March 12, 2017
Archives by: stlgretchen

stlgretchen

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Twitter Question: Why Should Students Memorize Facts When They’ve Got Google?

The question (*posted by a British educational provider) was answered and debated on twitter recently.  Tom Bennett started an interesting twitter conversation on this question.  There were several answers on why education is more than just learning how to use Google ‘facts’, the result of using Google (does it ...
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New (and Much Needed) College Course: How to Spot Bull****

If you are offended by the word bull**** you might want to stop reading now.  However, if you think the main purpose of education is to teach human capital to be useful in the global economy, you know that this premise is indeed bull****.  If you believe the current ...
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Character Education Lesson for Inauguration 2017: Diversity of Thought/Political Beliefs Not Allowed?

EDITOR’S NOTE:  The double standards that has ensued over the past eight years, the demands for tolerance from the intolerant and the divisiveness forced upon us by Progressives who now want to pin discord sewn by the left on our 45th president and non-Progressives was on clear display the ...
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Karma: Student PII Data Mining Concerns Coming Home to Roost for Dept of Ed Bureaucrats

The Federal bureaucrats in the US Department of Education are worried about the data mining via the structure (student longitudinal data systems) they supported which captures student/family Personally Identifiable Information (PII).  The bureaucrats endorsed the use of PII which was mandated via The State Stabilization Fund and ESSA.  Now ...
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One Huge Threat in EdReform Datamining: Ransomware

  Data is king.  We need  to improve education via data.  Our district is data-driven!  We need data to provide equitable education.  These are just some of the lines non-governmental organizations (NGO) use when talking about the ESSA/Common Core requirements to gather cradle to grave information on students.  It’s ...
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Parents and Professionals Protesting/Petitioning Against iPads in School

How much money has your school district spent on providing every student with an iPad?   Kirkwood School District in Missouri will have spent $1.775 Million for an iPad for each student (approximately 5,500 student population): Here is a FAQ link (undated) explaining what will happen if the parents refuse ...
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The Problems in Schools Cannot be Fixed by ESSA/CCSS Mandates

  A factual, albeit politically incorrect article has been written by Heather MacDonald on what’s wrong with public schools, Violence in the Halls, Disorder in the Malls, and here is a spoiler alert about its findings: it’s not anything that ‘higher’ standards and federalized educational mandates can fix.  The ...
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Note to Common Core/ESSA Proponents: You are the Gurus of Fake News.

The MEW January 1, 2015 article recently appeared in Facebook memories.  You can find it here.  It might as well have been written for a New Year’s greeting to the educational elites in 2017 as it dealt with the CCSS architects defending the failing standards in a National Public ...
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Why is a Missouri Teacher of the Year Teaching in a Private Start-Up High School?

It’s the Christmas season and most of us would like to hear uplifting stories this time of year.  The following story illustrates what can occur in education delivery/policy when teachers/administrators/private foundations think outside of a common curriculum and teaching techniques to reach students with learning disabilities.  A positive story ...
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Stuffing the Public Education Turkey: How’s it going to Turn Out With DeVos as the Cook?

If you follow education reform, this Thanksgiving has been, well, interesting.  Twitter comments on the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary have ranged from those celebrating a charter school proponent to those concerned about her apparent 11th hour conversion against Common Core and praise from Jeb Bush: Many ...
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A RFP for MOre and MOre and MOre Data from MOre ‘Target Populations’….for No Jobs

Announcing another Request for Proposal (RFP) from Missouri which will create/allow: Additional loss of privacy for additional groups of people The expansion of a centralized data base of human capital with a common data set More jobs for the bureaucrats proposing/administering the program funded by the Department of Labor ...
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Announcing an Intermission

Gretchen is taking a hiatus from MEW writing duties for the next several weeks.  Anne and Cheri will continue their excellent reporting on local/state/national educational news and if you have any tidbits of information (your experiences in education or interesting stories), send your tips to Anne: [email protected] For instance, ...
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HOW Much Are the Reformers Making in Education? Look at These 990s….

Richard Phelps in Nonpartisan Education Review offers facts on how much money Common Core NGOs have realized through the years.  The amount of money these organizations and directors have made ‘reforming’ public education is really quite staggering.  Reprinted with permission: from More Common Core salespersons’ salaries: In a previous ...
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Students “Desk Cycling” During Math Class: Not from The Onion.

According to this North Carolina 8th grade magnet school teacher, combining exercise with math lessons channels energy and helps kids focus on their lessons.  From WRAL  (video embedded in the article) and Pedaling to success: Wake County program helps students channel energy: Bethany Lambeth, an 8th grade math teacher, ...
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