Friday News Roundup

Here’s your Friday News Roundup!

Seizing on Parents’ Frustration, GOP Governors Push for Education Savings Accounts (The 74)

This week The 74 reported that,

“Capitalizing on parents’ frustration with public schools during the pandemic, Republican governors across the country are putting education savings accounts at the center of their legislative agendas.”

“Some hope to significantly broaden the concept of ESAs, which allow families to tap state education funding to pay for private school tuition, tutoring and other education-related expenses.”

“In a ‘Condition of the State’ address earlier this month, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said the state should spend the same amount on students, whether they attend public schools or not.”

“’We have to set aside this us-versus-them mentality,’ she said. ‘If you want to pretend that this is a war between two different school systems, then you’re not focused on our children.’”

I used to be anti-voucher. Not anymore.

But, it seems that Republican leadership is looking at ESAs and their potential rather narrowly. The two systems the Iowa governor refers to is the public versus the private system.

The two systems I want to talk about is the traditional system versus a new system for learning.

Vermont Student Reading, Math Scores Continued to Drop in 2022 (Burlington Free Press)

The Burlington Free Press reported this week that,

“The specter of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to loom over Vermont students, as evidenced by the state’s recent release of scores on statewide tests from 2022. The year saw very few gains in proficiency between 2021 and 2022 with most scores continuing a downward progression.”

“In the best showing of the results, 46% of Vermont 7^th grade students last school year were considered proficient in English language arts. Before the pandemic, Vermont’s best showing in English in any grade was 57% proficient. On the low end, 26% of 9^th grade students achieved proficiency in math in 2022. Prior to the pandemic, the worst performance in math in any grade was 35% proficient.”

Does anyone notice a problem here? For a moment, let’s forget about the pandemic and the ills it has set upon our public education system.

Let’s focus on the pre-pandemic scores. Vermont’s best showing in English in any grade was 57% proficient? The worst performance in math in any grade, pre-pandemic, was 35% proficient?

Why do we allow this system to exist with numbers like these. And Vermont thinks their public schools are in good shape.

Cardona’s Tutoring Charge, 1 Year Later: Some Progress, but Obstacles Remain (The 74)

The 74 reported this week,

“One year ago, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued a charge to schools still reeling from months of remote instruction during the pandemic: Students who fell behind should receive at least 90 minutes of tutoring each week.”

“Cardona’s 2022 speech was a ‘good use of the bully pulpit,’ said Phyllis Jordan, associate director at Georgetown University’s FutureEd think tank. ‘But it couldn’t overcome the implementation problems schools districts had – from finding tutors to signing contracts to getting students and families to commit the time.’”

The current school system is unable to begin a tutoring program to help their kids catch up.

The current system is broken and cannot be fixed.

New Poll Finds Majority of Parents & Voters Favor Open School Enrollment, Elimination of Attendance Boundaries (The 74)

The 74 reported this week that,

“A new poll shows a majority of Virginia parents and voters want families to have greater flexibility when choosing schools for their children, and believe students should be able to attend any public school regardless of proximity to their residence.”

“The poll, released late last year by education advocacy group Yes, Every Kid, and conducted in October by WPA Intelligence, surveyed 504 registered voters across the state. Nearly every voter polled (97%) agreed that all students should have access to the best public schools, regardless of race, gender, or income.”

“More than two-thirds (67%) of voters and an overwhelming majority (72%) of parents said students should be able to attend the public school of their choice, regardless of attendance boundaries.”

This isn’t good news for school districts. Open enrollment (or not attendance zones) invites a myriad of problems for traditional schools. Most don’t have enough good schools to accept all of the students wanting to attend those schools. Most have already drawn attendance zones along racial and economic lines. Many aren’t interested in changing the way they relate to their communities by marketing their schools to the families they are charged to serve.

I sense two trains on the same track, ready to collide.

Teachers Shouldn’t Have to Drive Ubers on the Side, Education Secretary Says (EducationWeek)

This week, as reported by EducationWeek online, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona laid out his department’s, and the country’s, education priorities.

“Higher academic standards, robust mental health supports, and competitive teacher salaries are all key priorities for the U.S. Department of Education in 2023, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Tuesday.”

Like tutoring (see above), the federal government’s current influence around higher academic standards, robust mental health supports, and competitive teacher salaries is minimal. Today, all of these decisions are made at the state and local level.

I guess it’s nice Cardona is saying what he’s saying, but his influence, and the federal government he represents, continues to wane.

Despite What the Unions Say, Membership Rates Hit Record Low in 2022 (The 74)

This week The 74 reported,

“In a ritual as dependable as the rising sun, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual grim accounting of union membership last week. Only 10.1% of wage and salary workers belonged to unions in 2022, down from 10.3% in 2021. This set a record low since the federal government started compiling the numbers in 1983 (20%).”

It’s safe to say our work world has moved from one that embraced union membership to one that endorses the independent contractor. This condition is playing itself out in the public education space.

It will be interesting to see how the independent contractor could change the learning environment moving forward.

Have a good weekend. SVB