Assault on education

[China]

Arkansas moves to repeal decades-old desegregation measure: report

 

Arkansas’ top law enforcement official has advanced new measures that from a civil rights standpoint would bring a large swath of a state with a history of discrimination back to the future.

 

Attorney General Tim Griffin earlier this week filed four briefs that aim to repeal federal desegregation supervision that would effectively exempt four South Arkansas school districts from state laws preventing students from enrolling in schools outside their home districts, The Arkansas Times reports.

 

The measure dovetails with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Arkansas LEARNS Act, an educational overhaul package that promotes vouchers. Proponents of the measure say it will opportunities for low-income families, but critics say it will undermine public education.

 

Griffin’s filings aim to end federal desegregation supervision in Camden Fairview, Hope, Lafayette County and Junction City districts.

 

He said segregation no longer exists in Arkansas schools and that the supervision is now unnecessary.

 

Griffin in a statement described the civil rights measures his filings would upend as “unconstitutional, race-based consent decrees from decades past are denying equal rights to parents to select the school that best meets the needs of their children.”

 

“Despite segregation ending decades ago, several school districts have left outdated consent decrees on the books and rely on them to opt out of school choice, thereby avoiding competition and retaining funds for students who would otherwise leave,” his statement said.

 

“Schools must be accountable to parents, and children should not be stuck in schools that aren’t meeting their needs. Parents, not the government, must be allowed to decide what’s best for their children.”

 

Whitney Moore, an attorney who represents the four districts, defended the existing desegregation supervision, and said vouchers would promote “white flight” that would have a “segregative impact.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Bill Lee refused a TCAP waiver for Covington students whose schools were destroyed in EF-3 tornadoes

 

Their homes and schools were catastrophically damaged after taking a direct hit from an EF-3 tornado two weeks ago and today Crestview families received more bad news: Gov. Bill Lee won’t grant them an exception for next week’s Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program testing.

 

“Tipton County Schools was notified by state officials today that Crestview Elementary and Crestview Middle School students will be required to complete TCAP testing for grades 3-8. Testing has not been waived by the Governor for CES and CMS,” Director of Instruction Dr. Rebekah Byrd said in a press release Friday afternoon.

 

It was yet more bad news for families still trying to pick up the pieces.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Florida teacher shows pro-Confederacy video that rebrands Civil War as 'War To Prevent Southern Independence'

 

Parents in Naples, Florida are calling foul after a teacher at their children's school showed their class a video that they are decrying as propaganda for the Confederacy.

 

Local news station NBC 2 reports that an unidentified teacher at the Manatee Middle School is under investigation for showing students a video that gushes about the "valiant, brave fight and the countless sacrifices by our men and women during that known as the Civil War."

 

What's more, the video rebrands the American Civil War as "the War To Prevent Southern Independence," which is a decidedly pro-Confederacy framing for a conflict that centered on Southern states' attempts to preserve the practice of slavery.

 

“To me, it looks like straight out of a Confederate sympathizer playbook,” local parent Annie O’Donnell told NBC 2.

 

Collier County Public Schools emphasized that the pro-Confederacy video is not part of its official curriculum, although the state of Florida does officially recognize April as Confederate History Month.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Destino]

I was having another chat with parents about no zero grading policies that have sprung up, the ones where students can’t score below a 50 on a test, and one parent that used to work in education said he thought it was because of funding.  He said No Child Left Behind penalized school funding if kids failed to pass.  I’d never heard this, only that funding was tied to standardized tests.  
 

This would neatly explain why suddenly kids are being awarded 50% minimum scores and so many are furiously against standardized tests.  Both moves defend against hazards to next years budgets.  It would also explain why so many teachers have told me that admins pressure them to raise failing grades, even when students have earned that F.  

 

anyone know if that’s true?  Do schools lose funding if kids get failing grades?  

[dfitzo53]

That is, as far as I know, completely incorrect. I've been teaching for 16 years. 

 

Here's an article that lays out some of the pros and cons for doing it:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/do-no-zero-policies-help-or-hurt-students/

 

There's an enormous body of research that points to grades, at least the way they're currently done, as a counterproductive practice. Whether that means "no-zero" is the best way to go or not I don't know. I go back and forth about it in my own head, but the truth is I'd rather just replace the whole mediocre grading system with something more useful anyway. (But then, I'd tear down the whole public education system and start fresh anyway, so don't mind me.)

[Larry]

Just observing?  
 

Long ago, I took several piddling "required classes" at Oklahoma City Community College. Which at the time had several really unique grading rules. 
 

One was what they called their "non punitive grading system". Instead of A-B-C-D-F, their grades were:  

 

MH:  Mastered with Honors. 
M:  Mastered

S: Success

 

NP:  Not pass

 

And the NP grades were not listed on transcripts that were sent out by the college, it calculated in your GPA. To anybody outside the college, you simply didn't take the class at all. 
 

Their stated purpose was that they wanted to encourage students to go outside their comfort zone. To try things. 
 

On the other hand, one of the classes I took was American History after the Civil War. 
 

The instructor stated the grading system this way:  

 

The class is 16 weeks. The textbook has 14 chapters, each covering roughly a decade of history. 
 

Every week you well be told to read the next chapter, and given several questions, to be ready to discuss. 
 

Class will consist of the class having a group discussion about the chapter. Each student will be given a grade for that week, based on their preparation and participation. 
 

If you don't like your grade for a week, you can go to the school's testing center, and take a multiple choice test on the chapter. And the higher grade counts. 
 

If you still don't like your grade, you can talk to the instructor. He will assign something, likely some extra reading. And then he will discuss the assignment with you, and give you a third grade. And again, the highest grade counts. 
 

At the end of the class, you will have 14 grades, for the 14 weeks. The instructor will throw out the lowest grade. And your class grade will be the lowest remaining grade. 
 

He explained that the department's belief is that the purpose of the class is to give each student a broad base of knowledge. And therefore it doesn't matter how much you knew about reconstruction, if you were completely ignorant of the Great Depression. 
 

Eventually all the other collages successfully bullied them into a punitive grading system, by threatening not to accept transfer credits from them. 

[China]

I thought everybody knew the First Rule of Fight Club:

 

Mesquite ISD Substitute Teacher Fired for Encouraging Students to Fight in Class

 

Mesquite ISD has fired a substitute teacher after an investigation revealed she encouraged students to fight each other in class.

 

The incident would've gone unnoticed if it wasn't caught on camera.

 

“I was devastated. I was like, I couldn’t watch the full video,” said Beatriz Martinez, whose daughter recorded the incident. “I had to stop it multiple times because I didn’t think it was real. I was like, this must be a prank. This is not real.“

 

NBC 5 blurred parts of the video to conceal student identities.

 

Martinez said it was like a fight club in class.

 

“There’s no explanation, she just wanted those kids to fight,” she said.

 

Mesquite ISD confirmed to NBC 5 that a substitute teacher allowed students to fight each other Wednesday afternoon at Kimbrough Middle School.

 

Beatriz’s daughter, who is remaining anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said the teacher even pushed desks aside to create a space for the 12 and 13-year-olds to brawl. Some left the classroom bleeding.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Destino]

18 hours ago, dfitzo53 said:

That is, as far as I know, completely incorrect. I've been teaching for 16 years. 

 

Here's an article that lays out some of the pros and cons for doing it:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/do-no-zero-policies-help-or-hurt-students/

 

There's an enormous body of research that points to grades, at least the way they're currently done, as a counterproductive practice. Whether that means "no-zero" is the best way to go or not I don't know. I go back and forth about it in my own head, but the truth is I'd rather just replace the whole mediocre grading system with something more useful anyway. (But then, I'd tear down the whole public education system and start fresh anyway, so don't mind me.)

I’ve read the arguments for no zero grading.  I’m unconvinced that simply awarding points that haven’t been earned is the best solutions to the problems offered.  I’m ok with helping kids that fall behind or bomb a test, but I’d feel better if they had to prove they knew the material and not just be given credit to help them pass.
 

Ultimately this argument won’t matter.  We live in a world where tech tracks everything, including us.  Especially, us.  The data they’re gathering grows everyday and they become better at predicting behavior and mapping out our strengths and weaknesses.  eventually AIs will learn to analyze students based on a million data points, most of which we haven’t even considered, and determine likelihood to succeed in various programs.  
 

What I want to know is, does funding fall in response to failing grades?  

[dfitzo53]

4 hours ago, Destino said:

What I want to know is, does funding fall in response to failing grades?  

 

Like I said, no. Not that I'm aware of, and I did some basic due diligence and couldn't find any evidence of it online. I couldn't even find any discussion of it online. 

 

It sounds like something that this person either heard from a teacher who was mistaken and took it as fact, or conflated test scores with grades and made an assumption that (as far as I can tell) isn't true. 

 

There's a lot of hand-wringing that goes on in schools over how to succeed on standardized tests. Not once in my career have I seen the same thing happen with grading. 

[Simmsy]

6 hours ago, China said:

Beatriz Martinez, whose daughter recorded the incident. 

 

Beatriz’s daughter, who is remaining anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said the teacher even pushed desks aside to create a space for the 12 and 13-year-olds to brawl. Some left the classroom bleeding.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Just go ahead and put her name and address out there...

Edited April 17, 2023 by Simmsy

[Destino]

4 hours ago, dfitzo53 said:

 

Like I said, no. Not that I'm aware of, and I did some basic due diligence and couldn't find any evidence of it online. I couldn't even find any discussion of it online. 

 

It sounds like something that this person either heard from a teacher who was mistaken and took it as fact, or conflated test scores with grades and made an assumption that (as far as I can tell) isn't true. 

 

There's a lot of hand-wringing that goes on in schools over how to succeed on standardized tests. Not once in my career have I seen the same thing happen with grading. 

I had the same results as you did searching online.  Absolutely nothing about grades, it’s all tests.  Must be bull**** then.  Also, no one seems happy with NCLB at all.  I never realized it was such an unpopular thing.  

[dfitzo53]

It's definitely unpopular and has been for a long time. Unfortunately, public education is notoriously hard to change *and* unnecessarily politicized. 

 

That's where I'm trying to head as I move out of the classroom, curriculum design and education policy/reform. 

[China]

An Eastern Oregon district does the math and finds way to give teachers ‘life changing’ raises

 

Toni Myers said it’s a Zoom meeting she’ll never forget.

 

The president of the Baker Education Association had gathered the district’s faculty in February to make an announcement, requesting they turn their cameras on so she could see their reactions. She hadn’t told them the reason they were all gathered virtually, and by the end of it, some teachers were in tears.

 

Myers told members of the teachers’ union that they would all be getting a raise next school year. The upcoming raise isn’t just a simple cost of living adjustment or a new column on the salary scale, it’s a fundamental shift in the living standard for teachers in rural Oregon. As first reported by the Baker City Herald, the Baker School District is raising the salary floor for certified teachers from $38,000 to $60,000. The ceiling will see a bump as well.

 

The new salary scale makes Baker among the best paying districts in a state where the average starting salary is $39,000, according to the Oregon Education Association.

 

It’s a move teachers described as life changing. The significant pay bump will mean they can afford child care and utility bills. It means they could stay in Baker County or simply stay working as a teacher.

 

The teachers’ union didn’t need to engage in contentious bargaining sessions or go on strike to secure the raise. In fact, district administration proposed the idea to the union.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Most Americans are unhappy with the math taught in classrooms, new survey shows

 

Americans are largely unsatisfied with the way math is taught across the nation's classrooms, according to a new national survey of parents of school-age children, teachers and adults.

 

The study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, concludes that the public generally considers math the subject most in need of updating. The survey was done by the Global Strategy Group, a public relations and research firm.

 

Parents and teachers want a more engaging set of math curricula with up-to-date lessons that are relevant and applicable to the real world, the study found. And most parents agreed the changes would help their kids succeed, including preparing them for careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[dfitzo53]

As a math teacher, hard agree. 

[Captain Wiggles]

[Destino]

Didn’t we already change math with common core?  Don’t hear about that too much anymore.

[China]

Let's raise a generation of snowflakes that don't know how to process their emotions, so when they become adults they use one of their readily available guns when they are emotionally uncomfortable and don't know how to handle the situation...

 

Tennessee GOP bill tells students to report learning anything that makes them sad

 

Immediately after gaining nationwide attention for expelling two Black Democratic representatives for supporting a peaceful student protest against gun violence on the House floor, Tennessee Republicans don’t appear to be concerned enough about their now-national reputation as racist grifters that they're willing to put a pause on doing racist things for a few weeks. Last week, the state House joined the state Senate in passing a bill that encourages children and school employees to turn in teachers who mention "divisive concepts" in their classrooms.

WBIR reports on the details. As for what Tennessee lawmakers consider to be "divisive concepts," it's quite the hodgepodge, but it mostly boils down to mentioning racism or sexism in any way that might make a Tennessee Republican school or university student sad. WBIR gives a rundown of banned concepts, and the definition sandwiches no-brainer violations like teaching "that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex" with other, much weirder prohibitions like:

• That a person, by virtue of their race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex
• That a person should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or another form of psychological distress because of their race or sex

• That a meritocracy is inherently racist, sexist or designed by a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex

• That Tennessee or the U.S. is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist

• Promoting or advocating the violent overthrow of the U.S. government

• Promoting division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class or class of people

• Ascribing character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges or beliefs to a race or sex, or to a person because of their race or sex

• That the rule of law does not exist but instead is a series of power relationships and struggles among racial or other groups

 

Click on the link for more

[The Evil Genius]

Wtf.

 

 

[China]

42 minutes ago, The Evil Genius said:

Wtf.

 

 

 

Seems like it would be a blatant violation of the first clause in the Bill of Rights, but with recent Supreme Court rulings we can no longer be assured of a separationof Church and State.

[Larry]

Not that the entire Republican Party believes (correctly) that the strict constructionists who hold no pre-conceived agenda whatsoever who they have placed on the court will suddenly completely disregard the rule of law in favor of their Party's agenda, just as soon as they have the votes to do so, or anything.  

[Busch1724]

About that whole constitution thing...

[China]

Rightwing extremists defeated by Democrats in US school board elections

 

Scores of rightwing US extremists were defeated in school-board elections in April, in a victory for the left and what Democrats hope could be effective for running against Republicans in the year ahead.

 

In Illinois, Democrats said more than 70% of school-board candidates it had endorsed won their races, often defeating the kinds of anti-LGBTQ+ culture-warrior candidates who have taken control of school boards across the country.

 

Republican-backed candidates in Wisconsin also fared poorly. Moms for Liberty, a rightwing group linked to wealthy Republican donors which has been behind book-banning campaigns in the US, said only eight of its endorsed candidates won election to school boards, and other conservative groups also reported disappointing performances.

 

The results come as education and free-speech organizations have warned of a new surge in book bans in public schools in America. Over the past two years, conservatives in US states have removed hundreds of books from school classrooms and libraries. The targeted books have largely been texts that address race and LGBTQ+ issues, or are written by people of color or LGBTQ+ authors.

 

“Fortunately, the voters saw through the hidden extremists who were running for school board – across the [Chicago] suburbs especially,” JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, said after the results came in.

 

“Really, the extremists got trounced yesterday.”

 

Pritzker added: “I’m glad that those folks were shown up and, frankly, tossed out.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Larry]

Yahoo:Alabama education director ousted over 'woke' training book

 

Quote

 

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday announced she replaced her director of early childhood education over the use of a teacher training book, written by a nationally recognized education group, that the Republican governor denounced as teaching “woke concepts" because of language about inclusion and structural racism.

 

Barbara Cooper was forced out as as head of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education after Ivey expressed concern over the distribution of the book to state-run pre-kindergartens. Ivey spokesperson Gina Maiola identified the book as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Developmentally Appropriate Practice Book, 4th edition. Maiola said she understands that the books have been collected from the state classrooms.

 

 

 

Quote

The governor’s office, in a press release, cited two examples from the book — one discussing white privilege and that “the United States is built on systemic and structural racism” and another that Ivey's office claimed teaches LGBTQ+ inclusion to 4-year-olds. Those sections, according to a copy of the 881-page book obtained by The Associated Press, discuss making sure that all children feel welcome.

 

 

Quote

“Early childhood programs also serve and welcome families that represent many compositions. Children from all families (e.g., single parent, grandparent-led, foster, LGBTQIA+) need to hear and see messages that promote equality, dignity, and worth,” the book states.

 

 

Quote

The section on structural racism states that “systemic and structural racism ... has permeated every institution and system through policies and practices that position people of color in oppressive, repressive, and menial positions. The early education system is not immune to these forces.” It says preschool is one place where children “begin to see how they are represented in society” and that the classroom should be a place of "affirmation and healing."

 

So apparently, it is completely unacceptable to the Governor of Alabama, that her Early Education Department send out materials to teachers, asking those teachers to make all children feel safe and welcome.