Zack Barnes
@zbarnes.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Literacy. I study reading, executive function, and SES. Former sped teacher. Freelance writer.
Professor teaches same story for a decade and one complaint leads to firing. I thought we needed college students reading!? www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
Professor Fired for Teaching “Political” Story Sues College
English professor Vinita Prabhakar is suing South Florida State College after she was abruptly fired for teaching a story the college president deemed “political,” according to a complaint filed Wedne...
insidehighered.com
Thanks to inflation, the song 96,000 (came out in 2008) from In the Heights would be worth 150,000.
Folks have heard me complain vociferously about the fact that there is a lack of programmatic federal funding to study this stuff, and even though I’ve had a few grants on the topic scored, I still haven’t had any that have funded But did you know sportsbooks lobby to prevent that funding?
Joey Politano🏳️🌈@josephpolitano.bsky.social · last mo.NEW from me: Americans are set to lose nearly $250B gambling this year—a record high, up more than 60% since 2019—and that's before counting unofficial betting via prediction markets or crypto Can anything stop America's gambling boom? 🧵
On father’s day, I am in @businessinsider.com talking about how increasing praise made parenting a toddler much easier. www.businessinsider.com/tried-behavi...
We started praising our toddler more. The results made us rethink our parenting approach.
We stopped nagging our toddler and started cheering him on. Everything got easier.
businessinsider.com
one anecdote: I was searching for a link to one of my old papers on Google, and the automated Gemini summary attributed all of my lab's work to my husband
Mel Andrews@bayesianboy.bsky.social · 2mo agoWhen utilized in literature review, LLMs consistently 1. fail to mention female authors in female-led literatures, 2. insist that men are more influential or more heavily cited when this is contradicted by objective citation counts, and 3. attribute women’s work to hallucinated male scholars.
A proposed data center near the Nashville Zoo could be significantly larger than previously reported — and the site’s stormwater runoff could affect zoo property.
Proposed Data Center Near Zoo Could Be Larger Than Initially Reported
Stormwater runoff from site could run into already-degrading waterways on Nashville Zoo property
nashvillescene.com
I’m looking for childrens (PB, MG, YA) authors who are also K12 teachers and are actively publishing. Anyone got any leads?
Oliver Darcy got the audio of the heated 60 Minutes meeting where Scott Pelley dressed Nick Bilton down! "You know what was rude? Black Thursday. That was the absolute definition of rudeness. Telling Tanya Simon she had to be out of here at five o'clock." www.status.news/p/scott-pell...
I’m out with an essay in @businessinsider.com about my experience with alpha gal. It has totally changed my life. www.businessinsider.com/what-its-lik...
I thought I kept getting food poisoning. It turned out, a tick bite changed how my body reacts to red meat and pork.
I've been living with alpha-gal syndrome for nearly 18 months. It's changed my life in both good and bad ways.
businessinsider.com
What's really astonishing is not the far right authoritarian party doing this, but the near-total lack of <loud public collective action> by university chancellors & presidents to oppose this existential crisis. Almost impossible to overstate how total a failure of leadership this is.
Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 2mo agoIt’s truly astonishing to see how comprehensively the US government is tearing down every part of the system that has made it up until now a world-leading power in science, research, and technological development. The entire world will suffer from this wanton destruction.
New research on the effects of the Tennessee Promise finds a sizable impact on associate degree completions by age 21 and that the program likely passes a cost-benefit test.
A Promise Worth Keeping? Impacts of Free Community College on Degrees and Earnings
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
Colbert guest hosted a public access TV show in Monroe, Michigan a day after the Late Show ended. Guest star: Jeff Daniels Special appearance by: Eminem Musical director: Jack White Genius. youtu.be/jJTXB5uT_C4?...
Only In Monroe --- May 22, 2026
YouTube video by Stephen Colbert
youtu.be
Last week I got to call up James Patterson to talk to him about his $10 million donation to create an early adolescent literacy institute at Vandy. Here’s my article for Publishers Weekly, where I also interview a researcher and a teacher about this news. www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...
James Patterson Pledges $10 Million to Launch Literacy Institute
author James Patterson has committed $10 million to create the Patterson Institute of Early Adolescent Literacy at Vanderbilt University.
publishersweekly.com
My latest article in the Nashville Scene looks at the confusion about identifying students with dyslexia.
Nashville Scene@nashvillescene.com · 3mo agoDyslexia advocates are still concerned a decade after passage of the state’s “Say Dyslexia” bill.
We see this in early science learning. Some of the gaps are linked to out of school activities.
Matt Barnum@mattbarnum.bsky.social · 4mo agoNew: There are large gaps in educational outcomes by race and family income. The natural assumption is that schools are vastly unequal. But in fact the largest resources inequalities emerge when kids are out of school, per a new study from @davidblazar.bsky.social. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/04/21/p...
My book, AMERICAN MEN, is out today. It's an intimate, immersive work of narrative nonfiction that interweaves the stories of four vastly different men, grappling with their relationship to masculinity. I'd love for you to read it.
An mRNA treatment for PANCREATIC CANCER was in trials, among many other uses. Choosing to end this research is choosing to sentence millions to an early, painful death
The UnPopulist@theunpopulist.net · 4mo agoKennedy canceled $500 million in mRNA research and announced no new mRNA projects will ever be initiated—killing the technology that produced the fastest vaccine rollout in human history.
Impossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here:
Our @statnews.com survey of NIH-funded researchers drew nearly 1,000 responses from 45 states (plus DC and Puerto Rico). Here's a short thread on 5 scientists' whose labs and lives have been deeply impacted by federal policies 🧵
A reminder that you should want universal voting in a democracy irrespective of whether your side is suddenly benefiting or losing due to restrictions and disenfranchisement.
Bill Scher@billscher.bsky.social · 5mo agoWSJ edit board trashes SAVE America Act: "Kamala Harris in 2024 won college graduates and voters earning over $100,000 a year. Mr. Trump carried those with no degrees and lower salaries. Which coalition is most likely not to have passports and birth certificates handy?" www.wsj.com/opinion/save...
When I saw these clips go viral, I had some of the same thoughts. Good piece here.
Matt Barnum@mattbarnum.bsky.social · 5mo agoNew— The backlash to ed-tech is growing, with some prominent voices making the case that it's at the root of recent learning declines. I took a look at the evidence. www.chalkbeat.org/2026/03/17/j...
I knew that the Department of War shot a missile into a school & killed 175 civilians, mostly children. This is learned today: Secretary of War Hegseth had cut the teams assigned to prevent such tragedies by 90%. www.npr.org/2026/03/11/n...
I wish stories like this would mention how likely it is that Johnson and Ogles are sleeping in Lee Beaman’s house at the same time.
Jameel Jaffer@jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 5mo agoIt's not just that he refused to condemn Ogles and Fine; he endorsed the substance of their vile messages, taking issue only with their "tone," and he introduced a new line of bigotry-fueled conspiracy theory about Muslims wanting to impose sharia law. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
"Your steadfast commitment to our strategic mission, despite the multiple tramplings, maulings, and other encounters we shall henceforth refer to as 'terminal networking opportunities' has not gone unnoticed." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-m...
A Message from Your University President on the Recent Hippopotamus Attacks
Dear Faculty, Staff, Students, and AI Summarization Tools, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your patience as we explore innovative soluti...
mcsweeneys.net
🚨Ed policy researchers, look at the newest special call! 📲 We’re eager to fund RCTs and quasi-experimental studies that produce actionable evidence on how K–12 cell phone policies affect student learning, behavior, and well-being. 🗓️ 3-page LOIs due May 1. Learn more: bit.ly/47n9e1L
idk I’ve seen a bajillion kids movies where the kids parents die & let me tell you, having a convo with my kid about how anyone can die at any time & it doesn’t matter if they’re someone’s mom or dad is way harder than having a convo about how sometimes someone has two dads or whatever. And yet
Cosmic Marvel@dailycosmicmarvel.bsky.social · 5mo agoPixar CCO Pete Docter says they removed gay elements from ‘ELIO’ after finding some parents didn’t want entertainment forcing conversations with their kids they weren’t ready for. “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.” (via www.wsj.com/business/med...)
Excited to share a new EdWorkingPaper on the relationship between family income and disability ID. 🧵 TLDR: Low-income students are much more likely to receive SPED services while high-income students are more likely to get 504 plan accommodations. edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1374
School-Based Disability Identification Varies by Student Family Income
Currently, 18 percent of K-12 students in the United States receive additional supports through the identification of a disability. Socioeconomic status is viewed as central to understanding who gets ...
edworkingpapers.com
Part of what is great about college for a lot of people (and I know this is not something everybody wants to do or is able to do) is that not every class you take is taken for your major, or because it’s a requirement.
Victor Ray@victorerikray.bsky.social · 5mo agoThese are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.
Now this is a movie plot!!! Someone understands grad school.
