Education News, Analysis, and Commentary
I’ve now read the UFT’s excess report (pdf), referenced in the NYT story in the post below. Short take: We don’t need Medina after all! I’ll stick with this. Original TNTP report here (pdf). But, worth nothing that although you wouldn’t know it from the rhetoric, the UFT’s recommendations are actually pretty similar to TNTP’s… …
This Daily News editorial pretty much gives the flavor of where things are today on the teacher debate in Gotham. But, rumors are flying about some sort of UFT data doomsday weapon that will undo the TNTP analysis. Readers anxiously await! Incidentally, why does this issue matter? Because given the trajectory of contract/policy reform this …
In the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Education Trust CEO Denise Forte and I discuss Virginia’s new plan for school accountability, why it’s needed, why it matters, and what needs to come next. Impound Lots And here we go. The Trump Administration, or at least parts of it, are itching to challenge key elements of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act …
Continue reading “The Impoundment Wars, Begun They Have. Plus, Wait, What Just Happened at UVA?”
Coming Attractions: On 6/30, I’ll be leading a keynote discussion at the NACPS conference on the state of the charter school sector. Jed Wallace and I will also record a WonkyFolk later in the day. I hope you’ll also check out sessions by my Bellwether colleagues Carrie Irvin and Jenn Schiess on academic recovery and finance. ICYMI …
Today at the Supreme Court arguments were heard in two cases involving race-based affirmative action, one from North Carolina and a higher profile case against Harvard. A lot of people are saying it’s the most important case(s) of the court’s current term. I guess I disagree with that in the sense that an important case …
Continue reading “Affirmative Action Is Probably Doomed – But It’s Not”
Pointing out that our culture wars, and politics more generally, are toxic isn’t telling you anything you don’t already know. But the past several years the weaponizing of disagreement in and around the schools is an increasing problem for anyone actually trying to improve the schools. Now we have a new creature in education’s fever …
Continue reading ““Groomer” Is The New “CRT” And That Sucks”
At Bellwether today we have a new ranking of teacher retirement plans for all 50 states and D.C. In a nutshell we look across 15 dimensions – how long it takes to get a pension, do you have alternative and portable options, are state policymakers meeting their obligations to fund the plan, how much do …
Continue reading “How Does Your State’s Teacher Retirement Plan Rank?”
This Linda Jacobson article in The 74 about math and anti-racism is a good look at an issue that is more complicated than some of the rhetoric around it. Seems like there is probably wider agreement on points like this, “You and I were taught that everything happened in Greece,” said Kristopher Childs, director of …
Continue reading “Odds & Ends: Culture Wars, Math, And The Six Degrees Of Checker Finn”
Matt Yglesias had an important post over the holiday break I’ve been meaning to highlight – and not just because it name-checked Sara Mead making an important point. It’s about culturally relevant curriculum, why it matters, and how increasing stridency in the woke/anti-woke debate can obscure a fair amount of agreement about it. ($) The article …
Continue reading “Is The Debate About Culturally Relevant Curriculum A Phony War?”
Andy Rotherham has gone fishin’ for the summer, but in the meantime he’s given me the keys to the blog. I can’t match his wit or his knowledge of fishing, but I’ll try to keep it lively around here. Here’s what I’ve been reading lately: New JOLTS data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show, once …