Friday News Roundup

Time for the Friday News Roundup.

From “Bring It On” to “This Policy Is Crazy,” NYC Parents React to Cellphone Ban (The 74)

It seems NYC parents are changing their tune regarding their district’s across-the-board cellphone ban. Alina Adams from The 74 reported earlier this week that,

“One year after I reported on New York City parents’ reactions to a proposed ban on cellphones in the classroom, students and teachers have returned to schools with that ban in place.”

“When I asked families on my 4,000-plus-member NYC School Secrets mailing list how they felt about the new restriction, I received answers ranging from enthusiasm to concern.”

“’Phone and smartwatches in classrooms and school hallways are more than just a distraction – they’re a barrier to learning, focus and social development,’ according to Manhattan’s Arwynn H.J.”

“’Bring on the ban,’ cheered Bronx parent and teacher Jackie Marashlian. ‘My high school students were ready to air-scroll me toward the ceiling with their fingers, so bored with whatever it was I was trying to impart to them. One day we had a WIFI glitch and I saw my students’ beautiful eyes for the very first time. Bring kids back to face-to-face interaction and socializing during lunch breaks.’”

…

“Parents of older students were the ones most likely to be against the blanket edict.”

“’You can’t have the same policy for kids 6 years old and for 17 years old,’ mom Pilar Ruiz Cobo raged. ‘This policy is crazy for seniors.’”

…

Phones and smartwatches are barriers to learning, focus and social development?

Students “bored with whatever it was I was trying to impart to them”?

We are missing a tremendous opportunity to change how we help our young learners become stronger readers, writers, and problem-solvers, and it doesn’t seem – at least in NYC – there is strong agreements that cellphone bans are the right thing to do.

Study: Students’ Math Decline Dovetails With Math Wars, Teacher Pipeline Issues (The 74)

According to The 74 this week,

“The ongoing math wars plus persistent teacher pipeline issues are among the most powerful forces behind students’ longstanding poor performance in the subject a new study finds.”

“The Center on Reinventing Public Education’s latest State of American Student report notes the number of teacher preparation program graduates ready to teach math fell by 36% from 2012 to 2020, dovetailing with a decline in student achievement….”

…

“At the same time, a topic that has been widely discussed – the debate over whether explicit direct instruction trumps a more student-centered learning approach – has left some educators unsure of how to teach the subject, researchers found.”

…

How do you attract talent to build math capacity in our young learners? You pay them $100,000 a year.

Which works better – explicit direct instruction or a student-centered learning approach? The answer is that it depends on the individual learner. Let’s stop curriculum departments from deciding what the “math approach” will be for 20,000 learners. Let’s start to allow adult learning leaders, paid $100,000 a year, to make the right decision for each individual learner when it comes to deciding how they will learn math and other problem-solving skills moving forward.

Poor NAEP Showing Prompts Calls for Cell Phone Bans (The 74)

“After new nationwide test scores showed that academic skills of the high school Class of 2024 fell dramatically, observers have been quick to zero in on a likely culprit: digital devices and the distractions they present.”

Nonsense.

NAEP scores have flat-lined in this country, for the most part, since 1984 (which, by the way, is the year I started as a classroom teacher). Digital devices, mainly smartphones, were invented in 1994.

No, the reason we are seeing dismal reading and math scores is because our current system of teaching and learning is archaic and dysfunctional for most kids, and needs to be replaced.

Period.

Student Achievement Is Down Overall – But Kids at the Bottom Are Sinking Faster (The 74)

Further evidence that our current K-12 system is archaic and dysfunctional, and needs to be replaced?

Look at a recent article from The 74 that says,

“When people hear that achievement scores – including on the latest NAEP – are down yet again, their first assumption might be that student performance is declining across the board.”

“But that not what’s happening. Instead, across a range of tests, grade levels and subject areas, the scores of the lowest-performing students have fallen dramatically, while the scores of the highest-performing students have been flat or close to it.”

We used to think that only black, brown, and poor kids were the ones getting hurt in our public school system. Now data tells us that every type of kid is not demonstrating improvement. Black, brown, and poor kids are just doing poorly in a broken system than others.

Jumping Jacks, Lunges and Squats – and Better Test Scores (The 74)

Every few years, there’s a study released that attempts to connect the importance of physical activity to higher test scores.

It happened again this week.

“New research from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, shows that when students engage in high-intensity interval exercises, they score significantly higher on standardized tests measuring verbal comprehension. In a study of elementary school children aged 9 to 12, researchers examined a type of brain neuroelectrical activity called ‘error-related negativity,’ which occurs when people make a mistake and is associated with reduced focus and performance. What they found is that after acute exercise, the error-related activity decreased slightly.”

I’m guessing two things are happening in our public school system based on this most recent research.

A small group of campuses, led by gung-ho leaders, have doubled, or maybe tripled, the time they reserve for recess, physical education classes, and other opportunities for kids to exercise. These campuses look forward to improved test scores in the spring.

Sadly, most campuses and most districts will do nothing. Even if they come across this piece of research, principals and teachers will either think changing the schedule is too much work, or they will question the validity and reliability of the research itself.

Another example of:

Why doesn’t the K-12 system pay attention to research-based practices?

In Reversal, Texas SBOE Backs Far-Right Plan to Deemphasize World History, Cultures (Houston Chronicle)

“The [Texas] State Board of Education…approved a revived plan to focus classes more on Texas history and remove distinct course on world history and cultures.”

Texas is the new Florida.

Linda McMahon Says “We Have to Teach How to Disagree” After Charlie Kirk Killing (EducationWeek)

Secretary McMahon, I agree.

But here’s the deal. It seems the person who can demonstrate “how to disagree” the best, to our children and the rest of the country, is your boss – Donald J. Trump.

And, based upon his track record, it doesn’t seem like Trump is the best at demonstrating this skill. And to be fair, neither are other national and state leaders from both parties.

The President, and too many of the rest of us, “demonize” those who disagree with us.

But my civics lessons tell me that modeling the right behaviors start with the President of the United States, because, in fact, he is “the people’s representative.”

So before you tell the rest of the country, including our kids, that they need to “learn to disagree,” please help your boss understand what that phrase really means and how to best model it for a country that is clearly hurting right now.

Have a great weekend. Til Monday. SVB