ICYMI: Presidential Birthdays Edition (2/18)
I am sure that Washington and Lincoln would have wanted their birthdays to be celebrated on the Monday most convenient for creating a three day weekend, so well done, us.
If you're new around here, welcome to the weekly compendium of Stuff To Read. I read a lot, and these are the articles that I think are worth noting, but which I may not have addressed in postings this week. It is by no means exhaustive--there's a lot of stuff out there--but I am only human. This list goes up every Sunday. There is no quiz. And you are encouraged to share anything that speaks to you. It's tough to break through out there on the interwebs and every bit of amplification helps.
Nancy Flanagan offers some useful thoughts about how to process this eternal criticism.
Christian Nationalists Attack Newton Teachers Association
You may have heard that the Newton teachers' union is being sued for its naughty strike, but before reaching a conclusion, you may want to look at who exactly is behind the lawsuit. Maurice Cunningham has the real story.
Lewisville educator on leave after Libs of TikTok post shows him in dress for spirit day
I don't know if we live in the stupidest timeline, but it sure isn't the wisest or kindest. Libs of Tik Tok strikes again, but she couldn't do it without the help of a lot of troubled and troubling people.
I’m proud of my work as a principal and drag queen. Nothing will change that.
Oklahoma's Education Dudebro In Chief cheered when this career educator was driven from his job. Now Shane Murnan tells his own story.
8 states restricted sex ed last year. More could join amid growing parents' rights activism
Alia Wong reports for USA Today on this growing trend. Yeah, if we just don't mention sex and LGBTQ persons around students, they probably won't ever realize those things exist.
Students lose out as cities and states give billions in property tax breaks to businesses
The Conversation teams up some researchers and journalists to create this tremendous story about one more way that some cities and states cut public education off at the knees.
They call it ‘school choice,’ but you may not end up with much of a choice at all
Pamela Lang is the mother of a student with special needs. For Hechinger Report, she writes about what school choice looks like on the ground, and how little choice she actually has.
It's You. Hi, You're the problem, It's You
TC Weber is a master of tracking the many players in Tennessee education policy, and this is an excellent example of his work, including some info about two of everyone's favorite choice evangelists.
Tim Alberta Challenges the “Single-Issue” Voter
The indispensable Mercedes Schneider is working her way through Tim Alberta's new book about evangelicals and politics (and so am I, and so should you be), and provides us with a look into one chapter here.
Scripted early reading approach no substitute for real teaching
Some teachers in Massachusetts take a look at one of those super-duper reading learning systems (Appleseeds) and explain why they find it less than great.
North Carolina School Privatizers Are Subverting Democracy
Nora de la Cour writes in Jacobin about some of the shenanigans of North Carolina privatizers, for whom democratic processes are an obstacle.
Woman challenges over 150 books in DD2 schools despite not having a child in the district
From South Carolina, just one more story of where all these challenges to books are really coming from.
School Moms Battle for Public Education
Thomas Ultican takes a look at the new book School Moms by Laura Pappano.
Book Review: “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire”
While we're talking about books, there's also a new book about Gates out, and who better to review it than Anthony Cody, who previously wrote his own book about Gates.
Educators Get To Imagine Bigger, Better Too (On TED)
Jose Luis Vilson talks about the TED experience, how it can be useful for educators, and even offers a list of TED recommendations for us to sample.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Reading
Paul Thomas talks about the terms that get tossed around during every skirmish in the reading wars.
Student Differentiation v. Alignment: Know the Difference and Set Children Free
How should teachers differentiate when the goal is to meet a standard? Nancy Bailey considers the question.
School Ratings and Rankings Cause Educational Redlining and Resegregation
Jan Resseger, spinning off an article by Ruth Wattenberg, explains another reason that rating and ranking schools is a bad idea.
Oh, Florida. Here comes a bill to favor "classical" charter schools, a small group in Florida, but one that involves several well-connected politicians' wives. Sue Kingery Woltanski has the details.
Cardinals honor injured teammate Donahue during game against Hayfield
High school sports story, here on the list because the writer is my nephew, who writes about college sports, but also does some local stringer work in his down time. There are a lot of writers in my family, but only one who actually makes a living at it, and he does some nice work.
Cory Doctorow is a hell of a writer about tech. This is not directly about education, but disruption is certainly an education thing. Also, every time he points out what a scam Uber is, I think of all the people (like Betsy DeVos) who think Uber is a good model for how education should work.
This week at Forbes.com, where I write about education and get paid for it, I put up a widely read piece about a new paper covering what the Big Standardized Test really measures, and another about Florida's latest bad education bill aimed at future teachers.
MA's ed commish, responsible for the Appleseeds initiative, has announced he'll be leaving his post on March 15th. Buh bye! Riley was appointed by the privatizing governor Charlie Baker, loyal servant to the Waltons. Just wondering which righty edu-thinky tank he'll land at.