Friday News Roundup

It’s the end of the week. Time for the Friday News Roundup.

Teachers Across the U.S. Get Suspended or Fired Over Posts Linked to Charlie Kirk (EducationWeek)

When I worked in a large urban school district in Texas, school district employees were allowed to use their own personal social media accounts to post almost anything. The only way a teacher or administrator faced trouble was if they used district outlets to promote their personal views. Our school attorneys believed the freedom of speech right afforded to all district employees was stronger than any “safety or disruption” argument the district could make.

Today, it seems school district employees are being suspended or fired after they posted opinions on their personal social media accounts.

Seems like times have changed.

Students Have Questions About Our Democracy. Is Civics Class Up to the Task? (EducationWeek)

EducationWeek  reported this week that,

“Last school year, Massachusetts teacher Andrew Swan started to feel like the assignments he had long relied on to illustrate how government works for his students were falling short.”

“In one, his 8^th grade civics students analyzed documents and worked through a series of prompts, preparing them to answer the essay question: ‘How does the Constitution guard against tyranny?’ They read excerpts from some of James Madison’s Federalist Papers about the division of powers, answered questions about how these powers are delineated in the Constitution, and drew the three branches of government – legislative, judicial, executive – in an equal triangle, checking each other’s power.”

“’It was meant to guide the students to seeing the Constitution has this balance,’ Swan said.”

“Meanwhile, in the news, students had been watching as President Donal Trump’s administration pushed the boundaries of executive power, prompting constitutional experts across the ideological spectrum to suggest that he had violated the law.”

“By the end of the school year, Trump had, among other actions, evaded orders from federal courts and canceled federal funding without congressional authorization. Over the summer, he federalized the police force in the nation’s capital and has threatened to send members of the National Guard to other major cities in blue states. He also vowed to bar states from using mail-in ballots.”

“The incongruities between Swan’s lesson and the headlines were stark. The class activity, he later reflected, ‘leaves out a lot of the key realities.’”

As ABPTL has mentioned in other stories, one can only imagine how difficult it is today to teach young learners about how the Constitution is supposed to work in this country.

Because, in the opinion of many, the Constitution isn’t working right now.

Texas Teachers, Parents Fear STAAR Overhaul Won’t Take Testing Pressure Off Kids (The Texas Tribune)

The Texas Tribune reported this week that,

“Texas public school administrators, parents and education experts worry that a new law to replace the state’s standardized test could potentially increase student stress and the amount of time they spend taking tests, instead of reducing it.”

“The new law comes amid criticism that the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, creates too much stress for students and devotes too much instructional time to the test. The updated system aims to ease the pressure of a single exam by replacing STAAR with three shorter tests, which will be administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the year….”

From experience, let me tell you the stress Texas students feel isn’t from the test itself, it’s from the test being used as a high-stakes decision-maker whether students are promoted or retained. If Texas really wanted to relieve student stress, then they should use the three tests approved by recent legislation as formative assessments that help teachers and students understand strengths and weaknesses regarding reading, writing, and problem solving abilities.

Trump Bypasses Congress and Slashes Hundreds of Education Grants (EducationWeek)

“The Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in San Fernando, California, this week is wrapping up the first year of what was supposed to be a seven-year federal education grant totaling $19 million. Thousands of 6^th and 7^th graders at more than a dozen Los Angeles-area public charter schools have been getting tutoring and mentoring aimed at exposing them to college opportunities they might otherwise see as out of reach.”

“As rumors swirled this summer about potential federal cuts, program leaders hoped the Trump administration would spare them, given that the Vaughn center is a charter school district, and charter schools are among the few education priorities for which the administration wants to increase federal investment.”

“But on September 12, the U.S. Department of Education sent Vaughn administrators a notice of ‘non-continuation’ that eliminates their remaining $16 million of funding for the next six years, effective October 1.”

“’During the review process, department staff identified that Vaughn Next Century Learning Center has proposed project activities that may conflict with the department’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education; or violate the letter and purpose of federal civil rights law,’ reads the notice.”

One must believe that this expenditure was approved by Congress and now the Trump administration decides to cut it. That is unconstitutional.

The fact that this cut is toward a public charter school suggests that what the Trump administration says about the importance of creating more charter school networks across the country is just another lie issued by our Chief Executive.

Does it make any difference that this charter school operation is based in California – a red state – and serves a population that may or may not be legal citizens?

Angelo State University Bans Classroom Discussions of Transgender Identities, Stirring Criticism and Confusion (The Texas Tribune)

ABPTL doesn’t report on higher education news often, but this story was just “too Texan” to ignore.

“Angelo State University officials have told professors not to discuss transgender and nonbinary identities in their courses, according to interviews with faculty members and several emails a professor provided to The Texas Tribune. This move makes it the first known public Texas university to largely restrict classroom acknowledgement of such gender identities, heightening concerns about threats to academic freedom across the state.”

If you are a professor teaching a course in gender studies, how do you ignore transgender and nonbinary conversations? I guess you just reference Donald Trump’s “Two Sexes” executive order and call it a day.

Have a great weekend. This has to get better, doesn’t it? Til Monday. SVB