June - 2022

Thinking and Linking

‘Every weld is a challenge’

Jun 17
1 min

‘Every weld is a challenge’

Philadelphia schools are focusing career-tech training on preparing students to move from high school to apprenticeships and skilled jobs, reports Chalkbeat’s Dale Mezzacappa. Ahjhané Blackwell discovered a flair for welding. With help from the Talent Pipeline Project, she found a job at Rhoads Industries, which specializes in industrial fabrication, installation, and maintenance for ships. She spoke at the “signing day” ceremony at which CTE graduates declare which job off

Hot jobs of the future: welder, plumber

Jun 16
1 min

Hot jobs of the future: welder, plumber

Tennessee’s technical colleges focus on job skills, such as mechatronics. We’ve reached peak college, writes urbanist Joel Kotkin in Newsweek. The jobs of the future are in the skilled trades. “Over the past 20 years, we have created twice as many bachelor’s degrees as jobs to employ those who have earned them, he writes. A survey taken in 2020 found that only a third of undergraduates see their educations as advancing their career goals, and barely one in five think the BA i

Jun 16
1 min

Black male teachers are not security guards

If schools want more black male teachers, principals will have to let them be teachers — not security guards — writes Durrell Burns. Durrell Burns When he started teaching, he was “excited to make a difference,” he writes in Education Next. “But I often felt pigeonholed into stereotypical roles, asked to serve as a disciplinarian for young Black boys or to teach more basic, non-academic classes.” “A 2017 study found that low-income Black students who have a Black teacher for

Out the classroom door, but still teaching

Jun 16
3 min

Out the classroom door, but still teaching

While there’s little evidence of a “Big Quit” in education there may be a Significant Shift in how teachers see their options, writes Linda Jacobson on The 74. Prenda microschools are expanding . Those who leave traditional schools can find flexible jobs in new school models, such as online and microschools, she writes. As a counselor in a Vermont school district, Heather Long felt she couldn’t meet the explosion in “mental health needs” caused by pandemic restrictions. She n

Mayors: Don’t limit new charters

Jun 15
1 min

Mayors: Don’t limit new charters

Families want and need new charter schools, write a bipartisan group of mayors in an open letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Proposed changes in federal funding would “privilege . . . distant bureaucrats” over the “interests and needs of our diverse school communities.” Mayor Joe Hogsett, who’s seen charters boost achievement in Indianapolis, signed a letter asking for federal support for new charter schools. “Public charter schools are essential levers in achievin

Indy charters: 116-day boost in math

Jun 15
1 min

Indy charters: 116-day boost in math

Indianapolis charter students are dramatically outperforming similar students in district-run schools, concludes a new study by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO). Growth scores from 2018-19 show 116 days of additional learning in math, 64 days in reading for charter students, notes the Mind Trust. Black and Hispanic students showed even stronger gains: Black students in charter schools achieved growth equivalent to: 144 days of additional

‘Proud Boys’ interrupt Pride event

Jun 14
1 min

‘Proud Boys’ interrupt Pride event

Drag Queen Story Hour was starting at a Bay Area library when a group of men entered shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs, reports Iran Dahir on BuzzFeed News. Panda Dulce, a social worker, resumed reading to children after intruders were removed. The men accused the organizer of being a pedophile and one wore a T-shirt showing an AR-15 with the text “Kill your local pedophile.” Deputies escorted the men out, and drag queen Panda Dulce went on with the event, which had a

Jun 14
1 min

If parents take kids to drag shows, it’s not ‘abuse’

A Texas legislator wants to ban children from seeing drag queens in response to a Dallas bar’s ““family-friendly” Drag the Kids to Pride” event. That’s silly, writes Reason‘s Elizabeth Nolan Brown. Some kids in attendance tipped the drag performers with dollar bills, which—despite its association with strip clubs—is not in itself a sexual thing (we hand dollars to street performers, too, don’t we?). The most risqué thing about the event was a neon sign on the bar’s wall which

No learning loss in Sweden

Jun 13
1 min

No learning loss in Sweden

Photo: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels In Sweden, which kept schools open throughout the pandemic, first- through third-graders made normal progress in reading, concludes a newly published study. There was no learning loss. Disadvantaged students did not lose ground. Keeping schools open avoided “lasting damage” to children, writes Alex Gutentag on Tablet. “When Sweden kept schools open for children up to age 16 without masks in the spring of 2020, for example, not a single child di

Second wave of learning loss is coming in ’23-24

Jun 13
1 min

Second wave of learning loss is coming in ’23-24

Students learned a lot less in remote classes, test scores show. “The achievement loss is far greater than most educators and parents seem to realize,” wrote Harvard researcher Thomas Kane in The Atlantic. Photo: WikiImages/Pixabay Schools have reopened. The next school year might be “normal.” Will students start catching up on “unfinished” or “lost” learning? Will achievement scores rebound? No, predicts Mike Goldstein, founder of Match Education. He foresees a “second wave”

The metaverse is here — but what is it?

Jun 12
2 min

The metaverse is here — but what is it?

Photo: Julia M. Cameron/Pexels Educators will be teaching in the metaverse very soon, ready or not, write Brookings researchers in a policy brief. The metaverse is “a 3D model of the internet” where people interact via their avatars,” writes Shamani Joshi on Vice. It is “a shared virtual space that is interactive, immersive and hyper-realistic” existing “parallel to the physical world.” The Brookings brief imagines a circular classroom of the near future: Students studying a

Kids, you’re not ‘stamped’

Jun 11
2 min

Kids, you’re not ‘stamped’

Moshe K. Levy considers himself “pro-human” rather than “anti-racist,” he writes on FAIR’s site. So he’s not a fan of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped (For Kids), which is being taught in elementary and middle schools across the country, including his sixth-grade daughter’s private school. Kendi claims Stamped “is not a book of my opinions. . . This book is full of truth. It’s packed with the absolutely true facts of the choices people made over hundreds of years to get us to where w

States limit ‘active shooter’ drills

Jun 10
1 min

States limit ‘active shooter’ drills

“Active shooter drills” terrify students, but do they make them any safer? Photo: Education Week When schools do fire drills, they don’t set off smoke bombs. The fad for “active shooter drills” with simulated gunfire has produced pushback, writes Evie Blad in Education Week. Some states are limiting lockdown drills to avoid traumatizing children. “You can prepare your kids for a house fire by telling them where to meet and how to climb out of their windows,” Washington state

School police: Do they make students safer?

Jun 9
3 min

School police: Do they make students safer?

In response to the shooting of 19 children and two adults, Uvalde, Texas school officials want to hire more police officers, writs Robby Soave in Reason. Nineteen police officers were at the school quickly, he points out. “Robb Elementary didn’t need additional cops, it needed the cops on hand to actually do their jobs.” School leaders across the country are trying strengthen safety measures, reports Eesha Pendharkar in Education Week. Should they add or bring back police off

It’s a hot summer job market for youth

Jun 9
1 min

It’s a hot summer job market for youth

Working as a lifeguard was a dangerous job in “Stranger Things.” A red-hot summer job market awaits teenagers, reports Paul Wiseman and Mae Anderson for AP. Employers are raising pay and perks to lure seasonal workers. Summer employment has dropped in recent years as teenagers focus on college prep, but the numbers will rise this summer predicts Drexel’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy. An estimate one-third youths 16 to 19 will be employed say researchers. That’s the hig

Working teens do better in school

Jun 9
1 min

Working teens do better in school

Working part-time during the school year is good for teenagers, as long as they limit their work hours, concludes a newly published study. Photo: Amina Filkins/Pexels Students with part-time jobs earn higher test scores and complete more schooling, writes Fordham’s Amber Northern. They’re also less likely to be arrested for a non-traffic-related crime. Working may reduce absenteeism and dropouts, evidence suggests. Working 10 hours a week produces the most benefits, the study

For years, a teacher groomed girls for sex

Jun 8
2 min

For years, a teacher groomed girls for sex

Matt Drange’s high school journalism teacher was a cut-up who always had time to hang out with students. Especially teenage girls from troubled families. His beloved teacher repeatedly groomed students for sex, was reported and got away with it for years, reports Drange in Business Insider. Xitlalic Palacios, Rosemead High Class of ’22, told the El Monte school board that “the public is owed an explanation or an apology” for the failure to protect students from a predatory te

Teens back free speech for unpopular views

Jun 7
2 min

Teens back free speech for unpopular views

U.S. high school students and their teachers agree that people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions, according to the Knight Foundation’s Future of the First Amendment survey. Photo: Mathias Reding/Pexels Fifty-seven percent strongly agree and 32 percent mildly agree. There’s been little change in nearly 20 years. Support drops to 40 percent when opinions are “offensive” and even lower when speech is “threatening.” Still, 62 percent of students say it’s more import

Jun 7
3 min

FIRE expands free-speech advocacy

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is renaming itself the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (still FIRE) as it moves beyond college campuses to defend free speech everywhere. Part of the First Amendment campaign may challenge the American Civil Liberties Union’s primacy as a defender of free speech, writes Josh Gerstein on Politico. “There’s a very strong belief in not just the First Amendment, but a culture of freedom of speech that — black or wh

UC sidelines ‘liberated ethnic studies’ mandate

Jun 6
1 min

UC sidelines ‘liberated ethnic studies’ mandate

California students will need an ethnic studies class to get a diploma by 2029-30, but apparently the University of California won’t try to dictate the curriculum, reports John Fensterwald on EdSource. A UC faculty committee has back-pedaled on a plan to require college applicants to take a version of the “liberated ethnic studies” curriculum rejected by the State Board of Education. Credit: Normal Rockwell The UC proposal called for developing “critical consciousness,” “cre