ICYMI: Applefest Edition (10/9)

Once a year, my small town transforms into the site of a three-day festival that is a combination of every craft fair you've ever seen, plus a race, plus a car show, plus food, plus a combination homecoming and fall festival. Our excuse is a tenuous connection to John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) who lived in the area briefly before heading west, apple stuff in hand. But it is one of the big highlights of the year here, and a chance to run into all sorts of folks. This year we have the bonus of the twins, who are never not amazed and excited to see someone from school outside of school. 

Despite all that activity, I've still got a reading list for you. Remember to share your favorites. Amplifying voices is how the word gets out.

Big tech is co-parenting our children. Yes, be afraid. 

The New York Times looks at Susan Linn's "searing indictment of corporate greed" and the tech companies who target children, as well as the lawmakers who make it easy. 

Some Politicians Count on Teachers Staying Silent. We Can’t Afford To

At Education Week, Monte Bourjaily says it's time for teachers to speak up and push back against the wave of gag laws.

Tennessee charter school commission accused of 'enormous conflict of interest'

NewsChannel 5 out of Nashville has been all over the state's charter school shenanigans, including this story of how the state has handed charter advocates the power to overrule local government. 

An ever-growing disconnect

While we're talking about Tennessee shenanigans, it's useful to check in on Dad Gone Wild

Dallas Schools Turn to NFTs to Boost Student Engagement

From the file of Dumb Things That School Districts Buy Into. 

The Reckless Rankings Game

The Chronicle of Higher Education will only give you a couple of free articles, but this should be one of them. Akil Bello offers this scathing look at the U.S. News college ranking racket.

Gaming the school rating systems

Gail Sunderland notes that parents mostly like their schools, so reformsters have created school rating systems that are far more about politics than about education. 

Foot soldiers for Ron DeSantis: The right-wing money and influence behind Moms for Liberty

Nobody tracks dark money influences like Maurice Cunningham, and in this piece for Our Schools (this link will take you to LA Progressive, but you can find the piece in several outlets) he plays connect the dots with Moms For Liberty and entirely too many other of the usual shadowy players.

Book bans part of coordinated assault on public education

Jonathan Friedman of PEN America put out this op-ed explaining why there's more to worry about than just the book bans.

NC virtual charter schools continue to have poor performance yet high demand

In news that will come as no surprise to those who have been paying attention, North Carolina Public Radio discovers that the state's cyber-schools aren't very good at educating students.

Reading the College Board's 990

I'm sending you to Tik Tok this time, and a user whose whole thing is reading non-profit's federal 990 forms. This time she breezes through the College Board's form and golly bob howdy but do those folks make a ton of money. This includes David Coleman's salary. Yikes. 

A broke marching band parades on Capitol Hill to practice. Magic ensues.

There is perhaps more to unpack here than Lizzie Johnson at the Washington Post gets into, but it's still a cool piece, especially if you're a marching band person.

Meanwhile, over at Forbes, I took a look at the federal audit of the Charter School Programs grant program, which finds, once again, a hellacious amount of waste and mendacity. And I took a look at North Carolina's terrible merit pay plan and how it seems to have come via some shadowy backroom dealings.