Friday News Roundup

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

Learning Recovery Efforts Worked. New Data Show Why States Must Not Let Up (EducationWeek)

Finally some good news regarding kids catching up with their reading, writing, and problem-solving skills after experiencing serious learning loss during the pandemic. EducationWeek reported this week that,

“Student test scores are on a path to recovery nearly four years after the pandemic wreaked havoc on K-12 academics, extensive new data analyzed and released by a group of education researchers this week indicate.”

“Two years of uneven instruction, school closures, and online learning dragged math and reading levels down to their lowest levels in decades. Some after-effects, like chronic absenteeism, remain a persistent problem. But the last year of academic recovery efforts have partially reversed that trend, according to the data released by the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Education Opportunity Project at Stanford University. They reflect standardized test scores from 8,000 school districts in 30 states.”

“In a single school year – between spring 2022 and 2023 – students on average gained back one-third of their original loss in math, and one-quarter of the original loss in reading. The improvements amount to more than what students would have learned in a regular, pre-pandemic academic year.”

High School Cheating Increase From ChatGPT? Research Finds Not So Much (The 74)

Like many innovations that seem to spook and cause an over-reaction from traditional public school leadership, a cheating increase caused by ChatGPT doesn’t seem to be happening. The 74 online reported that,

“The rise of AI chatbot tools caused panic among high school teachers and administrators nationwide – but researchers say the frequency of students cheating on assignments remained ‘surprisingly’ stagnant.”

“According to new research from Stanford University, about 60 to 70 percent of high school students surveyed in the fall of 2023 have engaged in cheating behavior – the same number prior to the debut of ChatGPT in the fall of 2022.”

60 to 70 percent cheating? Seems like we might want to redefine what “cheating” is and what it isn’t as we progress through the 21^st century.

As Relief Funds Expire, Harvard’s Kane Says ‘Whole Generation’ Still Needs Help (The 74)

The 74 online reported this week that,

“Harvard University researcher Tom Kane stood before a captive audience at Washington’s Omni Shoreham hotel last Wednesday, just hours after dropping the report everyone was talking about.”

“Offering the best look yet at students’ recovery from pandemic learning loss, the report showed that students actually made impressive academic gains last school year (see article above.) But achievement gaps grew wider during the pandemic, and students in some high-poverty districts performed worse than they did before COVID.”

Let’s all sing together (to the tune of Fiddler on the Roof’s “Sunrise, Sunset”) – “Good news, bad new. Good news, bad news. What should we really believe?”

Here’s what I believe: We are still defining success through kids who were already doing fairly well within our public school system before the pandemic. We continue to ignore the black, brown, and poor kids who struggled before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and after.

Democratic Lawmakers Have a Plan to Reduce Education Spending. Governor Phil Scott Says It’s ‘The Right Move’ (Vermont Public)

According to Vermont Public this week,

“Republican Governor Phil Scott says he supports a plan from Democratic lawmakers that would postpone school budget votes this year in the hopes of reducing education spending.”

“Property taxes are currently projected to jump by more than 20% next year due to unexpectedly high budget proposals from local school districts. That high spending is due in part to a 2-year-old law that unintentionally created an opportunity for districts to spend big in 2024 without having the full tax consequences passed on to local voters.”

The games we play when it comes to public education. The expansion-constriction rhythms demonstrated by our current public school system are a sign that most school districts could, and need to, spend less money when it comes to educating our young people. But the current public school system is a labor-intensive enterprise, and the adults in the system don’t take too kindly to seeing their jobs disappear because we can make kids smarter and stronger without them.

5 Things Abbott Elementary Gets Right About Public Education (ASCD Newsletter)

According to ASCD Newsletter, here are 5 things Abbott Elementary gets right about public education (and my responses):

Good things happen because of teachers – Agreed, but teachers needs to do better things for black, brown, and poor learners. They continue to fall through big cracks within the system.

Collaboration and mentoring matter – Agreed, but schools might not be the best places to see collaboration and mentoring grow and prosper. There’s a reason why teaching has been called “the most isolated profession.”

Public schools are criticized, compared, and underfunded. There is never enough time or money, but teachers keep going – DISAGREE! Most schools aren’t underfunded. There is enough time and money, but schools don’t use either to their fullest potential.

Public schools work hard to educate the whole child – DISAGREE! Public schools aren’t designed to educate the whole child. If they were, secondary schools wouldn’t have teaching periods divided into 45-minute or 90-minute blocks. Nor would they require a credit system in order to earn a diploma.

Public schools are filled with love and commitment – DISAGREE! Abbott Elementary might be a place of love and commitment, but I saw way too many schools during my 35-year career that were filled with rules, judgement, discipline, and, sorry to say, punishment. Most of those schools served whom? You guessed it – black, brown, and poor kids.

Sorry to end on such a downer, but the truth is the truth.

Have a great weekend. Til Monday. SVB