Loudoun County Situation Is Probably Worse Than You Thought – Certainly Worse Than You Were Told.

Over the past year and a half I wrote a few posts on Loudoun County and how the “narrative” about it was often at odds with the facts on the ground. From an October 2021 post: A common response to those posts was the idea this Loudoun controversy was all partisan, it was transphobic, it …

Loudoun County Backstory, DeVos’ Diligence, Bloomberg Punches, Empirical Music….

Happy New Year. K-12 education is the one issue where Democrats don’t think giving money and power to poor people is a good idea. And it’s the one issue where Republicans generally do. After two years of pandemic disruptions, parental frustration, and a political shift is 2022 the year we square that circle a bit? …

Loudoun Reporting, Emerging Democratic Education Problem, Overworked…More…

Matt Taibbi is going deep on Loudoun County ($). As we’ve discussed around here much of “narrative” about Loudoun County was at odds with the facts on the ground (this is one reason why the Republican effort to translate their Virginia success to national campaigns is not straightforward). This is important reporting that gets underneath …

Is It Too Late On Recovery Dollars? Plus,Times Tanks Loudoun, Ed Finance, And Assessment Access…

States and school districts don’t do a great job communicating about, or even being transparent about, student assessments. A cynic might say that’s by design. Recovering psychometrician and Bellwether analyst Michelle Croft on the parent side of that. In last week’s fish porn post, I was remiss in not pointing out that if things like …

Why Loudoun Matters…Where Are The Scouts?

The drip drip from Loudoun County, Virginia, in regard to a sexual assault incident(s) continues.  Today we learned, ONLY ON WTOP: Loudoun County’s superintendent notified the school board the same day a female student was sexually assaulted at Stone Bridge High School, according to an email obtained by WTOP. https://t.co/Re4vkD7H60 — WTOP (@WTOP) October 22, …

Boundaries, Degrees, And…No Kids, Everyone Wasn’t Doing It…Plus Loudoun’s Gonna Be A Tell…

At Bellwether we released an analysis last week looking at school boundaries and educational access. The analysis looks at the relationship between rental housing access, per-pupil funding, and school district boundaries in the 200 largest metropolitan areas. In particular, we look at three questions, access for low-income families, relationship between rental housing and PPE, and how …

Vibes And Narratives Are No Way To Go Through Ed Policy Son…Plus Fish!

This is a long one. Buckle up. But there is fish at the end. Coming attractions: Look for a LinkedIn live on Monday with Andy Jacobs, Christine Pitts, and me discussing the strike in Portland. Like other strikes lately remarkably little attention in the media. Andy and Christine are both education experts, and also Portland …

School Shooters (And Mass Shooters In General) Don’t Tell You Much That’s Useful, *Except Ahead Of Time*

It turns out some people don’t realize the Boomtown Rats hit “I Don’t Like Mondays” was born of a school shooting. When the shooter, who killed 2 and wounded 9 with a .22 rifle, was asked by a reporter why she did it she responded, “I don’t like Mondays.” The silicon chip inside her headGets …