Education News, Analysis, and Commentary
There is a lot of reaction to the Ryan Grim Intercept article I linked the other day about the struggles at progressive organizations. Matt Yglesias sees a pipeline problem, Sarah Haider offers some ideas to escape it. Lots of other thoughtful reaction. Although education media has studiously managed to avoid covering this in education organizations, it’s …
Continue reading “General Ops Funding > Project By Project To Get Things Done”
New Bellwether playbook on widespread panic impact. Sorry, scroll to the bottom for that. San Francisco recalled its DA earlier this week. Like the school board recalls we’re hearing again how this is actually all right wing funded and so forth. This. Is. San. Francisco. For more reasoned takes, Nellie Bowles has a long look in The …
It’s now political lore how a backbencher from Georgia started going to the well of the House of Representatives after the day’s business was concluded and howled at the moon – with only C-Span cameras as his immediate audience. Newt Gingrich parlayed this strategy into real political power in 1994, but for a long time …
I was taking some time off this week, the shad are running among other things. But it’s not every day a draft Supreme Court case leaks. Juicy Supreme Court leaks, at least historically, are once a decade kind of things. Unless you live in a cave you certainly heard about the leak of a draft …
Continue reading “What Do You Do When The Supreme Court Is Wrong?”
I’m in California for the BARR Center annual conference – first time in-person in a few years. BARR does – shhhhh – SEL work for teachers. Great results from independent evaluations. And they’re a client so all the usual disclosures and disclaimers. But, if you needed a reminder that our culture wars are dumb this …
Earlier this week I wrote about or highlighted Prince, but also why tribalism is making us dumber in the policy world, the new charter regulations (politically dumb), NFTs, NCTE’s new aversion to books, pandemic closures, testing, and pensions. Lillian Lowery has passed. She was wonderful. Committed to kids, smart, effective. A good superintendent and state …
Continue reading “Teachers Of Tik Tok…Big Loss For The Sector…Plus, Eduwonk Wildlife Edition”
Sometimes we talk about common errors you see around this sector. One of my favorites is ecological fallacies because they’re genuinely interesting to me. There are others, some less interesting. Lately you see a lot of broad category errors. Here are two I came across recently that are illustrative both on the specifics and in general. This …
On June 30, 1934 Joseph Kennedy became the first Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman. FDR had made clear he wanted Kennedy to be the chair among his initial appointees. It was an interesting choice because it cut against the wishes of progressive Democrats and Kennedy had by that time made a fortune in the “markets” …
Continue reading “State Boards Of Education Are Regulators, Not Advocates”
What I’ve written: I have a short commentary in The 74 today about the Spencer Cox veto of a bill aimed the transgender students and sports issue. What I’ve read: A few interesting things this week, with implications for education. This survey data on special education parents is worth your time. People keep talking about pandemic …
Continue reading “Odds & Ends…And Again, The Ed Sector’s Eliteness”
The intersection of politics and policy in education is on display in the debate over whether, and how much, President Biden should forgive federal student debt. Progressive groups are demanding robust relief. Some want total, some $50,000. The idea of $10,000 is something the President has been warmer to, but has not fully embraced. Others …
Continue reading “Should President Biden Forgive Student Loans? And If So, How?”