ICYMI: Great East Lake Edition (8/10)

This week we have been on the shores of Great East Lake in a cabin that was first set up by my grandfather, a New Hampshire general contractor, and which has now been enjoyed by generations of the family. So my output, already diminished as I try to wrap up a book about writing (which has no actual publisher, but I have this thing where I have to write things out of my head or they just won't leave me alone, so if you are a publisher interested in a book about writing, you know how to find me), has been way down. My intake of Devil Dogs, various forms of seafood, and hours paddling about on the water has been greatly increased. 

But I still have a list of goodies for you to read. So here we go.

An Annotated Guide to OpenAI's Enshittification of Education

Benjamin Riley dissects some more of the latest AI bullshit. Sadly hilarious.

Why the White House Backed Down From Its First Big Education Cuts

Toluse Olorunnipa writes for The Atlantic and damned if somebody other than Jennifer Berkshire has noticed that public education is popular in this country.

Asking Students to Use AI Responsibly When The Adults Aren't

Anne Lutz Fernandez points out that there's a serious problem with asking teachers to get students to do what allegedly responsible adults will not.

Bibbidi Bobbidi What?

From Sue Kingery Woltanski-- turns out that Florida vouchers aren't just paying for theme park tickets, but for some dress-up shopping sprees as well.

Educational genomics and embryo selection startups

Ben Williamson with news about some really creepy new business initiatives.

New and damning school voucher data confirm worst fears

Rob Schofield reports from North Carolina yet more findings about who is really using school vouchers.

Entire board of directors at charter school resigns after allegations of massive fraud scheme

Carlos Garcia reports for Blaze Media on a Californias charter school that has achieved spectacular levels of fraud and waste. Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools in Sacramento is a very special outfit.

Parents intervene in Missouri voucher lawsuit with help from Herzog Foundation leader

If you're not familiar with the Herzog Foundation, it's another pile of rich conservative money aimed at privatizing education. They're at it again in Missouri.

Federal judge bars Arkansas public schools from displaying the Ten Commandments

Not just barring it, but puzzling how anyone could have thought that such a thing was remotey legal.

Public schools are closing as Arizona’s school voucher program soars

Laura Meckler at the Washington Post provides a deep dive into Arizona's attempt to end public education, and how that looks on the ground for actual parents.

The White House intends to slash the education safety net

For those just waking up, David Kirp offers a quick primer on the regime's ideas about education

Inside the Parent-Led Movement For Phone-Free Schools

For Time, Charlotte Alter offers a look inside the anti-phone movement. You may or may not agree with these folks, but this provides a better picture of who they are.

Expert Douses Boston Globe’s “Science of Reading” Advocacy

Maurice Cunningham offers an expert's take on Science of Reading.

"Parental Rights" as a Pro-Voucher Slogan

Steve Nuzum explains how "parental rights" serves as a marketing term for taxpayer-funded vouchers (and segregation).

AI Literacy for Preschoolers? The Frightening Redefining of Childhood

Nancy Bailey on one of nthe less-than-brilliant ideas now kicking around about Ai and the littles.

Network for Public Education Tracks a Charter School Sector in Decline

I'm going to dig into this new report once I get back to civilization, but in the meantime, here's a good look by Jan Resseger.

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Oklahoma's Red-Blooded Teacher MAGA Loyalty Anti-Woke Test

Education Dudebro-in-chief Ryan Walters has anounced that teachers who want to come work in Oklahoma (assuming there are such people) and who come from states overrun with wokitude will have to take a test to prove that they it will be politiucally aceptable for them to come to teach in America’s almost-very-worst education state. Here at the Institute, we havemanaged to get a copy of Walters’ proposed test.

1. Which of the following did not sign the Declaration of Independence?

   1. John Hancock

   2. Benjamin Franklin

   3. Jesus of Nazareth

   4. Barrack Hussein Obama

2. Which elections did Donald Trump win?

   1. 2016

   2. 2024

   3. 2020

   4. Every election including the ones in which people voted for someone else because they were sad he hadn’t been born yet.

3. Which of the following quotes is probably true but has been removed from hisgtory books by left-wing Marxist historians?

   1. “I definitely don’t envision a wall between the church and the state”- Thomas Jefferson

   2. “I definitely fought to help establish a Christian nation” - George Washington

   3. “I surely don’t see any problem with putting the right church leaders in charge of the civil government”- John Proctor

   4. All of the above

4. Historically, who are the most oppresed and downtrodden people in this country?

   1. White guys

   2. White guys

   3. White guys

   4. White guys

5. If someone asks me to join the teachers union, I will reply

   1. “My momma didn’t raise me to be a terrorist”

   2. “My proper place is to do whatever I’m told and accept whatever I’m given.”

   3. “Get thee behind me, Satan!”

   4. All of the above

6. The Tulsa Race Massacre was caused by

   1. Racism

   2. A bunch of really virulent white supremecists

   3. Deep-seated economic resentment that fueled the bad behavior of a few— No, actually. Racism. Serioulsy. All the racism.

   4. Let’s get out our state-approved non-CRT textbooks, class

7. Which of the following is a reliable major historian?

   1. David McCullough

   2. Barbara Tuchman

   3. Isabel Wilkerson

   4. That guy who makes the cartoons for Prager U

8. The most important information to have about a student is

   1. Previous test scores

   2. Profiile of academic strengths and weaknesses

   3. Any identified special needs

   4. Immigation status

9. A critical part of any classroom is

   1. An up-to-date set of textbooks and resources

   2. Resources for sound pedagogy, including modern tech

   3. Fewer than thirty students

   4. A Bible endorsed by Donald Trump

10. Complete the following Bible verse: Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’. But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek…”

    1. Turn to him the other also

    2. Remember that reasonable people can disagree

    3. Consider if you deserve it, you commie leftist

    4. Tell your hired PR to go scorched earth on that sumbitch’s ass

11. To get Oklahoma out of 50th place in US state education rankings, leaders should

    1. Increase resources for public school classrooms

    2. Provide leadership, training, and support for sound pedagogy

    3. Examinje what the other 49 states are doing and try some of that

    4. Erase all mentions of LGBTQ persons

12. Hey, is that a naked lady on the television in your office?

    1. "I have never seen a naked lady and therefor cannot comment on what you may or may not have seen. Honest.”

    2. “Lies. All lies by my political opponents, who are telling lies that I will not actually identify.”

    3. “Of course not. Ladies, especially naked ones, are repulsive and disgusting and pure and to be protected but also not seen.”

    4. “I was hacked.”

ESSAY: Explain how the First Amendment means that Christianity (well, the right kind, anyway) is to be promoted by the government while all those false religions are to be suppressed.

WY: Court Stays Unconstitutional Voucher Program

Back in February, Wyoming joined an elite group of states when the courts ordered them to fix their inadequate funding system for public schools. "Unconstitutionally underfunded" was the phrase. 

District Judge Peter Froelicher ruled that the state had come up short on rulings that had been around for almost forty years, inluding a Wyoming Supreme Court ruling in 1995. Froelcher took 183 pages to outline how the state needed to “modify the funding model and the school facilities financing system.”

"You turkeys need to get this miserable mess fixed yesterday," said the judge (I'm paraphrasing).

So, of course, the legislature instead took its taxpayer-funded school voucher program and expanded it so that even more money would be sucked away from the unconstitutionally underfunded public schools.

The Wyoming Education Association and a brace of parents sued. They argued--

* The program creates separate systems of education that are not uniform, thorough, efficient, adequate, or open to all Wyoming students. The constitution mandates that Wyoming provide “a complete and uniform system of education.” Not two separate and unequal systems. 

* The program appropriates public funds to private individuals and corporations that are not under the absolute control of the State. No public dollars for private businesses. And the program, which is an ESA program, provides little state oversight, accountability, or control.

* The state constitution prohibits donations of public funds to any individual, association or corporation “except for necessary support of the poor;” and the voucher program does not allocate funds that can be considered “necessary support for the poor.” Like every other taxpayer-funded universal voucher program, Wyoming's Steamboat Legacy Scholarship [sic] is primarily benefits wealthy families.

Back in July, that same judge agreed that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail, slapping the taxpayer-funded voucher progam with an injunction. The state can't get around the requirements to properly fund public education 'by funding private education that is not uniform and that meets none of the required state constitutional standards for education.”

“The Wyoming court had it just right. Private school vouchers are unconstitutional and take funding away from the public schools that serve the vast majority of students,” said Education Law Center staff attorney Patrick Cremin. “This is especially true in Wyoming, where the same court found the state’s school funding system to be unconstitutional.”

The state has, of course, appealled the decision, so look for the state supreme ourt to be the next stop on this case's travel on the legal highways and byways. It is one more test of a state government-- do you want to fully and properly fund a public school system for all students, or do you want to replace that system with privatized education system in which families must fend for themselves? But it's especially telling for Wyoming-- nickname, the Equality State, and motto, "Equal Rights."

ICYMI: AFK Edition (8/3)

Nothing new to report, but I wouldn't miss this wekly collection for anything. Here's your list of stuff.

A “Moment of Reckoning” or Just More Empty Hysteria?

Nancy Flanagan wishes that journalists would look a little more closely before declaring the latest crisis.

The Alpha Bet

Audrey Watters covers the massive con that is MacKenzie Price and 2HourLearning. Among other things. Have you subscribed yet? You should do that.

What Research Tells Us About School Takeovers

Steve Nuzum continues to pick apart the nuts and bolts and baloney of school takeovers.

AI Literacy for Preschoolers? The Frightening Redefining of Childhood

So many bad ideas about AI. Nancy Bailey considers one of the worst.

The Bonus, the Bribe, and the Brilliant Mind

TC Weber has followed Penny Schwinn for quite some time, so who better to explain what just happened to her federal ed department aspirations. Also, some other Tennessee news.

How the Trump Administration Wields Power over Education

Jeff Bryant looks at how the regime is turning education into the great unequalizer

Tennessee school won’t accept doctor’s notes for absences

Speaking of bad ideas from Tennessee...

Getting Beyond Our Discomfort Zones

Jose Luis Vilson goes back to the old school and learns a few things.

In the Name of Dismantling Public Schools, Let Us Pray

Sue Kingery Woltanski would like to know why Florida's school leaders are inviting prayers from leading school dismantlers.

Christian Nationalism and Education

Thomas Ultican digs into the influence of David Barton, christianist nationalist faux historian.

Missing the Boat

Jennifer Berkshire and the eternal question--can any Democrats get it right when it comes to education?

If it's the biggest lie ever, why won't Ryan Walters tell us what the lie is?

Clay Horning has the definitive take on dudebro Ryan Walters and his newest scandal-- Naked Ladygate.

$50k bonus, student loan repayment options part of DHS' incentive to recruit more ICE agents

Oh, look! Turns out that forgiving student loans IS okay sometimes. But for secret police, not for teachers.

Searching for Abstract Intelligence

Can computers handle abstract intelligence, like the kind used to play chess? Despite what you remember hearing abour Deep Blue, the answer is no. Benjamin Riley explains.

How to Read an AI Press Release

Sonja Drimmer vivsects some of Zuckerberg's nonsense.

AI is Already Disempowering Workers Through Hype

AI hype isn't just about selling a product. It's abaout convincing workers that they should settle for less and be grateful. Anne Lutz Fernandez explains.

I published tow "outside" pieces this week, but I think both are important.

First, at The Progressive, I ask a question-- if we deployed choice to rescue students from failing public schools, and it isn't accomplishing that goal, then shouldn't we be moving on to a new plan?

Then at Forbes.com, the biggest Montessori-ish chain in the country imploded, taking down almost 150 schools. It's a story that features old friends like Altschool and MacKenzie Price and 2HourLearning. (H/T to Jennifer Berkshire, who brought this tale of woe to my attention).

Would you believe a ska band from Melbourne? Would you believe a cover of an old tv theme?  Fun times!

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AZ: Families Are Banking Taxpayer-Funded Voucher Money

Arizona continues to be demonstrate how taxpayer-funded school vouchers actually work. Spoiler alert: it is not to rescue poor students from failing schools.

Of course, like other states that embrace taxpayer-funded vouchers, Arizona's choice boosters have used the old familiar pitch. When Arizaona made its taxpayer-funded vouchers universally available to all families in 2022, no matter how wealthy, then-Governor Doug Ducey declared "These kids are trapped in failing public schools. It's time to set these families free."

But that's not how it worked. 

12News has offered solid coverage of taxpayer-funded shenanigans in the billion-dollar program. None of the stories are pretty. While schools went begging for Home Ec supplies, families were using their taxpayer-funded vouchers to buy high end kitchen equipment. Plenty of wealthy families are using millions of taxpayer dollars to buy voucher families private dance lessons and other sorts of activities that public school kids (you know-- the ones that haven't been set free) can only dream of. A $16,000 cello. Dune buggies.

Shouldn't there be oversight of the program. Well, about that. 12News reported last December that state had a huge backlog of undistributed vouchers, so to clear the decks, state ed honcho Tom Horne decreed that they would distibute the money now and audit later. 

12News did some digging into the program and found that the taxpayer-funded vouchers were being used mostly by wealthy non-rural families, and that those families were "escaping" some of the top-rated public and charter schools in the state.

Noe 12News has a new report that reveals yet another layer to the program-- families that bank their taxpayer-funded voucher dollars for later. 

More than 10,000 famillies have over $10,000 banked from vouchers. 200 accounts have over $100,000.  Ten have over $200,000. The law says that these funds, collected from taxpayers, can be rolled over for use as college funding. All told, it amounts to about $440 million sitting in private bank accounts. Nothing is escaping here except all the money "escaping" from taxpayers. Arpund $50 million is sitting in acounts that are inactive.

As always in Arizona, if you're expecting GOP lawmakers to say, "Well, that's gone a little too far," you will be disappointed. Reported 12News:

State Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Surprise, said in a written statement: “If there is around $440M sitting in the accounts of the 85,000 students using ESAs, I would say it sounds like it’s a popular program.”

He added: "Interestingly, there are mechanisms for getting unused ESA monies back when a student leaves the program, but there aren’t the same mechanisms to do that with public school monies. Perhaps we should take a look at correcting that.”

Yup. Why make the taxpayer-funded voucher program more accountable when you can just put the screws to public schools, again.

Taxpayer-funded vouchersb run about $7-8 thousand in Arizona. Considerably more for students with special needs. 

But this is the future of most voucher programs-- eventually universal, thereby establishing an entitlement for the wealthy, paid for by everyone else. Paid, in fact, twice--once by the cost of their own tax dollars going to fund the vouchers, and again by either increased taxation or reduced services in the local school district. Ane eventually, Arizona's unsustainable program is going to felt by all the residents of the state as the budget collapses, leaving everyone (well, almost everyone) in a sort of financial and educational desert.

ICYMI: Wedding Edition (7/27)

We are just a little scattered here at the Institute these days. Family health issues, the apparent unfixable dysfunction of the desktop computer, and yesterday's wedding of my nephew (aka the sportswriter who is the only person in the family to make a living writing) have taken up a lot of attention. And I have to work on the mobile office, aka the laptop computer (you can tell when I'm on the mobile office because typographical error output dramatically increases over my usual not-inconsiderable production level).

There was actual good news this week as the feds decided that they would go ahead and hand over the billions in education dollars that they were legally obligated to distribute. Howeve, let that whole frozen funding flap serve notice that those are dollars they intend to cut in next year's budget.

What else have we got this week? Let's see.

College Cheating Regrets

The indispensable Mercedes Schneider delves into the problems that ensue when you CheatGPT through school and emerge knowing not much of anything.

About 1 in 6 U.S. teachers work second jobs

Pew Research offers this fun new factoid. It doesn't count coahing or advising clubs as extra jobs, nor does it look at families where the spouse is the breadwinner and teaching IS the extra job, but it's still an interesting data point.

Pennsylvanians want state investing in schools

Speaking of polls, turns out that plenty of Pennsylvanians would like the state to observe the court ruling that requires the legislature to fix our grossly unfair funding system. (Meanwhile, we still can't get the state budget done on time...)

Board members: TV in Ryan Walters’ office displayed nude women during executive session

Education dudebro Ryan Walters continues to not make friends with the new education board in Oklahoma. Coverage includes the usual hostile response from the press office. Remember, immoral sexual materials are evil and bad, except sometimes.

Charter school run by group Walters partnered OSDE with faces shutdown in Arizona over failing grades

Walters has also teamed up with cyber charter American Virtual Academy, which would be fine except AV has a massive failure problem.

Texas Is Letting Parents Dictate What All Students Read

Marium Zarah at The Progressive looks at the newest Texas inituiative for increasing censorship for school libraries.

Vouchers Deliver Blow to Rural Schools: ‘They’re Taking Money From Our Students.’

NEA Today looks at how voucher programs are particularly hard on rural schools.

Kicking Away the Ladder

Jennifer Berkshire looks at education policy in the context of unprecendented wealth transfer from the poor to the wealthy.

AI Cheating: The SAT-ACT Em dash Controversy

You may have heard the folk wisdom that em dashes are a sign of ChatGPT at work, but Akil Bello would like to fremind you that theb ACT and SAT test students on a small set of mpunctuation marks-- and the em dash is one of them

Stop the Grift: Florida’s School Vouchers Are Scamming Taxpayers and Sabotaging Democracy

Colleen Conklin is back at Flagler Live with this takedown on Florida's terrible voucher scam systems.

EdChoice Fight Pure Politics

Stephen Dyer's meticulous and thorough coverage of Ohio's battle over choice has been informative and illuminating. It continues here. Are politicians worried about educating children?  Ha.

AI companies have stopped warning you that their chatbots aren’t doctors

Add to the list of things teachers and parents need to tell young humans because the rsponsible parties aren't going to.

This week at Forbes.com I wrote about an international push-back on AI in education by actual educators including an open letter that you can still sign.

Here's something a little romantic for a wedding weekend.

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In Praise of Extruding AI

Emily Bender and Alex Hanna have performed a huge public service by writing The AI Con, The book is insightful, incisive, and totally accessible. You need to read it, and then you need to give a copy to your uncle or boss or favorite think tank honcho who thinks that AI is magical and can Do Things.

Among their many well-made points, Bender and Hanna solve a very specific problem.

One of the most insidious pieces of the AI marketing blitz (including the term "artificial intelligence," which is itself more marketing tool than accurate descriptor) is the way we keep anthropormorphizing it, talking about it as if it's a living, thinking thing.

It's hard to avoid. When we talk about AI producing strings of words, we frequently resort to terms like "wcomposing" or "creating" or "telling" or "writing," which are all handy for talking about the process of arranging words in a meaningful way. But these terms are inextricably connec ted to human intelligence. There really isn't a term to use in talking about the manufacture of meaningful strings of words with no intelligence behind the act. (Even Capote's famous slam, "That's not writing, that's typing" only comes close, because people type).

But Bender and hanna, who throw a variety of careful language at AI, hit on one that is an apt substitute for synthetic word string production-- extrude.

It's a genius choice because there is nothing human about it. There are no circumstances under which a real live human extrudes anything. It's strictly a machine function. The machine extrudes soft plastic into a mold and shapes it. The playdoh fun factory extrudes some dough to be cut into shapes for some reason. The machine extrudes pink slime waiting to be turned into some simulated version of food. The machine extrudes a sentence or paragraph of words to manufacture an artificial simulcrum of language.

Language is still catching up with AI, which does not read or analyze or interpret or summarize or write or tell no matter how many times we say it does. Better to reach for language that more accurately describes what the machine does. It's not easy and not yet automatic, but I do believe that more precise and accurate language is always important (and misleading and inaccurate language in the service of a massive bullshit generator is always dangerous). 

I've been reluctant to use extrude more often because it feels like theft, so this post is about assuaging my conscience so that I can borrow from Bender and Hanna with a clearer conscience and acknowledge their contribution to the discourse-- exactly the kind of contribution that GenAI is never going to make.