Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday! Time for the Roundup.

Was Los Angeles Schools’ $6 Million AI Venture a Disaster Waiting to Happen? (The 74)

Earlier this month, The 74 reported that,

“When news broke last month that Ed, the Los Angeles school district’s new, $6 million artificial intelligence chatbot, was in jeopardy – the startup that created it on the verge of collapse – many insiders in the ed tech world wondered the same thing: What took so long?”

Amanda Bickerstaff, founder and CEO of AI for Education, a consulting and training firm, said this:

“’What they were trying to do is really not possible with where the technology is today,’ she said. ‘It’s a very broad application [with] multiple users – teachers, students, leaders and family members – and it pulled in data from multiple systems.’”

$6 million is a small investment amount compared to the annual L.A. Unified School District budget. Give AI time. If our traditional K-12 system remains open-minded, AI could be the game changer we need to help kids become smarter and stronger with their reading, writing, and problem-solving skills.

How to Ace Your First Year of Teaching (EducationWeek)

Gary Kowalski, a 10-year teaching veteran with the Philadelphia Public Schools, offered the following 9 suggestions for first-year teachers wanting to make it to their second year:

“Teach with kindness, avoid getting into power struggles, communicate with families, establish rules and consequences, stop yelling, face your classroom at all times, it’s ok to ask your students to wait, don’t stress about your administrators, and enjoy yourself.”

In a future posting, it might be a good idea for me to offer my suggestions to the upcoming class of first-year teachers who want to make it to Year 2.

My list will be quite different from Gary’s.

What the 2024 GOP Platform Says About K-12 and What It Would Mean If Trump Wins (EducationWeek)

According to a recent EducationWeek article, here is what the Republicans say will happen to American public education if Donald Trump is elected:

“End teacher tenure, adopt merit pay, and allow ‘various publicly supported educational models.”

“Implement universal school choice in every state.”

“Support career education.”

“Allow immediate suspension of ‘violent students.’”

“Elevate ‘parents’ rights.”

“Target ‘CRT and gender indoctrination.”

“Promote a ‘love of country’ in schools.”

“Expand the role of religion in K-12 schools.”

“Close the U.S. Department of Education.”

Let’s see what the Democrats offer up in a few weeks.

The Truth About Teachers’ Summers (EducationWeek)

Back in the day, I remember friends telling me how easy it was to be a teacher. They especially focused on the fact that I had three months off work in the summer while most of them continued to report to their jobs.

EducationWeek released an article last week that, according to research, discussed how most teachers really spend their summers:

…

“Here’s a glimpse at data that show why a typical teacher’s summer break feels far different than the way the public perceives it – including the exhausting nature of the profession, low salaries, and the actual length of teachers’ summer vacation.”

“Long, stressful work hours signal the need to recharge – Teachers work a lot during the school year. During the 2022-23 school year, they averaged 53 hours of work per week, compared to 46 hours for other working adults, according to data from a nationally representative survey of K-12 public school teachers by the RAND Corp., and a companion survey of other workers. What’s more, the survey found that about 25 percent of the hours teachers work go uncompensated, and include tasks like lesson planning or grading.”

“And teachers reported an average work week of 57 hours in the 2023-24 school year, according to the nationally representative Education Week State of Teaching survey. Less than half of that time worked was spent teaching, the survey found.”

…

“Summer means a second income stream for many teachers – …Statistics on the percentage of teachers who take on jobs in the summer months vary. But a recent We Are Teachers survey indicated that nearly 50 percent of teachers bring in a second stream of income during their summer break.”

“Some data suggest that early-career teachers are far more likely to take on summer work than their more seasoned professional peers. A 2019 report by the Pew Research Center found that 32 percent of first-year teachers have a second job in the summer, compared to just 13 percent of veteran teachers who’d been at the job for 30-plus years.”

“Teachers’ starting salaries likely play a role. At $44,530, the average starting salary for teachers in 2024 per National Education Association estimates, is significantly lower than starting salary projections for college graduates entering other professions.”

…

“Summer break isn’t that long, and it’s not a complete break – For K-12 students in the United States, summer break averages 10 weeks. For teachers, it’s shorter, since they typically spend a week or so tying up loose ends on both ends of the break.”

“A poll by We Are Teachers asked 365 K-12 teachers how long their 2024 summer break will last. The majority reported that it’s eight to nine weeks. Less than 5 percent of respondents reported having a summer break lasting more than 11 weeks.”

“Further, most teachers spend at least some time on their teaching job during the summer. The RAND Corp. surveyed teachers nationwide about their participation in professional learning activities during the summer of 2019; virtually all reported having done at least one such activity during the break.”

…

Teaching is a hard profession, and it doesn’t pay well at all. That’s one of the big reasons why we need to change the current system from what we have today to something that rewards adult learning leaders the way they ought to be rewarded.

It’s possible, and it can be done.

Have a great weekend. I’ll be off until Thursday, July 25^th. Til then. SVB