NRU education edition

Heart-breaking yet illuminating piece on how to help adult autistic citizens. It details, in part, some of the needs for research and policy that we simply haven't considered as we warehoused children with autism (or patted them on the head at school until they were 18 as if they would become different by becoming "adults" by age).  It is also heart breaking because it reveals the personal level of dis/connection and responsibility this adult sibling feels for his brother now that his mother has passed.  There is overwhelm and jealousy and rivalry and a sense of helplessness -- I am sure it is true on both sides, they just don't have the means to talk about it.  Like I said, heart breaking.

The Los Angeles Times sat down with two parents to ask them what they want for their children's education.  That is to say, ostensibly that this what this article promises.  Instead, it provides a litany of complaints about the public school system -- many, I am sure well deserved complaints.  However, talking about the air conditioning and/or the adequacy of virtual labs is not necessarily getting at what these parents (and others) want for their children's education.  Neither does bemoaning the broken computers or ballooning class sizes.  These are conditions, not sets of skills or knowledge or preparation or goals.  These are just conditions, materials and deployment of resources.  However disjointed those resources are applied, if the goals are not either transparent or aligned between the district and the parents, it really doesn't matter what materials they have in class.  It certainly doesn't matter if there is air conditioning .... perhaps that would be better fodder for a discussion on climate change.

Ugh... I could barely bring myself to read this piece on Broad's latest plan for LAUSD.  I had hoped that he had tired of puppeteering with LAUSD administration and turned his attention to art.  Alas ... he just closed up the Broad Fellows program in order to work on something else.  I just want to say once again that there is no credible evidence that charter schools are better options overall for all students.