Weekend To-Do List

9/7 - 9/8

and

Sep 07, 2024

1. School Choice Showdown

READ/LISTEN: Does the rise of universal school choice programs compromise the original moral and financial principles of school vouchers? Derrell Bradford and Michael J. Petrilli faced off in the pages of Education Next to debate the inclusion of the wealthy in new programs like Education Savings Accounts. Derrell argued that universal choice creates a stronger and more politically viable coalition, while Michael advocated for programs to prioritize fiscal need in order to maintain fairness and fiscal responsibility. Derrell also encouraged fiscal cynics to reconsider their argument:

It is an article of faith among choice critics that traditional public schools never have enough money, while any alternatives (charters, ESAs, and the like) cost too much. Instead of making students who choose alternatives second-class citizens of school finance, choice advocates should support school funding arrangements in which all the dollars, not just some of the dollars, follow the child. It’s also worth noting that a fiscal view that assumes all students will go to private schools or homeschool when those options are affordable is one that shows the least faith in the ability of the public schools to retain or attract students in a choice environment.

Read more here. I spoke with Derrell earlier this summer about the rise of ESA programs and what we can learn from the evolution of education reform. Listen here.

2. The Fragility of Public Trust in Public Schools

READ: Jay Caspian Kang took to the pages of The New Yorker to examine the backlash Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) faced last month after delaying the announcement that over 20 schools had harmful levels of lead in their drinking water. He spoke with families who have long championed their commitment to public school integration in Oakland, but say the latest scandal may be their final straw, leading Kang to ponder a series of questions about middle-class flight away from public schools:

Why do parents pull their children from district schools? How does a troubled district like Oakland convince those families to stay? And when we are assessing blame for a district with falling enrollment, do we blame selfish parents who are willing to subvert the common good of large district public schools to give their kids a leg up? Or do we blame the district for failing at its basic task of providing safe and enriching places for the city’s children?

3. AI Begins Junior Year

READ/LISTEN: Could AI make college more creative? Matteo Wong and Ian Bogost discussed the state of AI in higher education for The Atlantic’s Intelligence newsletter and why so many professors remain disillusioned with AI and convinced that it’s undermined the purpose of the traditional classroom environment. Wong and Bogost argue that instead of trying to fix the problems AI exposes, universities should rethink teaching methods entirely, moving toward creative, open-ended assignments that connect more directly to real-world experiences:

Students “might be told to write a paragraph of lively prose, for example, or a clear observation about something they see,” Ian wrote in his story, “or some lines that transform a personal experience into a general idea.” Maybe, in the very long term, the shock of generative AI will actually help higher education blossom.

Read more here. I recently spoke with Sal Khan about the state of AI in higher education. Listen to our conversation here.

4. Inflated Grades, Deflated Standards

READ: Yascha Mounk says it’s time to abolish college grades. Once a mark of academic excellence, Mounk says grade inflation across American campuses means that an A no longer distinguishes between different levels of student achievement, creating a system that punishes students for taking challenging courses and encourages mediocrity. He warned that moving to a pass-fail system may be the only viable option if meaningful reform isn’t possible:

Sometimes, a system becomes so irredeemably broken that the least bad option is to give up on it, at least for now. The grading system at American universities has now reached that stage. It’s time to toss out the whole thing. And perhaps, in a few decades, we will be able to start again from scratch.

Read more in The Wall Street Journal here.

5. Post-Affirmative Action Fallout

READ/LISTEN: Susan Svrluga at The New York Times reported on the decrease in the percentage of Black students at the University of North Carolina (UNC), MIT, Amherst, and other major institutions following the Supreme Court’s ruling against race-conscious admissions. While some experts cautioned that the data may not present a full picture, citing factors like the federal FAFSA delays as other challenges influencing enrollment numbers, MIT’s dean of admission said the decrease should come as little surprise:

“We thought this might happen,” Stu Schmill, MIT’s dean of admissions, said recently based on decreases that happened at public universities where race-conscious admissions had been banned years ago. MIT’s recent results track those, he said, despite multiple efforts to increase diversity. Part of the problem is the persistent inequity in opportunity in K-12 education, Schmill said, and that is most pronounced in science, technology, engineering and math. Black students and Hispanic students are less likely to attend high schools that teach calculus, physics or computer science, he said, referencing federal data.

Read more here. I took a closer look at the history of affirmative action in a special episode only a few months before the SCOTUS ruling. Listen to that episode here.

6. Do Cell Phone Bans Boost Focus or Fall Short?

LISTEN + COMMENT: At least eight states have adopted measures to ban cell phones in schools this year. New York Times technology reporter Natasha Singer joined The Daily podcast earlier this week to explain why there’s been a rise in calls to crack down on phones, the reasons some parents view having the device at school as a safety tool, and what the argument over phones says about the state of tech in schools overall. Listen here. I plan to host a special episode on this contentious debate soon. Send any questions you’d like me to discuss on this topic by emailing shows@thebranchmedia.org.