A Little About A Lot

“A Little About A Lot”

Trump Again Proposes Major Education Cuts in New Budget Proposal (EducationWeek)

Back in 2014, when our non-profit decided to launch a brand new personalized learning lab school, we made the decision to continue assisting the traditional K-12 school system with leadership coaching, classroom assistance, and grant-making, even though we were investing millions of dollars to model a different way to achieve reading, writing, and problem-solving excellence – individualized learning supported by a personalized learning plan and a well-trained adult learning leader.

It seems our current American president doesn’t share the same philosophy by supporting the old system until a new system can be created.

According to EducationWeek,

“For the second year in a row, Trump is proposing to zero out longstanding federal education programs that support educators’ professional development (currently $2.2 billion a year), services for English learners ($890 million), academic enrichment and student supports ($1.4 billion), before- and after-school programs ($1.3 billion), rural schools ($220 million), and support for students experiencing homelessness ($129 million).”

“The administration is also reviving its longshot proposal to consolidate those programs and 11 others into a $2 billion education block grant – called ‘Make Education Great Again,’ or MEGA – for states to spend largely how they please….”

“The $2 billion fund would be $4.6 billion short of the total value of the program it proposes to merge.”

It would be one thing if the Trump administration had a plan that provided a new system for learning for young learners – especially those who are black, brown, and poor. But Trump has nothing on the drawing board to help those at-risk populations. In fact, Trump only seems interested in cutting existing programs without replacing them with creative personalized models like microschools and learning pods.

Like many things he touches, Trump seems more interested in destruction than creation when it comes to learning that works for kids.

“Success Sequence” Urges Marriage, Then Parenthood. These States Want Schools to Teach It (EducationWeek)

EducationWeek reported last week that,

“Conservative legislators in at least eight states want to require schools to teach students that earning at least a high school diploma, securing a full-time job, and getting married before having children – in that order – will help them avoid poverty as adults.”

“The concept is known as the ‘success sequence.’ Sociologists have debated it – and whether schools should teach it – for the last two decades. But the push has seen renewed interest in recent years as influential conservative groups sound the alarm about declining rates of birth and marriage, viewing the trends as threats to American values and economic prosperity.”

“Critics, including school boards in states weighing success sequence bills, question the research to support the success sequence. They say teaching it in schools would serve to blame individuals for systemic challenges they face, and that reinforcing narrow family norms could stigmatize students from single-parent homes or those who don’t desire marriage or parenthood.”

Too often conservative groups are critical of our K-12 system for not being focused enough on reading, writing, and problem-solving improvement, until an issue like “success sequencing” comes up. Then, everything that could improve a young learner’s academic skill and performance is pushed to the side in favor of the conservative’s (or liberal’s, for that matter) “flavor of the month.”

We need to keep the main thing the main thing – and that is learning success.

ABPTL will return Monday. Til then. SVB