I enjoyed reading Kevin Welner’s new book “Potential Grizzles.” There are many hilarious short pieces about education fads, absurd federal laws, Duncan, DeVos and more.
You will enjoy reading about the innovative Ammocentric Charter School in Arizona. Or the discovery that when the bottom 5% of teachers are fired, another bottom 5% pops up the next year. Or the insight that teachers can be fairly evaluated by their height. Or what happened when a promising student got a growth on her mindset.
Kevin and I discussed the book on a Zoom sponsored by the Network for Public education. We had a lot of laughs thinking about the absurd disconnect between research and policy.
Kevin has pledged any royalties he earns to NPE. I hope you will watch, listen, then buy the book.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
That’s a very funny cover, but given Betsy ‘s approach, I think a shot gun would be more apt
Hilarious stuff!!! Definitely going to order this!!!
I am reminded of the Journal of Irreproducible Results founded in 1955 by virologist Alexander Kohn and physicist Harry J. Lipkin. This hilarious publication printed send-ups of bogus scientific studies. One for example, purported to solve the Nature-Nurture question. Psychometrists gave a series of psychometric tests to sets of identical twins, one of which was stillborn. The stillborn twin performed poorly on these tests, so, since they were genetically identical, the difference had to be attributed to nature. A deep scientific mystery solved! Another piece calculated how long it would take for the East Coast and West Coast of the United States to sink into the ocean under the weight of National Geographic magazines piling up in people’s basements.
Of course, one of the great education studies that has yet to be published would correlate getting a check from Billy Gates with articles and speeches about how great standardized testing, the Common Core, and online learning are. This could be standardized as the Gates Hype Inducement Index, or GHII. Of course, our resident intrepid researcher Laura Chapman, like Tycho Brache charting the movements of celestial bodies, has been working on that study for the movements of similarly vast numbers of Gates dollars for years.
Bob,
In addition to the Journal of Irreproducible Results, there was another small publication in the 1950s and 1960s that satirized foolishness in education. I can’t recall the name. Do you, Bob?
Alas, I don’t, Diane. But if you think of it, please let me know.
Journals of irreproducible results are a dime a dozen.
They are better known as economics journals.
And they are chock full of self mocking manure by such esteamed researchers as Carmen Reinhart And Kenneth Rogoff (on economics), Eric Handsuahack , Raj Chettypicker (aka, VAManujan) , on education, and Emily Oster (on crapidemiology)
While watching the video, I was reminded of a Walter Williams’ op ed that appeared in my local newspaper today. Williams, of course, is a conservative economist. There are so many false assumptions and wrong headed arguments in this article. We also know that the schools he is extolling, Success Academy and Kipp, are highly selective and have high rates of attrition. He is comparing apples to oranges. Also, liberals do not necessarily believe that you must have integration in order for poor minority students to do well. It certainly helps, but poor students can also do well in smaller, well-resourced classes. Also, test scores are miscategorized as “accountability.” Of course, a conservative economist would be convinced test scores legitimately carry the onus of accountability. We know scores say more about socioeconomics than learning. https://www.dailycitizen.news/opinion/columns/walter-e-williams-should-blacks-support-destruction-of-charter-schools/article_f5fcda00-7f54-5afb-8f6a-261485191509.html
Now that’s a bookshelf!
I have many wildlife books, including Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.
This will be a good addition to my library.
In fact, Grizzly Years (or maybe Grisly Years) would have been a good alternate title
Grisly Years
Grisly Years
With Betsy D.
Grizzly fears
And edu-free
Grisly vouchers
Grisly choice
Grisly natures
Grisly voice
Grisly this
And grisly that
Grisly biz
From grisly cat
“Grisly bat” might be better, since Betsy has a batsy belfry
Batsy Betsy
Betsy D is batsy
Batsy in her belfry
Grizzly in her mind
Grisly is her kind
Of Grisly bats and Grizzly bears
A Grizzly bear in school
Is really much preferred
To Grisly bat in rule
That’s dropping grisly turd
Ok, I’ll stop now.
Back to hanging sheetrock in the basement.
I loved the growth mindset bit. I have no idea if Kevin has visited Dweck’s website and discovered her Brainology package for elementary kids with this pitch.
Develop your students’ growth mindset and SEL skills with Brainology, a blended learning program using interactive animated lessons, online reflections, and classroom activities.
A recent DOE-funded efficacy study showed that Brainology increased students’ growth mindset, challenge-seeking, and persistence, with promising impacts on STEM grades for key subgroups of students.
Find more at Brainology for Schools
Then there are the fans and marketers of Angela Duckworth’s GRIT and character traits. Among those not counted is truth telling.
“Brainology increased students’ growth mindset,”
Can people actually write this sort of stuff without rolling on the floor laughing?