Friday News Roundup

After a few days off, I’m back with your Friday News Roundup.

Why We Still Haven’t Solved Teacher Shortages (Despite Decades of Trying) (EducationWeek)

I’ll spare you the details of this article. If you want to read it, you know where to find it.

It was the article’s title that caught my attention. My God, we are still wondering why adults don’t want to go into teaching, and what we can do about it?

Here’s my list:

1. Low compensation
2. No decision-making power
3. Declining appreciation

If we want talent to become interested in becoming adult learning leaders, let’s let them:

1. Earn $100,000 a year
2. Make decisions about what their young learners’ plans look like when it comes to becoming great readers, writers, problem-solvers, and people of high character.
3. Build appreciative relationships between the adult learning leader, their young learners, and those young learners’ families.

Indiana Banking Apprenticeships and Academy to Break the Mold for U.S. Training (The 74)

The 74 reported this week that Indiana is interested in copying a Swiss banking school model that has been successful in Switzerland for over 20 years.

…

“Created in 2003 by Switzerland’s five largest Banks, the CYP banking school is unlike any in the United States. With 30 partnering banks, it’s a school where apprentices – many of them teenagers who would still be in high school in the U.S. – learn banking skills letting them work in any bank in the country.”

“Now the Indiana Bankers Association wants to create a version of CYP in Indianapolis as part of the state’s push to reinvent high schools and offer more meaningful work opportunities for students.”

If successful, the Indiana banking opportunity beats the hell out of what most districts offer their students when it comes to work study options.

Chicago Is Running Out of Money. Its Teachers Union Wants 9% Raises Anyway (The 74)

According to this 74 article, the Chicago Public Schools have hired 2,000 teachers since 2018 and is paying them 16% more today, even though CPS enrollment has dropped by 38,000 students. And now, all Chicago teachers are expecting a 9% pay increase.

And there are other examples of systems struggling like Chicago. This is a sign that we need to change our current K-12 system to a new system of learning that is effective (high evidence of learning) and efficient (doing more with less).

We had a presidential election this week, so let’s cover a few stories that caught my eye as Donald Trump prepared to enter the White House – again.

Trump’s Push to Expand Choice, Nix the Ed. Dept. Takes on New Momentum (EducationWeek)

Trump wanted to shut down the U.S. Department of Education during his first term, but didn’t get it done. Now, it seems like it’s staying on his closing list.

What is interesting about closing down the Department of Ed. is that the Ronald Reagan and the Republicans were the ones who created the department back in the 1980’s. But the Republican Party of today looks nothing like Reagan’s party – when it comes to education or other.

Ballot Propositions: Voters in 2 States Reject Private School Choice Measures (The 74)

Kentucky and Nebraska said “no” to private school choice this week, and the Colorado measure looks like it is headed to defeat also.

Now I’m not a big fan of private schools only being the only choice for families to choose when given “school choice.” States that are broadening their definition of school choice to include homeschool, microschools, and other types of learning pods seem to have a better idea of what true “school choice” is when it comes to giving families options – especially those families who are caught in sucky schools.

Finally, here is a highlighted version of the 2024 election results, focusing on K-12 education, courtesy of The 74:

2024 EDlection Recap: Key Races & Issues That Could Reshape America’s Schools (The 74)

The White House – “…most clues about Trump’s education policy have come from The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025….” “Project 2025’s chapter on education…offers prescriptions for eliminating Title I grants to high-poverty schools, revising accreditation requirements under the High Education Act and dismantling the Department of Education [see above], among other things.”

Bible teachings in public schools – “Republicans have spent a lot of energy getting the Bible into public schools.” “Whether those ideas will resonate with Christian voters is harder to answer. One recent poll suggests it won’t. On a long list of concerns influencing churchgoers’ views in this election, public schools ranked near the bottom as a reason why they would pick a presidential candidate. Instead, the economy and border security topped the list.”

School boards – “Moms for Liberty, the conservative advocacy group, hasn’t been able to repeat its success at the polls since 2022, when its school board candidates were scoring victories across the country. Some say voters are clearly tired of what one researcher called the ‘politics of disruption.’

Trumpians tired of the “politics of disruption?” I’ll believe it when I see it.

Finally, let’s take a look at what we’ll be keeping our eyes on in the following states when it comes to public schools:

Arizona – Will a Republican-sponsored Education Savings Account program continue to grow? I think the answer is “yes.”

California – How will a re-configured Los Angeles school board decide to take care of their young learners better, especially those black, brown, and poor kids stuck in low-performing schools?

Delaware – What will a reconstructed public school finance plan look like in the Blue Hen state?

Illinois – Chicago has school board problems and challenges. What will happen in 2025 to settle them?

Massachusetts – What happens in the state that historically has had the highest standardized test scores in the nation when voters agree to stop high stakes testing?

North Carolina – How does newly elected state school superintendent Mo Green maneuver through Republican waters after defeating crazy Michele Morrow (the topic of a past ABPTL article)?

Rhode Island – How will a publicly elected school board (the first in decades) serve Providence’s kids – especially those who are black, brown, and poor?

Interesting questions as we move forward in the calendar. Stay tuned here for some of the answers.

Til Monday. SVB