Friday News Roundup

It’s Friday. Time for the Roundup.

Pre-K Teachers Are Stressed and Say They Want to Quit (The 74)

Nothing is more important to building a strong reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development foundation than early childhood learning, and nothing is more important to early childhood learning than the adult learning leader attached to those little learners.

Earlier this week, The 74 reported that,

“During the 2023-24 school year, a higher share of children were enrolled in preschool than ever before, and states spent record amounts of money on these programs. But a recent survey of public pre-K teachers could spell potential problems for states that want to keep expanding preschool programs.”

“In a RAND survey of 1,427 pre-K teachers who work in public schools across the country, conducted in March and April 2024, respondents reported experiencing work-based stress at nearly twice the rate of comparable working adults in other kinds of jobs – those of prime working age with bachelor’s degrees who put in at least 35 hours a week. ‘Teachers of public school-based pre-K were generally more stressed,’ noted Elizabeth Steiner, senior policy researcher at RAND and a lead author on the report. Two top stressors the teachers mentioned were dealing with student behavior and addressing students’ mental health.”

This country can lose high school English teachers. We can lose middle school foreign language teachers. But we can’t lose effective pre-K teachers. Keeping talent with our youngest learners is a non-negotiable.

Texas Students Make Gains in Reading but Struggle with Math, STAAR Scores Show (The Texas Tribune)

According to The Texas Tribune this week,

“Texas’ students saw some wins in reading but continued to struggle to bounce back from pandemic-related learning losses in math, state testing results released Tuesday showed.”

“Elementary students who took the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam this year made the biggest gains in reading across grade levels. Third graders saw a three percentage point increase in reading, a milestone because early literacy is a strong indicator of future academic success. Progress among middle students in the subject, meanwhile, slowed.”

And here’s guessing that most of the country mirrors Texas’ results – stronger in reading, weaker in math; stronger in elementary, weaker in secondary.

Adulting 101: The High School Class Teaching Real-Life Skills (EducationWeek)

“Why don’t kids know real-life skills when they leave high school?”

It’s a question we’ve asked for a long time, probably as long as high schools have been around.

EducationWeek reported this week that,

“Most students are 18 when they graduate from high school – technically adults. But how well-prepared are they to handle the life skills adulthood requires, or even to choose a viable path forward?”

“Not very, according to a Gallup-led national survey of high school students and their parents and guardians released earlier this month. A majority of the 1,300-plus 16- to 18-year-old high school students surveyed said that they don’t feel prepared to pursue the educational or career path they’re most interested in; 47% of parents surveyed reported that they are not frequently discussing post-graduation plans with their child.”

“Without consistent parental guidance on big decisions like what comes after high school, many teens may also be missing out on learning key life skills at home – from seemingly minor tasks like addressing an envelope or changing a flat tire, to complex subjects like banking, job searches, insurance, and taxes. Nor do most high schools cover these subjects. One longtime educator has set out to change that in her Michigan district.”

“The idea hit Betsy Springer, a teacher and instructional coach at Gull Lake Partnership – a public, virtual school in Richland, Michigan – about a decade ago as she came across a Facebook post that highlighted the ’10 things I wished I learned in school,’ That proved to be an ‘aha’ moment for Springer that led her to develop Adulting 101 and, later, Adulting 102 as electives for her district’s high school students.”

Elective? I don’t think so.

How about “Required”?

School leaders have talked about coursework like this as long as I’ve been around public education, but they’ve never been able to eliminate enough other subject matter in the traditional day to make room for what some call “Common Sense 101.”

University of Iowa Must Create “Center for Intellectual Freedom” Under New Signed Law (The Des Moines Register)

Kim Reynolds has announced she will not run for Iowa governor in 2026, but she and Iowa’s Republican-dominated legislature is still wreaking havoc on the state’s higher education system. This time their attention is focused on the University of Iowa and the formation of a “center for intellectual freedom.”

The Des Moines Register reported this week that,

“The University of Iowa will have to establish a ‘center for intellectual freedom’ under a bill Governor Kim Reynolds has signed into law as part of a Republican push to expand civics at the state’s public universities.”

Now I’m the first to endorse more civics’ education in our K-12 and high education system, but is that what is really going on here?

According to the newpaper’s report, “Iowa follows other GOP-led states that have established an independent school of intellectual freedom. Texas, Florida, Ohio and Tennessee have all codified their schools.”

“Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner, Democrat from Iowa City, said during debate this bill is ‘sidestepping and usurping’ the regents’ role in governing state universities. She condemned the bill coming from what she called a ‘far-right think tank.’”

“’This is not an Iowa bill,’ Weiner said. ‘This is not an Iowa idea and we should not be imposing it on an Iowa university.’”

In an era of universities not having enough resource to meet basic needs, “Iowa’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency estimates the center will cost at least $1.5 million a year to establish and maintain.”

And I wonder how many Iowa undergraduates will be majoring in “intellectual freedom”?

I’ll be away until Thursday, June 26^th. Til then. SVB