Magazine ht.ly/qrXaF
Progressives should follow the Tea Party - Salon.comht.ly/qrX6B
Ruminations from the Test-Prep Industry - Part 2 @mcsweeneys ht.ly/qrWsQ
Let the Games Begin: Students and Teachers Dive Into SimCityEDU ht.ly/qrVU2 @MindShiftKQED
Bob Putnam, Jane Quinn, Tony Smith on Opportunity Gap (Audio) @BloombergRadio ht.ly/qrVOv
Breaking Bad: What To Do When Good Lesson Plans Go Wrong ht.ly/qrVKF @BAMRadioNetwork
Cool and childhood: How cool evolves from grade school to high school to adulthood. ht.ly/qrVGu
Over the weekend I try and check out magazines and other long-form sites for education-related coverage that I don't get to during the week and share them via Twitter. Here are some of the best from this past weekend:
NYT: Creating a TV show to persuade young women to become hackers http://ht.ly/qdsdq
PolitiFact rates "mostly false" Ravitch's claim that test scores have gone down since NCLB http://ht.ly/qdjSk
Longform podcast interview with Malcolm "Anti-Small Class" Gladwell http://ht.ly/qdrW7
Steubenville HS Staffers Outraged at Treatment of Indicted IT Director - The Atlantic Wire http://ht.ly/qcqHm
Leonarda and the School Bus: France's Roma Fight : The New Yorker ht.ly/qdVA5
CSNY, Arcade Fire Unplug At 27th Annual Bridge School Benefit | Rolling Stone ht.ly/qdVLb
Report: American Education Isn't Mediocre—It's Deeply Unequal - Julia Ryan - The Atlantic ht.ly/qdOo4
Is Facebook Safe for Kids? In 2004, the online...ht.ly/qdN5W
The Macroeconomics 101 of Cheating http://ht.ly/qcvEA
Rolling Out an iPad Pilot Program, With Eyes Wide Open | MindShift ht.ly/qdMLO
Barnard’s Spar, Ann Tisch on Schools for Women, Girls (Audio) ht.ly/qdMDU
Is Ethical Parenting Possible? -- New York Magazineht.ly/qdJHo Just ask your children.
Game Changer Chicago (GCC) Design Lab at UofC creates alt reality game for at risk youth http://ht.ly/qdhVv #edtech @gtoppo
The national education story of the week isn't the shutdown or the charter protests in NYC or anything else going on out East but rather the drama surrounding the much-delayed, much-weakened California law to speed the removal of sexual predators in the classroom that now awaits Governor Brown's decision.
As EdSource Today explains, many administrator and advocacy groups are against the final version that was passed by the legislature, however teachers unions support it and it's being championed by a legislator who was among those who scuttled last year's much stronger version of the legislation.
Now that I've got your attention, here are some other recent stories about the drama: Will Sexual Predator Teachers Hide Under California BillAB 375? (LA Weekly); California school bills show teacherunion power (Sacto Bee); Bill to streamline teacher dismissals heads to governor; critics call it flawed (SJ Mercury News).
How about someone asking Randi Weingarten, Dennis Van Roekel, or Arne Duncan what their positions are on the legislation -- or whether they're going to intervene (as they seem willing to do in many other state and local issues)? How about StudentsFirst, Stand for Children (happy birthday, Jonah!) and DFER getting more active on the issue and letting lawmakers including Brown know that they're being watched.
Articles and commentary I came across over the weekend and posted via Twitter, in strict order of importance:
D.C. school reform’s surprising champion - The Washington Post http://ow.ly/nALgP
Education Secretary Arne Duncan teams with Jeremy Lin and others for a game truly worth winning - The Washington Post ow.ly/nCCgR
Former @USDE assistant secty Thelma Melendez might be new LA Mayor's education deputy, says@laschoolreport http://ow.ly/nBwVc
Only about 5 of @sirsargent's 18 edreform items seem partic witty/accurate to me http://ow.ly/nALIW [2,7,11,13,17] @gothamschools
How Vast Error-Prone Databases Are Trashing Our [Education?] Lives ow.ly/nC8fe#bigdata/baddata
Two Philly high schools merge -- or is it just their football teams? NYT Magazine ow.ly/nCbck
Higher Education Has Bigger Problems Than Student Loans via @feedly ow.ly/nC7Nt
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Good Stuff You (Might Have) Missed" »
Used to be, the term "troll" was a pejorative term limited to commenters who wrote inflammatory responses to blog posts, hijacking threads and getting everyone all angry and red-cheeked.
(v.) (1) To deliberately post derogatory or inflammatory comments to a community forum, chat room, newsgroup and/or a blog in order to bait other users into responding.
These days, as this Salon article points out (Everything is “trolling” now), bloggers and writers who tend towards inflammatory blog posts and articles are considered trolls, too.
It's a compliment, of sorts.
To some extent, the term's expanded use reflects the reality that publishers and respondents share many of the same goals these days -- to win your attention and response.
It's also a result of the flattening effect of social media -- publishers, writers, and respondants are all operating in the same spaces now (ie, Twitter, Facebook).
I'm as guilty of trolling as anyone else. A reader of my Chicago site wrote in not too long ago that I "trolled like a boss," which was meant as an insult but felt like a compliment.
So, who are education's biggest trolls? Read on for the list, tell me who I'm missing and I'll add them in an update. Yes, I'm trolling you with this post.
Continue reading "Media: Who Are Education's Biggest Trolls (Besides Me)?" »
Longer stories and items I came across over the weekend:
What Real Collaboration Between Teachers and Techies Looks Like | EdSurge News ow.ly/mYlRu
Doctor/Professor - harvardedcast.libsyn.com/doctor-profess… via @_feedspot
"TFA isn’t going away anytime soon, so work with us to make the organization better." -@jgfong http://ow.ly/mWeJ4 #FMFP2013
MOOC for Philanthropy ow.ly/mWWcO PHILANTHROPY 2173
Why Black Colleges Might Sue the Obama Administration | New Republic ow.ly/mWPh8 [calling Daren Briscoe!?]
Follow debate over #TFA this weekend at via #FMFP2013@jgfong
Welcome Antidote to Billionaire Boys' Club Movies @truthout ow.ly/mWMzL
House Evades Food Stamp Renewal - In These Timesow.ly/mWObg [you'd think everyone would be working on this, but no.]
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Stuff You Missed (Or Wish You Had)" »
Someone please find the education/reform lessons from Rachel Jeantel (Trayvon's friend) ow.ly/mwoFl
From Jay Mathews: Alexandria teacher fired despite no negative evaluations: Three months ago, at the end of hi... bit.ly/17wEHsQ
Don't forget to check out @PartnerwithLAEP's now CA-focused Public Education NewsBlast ow.ly/mwq0u
Six new TED-ed shorts on the theme of "superhero sicence" just launched ow.ly/mwpBz
"Clapping is contagious" http://ow.ly/mwnE7 Another reason why classroom observations aren't enough
Gary Huggins, Educators Discuss Summer Learning (Audio) http://media.bloomberg.com/bb/avfile/v1oBWYSfNoGA.mp3 … @bloombergradio
Los Angeles Schools Train Students To Promote Obamacare - Reason 24/7 : http://Reason.com http://ow.ly/mvwL7 #lausd
Hand Gestures The Secret Code To Learning? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kqed/nHAK/~3/o_kGiuWxxOg/ … via @mindshift
Automatic enrollment (vs. universal choice) -- I wonder! http://ow.ly/mwlwl
Ed angle to the New Yorker feature on immigration reform: decreased influence of the Heritage Foundation http://ow.ly/mwnPn
You should really be working all weekend (and following me on Twitter @alexanderrusso) but just in case you've got better things to do here are some stories from Friday-Sunday you might find useful to know about:
Is It Worthy? How to Judge the Value of a Tech Product | MindShift ow.ly/mij2e
The gay rights movement’s key advantage over the abortion rights movement Salon.com ow.ly/miiWp
Standardized admission testing reshaped elite | The Tennessean | tennessean.com ow.ly/miiU5
@RelayGSE Dean Mayme Hostetter talks #TeacherPrep @AmRadioWorksow.ly/mibyI
America's Elite Toddlers Face New Obstacles to Preschool Admission ow.ly/1XUzOX
"We want fairness. There is no fairness if you do not let us cheat." ow.ly/mj9LP
Monsters University reviewed. - Slate Magazineow.ly/mii5a ["Not a safety school, but not a reach either."]
Audio: Experts on Medical Education, Teacher Training Programs (Audio) @bloomburgEDU ow.ly/mi4JL
NCLB Bills: A Side-By-Side Comparison - Politics K-12 - Education Week ow.ly/lQmUy
Slim chances for new version of No Child Left Behind | HechingerEd Blog ow.ly/lOZ5r @s_garl
"This Is Morally Wrong": Watch Elizabeth Warren on GOP and Student Loans | Mother Jones ow.ly/lQcKM
Power to the Preschoolers ow.ly/1XfcSr
How Adaptive Learning is Transforming Education - TIME ow.ly/lQm2k @kaylawebley
Where Unions Went Wrong on ‘Right to Work’ - In These Times ow.ly/lQcKy
Six Big Tech Trends | MindShift ow.ly/lQcOd mobile learning, open content, cloud computing, and yes -- 3D printers.
From Jay Mathews: How to survive our education battles: The latest fashions in the American education system a... bit.ly/18i6f8Z
SATs have nothing on China’s dreaded gaokao exam -Salon.com ow.ly/lQokG
13-year old with IQ higher than Einstein is also refreshingly modest - Salon.com ow.ly/lQofK
32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow - NYTow.ly/lQcHf #17 Terrifying playgrounds
Here are some of the tweets I sent out over the weekend, when I look at longform sites, magazines, and generally try and share everything good that I missed during the week:
Schools Are Not Cool - NYTimes.com ow.ly/lDfZ9 @smosle
Charter School Advocates Eye Investment In Mayor’s Race | WBUR ow.ly/lAQx7 via @DFER_News
How family income may cause disparities in school achievement, and what to do about it. ow.ly/lCUtF @AmRadioWorks
Sir Ken Robinson: How to Escape Education’s Death Valley | MindShift ow.ly/lCSSZ
Vicki Phillips and Randi Weingarten Share Common Ground (Audio) @bloomburgEDU ow.ly/lCXdZ
Poverty Flees to Highland Park (Detroit), Carol Stream (Chicago), and Forest Park (Atlanta) | Mother Jones ow.ly/lCX2x
From Jay Mathews: How a special-education student found success: Seven years ago, when I first wrote about Pau... bit.ly/14nFngm
King unveils long-awaited evaluation systems for city educators | GothamSchools ow.ly/lD0UV
Cartoon: "It's an intern-eat-intern world out there!" ow.ly/lD0fa
33 Teachers Who Got The Last Laugh ow.ly/lDgkmBuzzfeed via @gothamschools
Samuel Beckett Used to Drive Andre the Giant to School | Geekosystem ow.ly/lCZLk
FL Girl Expelled From High School and Charged Over Lesbian Relationship #OPJustice4Kaitlyn, Mother Jones ow.ly/lCVZL
Here are some interesting items from over the weekend and long-form sites and magazines I don't get to during the week:
New Dade Cty teachers union boss Fedrick Ingram rose from poverty to president MiamiHerald ow.ly/lbzVr via @RoxannaElden
College Is Going Online, Whether We Like It Or Not - Zachary Karabell - The Atlantic ow.ly/la4ee
"One day, you will see [grad] speakers ditch the podium & go straight for the telemarketer ear piece and microphone" ow.ly/la4kD
Lyndon Baty and the Robot That Saved Him - - Dallas Observer ow.ly/l9xyX A sick boy and his robot sidekick keep beating the odds.
Can Venture Capital Deliver on the Promise of the Public University? n+1 ow.ly/lbmil
Educators Discuss the Use of Tablets in K-12 Education (Audio) ow.ly/lbm9T
Beware Batch Processing Of Kids: Ed Tech Expert - Education - Online ow.ly/lbm8d
How classroom teachers may be able to combat the impact of stereotype threat @AmRadioWorks ow.ly/lbmve
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Online Tablets Projects Oh My" »
Over the weekend, I check magazines and other long-form sites and sometimes there are good things that come through:
Our schools and the truth about testing ow.ly/kULvD Deborah Gist
Feds Want More Details from CA Waiver Application goo.gl/YpSVj [includeds CORE explainer re peer review comments] @PoliticsK12
From Jay Mathews: A powerful term in U.S. high schools: DBQ: You may not know what a DBQ is. For most of my li... bit.ly/160GZTE
The Death of “Freedom”: Last Days of a Dying School | Emmanuel Felton | @ProjWordsworth ow.ly/kUvmP
Los Angeles Teachers Battle Against School Breakfast Program ow.ly/kUFBG @TakePart @vanromo
Study: Math Skills at Age 7 Predict How Much Money You'll Make - Lindsay Abrams - The Atlantic ow.ly/kW4SC
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Rhode Island Supe Gets Real On Testing" »
Every weekend I search far and wide for interesting, off-beat, longer pieces on or about education issues, and tweet them out. Then, each Monday, I gather and post them here for you:
NYT's @smosle proposes a deal between class size and teacher quality hawks -- any takers? ow.ly/kIjcE
Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s Start-Up Machine -NYTimes.com ow.ly/kI1yY
Bringing Finland to Texas seems like a distant dream now, but who knows? A lot can happen in ten years. Texas Monthly ow.ly/kIPsc
Online review culture (Yelp for Schools!) -- is it helping or hurting? The Wilson Quarterly via A&L Daily ow.ly/kIQKp
Feeding the Paranoid Right [and Left] - The American Prospect ow.ly/kIQcz
From Jay Mathews: Did D.C. schools cheat? Ask the students.: Dear D.C. parents and grandparents: Want to uncov... bit.ly/13fgDZm
In one Oregon family of teachers, pension reform comes close to home | OregonLive.com ow.ly/kIhk2
BloombergEDU: Charbonneau on Teacher of the Year, Lyles on Columbine (Audio) ow.ly/kIP3l
How to talk to teens about sexting and Steubenville-like cases. - Slate Magazine ow.ly/kIPRy
College Without High School, a teenagers’ guide to skipping high school and going to college via Utne Reader ow.ly/kIRdm
Continue reading "Weekend Reading: Stuff You Missed (Or Wish You Had)" »
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in This Week In Education are strictly those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Scholastic, Inc.