Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday. Here’s your News Roundup.

After School Voucher Bill Falls Apart, Supporters and Opponents Get Ready for Future Fights (The Texas Tribune)

According to The Texas Tribune online this week,

“Many public educators and advocates saw the Texas House’s vote blocking school vouchers last month as a forceful rebuke that should signal there’s no path forward left for Governor Greg Abbott’s top legislative priority this year. But pro-voucher advocates, including private and religious school educators, say they will keep fighting for vouchers – both in the Texas Legislature and at the ballot.”

Rumors fly in Texas that Abbott is busy identifying and recruiting primary challengers to take on rural Republicans currently serving in the Texas House.

American Math Scores Fall on International Test – But Many Other Countries Suffered More (The 74)

According to The 74 online,

“Math achievement tumbled for American 15-year-olds between 2018 and 2022, according to the latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an exam comparing academic performance in the U.S. against that of dozens of other countries. In an encouraging development, however, their reading and science skills appear to be undiminished over the last four years.”

…

“Eighty-one countries participated in PISA in 2022, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the intergovernmental authority that administers the test. Among that group, average scores fell by 15 points in math and 10 points in reading since 2018, while science scores were not significantly changed.”

Oakland Study Finds Parents as Effective as Teachers in Tutoring Young Readers (The 74)

The 74 online reported this week that,

“A new report finds that a parent-led tutoring effort in Oakland produced similar gains in reading for young students as instruction from classroom teachers – a nod that could fuel similar efforts in other districts.”

“’The more the children know you and trust you, the more they’re willing to engage in what you’re trying to teach them,’ said Susana Aguilar, one of The Oakland REACH’s ‘literacy liberators.’”

There are millions of retirees available across this country, just waiting to be asked to tutor a youngster in reading, writing, and problem-solving. The question is who will tap into this unbelievably rich resource to help our kids improve in their knowledge and skills?

Governor Scott Urging State Lawmakers to Reduce Education Spending with Projected 18.5% Tax Increase (Vermont Public)

This week Vermont Public reported that,

“State spending on education is emerging as one of the top issues to be addressed during the upcoming Legislative session.”

“In its annual letter to lawmakers, the Vermont Tax Department estimated it will take an average 18.5% increase in property tax rates to fund current levels of education spending. Some key factors for the bump include higher health care costs and inflation.”

“Governor Phil Scott says this increase is ‘not acceptable,’ and he is urging lawmakers to figure out ways to reduce spending.”

Vermont is proud of their public schools (based on recent test scores, maybe too proud). Vermont also spends a lot per pupil on public education. Other states do too.

One of the lessons we learned, while running our personalized learning lab school in Texas a few years ago, was that we didn’t need to spend as much as traditional districts did to get excellent results in reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development skills.

We can provide public schooling at a much lower cost moving into the future than we are today.

Empty Desks: New Absenteeism Report Shows Dramatic Surge in Suburban, Rural and Latino Students Missing Class (The 74)

According to The 74 online,

“A new demographic analysis of chronic absenteeism shows absences have increased for all students – with a dramatic uptick for Latino students and in suburban and rural school districts.”

“The analysis, from Attendance Works and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, looked at federal data that found more than 14 million chronically absent students during the 2021-22 academic year – an increase of nearly seven million students compared to 2017-18.”

There are over 50 million American kids who attend our public schools. Nearly 30% of them choose not to attend school on a regular basis.

What do those kids know about their teaching and learning experience that we choose to ignore?

Have a great weekend. The holiday season is here! SVB