Of Note: This week The New York Times published the Opinion piece, “We Can Only Fight Learning Loss with Accountability.” In it, Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, writes “The bad news about U.S. schools just keeps coming… Rather than catching up [post-pandemic], our students are falling further behind, succumbing to education’s ‘long COVID,’ as the researchers put it.”
He continues, “This should be a national emergency… but, until all those responsible for educating Americans acknowledge the crisis and commit to addressing it, learning loss is likely to continue.”
He concludes with, “Education matters. Achievement matters. We need leaders who are willing to say so and educators who are willing to act like these simple propositions are true.”
Of Note: Despite the $190 billion Congress authorized for K-12 schools—about six times more than usual—our 13-year-olds scored the lowest they have in math since 1990 and the lowest in reading since 2004 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, aka the Nation’s Report Card.
Of Note: 900-or so school systems that have now gone with 4-day a week schooling, pleasing kids, parents, and teachers, alike, and the number is growing. BUT… Writes Education Week’s Caitlyn Meisner: “Learning is where this model falls short.”
Of Note: A May School Choice Awareness Foundation of 2,483 parents of school-aged children found that 46% “plan to send at least one of their children to a new school,” and more than 50% of those said that, “they want better or safer education environments for their children.”
Of Note: Parent Jessica Konen and her 11-year-old daughter, Alicia, recently sued California’s Spreckels Union School District. Teachers/staff at its Buena Vista Middle School allegedly recruited the girl to join the “Equality Club,” where kids are taught about “bisexuality, transgender identities, and other LGBTQ concepts.” Reportedly, she was also coached to socially transition to a male gender identity,” when in 6th grade.
Said Alicia, “I was advised by the school not to tell my mom, and I was given articles on how to hide a social transition from my mom…”
The settlement: $100,000 for Mrs. Konen and daughter Alicia.
As the world turns…
~ With thanks, Carol