ICYMI: Summer's Here Edition (6/11)

In our neighborhood, school's out, the Board of Directors (coming off their birthday celebration) have begun summer vacation, the CMO starts her summer gig next week, and I am once again confronting my backwards thinking about summers. It's one of the things I have not managed to shift since retiring--I still think of summer as the time when I can put some of my extra time into projects that I haven't quite launched. As any stay-at-home parent of school age children can tell you, that is exactly backwards. 

But there's still time to read. Here's some highlights of the week.

It’s Long Past Time to End the Tyranny of High-Stakes Testing in Public Education

Damn straight. Nora dela Cour at Jacobin is singing my song. Let's be done with these things.

Voucher truths

I don't generally link you to Twitter items, but this two minute video from Stephen Owens is the best two minutes you'll watch about school vouchers. 

Arizona's fuzzy math spells trouble for school vouchers

One of the recurring issues with voucher programs is that they turn out to be waaaayyyyy costlier than promised. Especially in states like Arizona, where you're eligible even if you never set foot in a public school before. Rhonda Cagle at AZCentral has some figures. 

Iowa school voucher applications surpass expectations, cost likely to follow

Just in case you thought Arizona was an aberration...

New Oklahoma Religious Charter School Will Once Again Test the Constitution’s Protection of the Separation of Church and State

Jan Resseger looks at Oklahoma's new venture in unconstitutional school funding.

Prayers recited at Berkeley Co. School Board meetings cause chaos

They're getting cranky in South Carolina, as the "moment of silence" takes on a new format.

More on Walton and Barr Stakes in Voices for Academic Equity

Maurice Cunningham just keeps tracking the money in Massachusetts, which provides lessons for the other 49 states.

New HISD leadership hires New York consulting firm to transform district

The state takeover of Houston schools continues to be ugly, but lots of folks are drooling at their prospects. Kennedy Sessions reports for the Chronicle.

The Indoctrination Paradox

Paul Thomas wonders exactly who is being indoctrinated, how, and where.

ETS and Carnegie Team Up for ‘Zombie’ Ed Policy

Competency-based education will not go away, and as Thomas Ultican reports, it has a couple of big time boosters these days.

Can a State Reading Program Be a Success if Students are Segregated and Hungry?

Nancy Bailey asks some important questions about "fixing" reading instruction in Mississippi.

Khanmigo

Khan academy plus ChatGPT! What could possibly be wrong about that? Gregory Sampson has some thoughts.

High school seniors sneak into principal's house and spend the night in epic prank

"Epic" is an overused word, but I think it fits here. And there's video.

I was busy at Forbes this week. I looked at

-- Oklahoma's new religious charter

-- An NPE report about the rising tide of right wing charters

-- The cases on the horizon that could change the religious charter game

And as always, you can sign up for all my usual posting here and there on Substack.