Week 210

April 8, 2024

Jump to: Top Tasks | From the Field | Key Resources | Moments of Resilience

It is week 210 of our new reality and we are thinking about what America’s teachers are telling us about the state of our schools.

In a newly released survey from the Pew Research Center, only 29% of teachers in low-poverty schools, 11% of teachers in medium-poverty and 5% of teachers in high-poverty schools rated the academic performance of students as excellent or very good.

Yes, you read that correctly.

This stands in sharp contrast to the message most parents are receiving about their children from their schools. According to a recent report by Gallup and Learning Heroes, grade inflation and overly optimistic communication from schools has convinced nearly all parents that their child is on track: “Almost nine in 10 parents say their child is at or above grade level in reading (88%) and math (89%). This deviates sharply from other measures, including standardized test scores, which suggest that less than half of children are performing at grade level.”

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What is going on?

According to the Pew survey, 82% of teachers said that the overall state of public K-12 education has gotten worse in the last five years and about eight-in-ten teachers said there has been a lasting negative impact of the pandemic on students’ academic performance, behavior and mental health. At the same time, most teachers surveyed said that parents do too little when it comes to holding their children accountable if they misbehave in school (79%), helping their children with their schoolwork (68%), and ensuring their children’s attendance in school (63%).

Clearly, there has been a breakdown in ensuring that America’s teachers and parents are aligned on an accurate picture of how children are doing in school. We need to start by trusting parents with the truth about these problems so they can be part of the solution to this crisis in our schools.

Last time in The New Reality Roundup, we explored what we now know about the costs of the school shutdowns and took stock of one of the biggest reforms to emerge out of this crisis. This week, we check in on the progress of implementing the science of reading and explore the role of public libraries in bringing about the education system of the future.

TOP TASKS

“Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio says the lawsuit isn’t what’s best for kids, he thinks it’s about adults trying to protect their business,” APM Reports in “The Aftermath,” the new episode of Sold a Story. The lawsuit in question is one filed by Reading Recovery, the organization that has advocated for Fountas and Pinnell’s ineffective balanced literacy program, after the state of Ohio banned the controversial three-cueing approach at the heart of their curriculum. Why a lawsuit? The number of schools using Reading Recovery has dropped 40% over the past two years.

The episode highlights the other big changes in how we teach children to read that have been in motion since the podcast first aired:

Teachers College at Columbia University removed Lucy Calkins as director of the program and has fully backed away from her balanced literacy approach.
Heinemann LLC, the publishing arm for Fountas and Pinnell, have seen sales drop to a quarter of their high in 2019.
Multiple states have passed laws to ensure curriculum aligns with the science of reading and balanced literacy curriculums are banned.

That includes the Land of Enchantment, where last year NewMexicoKidsCAN helped pass a bill to create a list of state-approved reading curriculum aligned to the science of reading.

50CAN states across the country are continuing to roll up their sleeves and work on this issue. This year, GeorgiaCAN has secured funding for literacy screeners and revised the list of acceptable screening tests through the state budget. DelawareCAN has advocated for money in the state budget to train teachers on the science of reading. HawaiiKidsCAN has aided the passage of one bill for the creation of a universal dyslexia screener and another that would mandate curriculum transparency in the House and is awaiting the Senate. And JerseyCAN is pushing the governor to strengthen a budget allocation for universal screeners, while bringing forward four literacy bills to the floor this session that will provide funding to train teachers on the science of reading and require the implementation of intervention programs.

THE TASK OF THE WEEK IS

to build upon the momentum of sweeping literacy changes by securing legislation that will clear out bad pedagogy from our schools, once and for all.

This week is National Library Week and we are inspired by the work of David Miyashiro, executive director of HawaiiKidsCAN, as he seeks to bring tutoring, career programs and science-based literacy instruction to students through the state’s network of libraries.

“The Hawaii State Board of Education oversees leadership of the State Library system alongside the Department of Education and the State Charter School Commission–together they make up the three-legged stool of our K-12 education system,” David says, “And as I continued to have conversations with the library system’s leadership, I realized that we have remarkably similar goals in producing a well-educated, highly-skilled workforce. With the libraries, there’s none of the well-worn politicking of the education system… instead, I’ve found they match our hunger for new ideas and rapid implementation.”

David started by bringing after-school tutoring programs directly to libraries, with a focus on rural communities. The initial pilots have attracted such high levels of family interest, however, he’s now thinking much bigger: “A tutoring program is one thing, but the conversations I’m now having are how libraries can emerge as a powerful engine of community-based learning opportunities. Why can’t libraries be centers for tutoring, for career skills and for learning led by community members who are experts in their fields?”

David looks to the Oodi Library in Helsinki, Finland for inspiration of what not only the libraries but also the schools of the future could resemble. Outfitted with workspaces for everything from electronics stations to laser cutters and 3D printing, along with studio space for film and content creation, the library matches this infrastructure with a host of educational programs to teach hard skills. In so doing, it provides a model for a world of open and connected learning that is replicable closer to home.

THE TASK OF THE WEEK IS

to examine how libraries in your own geography could serve as a delivery mechanism for the education of the future.

FROM THE FIELD

Louisiana Kids Matter has helped to shepherd a universal ESA bill through the initial committees, including securing a unanimous vote in the House Education Committee. The bill provides families between $5,100 and $7,500 per child depending on their income and $15,000 for students with special needs. The bill now moves to a full House vote. We’ll share more information about the vote on social media as it happens, so stay tuned.

GeorgiaCAN ended one of their most productive legislative sessions to date, securing the state’s first ESA after a decade-long fight. In addition to that bill, the team also helped move oversight of charter schools to the state charter authorizing board and increased state funding of charter school administrative costs.

ConnCAN secured the passage of two bills through the Education Committee. The first, HB5436, creates distinct pathways for career changers and out-of-state educators to enter the teaching force and will now head to the House floor. The second, HB5212, ensures that the $150 million the new funding formula establishes for K-12 schools will actually go to K-12 schools.

Key Resources

The 74 Million interviews USC’s Morgan Polikoff on new polling suggesting that the vast majority of parents share a desire for a focus on strong academics in classrooms but differ along partisan lines on their support for instruction about issues of race and gender.

Teacher staffing challenges are highly localized and result in districts having both a teacher shortage and a teacher surplus at the same time, according to a new study published in the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

Writing for Education Next, Doug Lemov makes the case that students should read more books–not just book passages–and raises the alarm bell about the decline in reading books in America’s classrooms.

A new Ed Working Paper study finds that small-group tutoring results not only in positive short-term effects but that “about 60% of the effect persists 3.5 years later.”

Brookings uncovers a surprising lack of concern among parents for their children’s chronic absences, suggesting the need for better communication about the costs of missing school.

Moment of Resilience

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay admires the perfect beef wellington of Phoenix, Arizona 12-year-old and self-taught chef William. Ramsay was so impressed, he invited the young TikTok star to join him as a guest on Hell’s Kitchen. William’s impressive skills are a reminder that our children are capable of climbing to amazing new heights when they are given the room and the opportunity to aim for greatness.