Friday News Roundup

Here’s the Friday News Roundup!

Reading Supports Abound in Schools, But Effective Math Help Much Harder to Find (The 74)

The reason kids fall behind in math more than reading has to do with state and local policy-maker decisions. According to The 74 online,

“Lack of math help often starts with the states. A majority don’t require schools to provide support for students who struggle in math – recent reporting by Education Week showed that while 37 states require schools to provide teacher training, evidence-based curricula and support plans for reading, only seven states have similar laws on the books for math.”

And one of the things I learned while working in a large, urban school district is that most school districts will do what the state tells them to do and nothing more.

Few Teachers Learn About ‘Science of Reading’ in Their Prep Programs. Some Colleges Are Working on That (EducationWeek)

Even though more states have training requirements for their reading teachers, it remains unclear who is responsible for offering that training. According the EducationWeek this week,

“Between 2013 and the start of 2024, 37 states and the District of Columbia passed laws or implemented policies related to evidence-based reading instruction, according to an Education Week analysis. But the onus for who will train these states’ educators in evidence-based literacy instruction has fallen primarily on school districts and, by extension, existing classroom teachers – not the colleges and universities that train the teachers.”

If there is one institution that is farther behind the learning curve than school districts, when it comes to helping young learners to become smarter and stronger, it is our colleges of education.

How One District Moved to a ‘Knowledge-Building’ Curriculum: 3 Key Takeaways (EducationWeek)

One Michigan school district has decided to overhaul how they teach reading comprehension.

According to EducationWeek, the Portage school system decided that,

“Instead of focusing on teaching skills and strategies – such as finding the main idea of a passage, or comparing and contrasting characters – they would structure units around topics in science, social studies, and world cultures. The idea would be to systematically build students’ knowledge of the world, ideally making it easier for them to make connections to new texts and write about what they knew.”

It’s early, but the three takeaways from Portage’s “knowledge-building” strategy so far are:

Teachers don’t need to be experts in every topic.

Districts have to answer the question – which knowledge?

Knowledge-building isn’t the only component of strong reading comprehension instruction.

A Texas School Has Punished a Black Student Over His Hairstyle for Months. Neither Side is Backing Down (The Texas Tribune)

I thought we were passed arguing about hair styles in school, but I guess not.

According to The Texas Tribune,

“At 18, Darryl George has spent most of his junior year at Barbers Hill High School separated from his classmates, sentenced to a mix of in-school suspension or class at an alternative education campus. He’s allegedly denied hot food and isn’t able to access teaching materials.”

“His offense: wearing his hair in long locs.”

‘Since the start of the school year, George and Barbers Hills school officials have been locked in a standoff over his hairstyle – and whether the district’s dress code violates a new state law that prohibits discrimination based on hairstyles.”

…

“’Our military academies in West Point, Annapolis and Colorado Springs maintain a rigorous expectation of dress,’ Superintendent Greg Poole wrote in a full-page ad in The Houston Chronicle. ‘They realize being an American requires conformity with the positive benefit of unity, and being a part of something bigger than yourself.’”

Someone needs to remind Superintendent Poole that he leads a learning organization, not a military academy.

As long as hair is clean and well kept, I’m siding with Darryl.

The Nation’s Biggest Charter School System is Under Fire in Los Angeles (The 74)

According to The 74 online,

“The nation’s largest experiment with charter schools is no longer growing.”

…

“One of the largest charter networks in Los Angeles, KIPP SoCal Public Schools, is closing three campuses this year due to declining admissions.”

…

“Instead, …the network is focused on making sure existing schools can continue to operate, and deliver on their promise of providing high-quality options for families in need of good schools.”

Hmmm, are charters in trouble? Have they run their course? Will learning pods and microschools replace charters as the new innovation threatening traditional public school market share?

45 Years of Microschools in Philadelphia: Inside the Growing Movement of Child-Centered Schooling (The 74)

If you want to see what alternative learning systems look like on a small but growing scale, look to Philadelphia. As reported by The 74 this week,

“One of the first self-directed learning centers for homeschoolers, or what today we might call a microschool, opened just outside of Philadelphia in 1978…”

…

“[Today], while the City of Brotherly Love has seen escalating interest in low-cost, self-directed learning models like those described above, [it is pleasing] to see the growth of other alternative education models that embrace different learning philosophies while placing children first. A diverse, dynamic ecosystem of decentralized education options enables families to find the learning environment that best meets their distinct needs and preferences.”

If Philly can do it, why can’t we all?

High School Students Think They Are Ready for College. But They Aren’t (EducationWeek)

The readiness gap is usually discussed when 4 year-olds prepare themselves to enter kindergarten. But there is another readiness gap we should pay attention to, and that one is between high school and college.

According to EducationWeek online,

“At last count, 62 percent of 2022 high school graduates enrolled in either a two- or four-year college immediately after graduation. But students’ college readiness has reached historic lows, according to several metrics – including the lowest scores in 30 years on the ACT and declining scores on the SAT, the two primary standardized tests used for college admissions. And yet, more than 4 in 5 high school seniors report feeling ‘very’ or ‘mostly’ academically prepared for college, according to a 2023 ACT nationwide survey.”

“They’re not, say experts.”

“’Fewer students leaving high school are meeting all four college readiness benchmarks [on ACT tests]. Just 21 percent of high school seniors are meeting all of these benchmarks; 43 percent of students meet none of them,’ said Janet Godwin, CEO of the ACT, referring to English composition, social sciences, algebra, and biology. ‘Our research suggest that students meeting so few of these benchmarks are not going to perform as well in their credit-bearing freshman classes.’”

And that’s the Friday News Roundup for this week. Enjoy the weekend. Beautiful weather in Iowa. SVB