Facebook showed me the pictures I took on Memorial Day 2020. I had missed the usual observances, the marching down our main street for the morning parade, and so I went up and took pictures of the empty park, the empty street. Man, that was a crappy year. Tomorrow we'll be back to normalish. Glad to be there. In the meantime, here's some reading from the week.
Teacher Stress Is Not Inevitable
Ar EdWeek. The subheading is "But first we need to stop making teachers the Band-Aids for systemic inequalities." So you know they're at least partly on the right track.
The Building Boom Continues Despite A Loss Of Students
Carl Petersen in LA reminds us that charters are as much about real estate as education. Lots of capacity being built, even as demand shrinks.
The Big Shill: Jon Keller and Keri Rodrigues Conjure Some Sunday Morning Hocus Pocus
Maurice Cunningham blogs about more antics of the National Parents Union, aka the Walton-Koch Reformster Astroturf Office.
Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges
The Washington Post did some research and number crunching around the issues of book banning, and the results show some stunning facts about the anti-book movement.
Jan Resseger looks at a bill that promises to make a mess out of social studies in Ohio.
Many transgender health bills came from a handful of far-right interest groups, AP finds
Surprise, surprise. Most of these bills are coming from the same place (like voucher bills, etc)
Mindful AI: Crafting prompts to mitigate the bias in generative AI
AI has a bias problem (always has). Here Kieran Snyder at Textio talks about how that problem could be addressed (and offers some charts showing how bad and subtle it is).
How to Fight the Right’s Moral Panic Over Parental Rights
Jennifer Berkshire at The Nation writes about how some folks are successfully defeating the moral panic that is choking on its own too-much.
‘Culture wars’ candidates for Oregon school boards mostly lost
The Oregonian reports on the less-than-super showing of the anti-LGBTQ, anti-book crowd.
Male teachers are dying out in the education system. Here's why — and how to bring them back
From KSL in Utah, a look at the problem with, and need for, male teachers. How could Utah (or any other state) do better?
One state just became a national leader on child care. Here’s how they did it.
It's Vermont. Rachel Cohen has the story at Vox.
Wes Moore calls out politicians who ‘ban books and muzzle educators’
Politico looks at the Maryland governor who decided to take a culture war stand.
Thomas Ultican's review of the Alexandra Robbins book I already told you to go buy, but if you want further convincing...
Juggling Glass Cups, Plastic Balls, and Ghosts
Yolanda Wheelington talks about one model for helping break down work-life balance for teachers, and why some teachers stay.
Why Do Science of Reading Advocates Accept Unscientific Third-Grade Retention?
Nancy Bailey has some actual science regarding the retention of third graders, and she wants to know why certain science fans don't pay attention.
U.S. mothers labor force participation rate
It's up. Way up. This Axios piece offers a little context, some interpretation, and a graph.
Gregory Sampson's piece took me right back to those final days of the year.
A Day in the Life of a Woke Third Grade Teacher, as Imagined by a Far Right Politician
McSweeney's, with a great piece by Ashley Ingle. Fun times.
Over at Forbes, I took a look at Annie Abrams excellent book about AP courses. Plus, a new working paper that shows one more problem with cyber charters.
ICYMI: Memorial Day Weekend 2023 Edition (5/28)
Thank you for all of these links and context.
Regarding “Surprise, surprise. Most of these bills are coming from the same place (like voucher bills, etc)”
Are you saying that the groups behind anti-LGBTQ laws are the same exact groups as those that are behind voucher bills? Or that just like voucher bills in disparate states can be traced back to a small source, similarly, anti-LGBTQ laws in different states can be traced back to a small source? I read the AP article but that didn’t answer my question.