ICYMI: Porch Edition (9/21)

After a few years of false starts, this week we finally had a contractor here to refurbish the Institute's front porch, which was about a century old and getting a little spongy. The new deck should be able to support several small moose in a hot tub (though we have no such plans). It also requires entering and exiting through the back door, but is otherwise a pretty exciting development here. Another week of work ought to finish the job.

Meanwhile, it's time for the weekly reading list. If you're new around here, this is a weekly compendium of posts that I think are worth your attention, but which I did not get around to discussing in a regular post during the week. My recommendation is always to read and then share, from the original source, anything that strikes you as worthwhile. The one thing we can all do is amplify the voices that we think should be heard, so do your amplifying!

Wealthiest districts score best in 2025 Ohio school report cards; see the trend

Once again, wealth predicts school ratings. If you needed one more example, here you go. With charts!

Political Violence in the Classroom

Nancy Flanagan looks at the roots of political violence in classrooms. 

My Letter to Rep. Simon Cataldo on Science of Reading

Maurice Cunningham heard that a Massachusetts representative had not heard from anyone opposed to legislation to mandate the Science of Reading, so he wrote a letter to correct that impression.

Oklahoma's Supreme Court blocks Ryan Walters' Bible-heavy Social Studies standards

Another deserved loss for Walters. These are the standards that are loaded with Christian stuff as well as requirements to teach students that the 2020 election was filled with questionable irregularities. 

Teachers got mad about a cheat button in Chrome. Now Google’s pausing it.

The Washington Post looks at the trouble stirred up when Google added a cheat button to the Chrome browser.

How some Texas teachers are fighting the Ten Commandments law in classroom

Texas says the Ten Commandments have to hang in every room. Teachers are coming up with creative ways to deal with this baloney. NBC News has a report.

An Existential Threat

Jennifer Berkshire interviews Johann Neem who, in the wake of Mahmoud v. Taylor, thinks the courts are getting pretty close to declaring public education a violation of the First Amendment. Warning: this piece will not give you warm feelings.

Two U.S. District Court Judges Protect Access to Head Start for Undocumented Children

It's a small story by current standards, but an important one. Jan Resseger has the story on how the courts saved immigrant rights to Head Start.

Don’t Be Fooled by the Man Behind the Curtain

Sue Kingery Woltanski warns about some of the school choice sales pitch being used in Florida. 

Ohio Charter Schools Keep Failing to Graduate Students

Stephen Dyer explains yet another failing area for Ohio charter schools-- one of the lowest graduation rates in the state.

Are Platforms Making Us Evil?

John Warner starts with Nicholas Carr's classic essay "Is Google Making Us Stupid" and looks at the kind of work his own students are doing.

Education report calling for ethical AI use contains over 15 fake sources

From Canada, more AI nonsense. It took a committee 18 months to complete this report, and it still contains a bunch of AI slop.

Artie Shaw retired several times from the band business; he didn't love it. But he was good at it-- probably the only big band leader who never made a bad recording. 

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