Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice

“We’re Huge in Learning Loss!” Cashing in on the Post-Pandemic Education Crisis.

Alec MacGillis, ProPublica

For the nation’s schoolchildren, the data on pandemic learning loss is relentlessly bleak, with education researchers and economists warning that, unless dramatic action is taken, students will suffer a lifelong drop in income as a result of lagging achievement. “This cohort of students is going to be punished throughout their lifetime,” noted Eric Hanushek, the Stanford economist who did the income study, in ProPublica’s recent examination of the struggle to make up for what students missed out on during the era of remote learning. For the burgeoning education technology sector, however, the crisis has proven a glimmering business opportunity, as a visit to the industry’s annual convention revealed. The federal government has committed $190 billion in pandemic recovery funds to school districts since 2020, and education technology sales people have been eagerly making the case that their products are just what students and teachers need to make up lost ground.

Teachers sue over Tennessee law restricting what they can teach about race, gender, and bias

Marta W. Aldrich, Chalkbeat Tennessee

Tennessee’s largest teacher organization has joined with five public school educators to legally challenge a 2-year-old state law restricting what they can teach about race, gender, and bias in their classrooms. Their lawsuit, which was filed late Tuesday in a federal court in Nashville by lawyers for the Tennessee Education Association, maintains the language in the 2021 law is unconstitutionally vague and that the state’s enforcement plan is subjective.

Mexican security forces were complicit in kidnapping of 43 student teachers, report reveals

Reuters

Mexican security forces at local, state and federal level were complicit in the 2014 abduction of 43 student teachers and concealed documents which showed where some of them were taken, a report prepared by an independent investigatory panel has concluded. The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) tasked with investigating the case said in their findings that the Army, Navy, police and intelligence agencies knew, minute by minute, where the students were. The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) – a panel appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights who were tasked with investigating the case – said in the report on one of Mexico’s most notorious human rights scandals that the army, navy, police and intelligence agencies knew, minute by minute, where the student teachers were.

Language, Culture, and Power

Slavery, reparations, racism. No topics are off limits in this Black history AP class

Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times

Inside a Dorsey High School classroom — decorated with African flags, dolls in colorful African clothing and a wall of fame that included pictures of Thurgood Marshall, Wilma Rudolph and Colin Powell — social studies teacher Donald Singleton and 18 students waded into the nation’s debate over Black history and race.

“Who thinks that right now, in 2023, there is discrimination against Black people?” Singleton asked. “Everyone’s created equal. How can there possibly still be discrimination? We’re now in 2023?” Laylah Cooper, a senior, dived in: “Racist mind-sets are passed down from the family.” “We had a Black president,” Singleton continued. “We have a Black vice president. Why isn’t racism dead?”

Why Do So Few Black Men Become Teachers?

Daniel Mollenkamp, EdSurge

Students in American K-12 schools are increasingly diverse. But that diversity is often missing in the teachers at the front of classrooms.That’s especially true when it comes to the number of teachers who are Black men: the group makes up only 1.3 percent of American school teachers, according to a widely cited federal survey of the 2020-2021 school year. Why are there so few Black men in the teaching profession?

It’s hard for English learners to get the state seal of biliteracy. A new bill aims to change that

Zaidee Stavely, EdSource

Juan Garcia was proud to walk across a stage this spring at Venture Academy in Stockton to receive a medal for the state seal of biliteracy, proof that he can speak, read and write in English and Spanish. “It’s a great achievement to have. It opens up so many great opportunities. Just having that extra language opens up a whole other world of people,” Garcia said. Yet many students, particularly English learners, don’t receive the state seal of biliteracy, even though they are bilingual, because there aren’t enough options to show students are proficient in English, according to some advocates and district and county officials.

Whole Children and Strong Communities

Free School Lunches Kept Millions of Kids Fed During the Pandemic. Why Stop Now?

Peggy Chen, The Nation

From her small apartment in Durham, N.C., Marcella Thompson prepares healthy meals and groceries for the dozens of families that struggle to put food on the table in her neighborhood. “They can’t afford to buy it for their families, [so] farmers give us organic produce,” said Thomspon. “They have fruit, they have blueberries, they have strawberries, they [have] melons and greens and potatoes and so parents are able to give their kids nutritious meals.” The Mustard Seed Project receives donations of locally grown fruit and vegetables, which they distribute in grocery bags to families. Recently, Thompson has also started to bring in treats to local neighborhoods, with food trucks and live music. “[We’re] able to take an ice cream truck, take a band, have nutrition meals, and play the music, go out into the complex and the children will come out, get their meals, go back in their [houses] and we move onto the next complex.”

Michigan public schools to offer free breakfast, lunch to all students

Cassidy Johncox, Channel 4

A bipartisan education budget signed by the Michigan governor last week aims to help families facing food insecurity by providing funding for free breakfast and lunches at public schools. Beginning this year, all Michigan public school students in grades pre-K through 12 will have access to free breakfast and free lunches every day. The latest education budget for fiscal year 2024, which was approved by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on July 20, allocates $160 million to provide the meals to the state’s 1.4 million public school students.

School-approved Cheetos? Why we must protect school food from corporate interests

Sara Kirk, Amberley Ruetz, Rachel Prowse, Steve Machat, Salon

Universal access to healthy school meal programs is essential for children’s well-being, but Canada lags behind its peers in providing nutritious food to children.

While the federal government committed to a national school food program in the 2019 budget, it has not funded its implementation. A report on the 2022 consultations on a national school food policy will soon be released. It’s likely that the food industry will have made their corporate interests heard and industry-affiliated corporations are known to lobby Canadian policymakers to influence federal nutrition policies. Public engagement is key to building inclusive and accessible public policy. The consultations heard from provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments and community organizations about the value and role of healthy school food. It also heard from the food industry — and this is problematic.

Access, Assessment, Advancement

Community college transfer numbers are a key benchmark of success, but they remain far below the state’s own goal

Adam Echelman and Erica Yee, CalMatters

The community college system is falling short of one of its most important benchmarks: the number of students who transfer to a four-year college or university. It remains well below the system’s own goal, and lawmakers have taken notice.

“Although most students intend to transfer to a four-year university, few do,” wrote a group of state legislators this year as they asked the state to audit community college performance. Set in 2017, the goal was to increase the annual number of community college students who transfer to the University of California and California State University from nearly 89,000 to more than 120,000 by 2022. In the 2020-21 academic year, the most recent data available, nearly 99,000 community college students transferred to a UC or Cal State.

Universities Shouldn’t Forget About Undocumented Students

Yamila Martinez, The Nation

For Krissia Bonilla, going to college was much more difficult than it was for her peers. As she was protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, she wasn’t sure how to apply. The guidelines weren’t clear, and even the staff at her school were confused. “My high school counselor didn’t know what to do.” More than 427,000 undocumented students are enrolled in postsecondary education, representing about two percent of all college students. Undocumented students are ineligible for federal financial aid: They cannot access Pell Grants, student loans, or federal work study. Only 23 states offer undocumented students access to in-state tuition. Just 17 states, including New York, offer state-funded financial aid for undocumented students, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.

Education Dept. Opens Civil Rights Inquiry Into Harvard’s Legacy Admissions

Michael D. Shear and Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times

The Education Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Harvard University’s legacy admissions policy, inserting the federal government directly into a fierce national debate about wealth, privilege and race after the Supreme Court gutted the use of affirmative action in higher education. The inquiry into one of the nation’s richest and most prestigious universities will examine allegations by three liberal groups that Harvard’s practice of showing preference for the relatives of alumni and donors discriminates against Black, Hispanic and Asian applicants in favor of white and wealthy students who are less qualified.

Inequality, Poverty, Segregation

Study outlines how college admissions practices benefit richest applicants [Video]

Geoff Bennett and Raj Chetty, PBS Newshour

A new study out today shows how college admissions practices benefit the richest applicants. Opportunity Insights, a group of Harvard economists, analyzed data from 12 of the country’s top colleges from 1999 to 2015. They found that among students with the same test scores, applicants with families in the top 1 percent of earners were 34 percent more likely to be accepted. Those from the top point 0.1 percent were twice as likely to be accepted. And schools gave preference to legacies and student athletes, among others.

1 in 5 low-income children reported an adverse childhood experience in 2021

Naaz Modan, K-12 Dive

In 2021, 1 in 5 children in families with incomes up to double the federal poverty level had experienced at least one adverse childhood experience, according to results from the National Health Interview Survey released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Less than 1 in 8 children in families with incomes double or more than double than the federal poverty level that had experienced at least one stressful life event in 2021.

The Education Myth [Audio]

William Brehm and Jon Shelton, FreshEd

Today we explore the way in which education and economic well-being were linked in the USA. My guest, Jon Shelton, calls the link a myth and shows how it prevented alternative visions of education from expanding and promoting social democracy.

Democracy and the Public Interest

Mayor Johnson asked Chicago youth for budget feedback. Hundreds showed up.

Max Lubbers, Chalkbeat Chicago

In a new move for Chicago’s budget process, Mayor Brandon Johnson put out a call to the city’s young people: He wanted to hear what their priorities for spending are. They responded in force. Within a week of the announcement, pre-registration for a youth roundtable was full. About 350 teens and young people showed up for the event on Tuesday, eager to talk about issues ranging from environmental justice and public health to education and affordable housing. Johnson told the youth, ages 13 to 24, not to hold back on their opinions.

School boards in Chino and Temecula raise worries about local control

Carl Cohn, EdSource

I recently saw a sign that said: “Make school board meetings boring again!” It could have been a directive to two Southern California school districts, Temecula Valley and Chino Valley, the only two school district board meetings that I’ve had the courage to attend in the past year. First, in December when the new church-sponsored board majority was sworn in in Temecula, and this past Thursday night in Chino Valley, where the church-sponsored board majority there was considering a new policy initiative requiring all school personnel to share with parents within 72 hours (about three days) any confidential information that they might receive from a student. I left the Temecula board meeting back in mid-December trying to figure out how is it in America today that some elements of organized religion feel threatened by what’s going on in the public schools, so much so that a pastor would call the public schools “the devil’s playground.”

How after-school clubs became a new battleground in the Satanic Temple’s push to preserve separation of church and state

Charles Russo, The Conversation

As the start of the school year rapidly approaches, controversy can’t be far behind. But not all hot-button topics in education are about what goes on in class. Over the past few years, conflict has trailed attempts to establish After School Satan Clubs sponsored by the Satanic Temple, which the U.S. government recognizes as a religious group. Organizers have tried to form clubs in California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Organizers in Broome County, New York, also formed a summer Satan Club that meets at a local library.

Other News of Note

How suing the US government can empower the climate movement

Alessandra Bergamin, Waging Nonviolence

In 2015, 21 young Americans, more than half of whom are Black, Indigenous and people of color, began the process of suing the U.S. government. The constitutional climate lawsuit, known as Juliana v. United States, asserts that by creating a national energy system that causes climate change, the executive branch has “violated the youngest generation’s rights to life, liberty and property as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources.”  In the eight years since the case was filed — spanning the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden — the U.S. Department of Justice has issued numerous motions to delay the case or have it outright dismissed. Our Children’s Trust, the public interest law firm representing the young plaintiffs, has described these efforts by the Department of Justice as “incessant and unprecedented.” But as another youth-led climate lawsuit awaits a ruling, the young people of Juliana v. United States are beginning to prepare for trial.