Sunday, October 1, 2017

ICYMI: The Sleepless in Pennsylvania Edition (10/1)

Sometimes my wife and I have the twins thing pretty much under control. This week has not been one of those times. Here are some fine things to read, many of which I read at about 2 AM.

Degrees

Alfie Kohn on the speed and degree of transformation. As always, worth the read.

What Everyone Gets Wrong about Kindergarten

One more angle on the ongoing destruction of kindergarten in this country

Dear Parents: Your pre-schoolers Have a Bad Attitude and Keep Squirming- This Must Stop

The mommy blogs picked a letter sent home this week to parents of pre-schoolers. It's not a good look.

Teachers Are Grown-ups, Not Children

From across the Atlantic, this piece about someone who changed careers and was astonished to discover that teachers are not treated like grown-up professionals. 

Education and Economic Mobility 

Apparently Rachel Cohen wasn't getting enough angry e-mail, so she wrote this piece which has stirred some debate, in which she argues that the research says that education is not a major factor in economic mobility.

Selling Education Technology Via the Federal Education Technology Plan

Thomas Ultican looks at the federal role in marketing ed tech.

Public School Inc: When Public Education Turns into Big Business

The Center for Investigative Reporting takes a close look at BASIS, Arizona's big charter success story-- depending on your definition of success.

How To Call Bullshit on Big Data: A Practical Guide

From the New Yorker. Made my week by introducing me to the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle.

Dark Money in Mass

Andrea Gabor with a good summing up of the dark money mess in Mass, where various bad actors tried to secretly support raising the charter cap.

Torture Is Not Education

The Wall Street Journal thinks America needs Chinese education. The Wall Street Journal is wrong.


2 comments:

  1. Started reading Teachers Are Grownups. Couldn't get past the first sentence that had the word 'niggled'. Had to look up the etymology. It's an obscure English word. Given the sensitivity of our times, couldn't the writer have found a better word choice? Especially since the definition is 'something that bothers.'

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    Replies
    1. It was a British source, and probably a familiar word to UK readers.

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