ICYMI: Noncompliance Edition (1/11)

It's like you're living in a house and someone sets fire to the front porch while they're also burgling your kitchen and stealing the shingles off the roof, all while telling you that for your own sake, you'd better follow orders and stay seated on the sofa. And maybe you feel like you can't possibly respond to all of it, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to deal with whatever piece of it you're positioned to look after, because every piece of the house matters. That's what it's like, I think. So here are readings from the week. 

The Schools Are Failing (Again)

Does this all seem familiar? Jennifer Berkshire assures that it should be, as denigrating schools is one of America's oldest pastime.

This isn’t school ‘choice.’ It’s public money siphoned off for private education.

Kevin Bolling points out that vouchers are a bit of a scam, including the kind of "choice" being peddled in Colorado.

Celebrating Traditional K-12 Public Education

Greg Wyman on resolving to make this year the year you support and celebrate public schools.

Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt

Yeah, ICE figured maybe they could go find some other people to beat up and threaten-- at a school.

Irreversible Robust Tempo of Charter School Failures and Closures

Shawgi Tell looks at the latest report on charter schools from NPE.

Where Do Kids Get Their Information?

Nancy Flanagan looks at the online sources of information, and it's not all great.

Complex Issues Rumble Beneath Plan to Close Cleveland Schools

Cleveland is going to close a bunch of schools, reflecting a complicated mess of issues that we'll be seeing all across the country. Jan Resseger has the story.

Legislative proposal would create a new mayor-appointed board over Indianapolis schools and charter schools

Yet another urban system may get to experience a new experiment in governance. Amelia Pak-Harvey and Aleksandra Appleton report for Chalkbeat Indiana.

School Sports Case Reaches the Supreme Court at a Fraught Time for Trans Rights

Looks like SCOTUS may get to address the whole business of schools forbidding trans girls to play in girls sports. 

AI Changes NOTHING About What Students Need to Learn

AI threatens to supercharge the whole "Kids don't need to learn stuff because they can just google it" argument. It's a dumb argument. Rick Hess offers a spirited takedown of the AI-before-content and skills of the future arguments.

More than 160 Texas faith leaders urge school boards to oppose setting aside time for prayer, Bible readings

When you combine religion and politics, you get politics. A whole lot of Texas faith leaders get that and keep trying to explain it to legislators.

We Need to Talk About How We Talk About 'AI'

Emily Bender and Nanna Inie offer an excellent explanation of why we really need to stop talking about AI as if it were sentient and even human.

Grok Can't Apologize. Grok Isn't Sentient. So Why Do Headlines Keep Saying It Did?

With that in mind, Parker Molloy addresses one of the major journalistic fails in covering AI stories. Grok can no more "apologize" than can Microsoft Word.

The nation’s strictest privacy law just took effect, to data brokers’ chagrin

California is set to rein in the data brokers, who are super-sad about it. Absolutely an education story when you consider that schools are considered a data-collection gold mine. Dan Goodin at Ars Technica.

The role of AI in the death of my father

Ben Riley shares a sad, strange, and very personal story about AI and his father.

2025: Because We Had To Do Something About It

And speaking of personal stories, this is a moving piece from Jose Luis Vilson. How do we make community even as we feel moved to strike back against those who damage our sense of safety.

This week at Forbes.com I looked at the Education Law Center report on fair funding. Cool thing. You can look up how well your state is doing be three different measures.

Laura Lootens this week, with a piece by Mario Casteinuovo-Tedesco, considered one of the foremost guitar composers of the 20th century. He immigrated to the US to escape racial repression under the Italian fascists, and became a citizen in 1946. He taught a large number of major writers, including Andre Previn, Jerry Goldsmith, and John Williams. He did film scores and composed operas based on American poetry, Jewish liturgy, and the Bible. A tremendous artist and musician. 

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