iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Akil Bello

Tim “Positive Subway” Smith @positivesubway.bsky.social · 15h

Time to Consider Becoming a Bricklayer

Born
July 22, 1984 (age 42)
Education
Harvard University (BA)
Occupation
Journalist
Employers
The Atlantic
The New York Times
Slate
The Washington
Independent
Spouse
Ezra Klein (m. 2011) [1]
Children
2

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Just Equations @justequations.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

@akilbello.bsky.social and Federick Ngo join @pamelaburdman.bsky.social for a virtual conversation, delving into the issue of math preparation and deconstructing gatekeepers and math traps. Watch the webinar recording: www.justequations.org/event/decons... #EDUSky #MathEducation #CollegeSuccess

Screenshot from Just Equations' "Voices on Math Readiness: Deconstructing Gatekeepers & Math Traps" webinar featuring Pamela Burdman, Akil Bello, and Federick Ngo.

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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Gobsmacked by the elite levels of not knowing ball in the Senate today, thinking an NBA team is called the Hawkeyes then, refusing to Google it, then accusing a guy of treason because you didn’t know the Iowa Lady Hawkeyes aren’t in the NBA. Somehow I don’t trust these people to Save Girls Sports.

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Tim “Positive Subway” Smith @positivesubway.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I guess I’ll keep screaming it into the void: AP participation and pass rates for the 2023–2024 school year for every HS in NYS are publicly available USNWR didn’t want to pay someone to collect the data, that’s all this is about! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/n...

nytimes.com

U.S. News Shuffled Its N.Y. High School Rankings. An Uproar Ensued. (Gift Article)

After the New York State Education Department denied a request from U.S. News for A.P. scores, perennially top-ranked schools plummeted.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Bell Curves is exploring the #SHSAT: 3rd version in 3 yrs. All this flux just gives those who can prep a greater advantage Read about the practice tests that aren't like the actual test: www.linkedin.com/pulse/shsat-... & the interface: www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-sh... @errollouis.bsky.social

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

By the end of this semester I might acutally understand the difference between r and r-squared! #watchout #gradschool #pearson

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

My soul left my body as I watched the ending

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It's okay not to have an opinion on something. It's even more okay not to express that opinion online.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

All the hard parts of the college admissions process are about feeling. The stress of waiting, the fear of rejection, the anxiety of choice...

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I can't wait until I can get new #Hillman gear!

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.

theintercept.com

DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.

In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 25/09/2026

We had to wait for the....NEW YORK POST to write about this. Y'all know there is so much more where this came from but journalists don't want to dig and people are terrified to speak to any journalist seeing the type of reporting they've been doing

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I have a different social feed then nearly everyone it seems because I somehow manage to avoid most viral things..

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Evan Urquhart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Many professional class whites seem to have decided that the moral of Nikole Hannah-Jones' NYT piece is that she was wrong to care about the education of disadvantaged Black kids in the first place and nothing can be done.

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Jennifer Shin - WTAF @jennifershin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I think @darrigomelanie.bsky.social said everything that needs to be said.

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Daniel A Collier, PhD @dcollier74.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Hahaha my first paragraph... Picture 1 - Human only (100%) Picture 2 - Asked AI "Edit this paragraph lightly" (Not 100% Human as I asked AI to revise it)

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

New strong contender for the most inane headline of the year!

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It's not a ribbon but it's still cool

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Newshound411 @newshound411.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

We’re not being governed, we’re being looted! 👇 👇 👇 👇

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Tim “Positive Subway” Smith @positivesubway.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Everyone who is crashing out over the NYT guest op-ed (which has not been skeeted or gotten a push alert) about University of California admissions procedures: please report to this link immediately and take the test! akilbello.com/crisis-const...

akilbello.com

Take the Diagnostic: The Math 2 Skills Assessment

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I didn't hold back. These centers are a blight on higher education and we should say so. dailyiowan.com/2026/09/15/u...

“Center for Intellectual Freedom is a really Orwellian name because they’re forcing mandatory classes on students who don’t want it,” Ray said. “Just as a matter of pure consistency, if closing African American Studies was just a financial decision, the center should be closed.” Ray said universities do a better job fostering free thought than any other institution — including churches, workplaces, and the military.

“You can say and do things at universities that you cannot do anywhere else,” he said. “So the notion that universities are a problem when it comes to free speech is just a lie.”

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Today I learned about - Tau A - Lambda - Chi squared Also nominal statistics do not have a direction.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I think my entire Bluesky feed was in the chron today On HRCs: "They are important places,” said Cantwell, “What they’re not is representative places.” @bakerdphd.bsky.social @cantb.bsky.social @victorerikray.bsky.social @ceciliaorphan.bsky.social www.chronicle.com/article/high...

chronicle.com

Higher Ed’s Harvard Problem

An exclusive club of colleges commands the public narrative. Does that come at a cost?

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Tim “Positive Subway” Smith @positivesubway.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I do not have the words to express how frivolous this lawsuit—underwritten by your tax dollars—is. Eva Moskowitz is engaging in Trumpian-level lying by claiming that USNWR high school rankings influence college admissions. Bring back shame and consequences! I longisland.news12.com/success-acad...

longisland.news12.com

Success Academy sues New York State over drop in rankings

The charter school network is one of several in New York State blaming their drop on a decision to no longer share data from AP courses.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Ivy League: You need all As to get in. Student: I have all As. Ivy League: That’s grade inflation. Show us your test scores. Student: Here’s my score predicting all As! Ivy League: Welcome aboard. Student: I got the As and not one C. Ivy League: That’s grade inflation. We’re now limiting As.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Holy crap! The NFL season started last night? It's got to be because of streaming that I've missed all season kick off ads!

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

SPECIAL REPORT Last month, Alpha School invited people to follow student social media accounts "if curious about life in our high schools." I accepted their offer. What I've found shocks me. Forget the AI and ask instead: Is Alpha Schools a cult? Follow along for a summary of my findings.

buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com

SPECIAL REPORT: My So-Called Alpha School

What is it like to be a student in Alpha School’s high school boot camp?

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Reposted by Akil Bello

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 04/09/2026

The two largest public school systems in the country, New York and Los Angeles, are banning AI for at least some of their students this school year.

washingtonpost.com

Another big school district bans generative AI, this time for all students

The action in the Los Angeles Unified School District comes after officials adopted strict screen time limits.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

After so many years of struggling to get access to academic papers, I feel like He-Man when he pulls his Power Sword

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Joshua Goodman @joshua-goodman.com · 31/08/2026

🚨New working paper alert!🚨 Private tutoring chains like Kumon and Sylvan have grown rapidly. Who uses them? Do they improve kids' skills? BU econ PhD student Samuel Nitkin and I provide answers in: "Kumon Up: Private Tutoring Centers and Student Achievement" www.nber.org/papers/w35671 1/?

Private tutoring chains like Kumon and Sylvan have expanded rapidly in recent decades.
Combining data on business locations, household spending, and district test scores, we study who
uses these centers and how they affect academic skills. Nearly half of tutoring users are from the top
income decile, with Asian and White households five and two times as likely to purchase tutoring as
Black and Hispanic households. A staggered differences-in-differences design shows the opening
of a district's first chain center raises district-wide math and reading scores by 0.02-0.03 standard
deviations, at a much lower cost than public spending typically producing similar gains. Math
effects are largest for White and Asian students, so that center entry widens racial achievement
gaps, though less so in more racially integrated districts. These private investments help their
users, deepen educational inequality, and shape outcomes by which state accountability systems
and families judge schools.

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Bari Weiss's Free Press CBS is just worried that El-Sayed might be facing the risk of renewed scrutiny! He might be open to a fresh political attack! He might be criticized! Not by *them*, silly. No, no, no. By *other* people who might be coming forward with weird complaints. Any day now.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A 2023 NCAA survey of 18- to 22-year-olds found that 51% of the women and two-thirds of the men have bet on sports. A senior at SMU estimated that among his fraternity brothers, it was 90-95%.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Tomorrow! be there or be square!

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Reposted by Akil Bello

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

A few very minor quibbles about the early history of the star machine which aren’t that important, this is about dead on. Blonde studies.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Is Caitlin just the gen Z version of Karen? #wnba

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Full unfettered access to Haithi and Jstor may be reason enough to justify going back to grad school!

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I hope Tag Team gets paid each time there's a fire

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

"advanced plagiarism automation software"!!

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 22/08/2026

Carney on the US: We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked.

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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 22/08/2026

'Resistance to data centers is chatbot eugenics' holy christ some people are cooked

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I remember when many of us hypothesized this during the MOOC IP grab. It sounded insane. Now:

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Elon Musk is spending $100,000,000 to support Republican candidates in the 2026 election. But he also gave $5,000 to Hillary Clinton in 2016. As a fair-minded, balanced reporter, the best way for me to put this is that Elon Musk has given money to both parties.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I'm still waiting to get my masters for free in a MOOC for a "top" college

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I once worked at a university that gutted an entire (very popular and useful) learning center and replaced it with two guys who would teach you how to host blogs. every student had to have a blog. Every single one. Our syllabus had to mention blogs. We had to teach WITH blogs.

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Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

What's the difference between an alma mater and a funeral dirge?

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