Friday News Roundup

Here’s your News Roundup.

Alaska Leads States in First-Ever Rankings of Charter Performance on NAEP (The 74)

This week The 74 online reported that,

“In an unusual, first-of-its-kind ranking of 35 states and the District of Columbia, charter schools in Alaska turned in the highest scores in reading and math, with students there learning the equivalent of about a year’s more material than their peers in other charter schools.”

“Meanwhile, Hawaii appeared at the bottom, with students there learning the equivalent of a year-and-a-half less than the typical charter school student.”

Between Alaska and Hawaii, it’s a mixed bag when it comes to state charter performance on NAEP.

Has the charter movement run its course in this country? Or can they reinvent their movement so that they make a greater contribution to the overall achievement of our nation’s children?

U.S. Parents Think Reading Instruction Is Going OK – Until They See National Test Results (EducationWeek)

Here we go again – parents not knowing how their kids are doing in these places called school.

According to EducationWeek this week,

“About half of all parents say that their children have struggled to learn how to read at some point in their education.”

“Still, the majority think that their child’s elementary school is putting the right amount of emphasis on reading skills, and that instruction in the subject is going ‘pretty well,’ or ‘ok.’”

“These are the findings from a nationally representative survey of 800 parents of children in grades K-5 conducted by the polling firms Public Opinion Strategies and Impact Research.”

“The results shine a light on parents’ understanding of the ‘science of reading’ movement – a recent push to align classroom instruction with evidence-based practice. Since 2019, more than half of states have passed laws or taken other measures to mandate that schools change their approach to reading instruction, often introducing new teacher training and materials.”

“Even as states have called for these overhauls, the survey shows that most parents have generally positive views of their children’s schools and the reading instruction they currently receive.”

“This preference for local school systems and teachers is ‘a phenomenon we see in education polling a lot,’ said Brian Stryker, the managing partner at Impact Research, in a briefing on the results on Tuesday.”

“Still, very few – only 6 percent – of parents say reading instruction is going ‘very well,’ he noted.”

Traditional school feedback to parents is lacking – tremendously. There’s just no other way to frame it. And because of this fact, schools are allowed to continue to be “sub-par” when it comes to reading instruction – post-pandemic and beyond.

New National Data Show Depth of Disparities in a Chaotic Year of Schooling (EducationWeek)

Ok, let’s stop blaming the pandemic on learning inequities in this country. Because it just ain’t true.

This week, EducationWeek online reported that,

“The first full school year of the pandemic caused incomparable disruptions to American schools, but just-released federal civil rights data show that deep inequities in students’ educational opportunities in 2020-21 were a difference of degree, not of kind.”

“While the pandemic upheaved public schools, longstanding inequities in how students were discipline, and their access to challenging courses and technology persisted. From suspensions, expulsions, and reports of bullying and harassment to access to science, mathematics and computer science courses, Black students were often at the largest disadvantage.”

“’We view education as the springboard that puts the American dream within reach,’ said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a media briefing on Wednesday. ‘Yet access to educational opportunities in this country remains unequal.’”

So if education is the springboard to the American dream, maybe schools aren’t. We all know there are different ways and different places to learn – away from places called school.

School Voucher Bill to Reach Texas House Floor Friday for Potentially Pivotal Vote (The Texas Tribune)

The Texas Tribune online reported today that,

“After years of work from advocates and months of arm-twisting in the state Capitol, the Texas House appears poised to vote on the creation of a school voucher program Friday.”

…

House Bill 1 would:

“Bump the base per-student spending by the state from $6,160 to $6,700”

“Increase teacher pay and include increases to special education funding”

“Establish a commission to revamp school accountability”

“Increase charter school facilities funding from $60 million to $300 million by 2030”

“Provide billions of dollars worth of new funding for public schools”

“Allow parents access to $10,500 every year per student for private school expenses and up to $1,000 for homeschoolers”

Reports say that if HB 1 doesn’t make it out of the Texas House, Governor Greg Abbott has told Republican legislators he will become involved in their primaries by identifying and running pro-voucher candidates against them.

Teaching Economics (Taylor’s Version) (EducationWeek)

Today, EducationWeek online reported that,

“In the last year alone, Taylor Swift has had an astounding impact on the United States economy (one estimate puts it at $5 billion) through her multi-city Eras tour, the subsequent movie, and the release of two new albums. And that was all before she put Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on the pop culture map and brought her massive influence to the NFL.”

“This effect has been dubbed ‘Swiftonomics’ and a high school economics teacher in Texas is incorporating it into her curriculum.”

“Kelsey Halfen, a teacher in Sugar Land, Texas, is a self-described ‘Swiftie.’ She pulls examples from Taylor Swift’s career to teach concepts like supply and demand and gross domestic product, or GDP. In October, she shared those lessons with other teachers through an online class on Econiful…”

Here’s my question:

Could a young Swiftie learner build a learning plan for themselves focused entirely on Taylor Swift? What would reading, writing, and problem-solving goals look like when they were developed within the context of the pop diva? If you could develop a plan around Taylor, could you develop learning plans around other celebrities?

I think so.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll be back Monday with more ABPTL. SVB