Anti-Zero Sum! Walmart, Campus Life, Pipe Bombs And More! Plus Superintendent News, Title IX Suits, And The SEC’s Blog Game

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Sara Mead on zero-sum thinking in education. Phil Burgoyne-Allen on buses.

Speaking of zero-sum, Chad Aldeman and Max Marchitello explain why pension reform doesn’t have to lead to bad outcomes for current or retired teachers.

Thinking about a piece of work this week it occurred to me that I’ve never seen a state enact ambitious and sustainable reform work without a critical mass of people interested in education reform first, rather than secondary to other political issues, without a lot of political and advocacy work, the hard three yards and a could of dust kind, and without state education advocacy organizations working to advance the issue. Good news: That’s a tall but hardly impossible order.

Don’t miss this profile of EL Education at 25.

Charlie Barone on segregation and students.

Clayton Christensen says don’t get used to all these colleges everywhere.

CRPE deep-dive on public school choice across multiple cities.

NACSA on how authorizers can address the challenges of growing charter enrollment.

Fordham on ESSA accountability systems.

Rural NAEP.

Gosh, if only there were some examples of success in New York City that Mayor de Blasio could look to….

This is gross:

…The Recovery Institute treats patients from a number of unions, but many are public school employees. Many of the New Jersey teachers went to Florida after their union representatives put them in touch with a consultant who, they were told, helps members in need of treatment. That man is Terry Livorsi, a former union electrician who said in a 2007 deposition that he has been in recovery from substance abuse since 1982.

What many of the teachers weren’t told was that the smooth-talking consultant has a second business: He owns the Recovery Institute of South Florida…

Principal + pipe bomb. This is no good.

Quote: 

And frankly, these attempts at smearing parents from a classist perspective don’t work either. You’re not ever going to make me feel bad for shopping at Walmart. I’m the single mother of three boys. I shop at Walmart. A lot.

And this:

…as enticing as the salaries for boilermaker, pipefitter, and heavy equipment operator may be, if we are being honest, rich folks –and those leading the charge for vocational education– are not preparing their children for those jobs.

Whether consciously or not, the wealthy and privileged in our society prepare their children for opportunities that protect and build upon their family wealth, social status, and societal influence. From The Montessori preschool experiences for their toddlers to the decisions to spend thousands each year on private school, these parents are able to ensure their children have competitive advantages.

All this can be yours, too, for just $50K a year!

…As a college senior eager to engage in lively debate, I’m disappointed in students who used this event as an opportunity to taunt and disparage a speaker who made every effort to engage in good faith. Although many student activists at Williams seem hostile to conservative ideas, I believe all of my peers are capable of disagreeing without being disagreeable.

But college administrators aren’t much help. Since Ms. Sommers’s talk at Williams, my college’s president, Adam Falk, has characterized the event as a success. He wrote in the Washington Post this week that “our students listened closely, then responded with challenging questions and in some cases blunt critiques.”

That grossly misrepresents what happened…

Here’s a run at Title IX with an interesting fact pattern.

Superintendent debate in New Haven. Changes in Lawrence, MA, too.

Profile of my favorite SEC official.

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