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☆ The Post-Pandemic Teaching Loss
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In testimony on April 26, 2023, Randi Weingarten detailed the cosy relationship between the American Federation of Teachers, the Biden Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control regarding Covid-19 school closure policy. Images: AP/Shutterstock/Reuters Composite: Mark KellySchools were given $190 billion in federal money for Covid safety measures and to help students catch up, and many have poured funds into tutoring or other programs. Then why are test scores still lagging? A new report suggests that pandemic learning loss is being exacerbated by teaching loss.

Persons: Randi Weingarten, Kelly Organizations: American Federation of Teachers, Biden Administration, Centers for Disease, Reuters, Kelly Schools

☆ Opinion: What happens when you knock on a door
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. In Kansas City, Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old White homeowner shot Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who rang his doorbell. And, “with Trump as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, Fox has resumed coverage of him which often veers into the free-advertisement category. Neither Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who announced his candidacy last week, nor Marianne Williamson represents a serious threat, Axelrod noted. “The calendar reads 2023,” wrote the Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan, “but it feels like 2016 all over again.

☆ Opinion: A rookie officer ran toward semi-automatic gunfire. It was his job
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Michael Fanone | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The job carries unavoidable risks, but to the extent that we can keep them safe we owe them that much. Too many times toward the end of my career I heard politicians, media pundits and even executives in my own department prioritize optics over officer safety. In fact, every single firearms transfer in this country should begin with a background check. As I thought about Officer Wilt, I recalled my own experiences as a rookie cop working in the inner city. This is the job, and this is what is asked of these officers.

☆ Private school vouchers are shaping up to be huge part of the 2024 election as GOP candidates work to 'one up' each other on the issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The GOP movement toward "school choice" is gaining momentum in many states. GOP presidential candidates have promised to send more public money to private schools. While battles over how classrooms should teach about race and LGBTQ topics have fired up the GOP base, the expansion of school vouchers is taking hold in red states. Spar said vouchers amounted to "using taxpayer money to go to private schools and home schools with practically no accountability." As Congress then turned its attention toward COVID pandemic relief, at least one bill that didn't pass had funding for private schools and homeschooling.

☆ Amazon Union President Chris Smalls Seen Fighting Worker in Video
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +27 min

On the night of December 5, the president of the Amazon Labor Union pummeled another union member. Some longtime Amazon Labor Union organizers decided to begin organizing on their own, without Smalls. All three said they believe in Smalls' mission and support the goals of the Amazon Labor Union, but worry about Smalls' ability to lead. Amazon Labor Union members consoled each other after the union lost the vote at its second warehouse, LDJ5, last April. One purpose of the organization appears to be to raise funds for the Amazon Labor Union, according to its certificate of incorporation.

☆ Democrats choose Chicago as the site of the 2024 convention
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Natasha Korecki | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Democratic Party has chosen Chicago as the site of its 2024 convention. "Chicago is a great choice to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention," Biden said in a statement. "The last Chicago convention was a huge success. It makes sense to put the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 2024. Republicans are holding their 2024 convention in Milwaukee.

☆ Chicago Teachers Fight a Union Political Ploy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is all-in for mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson , and it wants every member to finance the bet. Yet plenty of teachers didn’t sign up for this cause, and they’re fighting union leaders for their right to stay out of it. Several CTU members filed a complaint Thursday with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, accusing their bosses of spending dues money on political campaigns. CTU’s bylaws forbid mixing dues and political money, and new members can opt into a separate payment if they want to contribute to the political fund.

☆ Lawmakers aim to train more truck drivers, ease supply chain issues through bipartisan bill
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A semi truck used by students while earning their commercial driver's license (CDL) parked at Truck America Training of Kentucky in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. WASHINGTON — A pair of bipartisan lawmakers have reintroduced legislation offering tax credits to U.S. truck drivers in an effort to address a dire pandemic-related shortage. The Strengthening Supply Chains Through Truck Driver Incentives Act aims to combat what lawmakers said was a shortfall of about 80,000 commercial truck drivers in 2021, caused by hiring and retention challenges. The bill would establish a two-year refundable tax credit of up to $7,500 for truck drivers with a valid Class A commercial driver's license who drive at least 1,900 hours in a year. Ten advocacy organizations representing the trucking industry, including the American Trucking Associations and American Loggers Council, have backed the bill.

☆ Teachers in England reject pay offer, announce further strikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Teachers in England have overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer from the British government aimed at ending a series of disruptive strikes, their trade union said on Monday, announcing two further days of walkouts. The National Education Union, Britain's largest education union, said 98% of teachers who voted in the ballot followed its advice to reject the offer of a one-off payment this year of 1,000 pounds and an average pay rise of 4.5% in the next financial year. The union said teachers would take two further days of strike action, on April 27 and May 2. Teachers in Wales have ended their strike action after voting to accept a pay offer comprising an additional 3% pay award for 2022/23 alongside a 1.5% one-off payment, and a government-funded 5% rise for the following year. Scotland's largest teaching union has also accepted a pay deal to end long-running strikes, which it said would amount to a 14.6% increase in pay for most teachers by January 2024.

☆ Bill Gates just published a 7-page letter about AI and his predictions for its future
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Bill Gates published a 7-page letter on the future of artificial intelligence. The Microsoft cofounder published a seven-page letter on Tuesday, titled "The Age of AI has Begun," outlining his views on the future of artificial intelligence. It's possible that AI could also aid in the treatment of patients who don't live nearby health facilities, Gates wrote. "Even once the technology is perfected, learning will still depend on great relationships between students and teachers," the letter reads. "To make the most of this remarkable new technology, we'll need to both guard against the risks and spread the benefits to as many people as possible," Gates wrote.

☆ UK govt, teaching unions to start 'intensive' talks to end strikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - The British government and teaching unions agreed on Friday to begin "intensive" talks to end strikes by hundreds of thousands of teachers in England who say they are overburdened and underpaid. The government and teaching unions said the National Education Union (NEU) — the largest striking union — would maintain a "period of calm" for two weeks in which no fresh strikes would be announced. "The Education Secretary and all unions will meet (on Friday), beginning intensive talks, which will continue over the weekend," the government and the unions said in a joint statement, adding that they hoped to reach "a successful conclusion". Teachers staged their latest strikes across England this week, coinciding with the government's annual budget. Scotland's largest teaching union has also accepted a pay deal to end long-running strikes, which it said would amount to a 14.6% increase in pay for most teachers by January 2024.

☆ Trump wades into education culture war as he eyes race with DeSantis
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Trump hasn't been waging the same kind of cultural warfare over education that DeSantis and other Republicans have since the coronavirus pandemic. DeSantis was in Iowa on Friday, speaking at a pair of political events that appeared to be laying groundwork for a presidential bid. His education agenda in Florida was a recurring theme in his remarks, and DeSantis credited it as a reason that he convincingly won re-election last year. DeSantis has asked the Florida legislature to expand a ban on teaching gender-identity concepts to eighth grade from third grade currently. Some of Trump’s education ideas include rewarding teachers who teach “patriotic values” and requiring direct election of school principals by parents, although how he would bring that about is unclear.

☆ Trump looks to play catch-up to DeSantis on education in 2024 race
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The coronavirus pandemic gave rise to a host of hot-button issues surrounding education that have mobilized the Republican base in the years since Trump left the White House. DeSantis was in Iowa on Friday, speaking at a pair of political events that appear to be laying groundwork for a presidential bid. DeSantis has asked the Florida legislature to expand a ban on teaching gender-identity concepts to eighth grade from third grade currently. That could leave an opening for Trump, who made school choice a priority in his administration but lacks the track record on state-level education issues that DeSantis and other governors have. Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, another conservative parents' rights group, said DeSantis getting out ahead of Trump on the issue should not hurt the former president.

☆ I quit my job as a teacher after 6 years to work in tech sales. I make $20,000 more, have greater flexibility in my day, and am so much happier now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

She now works in tech sales, where she makes $20,000 more, works from home, and has greater work flexibility. I got into teaching because I love sharing what I know and I love helping people, so it just seemed natural. The way you teach students who live in poverty is different because you need to make sure their basic needs are met before they can learn. When you're surrounded by students day in and day out for years, it can start to wear on you. I've since been promoted to sales coach, and I make about $20,000 more now than I did teaching.

☆ I do private Botox parties as a fun and lucrative side gig. Here's how I got certified and what they're like.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Natalie Rahhal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Dr. Samantha Ellison worked at Botox parties on her days off as a traveling physician. Ellison says Botox parties can be really fun and lucrative, depending on how you market yourself. Botox parties are really laid-backA lot of these Botox parties occur in the evening, so it's popular to have a sleepover where people come in themed pajamas. Doing Botox parties can be really fun and lucrative, depending on how you market yourself and how good your network is. The biggest challenge of working as both a hospitalist physician and doing Botox parties is the mental switch it requires.

☆ Some schools are switching to the 4-day workweek to bring in and keep teachers, but education officials say it's not a 'magic pill' to fix the educator shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Korie Wilkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

"Right now, the climate across the country with educators is that they are exhausted and they are tired," Gabe Dannenbring, a middle-school-science teacher and popular TikToker, told Insider. His studies include deep dives on how the four-day schedule impacts student success, and he is considering future studies on how this schedule change can help curb educator burnout. As of 2020, about 550 districts nationwide have adopted a four-day schedule, according to the National Conference of State Legislature. Heather Luke Drozlek teaches in a small private school in Indiana, which is on a four-day school week. "I can see the benefits, but I can also see that it could cause systemic issues," Tell Williams, a preschool teacher and social-media influencer, told Insider.

"America will stand with Ukraine as long as it takes," Yellen, flanked by sandbags at the cabinet ministers' office, told Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Yellen also announced the transfer of the first $1.25 billion from the latest, $9.9 billion tranche of economic and budget assistance from Washington. The latest funds are part of $45 billion in new military, economic and humanitarian approved by Congress in December as part of broad U.S. budget legislation. Yellen said such economic support is keeping Ukraine's government and critical public services running, schools open and pensions paid, providing a "bedrock of stability" that fuels Ukrainian resistance. 168, where the salaries of teachers, administrators and support staff are reimbursed from U.S. budget support funds.

☆ Biden's student-loan forgiveness is about to have its day at the Supreme Court. Here's everything you need to know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The Supreme Court will hear two challenges to Biden's student-debt-relief plan on Tuesday. But the Biden administration has defended its legal authority and expressed confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold the plan. Prominent figures in the legal and political worlds have weighed in on the two high-profile Supreme Court cases in dozens of briefs filed to the Supreme Court. More than 170 Republican members of Congress have argued against Biden's relief, along with 17 Republican-led states, the US Chamber of Commerce, and over a dozen conservative-leaning advocacy groups. Millions of student-loan borrowers' financial futures hang in the balance.

☆ How to Spot Robots in a World of A.I.-Generated Text
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Keith Collins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

A detection tool that knew which words were on the special list would be able to tell the difference between generated text and text written by a person. That would be especially helpful for this generated text, as it includes several factual inaccuracies. By contrast, the detection tool OpenAI released requires a minimum of 1,000 characters. A person could repeatedly edit generated text and check it against a detection tool until the text is identified as human-written — and that process could potentially be automated. By that time, educators and researchers had already been calling for tools to help them identify generated text.

[1/5] School teachers demonstrate for better salaries and working conditions in Lisbon, Portugal, February 11, 2023. REUTERS/Pedro NunesLISBON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of teachers took to Lisbon's streets on Saturday in one of the biggest protests in Portugal in recent years as the Socialist government faces a wave of discontent over the cost of living crisis. It was the third time in less than a month that teachers and school workers have held mass demonstrations in Portugal. Teachers on the lowest pay scale make around 1,100 euros ($1,174.25) per month but even teachers in higher bands typically earn less than 2,000 euros. House prices in Portugal rose 18.7% in 2022, the biggest increase in three decades, and rents have also increased significantly.

Paris/London CNN —French schools and transportation networks were heavily disrupted Tuesday for the second time this month, as unions staged another mass strike against government plans to raise the retirement age for most workers. Strikes that day brought the transportation network to a standstill and shuttered the Eiffel Tower to visitors. Air France (AFLYY) canceled 10% of short-haul flights but said strikes would not affect long-haul services. On Sunday, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said raising the retirement age was “not negotiable,” during an interview on domestic television station France Info. Raising the retirement age to 64 will keep France below the norm in Europe and in many other developed economies, where the age at which full pension benefits vest is 65 and increasingly moving towards 67.

☆ How Russia is molding the minds of schoolkids to support its brutal invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Elise Morton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Russia is running a campaign of propaganda lessons to rally support for its invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin at a rally in Moscow held in March 2022, a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. An image from the lesson materials showing Russian armored personnel carriers marked with the Z symbol from the invasion of Ukraine. But, the union said, "huge internal resistance" from Russia's teachers forced officials to edit out most references to the "special military operation" and achieve its aims less directly. It's the effect on young children, whose whole world is their school and family, that scares me."

[1/4] People carry a banner reading " We are also teaching fighting" as school workers demonstrate for better salaries and working conditions, in Lisbon, Portugal January 28, 2023. REUTERS/Rodrigo AntunesLISBON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of public school teachers and other staff marched in Lisbon on Saturday to demand higher wages and better working conditions, putting further pressure on the Portuguese government as it grapples with a cost of living crisis. The Union of All Education Professionals (STOP) is demanding that the government increases the wages of teachers and school workers by at least 120 euros ($130) a month and speeds up career progression. Teachers on the lowest pay scale are paid around 1,100 euros per month and even those in the top band typically earn less than 2,000 euros monthly. We need better conditions in terms of salary, it's unacceptable that we don't have progression in our careers," said Isabel Pessoa, 47, a science and biology teacher.

☆ I'm a Florida teacher who's been forced to cover up the books in my classroom. Here's why I'm suing Ron DeSantis.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Yelena Dzhanova | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

This year, a new law in Florida requires that all books in public schools be vetted for children. High school social studies teacher Don Falls said he covered up his books to comply with the law. The district recently began implementing a new Florida law requiring all books in a public school to be vetted by a trained media specialist. Many teachers, including Falls, chose to cover un-vetted books in their classrooms rather than remove them. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis openly said in his swearing-in inauguration that this is the state where woke goes to die.

☆ Ben Crump plans to sue DeSantis over rejection of AP African American studies course
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Rebecca Shabad | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump is expected to announce Wednesday that he intends to sue Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his administration's decision to block a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught in high schools. DeSantis' administration rejected the AP's African American studies program in a letter this month to the College Board, which oversees AP classes. On Tuesday, The College Board said it would release a new framework for the AP course, which it said has been under development since March. “We are glad the College Board has recognized that the originally submitted course curriculum is problematic, and we are encouraged to see the College Board express a willingness to amend,” Alex Lanfranconi, a spokesperson for the agency, said in a statement.

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