Friday News Roundup

Learning Loss Win-Win: High-Impact Tutoring in DC Boosts Attendance, Study Finds (The 74)

According to The 74 online,

“High-quality tutoring programs not only get students up to speed in reading and math, they can also reduce absenteeism, a new study shows.”

…

“…[H]igh impact tutoring – defined as at least 90 minutes a week with the same tutor, spread over multiple sessions – had the greatest impact on students who missed 30% or more of the prior school year. Their attendance improved by at least five days, according to the study from the National Student Support Accelerator, a Stanford University-based center that conducts tutoring research.”

Relationships matter – they matter a lot. If the traditional K-12 system wanted to eliminate learning loss caused by the pandemic, every district would embrace high impact tutoring. But sometimes schools are so busy teaching they don’t pay attention to learner needs.

Failed West Virginia Microschool Fuels State Probe – and Some Soul Searching (The 74)

According to The 74 online,

“In August, Kelly Romanishan thought she’d found the right school for her son – an innovative startup in a rented two-story house that promised STEM lessons, art activities and ‘the necessary tools to take on the world.’”

“The West Virginia mom paid the operator a $2,200 advanced from her Hope Scholarship – an education savings account that gives families state funds for tuition or homeschooling expenses.”

“But events at The Hive Learning Academy quickly unraveled. Instead of structured meal times, children just grabbed lunch from the refrigerator when they got hungry. Her son ‘would come home starving because he was too shy to just go into someone else’s fridge,’ Romanishan said.”

…

“An exasperated Romanishan said she ‘soon realized that The Hive was actually just a glorified babysitter.’”

“By Christmas, …several parents [were] demanding their money back and scrambling to find other arrangements – inquiries that prompted Republican state Treasurer Riley Moore to include the school in an ‘ongoing audit and investigation’ into ESA-funded programs, an official said.”

Just like a bad traditional school, this microschool, and others like it, need to be closed – and closed quickly. States would be wise to create learning centers that employed trained learning coaches to help parents budget their ESA money wisely.

Coalition Challenges Residency Requirement for Public Schools (The 74)

According to The 74 online,

“More than 40 education advocacy organizations have teamed up to fight longstanding residency requirements that tie children to their local public schools – rather than letting them transfer to places that might serve them better.”

“The No More Lines Coalition aims to end what it calls ‘discriminatory public school district boundary lines’ in all 50 states by 2030.”

“Members say past efforts to address this issue are weak and ineffective. A 2022 report showed 43 states allowed students to transfer within their school district, while 19 and the District of Columbia permitted them to transfer elsewhere. But many programs are voluntary on the part of the receiving schools. Some require a sign-off from a student’s home school district or charge tuition for families seeking to make a switch.”

“Many do not allow parents to appeal a decision.”

You know the real problem with “open transfer?”

Most school districts don’t have enough good schools so that there is enough space for kids whose families are interested in enrolling.

Nearly a Third of All School Budgets Fail on Town Meeting Day (Vermont Public and Vermont Digger)

According to Vermont Public and Vermont Digger online,

“A little over 30% of all school budgets were rejected [by Vermont citizens this past week.] Twenty-nine budgets failed out of 93. That’s a stunning number of defeats in a state where voters typically approve school budgets by large margins. For comparison, over the last decade, the worst year for school budgets was in 2014, when 14% of budgets failed on Town Meeting Day.”

“Governor Phil Scott thinks it might be time to wrest some school spending control away from the local level.”

“’That’s not going to be popular. My just saying that probably isn’t popular, but I think it has to be on the table,’ Scott said at his weekly press conference [this week.]”

Traditional school districts overspend, and now, at least in Vermont, taxpayers seem to have had enough. But stay tuned…Vermont isn’t the only state going through this.

Iowa Poll: Most Favor Requiring Parental Approval for Kids to Have Social Media Accounts (Des Moines Register)

And finally, the Des Moines Register reported this week that,

“A majority of Iowans support legislation that would require children to have their parents’ permission to have social media accounts…”

I live in Iowa part of the year, and I was born in Iowa, so I think I can say this:

This is one of the stupidest pieces of legislation I think I have ever seen in my life. The idea that a state is somehow going to expect parents to “sign off” for their kids to use the plethora of social media options out there is just ridiculous.  

C’mon Iowa! You’re better than this.

Or maybe you’re not?

Have a great weekend. Til Monday. SVB