I do keep another blog which, because I lack mental filtration, is fairly busy. For people who don’t care to plough through it on a daily basis, I thought I’d try a weekly digest in this space. So, here’s what I was up to at Curmudgucation last week:
Education Next Plugs Research Proving Not Much of Anything
Education Next touted research as “the first hard evidence on virtual education.” On further examination, it would appear that was a huge overstatement.
Reformsters have a lot of money and media access (or control) to make their point. The Network for Public Education has an event coming up to counterbalance that.
Granddad Learns About the Common Core
Boy, sometimes you think you’ve got a great idea for some pro-Core PR, but then it turns out that your idea is embarrassingly dumb and insulting.
They aren’t the same thing. And you can’t pursue both.
Neerav Kingsland responded to my EdWeek piece about the fallacies of choice finances. I responded to his response, because internet.
TPM & the Anti-Core Attack Problem
At Talking Points Memo, Conor P. Williams starts with the campbell Brown pushback and ends with anti-core ad hominem problems. In between, I think he misses some features of the ongoing debate.
Brookings Hits the Bathroom Scale
At Brookings, Thomas Kane tries to say that we need a bathroom scale to lose weight. I think he just reveals some mistaken assumptions about carbon based life forms.
Research + Politics = Bad News
Andy Smarick presents some sobering reportage about the federal clearinghouse for education data.
This might be my pick of the week. I’ve argued before that standardization is not a great thing, anyway, but here’s how it gets in the way of actually achieving excellence.
Another Call for a New Conversation
Patrick Riccards joined the reformsters calling for a new era in the ed debates, and while I believe he has good points, he also inadvertently reveals why the new era is just the old era with nicer drapes.
An Open Letter to My Alma Mater Re: TFA
The big bummer of the week was discovering that my alma mater (Allegheny College) is proud to be on a top TFA schools list. I ask them to get off it.
EdPost Flexes Rapid Response Muscles
It has quickly become obvious that Education Post is not so much a new conversation site as it is a political style rapid response federal Core-reform firefighter. This week they decided to deploy their rapis responders against Carol Burris. They came out swinging and went down the same way.
EdPost Dials It Back, Still Whiffs
EdPost rapidly responded to the responses to its response. New tone (almost) but still a miss. If this is what $12 million buys you these days, no wonder politics are such a mess.
Reformster ideas are often based on students as discrete individual units. That’s not how they come in real life.
So that was the week at Curmudgucation. As always, feel free to use the comments section. I’ll see you later this week.