1. John King on the Lessons That Last
LISTEN: I sat down with John King this week for a wide-ranging conversation on public education in America and his new book, Teacher By Teacher. John reflects on how his childhood shaped his passion for education and what he’s learned from serving as a teacher, principal, school founder, policy leader, cabinet member under President Obama, and now as the head of the country’s largest state university system. We also discussed what’s gone wrong in education reform, what still works, and why public schools remain worth fighting for.
Listen to the episode here, and check out John’s new book, Teacher By Teacher, here.
2. Red States Rising
READ: Mississippi now leads the country in K-12 academic gains, but its achievements have been largely under-recognized. Tim Daly took to the pages of Education Next to explain why elite bias towards the Deep South has kept national media and policymakers from highlighting more of the success stories coming out of states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. Daly argues that this cultural snobbery allows underperforming states to avoid scrutiny and prevents the replication of what works:
There is a future where blue states are left behind electorally, through declining clout, and educationally, through stubborn refusal to accept that a number of red states are solving important problems and expanding opportunity for kids while wealthier, complacent Democratic strongholds phone it in. If Republicans start running—and winning—on their education track records, look out.
Read more here.
3. Supreme Test for Charters
READ: After the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond last week, Richard D. Kahlenberg took to the pages of The 74 to reflect on the stakes of the case and caution about the deep disruption a ruling in favor of religious charters could cause to public education and charter law. Should the Court decide that states are compelled to authorize religious charters, Kahlenberg proposes that charter school laws be amended to require applicant schools to agree that their ultimate mission is to teach liberal democratic values:
Teaching liberal democratic values is probably consistent with the approach of most religious charter schools, but few are likely to agree that this is their most important mission. The Oklahoma school at the center of the Supreme Court case, St. Isadore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, says its “ultimate goal” is “eternal salvation.” For many religious leaders, saying that promoting liberal democracy is their school’s primary mission would constitute blasphemy. When former President Joe Biden called the ideals in America’s founding documents “sacred,” a Catholic priest objected in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, saying, “America isn’t sacred. Only God is.”
The test for charter school applicants wouldn’t be religious; it would be one of mission. Not every religious school would fail the test, and not every secular school would pass it. If the government is entitled to “speak its own message on its own building,” why can’t a state ask the schools it funds to advance as their central message the preservation of liberal democracy?
Read more here.
4. Researchers Sue to Save Data
READ: Top education researchers from across the political spectrum, including Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst and Sean Reardon, are suing the U.S. Department of Education over cuts that gutted its research division, threatening key data and studies. The suit argues that the Trump administration acted illegally and that the consequences for education equity and policy could be permanent:
Of immediate concern are two June deadlines. Beginning June 1, researchers are scheduled to lose remote access to restricted datasets, which can include personally identifiable information about students. The suits contend that loss harms the ability of researchers to finish projects in progress and plan future studies. The researchers say they are also unable to publish or present studies that use this data because there is no one remaining inside the Education Department to review their papers for any inadvertent disclosure of student data.
The second concern is that the termination of more than 1,300 Education Department employees will become final by June 10. Technically, these employees have been on administrative leave since March, and lawyers for the education associations are concerned that it will be impossible to rehire these veteran statisticians and research experts for congressionally required tasks.
Read more from Jill Barshay in The Hechinger Report here.
5. Politics vs. Hungry Kids
READ: Tennessee has rejected federal funding to feed the state’s low-income children this summer, despite rising hunger and high demand. Last year, Tennessee used $84 million in federal aid to help feed 700,000 children, but Governor Bill Lee says the Volunteer State prefers state-led solutions this year. His alternative plan will reach just 25,000 children:
Christy Green used the cards last summer to buy breakfast and lunch food for the 8- and 10-year-old grandsons she is raising on her own. The two boys get the meals free when school is in session. Unicoi County, the rural area in eastern Tennessee where they live, isn’t included in the state’s proposal. Green worries how she will afford to feed the boys from mid-May until August.
She has been scouring grocery stores for discount bacon, sausage and other meats she can freeze for summer. She is hoping to find other summer programs and pantries where she can get food.
“My worst fear is they end up going to bed hungry because I don’t have that extra money coming in,” she said. “I’m going to have to scramble to find a way.”
Read more from Dan Frosch in The Wall Street Journal here.
6. Oklahoma’s Quiet Education Revolution
WATCH: Vox took a closer look at the rise of universal pre-K in Oklahoma. Implemented in 1998, the state was only the second in the country to pilot the program. 27 years later, advocates say it’s helped boost early learning, economic opportunity, and pubic health. Coleman Lowndes went to Tulsa to learn how some unexpected political maneuvering and a groundswell of support from local educators allowed the program to gain traction in the ‘90s — and why it remains a model for bipartisan success in early childhood education today.
Watch the full series here.
7. Spirit Day Burnout
READ: Julie Beck took to the pages of The Atlantic to question the need for an increasing number of spirit days and dress-up events in schools, often happening weekly and requiring parents to scramble for costumes, sometimes with very little notice. While schools intend for the events to foster fun and community, Beck questions if they can backfire by creating stress, guilt, and inequality:
Kids may feel left out if their families can’t participate or choose not to. Even children who do participate dress up with varying levels of intensity, opening the door for jealousy. Spirit days can expose wealth disparities among families: Whose parents can afford to buy this sort of fast fashion for first-graders every time a new spirit week drops, and whose can’t? (Hooks said her PTA recently bought some props that the school can keep on hand and pass out on spirit days for this very reason.) Twin Day, a common theme, could be upsetting for kids who don’t have a friend willing to match outfits with them.
Read more here.