LiteracyMomTruthBomb

@alt_w_v_g I just read this to my husband. I think you could be friends or relatives. 😆

Had a parent-teacher conference this morning My wife told me not to come I came anyway She said "please just listen and nod" I said "I always listen" She said "you listen like you're sitting in a boardroom looking for something to challenge" That's how listening works Nice classroom Small chairs I am 6'4" and was seated at a desk designed for someone who still believes in Santa Claus My knees touched my chest The teacher introduced herself Shared her identified pronouns I shared my identified adjectives Smart and handsome My wife closed her eyes The teacher had a folder Color-coded tabs I respected the organization She said our son is "a pleasure to have in class" My wife smiled I waited That sentence is never the whole report It's the executive summary before the risk section She said "however" There it is She said he "asks a lot of questions" I said "good" She said "during quiet time" I said "when is quiet time?" She said "it's when students are expected to work independently and in silence" I said "so he's the only one trying to get information and you've structured the environment to prevent it?" My wife put her hand on my arm I continued The teacher said he recently told another student that "sharing pencils doesn't make sense if nobody brings their own" I said "that's an accurate observation" My wife squeezed harder The teacher said she's concerned about his "resistance to group activities" I said "he's not resistant. He just doesn't see the value of doing more work for the same grade." The teacher said he also corrected her math on the whiteboard I said "was he right?" She paused She said "that's not the point" I said "it's a little bit the point" My wife stood up Sat back down Compromise The teacher pulled out an evaluation sheet Categories like "works well with others" and "follows directions" and "respects classroom norms" All subjective Not a number on the page I asked how these are graded She said "based on observation" I said "so one person's opinion with no second review?" She said "it's professional judgment" I said "my auditors say that too. Right before I disagree with them." She looked at my wife My wife said "I'm sorry about him" I said "I'm sitting right here" My wife said "I know" The teacher said overall he's a bright kid and she just wants to make sure he learns to "collaborate" I said "collaboration is important. But so is recognizing when you're the only one doing the work. He'll learn that again in college. And again in the real world. Might as well start now." Nobody spoke The teacher closed her folder She said "I think we've covered everything" I said "one more thing" She braced herself I said "his reading is above grade level. His math is strong. He asks hard questions and corrects mistakes when he sees them. I just want to make sure this school knows what it has." The teacher looked at me differently My wife looked at me differently I said "that's all" We left In the car my wife was quiet Then she said "he's turning into you" I said "is that a good thing?" She didn't answer From the backseat he said "dad, why does the teacher count off for asking questions? Isn't that the whole point of school?" I looked at my wife She looked out the window I said "yes. It is." He said "I don't think she likes when I'm right" I didn't say anything Neither did my wife Small chairs Color-coded tabs No follow-up items But the kid's going to be fine Sent from my iPhone

@Paulie14 @JamieShaw5 @TheMorningHang @FriartownMayor @DivineFriars @ProvidenceCrier @BOCallday He was completely lost last night.

@JamieShaw5 @TheMorningHang @FriartownMayor @DivineFriars @ProvidenceCrier @BOCallday The more I watch oswin, I know he hasn’t been playing bball forever, but he is not a smart or good bball player. Looks lost. All he does ok is block shots but even that seems like it has gone away as the season has gone on

Looking at the Providence roster, there’s some real firepower with eligibility remaining. So. C Oswin Erhunmwunse Fr. G Stefan Vaaks Fr. F Jamier Jones So. F Ryan Mela That’s an intriguing foundation. Providence fans… how we feeling?

@Kgadi_yaMoloto Ozark

What's the MOST ADDICTIVE Netflix series EVER?? The kind that makes you say "just one more episode"... and suddenly it's 4 AM 👀

@LizStepan The results of 6 years of elementary school not going its job of relentless foundational skills focused instruction to mastery.

Day 32 in a class of hs struggling readers: New trimester today. So much prep - fluency passages, morph/vocab, sentence combining, writing/revising resources, literacy skills for bell work...not easy to apply SoR and SoL into high school. They think it's childish? They're out.

@clharrington024 That’s what is working intentionally in Stubenville, OH in the face of poverty!

We need to completely revise how we group students in elementary schools. Grade levels should be replaced with ability groupings. A 4th grader who is reading at a kindergarten level does not benefit from being in a fourth grade ELA class. Similarly, a student reading at a 6th grade level should not be in a 4th grade ELA class. Both of these students suffer because our system decided to implement the most stupid way of grouping students to learn. And now no one wants to change it. They’d rather let public education die. Insane.

@dmxfury @clharrington024 You think BOE’s know anything about curriculum? Ha! For ours, final data is brought to BOE meeting & stated “let’s go” by staff. “Research is done/approve it/trust us.” Any rebuttal or ?s causes staff to call in the legislators to speak about which they know 0 to hamper votes.

@LitMomTruthBomb @clharrington024 Exciting stuff. Board approved as well? Did they get held accountable?

The news on iready isn’t surprising to teachers. We hate iready, the kids hate iready, the parents hate iready. Why do we assign it then? Because a bunch of moron admins who taught for 3 years and are now our “leaders” require us to. As a teacher I still very rarely have my students use it. But. This just shows the ridiculous level of unchecked power admin has over schools.

@MrDanielBuck A direct consequence of not teaching the majority of students how to read.

The threshold for “special education” is growing increasingly lower even as IEPs become a veritable “get out of consequences free” card It’s time to talk about IDEA nationalreview.com/2026/03/specia…

@dmxfury @clharrington024 Ours adoption was well before the days of state lists. I hold our two top leaders who were involved with back door meetings that Curriculum Associates was fully engaged with at the time with ERDI responsible, and so did the courts, for one of them.

@clharrington024 @LitMomTruthBomb They bought the tech because the state narrows the vendor list to a very few select. Is there a bad apple in the much? Maybe. But cmon blaming admins and not understanding their role 😂

@TimMacdowall @karenvaites When grading policies set minimum grades at 50% for doing nothing, yes… policies are hiding truths and teachers are caught up in it because they are forced to.

@karenvaites Yup. The “professionals” in the classroom are straight up lying to students, parents and the community.

This might be the most important insight regarding the decline of public education. The consumer (parents) are watching grades as the Key Performance Indicator. So grade inflation is serving as an effective mask for school performance. The plummeting outcomes on standardized assessments should worry everyone as much as they concern the K-12 education community. But they won’t as long as report cards are full of A’s and B’s. @jillbarshay on the latest study sending the same signals about parent attitudes.

@karenvaites @LassReading Report card grades = parental pacifier.

@clharrington024 @dmxfury Our super went to jail and CA was one of the vendors associated with ERDI that helped to put him there. Back door dealings abound in this space.

Who is buying the tech? Who makes the decision about buying tech? Teachers are not advocating for this software, nor are they signing off on purchasing. We are asked for input on curriculum, and then the district admin dismisses are recommendations and buys whatever they want anyways.

@clharrington024 @WhiteMenCantFnk Carry on warrior! The Ed establishment needs more teachers like you who are willing to say no when decisions are not good for students. Education has become about adults and it needs a turn-around.

@WhiteMenCantFnk It is not easy for most people to disregard the mandates of central admin. I do so because I have read the research and am willing to die on this hill. Don’t get it confused, central admin uses every lever to make my life difficult.

@clharrington024 @CurriculumIP And the BILLIONS of Ed $ spent… imagine if instead, these dollars were put into teacher training & coaching. Our system alone spent millions on it & then let it silently go away. It was a highly contested contract…they didn’t even tell teachers they were stopping it.

Students with dyslexia are too often routed into MTSS cycles, intervention blocks, or generic resource settings that were never designed to remediate dyslexia. Those systems were built to address instructional gaps, not a specific learning disability. The result? Delayed evaluation. Delayed access to trained specialists. Delayed progress for students who cannot afford to wait. MTSS is not a substitute for identification, intervention is not the same as remediation, and Tier 1 reform cannot replace disability-specific services. Students with dyslexia need timely evaluation, appropriate eligibility, and instruction delivered with sufficient intensity, duration, and expertise. #specialeducation #iep #dyslexia #parentadvocate #mtss

You never need read another word beyond this razor sharp assessment of America today, and her destruction at the hands of Democrats and their handmaidens in the media, to understand the war ahead. Stephen Miller is a political genius, a brilliant historian, and a true patriot.

@teachthemx3 Yikes.

I love that our math department just sent a congratulations message in GroupMe for a teacher who's been teaching Algebra 1 for three years and finally passed the 7-12th grade math certification exam. This was her 5th and final attempt.

@TexBetsy @JanOrocobix @KJWinEducation Without data how do you know what to teach them to close their gaps?

@LitMomTruthBomb @JanOrocobix @KJWinEducation I don't have reading data to look at. No one has talked me with doing that. The only thing I might see is iready, and they're all in different classes for that so I don't even know what's real and what's the kids next to them. I have a different curriculum and textbook.

3 years ago, a relative asked for school help with a child. I asked, "Can he read?" The answer was yes. Now, in 8th grade, they realize he can't. Don't wait. Figure it out. Have them read labels in the store. Turn on TV subtitles. You need to know. Don't assume.

@TexBetsy @JanOrocobix @KJWinEducation What is your data saying? Use your data to make the case. Just doing the same and getting zero results is good for no one. SOR benefits all students including ESL (with a bit more language focus.)

@JanOrocobix @KJWinEducation This would be great if this was what the school wanted me to do. I'm the esl teacher and have a curriculum to follow.

@TexBetsy @MmeLockhartLDS @KJWinEducation Find your Decoding Dyslexia state chapter and make this info public to them. This is truly outrageous and a disgrace to children and taxpayers.

@MmeLockhartLDS @KJWinEducation That's only half the problem. The school is not committed to this. I've worked at other schools with literacy plans and support. This school just has in the annual plan that students will do iready twice a week for 30 minutes as their intervention. Also math iready 2x/WK.

@JonHaidt @tetheredtoed1 @juliejargon @WSJ “Have long suspected…” anyone with a brain knew immediately phones would be an issue & could see unfolding in real time. Educators need studies & years to tell them what is clearly problematic in front of them? SMH.

"Early data on the effects of school phone bans confirm what teachers and administrators have long suspected—that phones in the classroom were the primary culprit behind bad behavior and low engagement." From @juliejargon at @WSJ wsj.com/us-news/educat…