The Conservative Cave

Education is fond of fads: If it feels good, fund it

https://www.joannejacobs.com/post/education-is-fond-of-fads-if-it-feels-good-fund-it

Giving every student a laptop was supposed to transform education -- for the better. Now Chromebooks are back in the carts, and students are flashing mini-whiteboards or writing with pencils on pieces of paper.

Like 1:1 devices, "21st-century skills, trauma-informed pedagogy, flipped classrooms" were supposed to be the answer, writes Robert Pondiscio. Why is education so damned fad-prone?"  Can't anyone remember that the last shiny thing failed to work? And the one before that? 

Among other things, Pondiscio writes, change is how administrators show they're leaders. The new superintendent" announces a bold vision, rebrands existing efforts, and introduces a new set of priorities. Three years later, often before results are fully visible, that leader departs," and a new one comes in with bold new ideas. If the experiment is working, it's hard to sustain the success.

"Schools that improve often do so through unglamorous means: adopting a coherent curriculum, building teacher expertise, reinforcing consistent instructional routines, and maintaining focus over time," he writes.  It's not flashy. And it is fragile.

"Old-fashioned" techniques like phonics, memorizing Math facts, and learning the "Kings-and-Battles" that are the framework that supports understanding of History is boring, OK? But bypassing these leaves students unequipped for more advanced interests and careers that need those basics. BTW, Jpanne Jacobs is NOT a conservative, she's a pragmatic old-style liberal.

No indeed. And that explains why the files were so carelessly named. She thought she'd get away with it.

  Yeah, I have a feeling she was less than happy a certain Wednesday in early November 2024.

https://democraticunderground.com/100221160619


I'll give you 3 guesses on what this loser "won."

Naw, I'll just tell you.  We've just inherited another loser to pay for.  He's been trying to get disability ...

JMCKUSICK (6,149 posts)

Thu Apr 9, 2026, 12:27 PM
36
Recommend

I WON
Will add much more later, when I stop bawling.

KC

Ex-Delta Force Staffer Faces Charge of Leaking Classified Info to Reporter

https://pjmedia.com/tim-o-brien/2026/04/09/ex-delta-force-staffer-faces-charge-of-leaking-classified-info-to-reporter-n4951601

My emphasis. Yet another of the lesser benefits of Trump being President. Neither LIEden nor Kammie would have prosecuted her.

No indeed. And that explains why the files were so carelessly named. She thought she'd get away with it.

Ex-Delta Force Staffer Faces Charge of Leaking Classified Info to Reporter

https://pjmedia.com/tim-o-brien/2026/04/09/ex-delta-force-staffer-faces-charge-of-leaking-classified-info-to-reporter-n4951601

If you’re a former member of the U.S. military or a civilian who was entrusted with some pretty serious security clearances, it’s probably not a good idea to save top-secret documents on your computer with the file names “Batch 1 for Reporter” and “Batch 2 for Reporter.” Also, it’s probably not a good idea to put any communication to a reporter, which you want to conceal, in writing. But a veteran of U.S. Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and former civilian employee named Courtney Williams allegedly did just that, and much more.

CBS News reports that Williams faces a charge of one count of “illegally communicating or transmitting national defense information, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison if convicted.”

In their criminal complaint, federal prosecutors allege that Williams disclosed classified information to an unidentified reporter between 2022 and 2024, most of it centered on her work with the U.S. Army’s elite Special Military Unit (SMU) Delta Force. While not identified in the complaint, a journalist named Seth Harp authored a book titled The Fort Bragg Cartel: drug trafficking and murder in the Special Forces, which hit bookstores in August 2025. In the book and in a companion article for Politico, Harp provides explicit detail on Williams’ alleged experiences with sexual harassment and discrimination while she was part of Delta Force.
...
The complaint also mentions Williams’ unimaginative filing system for her top-secret batches of files “for reporter” – 10 of them in all. 

The complaint indicates that some of the information was “properly classified as SECRET,” and that “The classified information comprised, in part, specific Tactics, Techniques & Procedures (TTPs) utilized by this (SMU) to execute sensitive missions.”

WRAL-TV reported, “Harp declined an interview, but provided this statement about the charge against Williams: ‘Courtney Williams is a brave whistleblower and truth-teller. ...

My emphasis. Yet another of the lesser benefits of Trump being President. Neither LIEden nor Kammie would have prosecuted her.