reform

Evaluating Teachers? During Lockdown?

Eduflack BAM, PD, reform, Teacher Education, teachers, TrumpED

With most schools closed for coronavirus, so many of us are longing for a return to normal. While none of us know what the post-covid new normal may be, we expect it will include many of our tried-and-true activities and behaviors.

So we shouldn’t be surprised that some school districts are still looking at how to conduct traditional teacher evaluations, even when there is nothing traditional about school today. No, we shouldn’t be surprised, but we should be appalled.

Over on the BAM! Radio Network, we discuss what a bad idea teacher evaluations a la lockdown are, and how we really need to direct our attentions elsewhere. Give it a listen!

Watch Out History Ed, The Video Revolution is Coming

Eduflack American history, civics, reform, Students, teachers

Over on Medium, dear ol’ Eduflack opines on how our current emergency virtual eduction provides the perfect opportunity to use multimedia — particularly video – to engage students through their computer screens. But even in topics like history, content areas tailor made for interesting and relevant video content, we are falling short on what we provide educators and what we pass along to students.

It doesn’t have to be this way. As I write:

It is insufficient to think we can simply take a Ken Burns video or a documentary from the History Channel, chop it up, and then use the pieces as meaningful content to connect with today’s learners. To ensure that young people embrace American history, we need to commit to create and distribute online content that focuses on: 1) what is relevant and interesting to the student; 2) what is attractive to learners who will vary widely in both interest in history and knowledge of history; and 3) what is adaptable based on changes in learner preferences.

In calling for the adoption of “three legs” to the American history instruction stool, I also note:

Whether our public schools “go back to normal” this fall or whether periods of virtual education become the new normal for k-12 in the United States, we need videos that capture the attentions and interests of today’s students, offering content that often isn’t found in dusty history textbooks. We need content that teachers can successfully use in a virtual environment and that students will want to access in their free time, using a changing learning environment to provide fun, engaging, and proactive content intended to improve both the teaching and learning of American history.

Please give the full piece a read here. It’ll be worth it.

Of Reading Proficiency and Civil Rights

Eduflack Achievement gap, equity, Parents, reading, reform, SBRR, Teacher Education, teachers

“Literacy is an educational right. Every learner needs to be reading at grade level by fourth grade. The science is clear on how to best teach young children to read. Our educators and the teacher education programs that prepare them must adapt and transform to embrace both these obligations and the science on effective instruction.”

From dear ol’ Eduflack’s latest commentary on Project Forever Free, detailing the latest court ruling declaring Detroit students are constitutionally guaranteed a basic education, including literacy.

Give it a read! And give Project Forever Free a follow.

It’s Time for Reading Rights

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, early childhood education, reading, Reading First, reform, SBRR, Students, Teacher Education, teachers

“Producing a strong research study that collects dust on the shelf can hardly win the day. For generations now, we have fought ideological skirmishes over literacy instruction, watching the pendulum swing as classroom educators simply waited it out until the latest “hot” thing lost favor and classrooms returned to what they were previously doing. If we truly want to declare a reading victory and tout our collective instructional successes, we need to commit to some basic truths.”

From Eduflack’s latest for The 74 Million

How Important, Exactly, Is Learning Today?

Eduflack BAM, Parents, polls, reform, Students, teachers, TrumpED

For weeks now, we’ve seen experts declare “victory” when it comes to virtual education in the time of Coronavirus. Voice after voice has taken to social media claiming to have solved the puzzle and gotten students learning again.

In reality, there probably isn’t a great deal of new learning happening online these days. In the Eduflack homeschool, we are seeing a lot of reviewing of last lessons and a lot of digital busywork. And we are only doing a half of a traditional school day each day (and that’s following the 10-day virtual spring break we just had).

And maybe that’s just fine and dandy. According to a new survey of parents across the United States, they aren’t expecting or desiring new learning between now and the end of the school year. They just want their kids to survive the lockdown, both psychologically and emotionally.

On the latest episode of TrumpEd on the BAM! Radio Network, we explore this new student data and how it is OK to just be OK, education wise, these next few months of school.

Give it a listen.

No, We Don’t Have Equity. But This Could Start the Discussion.

Eduflack accountability, Achievement gap, BAM, equity, Online Education, reform, TrumpED

We shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that the institution of virtual education in response to the coronavirus epidemic means we now have equitable k12 education. But if we are fortunate, it just might force a very real discussion of how we start working toward equity in teaching, learning, and access.

How? We explore the topic on the most recent episode of TrumpEd on the BAM Radio Network. Give it a listen here.

Equity, Access and Online Learning, Oh My!

Communicating During Covid

Eduflack accountability, Media, reform, Social media

It’s safe to say that the coronavirus is dominating virtually all corners of public debate and consideration these days. It is definitely true of education, as our collective shift to virtual education is driven by talk of flattening the curve and a timeline for returning to “traditional” school.

Back in the day, dear ol’ Eduflack spent a great deal of time working on crisis and risk communications, particularly in the healthcare space. In 2004, for instance, I collaborated with the Hong Kong Department of Health to examine its communications response to SARS, what it could learn, and how the government could better engage with citizens to address the healthcare crisis.

Over at Medium, I reflect on those lessons and how they can be applied to our current pandemic and the communications response to it. Some of these ideas may seem common sense, but they are essential reading – and essential action – as we all try to deal with Covid19 response.

Please give it a read. And a share.

Who’s Looking out for IDEA?

Eduflack BAM, equity, Parents, reform, Students, teachers, TrumpED

It’s very easy to say we just need to do as much as we can for as many students as we can. That tends to be the mantra for public education, as has been for generations.

But when dear ol’ Eduflack gets into a Twitter fight with a teacher about how special education is both unnecessary and gets in the way of what public schools ahold be focusing on, we are clearly losing something in the IDEA translation.

Over at the BAM! Education Network, I explored the topic, discussing why it is even more important today than usual to make sure we do not lost sight of special needs families during such an educational crisis. Hard times don’t mean we abdicate our responsibilities to the students and families who need us the most.

Give it a listen here!

What Should Come Next?

Eduflack 21CS, BAM, Online Education, PD, reform, Teacher Education, teachers, technology, TrumpED

Across the nation, schools and educators are doing everything they can to react to the new normal that is our covid society. For most, that has meant shifting to virtual education and trying to deliver existing lesson plans online.

It’s only natural that this past month – and likely the next two or three – will largely be reactive to the current circumstances. It what if were to spend the summer being proactive, using the warmest of months to focus on educator professional development and how best to empower teachers to take full advantage of the new instructional world likely before ya?

https://www.bamradionetwork.com/track/managing-the-evolving-new-normal-reactive-versus-proactive/Dear ol’ Eduflack explores this topic on the latest episode of TrumpEd on the BAM! Radio Network. Give it a listen!

What About Special Education in the Age of Corona?

Eduflack accountability, assessment, equity, ESEA, reform, Students, teachers

As so many rightfully praise classroom teachers for quickly adapting their instruction for a new, virtual environment, advocates need to be sure that such desperate times do not provide school districts the opportunity to shirk their duties when it comes to IDEA and students with learning disabilities.

Big kudos to Emily Richards and USA Today for placing a spotlight on this important issue, and for speaking with dear illl’ Eduflack about his district’s decision to suspend IEP and 504 meetings for an undetermined period (read until next fall).

For students who already receive accommodations and special services to catch up because of the years their families fought to get them the adequate educations they are guaranteed under the law, lack of leadership by the US Department of Education and adversarial relationships with school districts that have denied special needs learners is a potential recipe for disaster.

“I get that this is the first week. But everything we have fought for in my son’s (individualized education plan) now gets put on hold,” Riccards said.

Read the full article here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/03/19/coronavirus-online-school-closing-special-education-teacher-distance-learning/2863503001/