Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday. Time for the Roundup.

Des Moines Names Ex-Olympian as Superintendent – First Person of Color to Lead District (The Des Moines Register)

The Des Moines Public Schools is no different than thousands of traditional school districts out there, trying to find the “silver bullet”, as in a superintendent that can transform the district into a high-performer.

According to the Des Moines Register earlier this week,

“The Des Moines School Board approved a two-year contract with Ian Roberts, the superintendent of Millcreek Township School District, at its regular meeting Tuesday night, ending a monthslong search.”

During that monthslong search, I attended a community meeting to discuss what qualities the new superintendent needed to improve DMPS. I turned out to be the community! I was the only person who showed up other than two school board members.

I don’t know Ian Roberts, but, like all urban superintendents, he has his work cut out for him. Minority performance in DMPS is dismal, and two years is a short time for anyone to fix what ails Des Moines.

What Will High Schoolers Be Learning in 2033? See the Predictions (EducationWeek)

EducationWeek online surveyed educators about what high school students will be learning in 2033. Here’s a sample of their responses:

A course in Artificial Intelligence

They need to know how advanced technologies work

They need a course in foundational programming

They need to get credit for different competencies and not just course seat time

They need to become skilled and adaptable lifelong learners

How many of these skills do traditional schools work on in 2023? Not many.

Digital Games Beat Out Lectures When It Comes to Student Learning (EducationWeek)

According to an article appearing in EducationWeek online this week,

“Students can learn more overall from digital games than from traditional instructional approaches such as lectures, according to a meta-analysis by researchers at Saarland University in Germany.”

“Digital games are also more effective than traditional approaches in motivating students, the researchers found, though the effect was smaller. Games’ positive impact was apparent across a range of school subjects, from learning a language to grasping STEM concepts, the researchers found.”

If this is true, then why are there so many schools limiting the use of devices on their campuses? It seems like they would be migrating to an instructional platform that embraces devices instead of banning them.

Ron DeSantis’s Big Idea: Make Florida Students Ignorant (The Washington Post)

In an opinion piece printed in The Washington Post yesterday, Jennifer Rubin writes,

“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who earned two Ivy League degrees, has apparently decided that making Florida schools and universities the laughingstock of the country is good politics. The Republican already went after public school teachers with his “don’t say gay” bill, championed an effort to prevent instruction about history that might upset students (make that white students), and banned Advanced Placement classes in African American studies. Now, he has decided to shred the curriculums of Florida’s public universities, inviting students interested in unapproved subjects to go to California (?) or other states that don’t control what can and cannot be taught.”

Ron DeSantis isn’t the only elected leader intent on deciding what is best for “public schools.” Greg Abbott in Texas, Kim Reynolds in Iowa, and a host of other primarily Republican governors have now decided that they themselves speak for the public when it comes to “public schools.”

Oh, and it appears DeSantis, Abbott, and Reynolds are all for “parent rights” as long as those parents conform to the expectations of elected governors who act like despots.

Can AI Do Teacher Observations and Deliver PD? In Some Schools, It Already Does (EducationWeek)

According to an article appearing in this week’s EducationWeek online,

“The Spokane school district in Washington state is trying out an artificial-intelligence-powered instructional coach to help teachers evaluate and strengthen their classroom practices.”

One of the points I was trying to make in yesterday’s column is that school districts should stop trying to limit the powers of AI inside their classrooms and instead embrace its power.

We need more Spokane’s out there willing to try.

Have a great weekend. SVB