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Do not sleep on the school reform crowd embodied by @educationgadfly claiming that they've got this distance learning thing figured out already. How? By transporting their authoritarian surveillance model directly online. https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/revolution-education-born-necessity
These are the people who have spent the last 35 years driving the school reform train to exactly nowhere. Until recently, they were admitting that they may have been misguided, but now they seem emboldened all over again.
Their vision for what students "need" is embodied in this cheerleading article for Success Academy. It is digital, real-time surveillance of students.
Students living in the midst of the hottest spot for Coronavirus are being told to "move on" on their math homework because their teacher can see their moment-to-moment progress. This is supposedly "good natured."
This article form @educationgadfly starts with a ridiculously disingenuous frame that we would not expect Teach Like a Champion Doug Lemov to be able to "innovate" to online, but conducting surveillance online is even easier than in person. https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/revolution-education-born-necessity
Please note that these online, authoritarian methodologies are specifically aimed at what @educationgadfly calls the problem of "urban education." These approaches are necessary for black and brown students according to the school reformers.
I would like to contrast what Success Academy is doing with a cutesy article also @educationgadfly about "Daddy School" from someone who runs one of these types of schools. https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/daddy-school-week-2
Check out the goals he has for him and his children as they work from home.
Check out what his kids do during the day. A series of flexible, kid-oriented activities where they get to orient towards their own curiosities. For ex. they get to "experiment" with a new learning modality.
Here is an article from a co-religionist on school reform about "deeper learning" during the crisis. Does this resemble what Success Academy is doing or what the school reform leader is doing with his children? https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2020/04/straight_up_on_covid-19_harvards_jal_mehta_on_deeper_learning_at_the_kitchen_table.html
Just once I would love to see @educationgadfly address this tension. Why are their two sets of "best practices," one for the students they believe must be subject to authoritarian instruction and surveillance, and one for their own children?
I think I know the answer, but I think they should explain it in their own words. Let's be clear, though, the people who have fucked up the last 35 years of school reform are poised to be in charge of our distance learning present (and future).
Daddy School run by the school reformer for his own children ends at noon every day. Success Academy is 9 to 5. Please explain, @MichaelPetrilli. Which is the best practice?
Daddy School run by the school reformer for his own children includes copious free time, including play and physical exercise. How is this consistent with the best practice of Success Academy making "every minute count"?
While Success Academy has students working on screens every moment of their 8-hour day. The school reformer who runs Daddy School for his own children is deeply concerned about the impact of too much screen time. What is the best practice? @educationgadfly @MichaelPetrilli
