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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
Feb. 2nd Is Groundhog Day – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources hatlerbratton / Pixabay
It’s Groundhog Day on February 2nd. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Groundhog Day.      This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Ed Policy Issues
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in seeing all my “Best” lists related to education policy here): 
Lawsuit alleging discrimination against white LAUSD students has potential to move forward is from Ed Source. Trump administration abandons anti-DEI court battle, but ‘damage has already been done’ is from Ed Source.
 Here’s My One Idea For How To Be An “Education Governor” Or Even An “Education Leader” In 2026 ElisaRiva / Pixabay
I often disagree with Chad Alderman’s ideas on school policy issues, but I do find he’s always thoughtful. His latest post, How to Become an “Education Governor” in 2026, gets that same reaction from me. But it did get me thinking. He shared seven-plus ideas. I’d like to share just one. It builds on the Catholic perspective of Subsidiarity , which I’ve often written about here. It basically means that the people closest to problems – most affected by them – often have excellent ideas on how to solve them. So, instead of offering a blog post with a bunch of specific policy suggestions, why not focus on pushing governors, state legislators, and district superintendents, to listen. Why not start off with having teachers, students, parents/guardians, classified staff and school administrators respond to these questions in something like a Google Form:
Obviously, the questions themselves could be changed, but the idea of eliciting the thoughts of the people most affected by schools should not. Teachers could have students answer these questions as an assignment, they could write out their own answers during a canceled faculty meeting, school administrators could do the same, and the form could be sent to parents/guardians and answered at PTA meetings. Next, all the answers could be fed into Artificial Intelligence and have it do something useful for a change – identify patterns, compile summaries, etc. Reports could be compiled for individual schools, districts and the entire state. People with similar ideas/interests could be identified, propositioned to be discussion leaders. Then, there could be class discussions about the results, conversations at union meetings, PTA gatherings, state legislative hearings, etc. Local and statewide action plans could be identified. Then, and only then, governors and other leaders could use this listening process to inform a specific education agenda. What do you think?
 Take A Chill Pill On “Grade Inflation,” Please birgl / Pixabay
Like clockwork, a flurry of articles on the horrors of grade “inflation” have come up every year for decades. Just this week, one on topic for college and another for K-12 have been making the rounds. I think educators, students and the world would be better off if everyone just chilled out. Last year, I shared my thought on it in this TikTok video (you might also be interested in Do We Give A Zero Or 50% For Work Not Turned-In? Here Are Some Useful Commentaries):
 Springsteen Releases Song About Minneapolis That’s Great (For The Classroom, Too) – Here’s Audio & Lyrics
Bruce Springsteen just released this song (you can read the lyrics here). I’m adding it to The “Best” Lesson Ideas For Teaching About The Protests & Killings In Minneapolis, where you can also find two poems written by Amanda Gorman.
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