ICYMI: Summer Launch Edition (6/1)
It comes at different times in different areas, but for the Board of Directors and the Chief Marital Officer, summer vacation starts this week. It's a curious custom (which is not related to setting the young'uns free to work on the farm) but some traditions are hard to fight.
Here we go with this week's reading. Remember to share and amplify.
T C Weber with an update on Penny Schwinn, an experienced edugrifter headed for a federal job.
What Lessons Are We Learning from Our Students?
Jose Luis Vilson reminds teachers about one particular group we learn from.
One Year in With a Shitty Phone Policy
Matt Brady brings the sass with this reflection on the predictable results of a phone policy at his school.
Brevard Schools discusses punishment for students using chosen names without permission
Oh, the various issues that come up when you decide that nobody is allowed to call a student by the name the student has chosen. Nobody? Hmm...
AI is Maybe Sometimes Better than Nothing
Michael Pershan takes a look at that miracle paper about AI in Nigeria and, well, about the miraculous part...
Georgia high school cancels "The Crucible" after complaints of "demonic" themes
It's panic time in Georgia, where the school administration lacks the backbone to stand up to one wingnut parental unit.
19-Year-Old College Student Pleading Guilty in PowerSchool Data Hack
Massachusetts college student is behind the big Power School jack and subsequent extortion attempt. He's in some trouble now.
Cybercharter school reform is unfinished business in Pa.
Boy, is it ever. The president of the state school board association makes the case one more time in the Morning Call.
Declining Dems for Education Reform (DFER) Seeks Salvation in MAGA Regime
Dark money expert Maurice Cunningham tracks the latest chapter in the continuing saga of those faux democrats at DFER.
California Charter School Movement Update
Thomas Ultican digs into the current state of charter shenanigans in California.
When the Middle Fails: What Weak Educational Leadership Really Looks Like
We don't talk about lousy administrators often enough. Julian Vasquez Heilig presents ten qualities too frequently found in education's middle managers.
Reading Story Sold Manufactured Crisis
Paul Thomas explains once again why the Science of Reading folks are leading us down the wrong path.
Remember when MOOC was going to kill all the universities. Audrey Watters does, and she has some lessons for us from that marketing-masquerading-as-prediction.
Misty Her admits list of alleged personal attacks by teachers union was AI generated
In Fresno, the superintendent charged that the union was harassing her through social media posts and e-mails. She shared documentation. Turns out her staff handed the compiling job over to AI, and--oopsies! Not quite accurate.
The AI Slop Scandal Around the MAHA Report Is Getting Worse
Fresno superintendent shouldn't feel bad-- the doofus running the Department of Health and Human Services did the same damn thing. But once you look past the really obvious AI slop, turns out you find-- more slop.
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
If you like your AI skepticism straight up and sharp-edged, Ed Zitron is your guy.
This week at the Bucks County Beacon, I explained why the voucher language hiding in the Big Beautiful Bill is Bad News.
Over at Forbes.com, I took a look at the newly-released budget request for the Department of Ed. Not pretty.
If you are a young human of a certain age (or any age really because some cartoon shows work for fans of all ages), the other big news for the upcoming week is that a new season of Phineas and Ferb is dropping next Saturday. Here at the Institute, we are cautiously excited.
As always, you are invited to subscribe to the newsletter, and whenever I drop something onto the interwebs, it will fall into your inbox. Free now and always.
Good reading instruction based on evidence looks different in an elementary classroom than it does in a high school. It should be different, and this perspective from a high school teacher is directed at the wrong target. The issue she has here is the claim that our students are not doing well in school based on unrealistic goals set by politicians and not educators.
But the recognition that most students cannot simply intuit decoding text by looking at it while someone reads it to them is well researched. Elementary students need explicit instruction in phonics, vocabulary, semantics, and they need teachers to model reading skills. There is a lot of evidence behind SOS including MRI scans of changes in the brain that happen when dyslexic students receive proper instruction. Curriculum publishers made a lot of money LLI and Guided Reading they stand to lose a lot if they can no longer sell their wares to schools. The Science of Reading is a movement to make sure that teachers are taught the content and techniques to support reading rather than handed a curriculum and told to follow it blindly. There is a larger discussion to be had about teacher training, professional development and teachers as experts. The idea that anyone can teach if you give them the right curriculum is a large part of the problem.