BAM

Trump Signature Ed Legislation?

Eduflack BAM, CTE, DeVos, reform, TrumpED

By this point in their presidencies, George W. Bush had already signed No Child Left Behind into law and Barack Obama has already sounded the starting gun in his Race to the Top. Now that we are 15 months into the Trump Administration, we have yet to see any real education movement, let alone a landmark bill.

That could change. President Trump and EdSec Betsy DeVos COULD lend their collective powers behind a key education issue. And if they were truly smart, they WOULD get behind major career and technical education policy. But could and would are from from will and did.

We explore this topic on the latest issue of TrumpED on the BAM! Radio Network. Give it a listen. It’s not like we are watching major education law get signed into policy.

NAEP Response: More than Words?

Eduflack 21CS, accountability, Achievement gap, assessment, BAM, DeVos, Math, NAEP, reading, reform, TrumpED

Now that the dust has finally settled on the most-recent dump of NAEP scores, we must admit that the results just aren’t good. For a decade now, student performance on our national reading and math tests have remained stagnant. And that stagnation is only because a few select demographics managed gains that kept everyone afloat.

At a time when we all seem to agree that today’s students need stronger and greater skills to succeed in tomorrow’s world, how can we be satisfied with stagnation? And how we can respond simply with words, with the rhetoric of how our students can and should do better?

Over on the BAM! Radio Network, we explore the topic, reflecting on both how we cannot be satisfied with our students treading water and how we need to take real action to improve teaching and learning in the classroom. Give it a listen. Then show your work.

 

Crediting DeVos Where Credit Is Due

Eduflack accountability, assessment, BAM, DeVos, reform, TrumpED

Earlier this month, the US Department of Education announced a new effort to pilot flexibility when it comes to student assessment. After years of gripes from the education community about the problems with tests and the concerns of wonks in DC telling educators in the localities what to do and how to measure, the Feds are finally offering a little flexibility and local control when it comes to testing.

What was the response? Largely crickets. Almost no one tipped the cap or offered kudos to EdSec Betsy DeVos for following through on this effort to pilot assessment flexibility. And that’s a cryin’ shame.

On the most recent episode of #TrumpEd on the BAM! Radio Network, we explore the most-recent testing actions from ED and how this should be seen as a good thing in the evolution of federal/locality education policy. Give it a listen!

Bringing Student Voice to the Ballot Box

Eduflack BAM, Media, reform, Social media, Students, TrumpED

Across the nation, folks are rightfully applauding young people for stepping forward and ensuring their voice is heard on the issue of guns. But haven’t we seen this dance before? Haven’t we seen younger generations speak loudly in the community, but then fail to turn out when it comes to voting?

The numbers of the percentage of young people voting — particularly in 2012 and 2016 — is disturbing. As valuable as marches and turnout in the streets may be, nothing is more powerful that that vote at the polling place.

Over on the BAM! Radio Network, we explore the topic, hoping that activism moves beyond the number of Twitter followers. Give it a listen.

Would Betsy DeVos be Welcomed at Your School?

Eduflack BAM, DeVos, reform, TrumpED

It’s easy to attack Betsy DeVos for her remark that she hasn’t spent time visiting failing schools. And it is easier to criticize the EdSec for spending much of her school visit time walking the hallways of charter schools and private schools receiving voucher money.

But even if DeVos were to begin a whistle-stop tour of all sorts of traditional public schools, would she be welcome? From her first try where she was physically barred from originally entering to graduates turning their backs on her at graduation, the education community hasn’t been all too welcoming to Secretary DeVos when she does visit.

Over at the BAM! Radio Network, we explore the good, bad, and ugly truth when it comes to DeVos visits and the general resentment they seem to bring. Give it a listen, and tell me I’m wrong. Would your schoolhouse warmly greet the EdSec?

Like It or Not, DeVos Acts as Promised

Eduflack BAM, charter schools, DeVos, reform, TrumpED

Throughout the education community, we like to offer faux outrage regarding everything that EdSec Betsy DeVos says or does. We are shocked that she isn’t visiting a failing public school. We are dismayed when she goes to see a public charter school or the recipient of voucher dollars. We are apoplectic when she doesn’t march in lockstep with the teachers unions or the AASA.

But should we? From the day she was nominated to be Trump’s education secretary to today, hasn’t DeVos done and said everything that we expected from her? While we may have wanted more, sought a deeper strategic approach, or hoped for a change of heart on issues of importance to us, isn’t the EdSec delivering as promised?

Over on the BAM! Radio Network, we explore this topic, acknowledging that when it comes to the EdSec, what you see is indeed what you’ve gotten. Give it a listen.

Ed Policy Whiplash

Eduflack accountability, BAM, DeVos, reform, TrumpED

We continue to shift our battle lines when it comes to education policy. Do we let the federal government or the state’s drive the K-12 train? Do we want common standards and expectations? Are the regs laid out by ESSA and other federal laws intended to be the floor or the ceiling when it comes to policy direction?

It’s all enough to give the education community a bad case of policy whiplash.

Over at the BAM! Radio Network, we explore this schizophrenia and look at how we set appropriate expectations – and appropriate outrage – in such a policy context. Give it a listen!

Schools and Guns

Eduflack BAM, civics, Parents, reform, Students, TrumpED

Across the nation, students are preparing to exercise their First Amendment rights in support of the students in Parkland, Florida and their response to school shootings and gun violence. Just this morning, Eduflack received his notice from his local school district in New Jersey on how my son’s middle school (sixth grade) and daughter’s elementary school (fifth grade) will acknowledge the March 14th National School Walkout. (The edu-son will march, the edu-daughter will engage in age-appropriate activities focused on “kindness and peace.”)

For the past two weeks, I’ve used my platform over on the BAM! Radio Network to talk about the issues of guns, schools, and kids. I hope you’ll give both a listen.

In the first episode, we explore how it is well past time to declare that gun violence is a public health crisis in our schools … and in our communities.

In the second, we look at what a sad commentary it is that we are now talking about financially incentivizing teachers to be armed and weapons-trained in the classroom, particularly after doing away with so many incentives (like National Board certification) that recognized teaching excellence in those same schools.

The issue may drop off the front pages to make room for other, sexier political stories, but until the laws change — and until school shooters aren’t turned into cults of personality by the media — the issues will keep coming back.

Let’s see what comes from the National School Walkout. Perhaps these kids can lead in a way their elected leaders cannot.

 

Can We Make America Great With Education?

Eduflack BAM, DeVos, reform, TrumpED

Standing before Congress and the nation last week, President Donald J. Trump delivered his first State of the Union address. Depending on your perspective, it was either one of the greatest policy addresses ever delivered or a dumpster fire. Like everything else, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

Yes, the President spent a great deal of time talking about the future of our nation, the quest to Make America Great Again, and his intended focus on the economy and the jobs that drive it. But one important thing was missing from the story. Education.

Over on the BAM! Radio Network, we explore the absence of education from the 2018 SOTU, and how the lofty goals expressed in the speech can never be fulfilled if we don’t get serious about the future of school and education here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Give it a listen. It is one of the ways we can make education radio great again.

 

Ed Tech is Not the Enemy!

Eduflack BAM, DeVos, reform, teachers, technology, TrumpED

Yes, there are a great many in the education community that look to attack and tear down just about everything that EdSec Betsy DeVos says. So when she starts off 2018 singing the praises of personalized learning, it should be no surprise that the resistance immediately lobbed charges of wanting to turn our schools over to the machines.

This tends to be a common misperception about personalized learning. We’ve bastardized the phase, wanting to believe it means simply plugging every child into a computer and letting the tech do the teaching. And while that might be how some personalized learning is indeed done today, it certainly isn’t what was intended and it certainly doesn’t represent the best of what personalized learning does and can offer, both to the learner and the educator.

At the same time, technology need not be the enemy to learning. Effective personalized instruction isn’t about putting the tablets in charge. At its heart, it is about providing educators with a tool that can be used to effectively reach some of their students. In the hands of a great teacher, technology can be empowering, not limiting. And yes, it can improve the learning process.

Over at BAM! Radio Network, I explore the topic, praising personalized learning and asking us to cut ed tech a break when it comes to the classroom. Give it a listen.

And for those who say personalized learning is just a tool of the technology companies and doesn’t actually work, give a look over to special education programs and IEPs. An IEP is just personalized learning in a different wrapper, folks.