Weekend To-Do List

1/13 - 1/14

1. States Opt Out of Summer Meal Programs

READ: 35 states have agreed to run a Summer EBT program in 2024 to reduce child food insecurity. The program will give low-income families $120 to support summer food costs and will support nearly 20 million children. Kalyn Belsha at Chalkbeat reported on the 9.5 million children who live in states that decided not to participate:

“Federal COVID-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and don’t provide long-term solutions for the issues impacting children and families,” [Iowa Governor Kim] Reynolds said. “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.”

Read more here.

2. Schools Turn To Private Companies to Combat Absenteeism

READ: Schools have scrambled to find ways to respond to chronic absenteeism as rates have nearly doubled over the past five years. Alec MacGillis wrote about a promising new intervention supported by a surprising source: venture funds. David Heiber is the founder of Concentric, a private company that employs “professional student advocates” to conduct home visits on behalf of the schools it contracts with. The company’s revenue reached $8 million last year, and school leaders say having a partner like Concentric in the fight against absenteeism has been invaluable:

[Wayne State University professor of education policy Sarah Lenhoff] joined a coalition to tackle the problem in Detroit and became convinced that the crisis is now so severe that it requires a greater response. “We’re thinking about school attendance all wrong,” she said. “It’s societal.” Several of the Wayne County superintendents working with Concentric agreed. “The issue of chronic absenteeism is much broader than what the school and its partners can handle,” Simmons said. “There needs to be something else done.”

Read more in ProPublica here.

3. Even Kindergarteners Need Help Catching Up

READ: Today’s kindergarten students are less likely to begin school at grade level in math and reading than kindergarten classes pre-pandemic. Matt Barnum at the Wall Street Journal wanted to understand how a group of students who never experienced school before the pandemic would still experience learning declines:

Another theory is that the pandemic destabilized young children’s lives and families outside of school. Millions of Americans lost their jobs and lost loved ones. Some children lost parents or caregivers. Family routines, such as reading to children or playing outside, might have been disrupted.

Read more here.

4. Making the Case for Emergency-Certified Teachers

READ: While schools struggle to address pandemic-fueled learning loss, new research suggests emergency-certified teachers hired during the pandemic, meaning they were hired without fulfilling all standard requirements, may perform at the same level as their fully-educated peers. Despite these findings, and amid a nationwide teacher shortage, the temporary waivers have begun to expire. Chad Aldeman wrote for The 74 about why policymakers should reconsider:

In other words, making it harder to become a teacher will reduce the supply but offers no guarantee that those who meet the bar will actually be effective in the classroom. The recent COVID-related waivers should cause policymakers to re-evaluate whether barriers into the teaching profession actually serve a meaningful purpose, or if they’re keeping potentially talented educators out of the classroom.

Read more here.

5. Merit-Based Teacher Pay in Texas Continues to Fizzle

READ: It’s been four years since Texas introduced a merit-based system for teacher pay, but less than 1% of the state’s teachers are currently eligible for its most loudly-touted benefit: a chance at a six-figure salary. Sara Randazzo at the Wall Street Journal investigated why the program, one that less than half of the state’s school districts have chosen to participate in, has been so ineffective:

[High school physics teacher David] Lawson said he was told his teacher evaluation and student survey scores were among the highest of his peers, but that he only got the lowest level of bonus recognition due to students’ scores on a district-designed physics test that he didn’t think matched state standards. “It’s caused teachers satisfied with the status quo to say suddenly, ‘Wait, maybe I’m not as good as I thought I was,’ ” Lawson said. He just left his teaching job because his $51,000 salary wasn’t enough.

Read more here.

6. New Jersey Expands Right to Vote

READ: Jessie Gómez at Chalkbeat reported on Newark City Council’s decision to allow the city’s 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in school board elections and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s recent announcement that the state would extend primary election voter eligibility to 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election. While many have celebrated the Council’s unanimous vote, some council members cautioned that it wasn’t the only step the city needs to take to increase local voter turnout:

“This is a victory in increasing who is eligible to vote but if we are not able to effectively engage these young people, the 3% almost every speaker alluded to, could be 2% or 1% in the future because you’re increasing who can vote,” [Council member Anibal] Ramos said.

Read more here.

7. Phoenix School District Prepares to Open Outdoor Learning School

READ: When Phoenix’s Larry C. Kennedy Elementary School reopens its doors to 700 students next fall, it will do so as the district’s sole school focused on outdoor learning and sustainability. Madeleine Parrish at the Arizona Republic reported on the school’s plans, which will include a mandated hour of outdoor time each day, outdoor learning spaced, and an environmental curriculum focused on sustainability:

“With all of the things that we were dealing with both in the pandemic and immediately post-pandemic, we saw … a powerful opportunity to create spaces that would create some inner peace for our students as well, and create some opportunities for wellness,” [Assistant Superintendent Eric Dueppen] said. He added that studies have shown positive effects of spending time around trees. One study found that “forest bathing” reduced blood pressure and depression and others have linked trees to improvements in student concentration and ADHD symptoms.

Read more here.