October 2, 2019
Education Week, Vol. 39, Issue 07
Classroom Technology
Ed-Tech Usage Levels Are Low: What Should Schools Do?
Evaluating how much students and teachers are using ed-tech products and services is tricky, complicated, and oftentimes confusing. But it can be done.
Assessment
Briefly Stated
Briefly Stated: Stories You May Have Missed
A breakdown of high-profile news stories you may have missed during the week.
School Choice & Charters
Betsy DeVos Tests a Rhetorical Twist on 'School Choice'
The education secretary has been pushing the theme of "educational freedom," a rebranding that suggests options like mixing and matching components to build an educational experience from scratch.
School Climate & Safety
What Districts Should Know About Policing School Police
After a viral story about a Florida school resource officer's arrest of two young students, here are best practices for monitoring school police conduct.
Privacy & Security
Opinion
How the Ed. Department Threw a Wrench in Student-Privacy Laws
An incoherent FERPA rule change is facing legal challenges. As it should, writes Frank D. LoMonte.
School Climate & Safety
Letter to the Editor
Question Trends, Not Teachers
To the Editor:
Education Week's blog post "Teachers Still Believe in 'Learning Styles' and Other Myths About Cognition" (Sept. 5, 2019) discusses a survey by The Learning Agency that found "almost all teachers believe persistent myths about learning." Although balanced, the post concludes with a dig from Ulrich Boser, who conducted the survey, that equates believing such learning myths to believing in medical bloodletting. Such teacher shaming in a publication that acknowledges how many teachers quit due to a lack of respect is puzzling (especially based on the survey's sampling of only 203 educators).
Education Week's blog post "Teachers Still Believe in 'Learning Styles' and Other Myths About Cognition" (Sept. 5, 2019) discusses a survey by The Learning Agency that found "almost all teachers believe persistent myths about learning." Although balanced, the post concludes with a dig from Ulrich Boser, who conducted the survey, that equates believing such learning myths to believing in medical bloodletting. Such teacher shaming in a publication that acknowledges how many teachers quit due to a lack of respect is puzzling (especially based on the survey's sampling of only 203 educators).
School Climate & Safety
Education Department Pushes Shakeup for Civil Rights Data
Proposed changes include new data about sexual violence by and against school staff, harassment based on religion, and an end to breaking down pre-K enrollment by race.
States
State-District Tensions Swell Over School Pensions
There’s a tussle over the right balance for who should pick up the tab for teacher retirements and how that affects wealthier and less-wealthy districts.
School & District Management
Poverty, Not Race, Fuels the Achievement Gap
A new analysis finds that high-poverty schools are the least effective. But why those schools stifle achievement is harder to figure out.
School & District Management
What the Research Says
Tests Match Charter, Traditional Schools
There are "no measurable differences" between the performance of charter schools and traditional public schools on national reading and math assessments from 2017, a finding that persists when parents' educational attainment was factored into the results.
School & District Management
What the Research Says
Recession's Budget Cuts Hurt Test Scores
Dramatic budget cuts during the Great Recession that sent waves of layoffs throughout the country significantly hurt academic achievement for low-income and black children, a study published by the American Educational Research Association says.
Teaching Profession
What the Research Says
Educators of Color Cite 'Invisible Tax'
Teachers of color are being hired at a faster clip than white teachers, but progress in hiring doesn't necessarily mean progress in retaining teachers, finds a report by the Education Trust and Teach Plus.
Education
Correction
Correction
A U.S. map accompanying an article in the Sept. 25, 2019, issue on a surge in teenage voters transposed the states of Kansas and Nebraska. The data within the states were correct.
Law & Courts
High Court Case Tests Religious Schools' Use of Tax-Credit Scholarships
A national debate over whether public funds may go to faith-based schools is high on the list of cases before the Supreme Court in the coming term, stemming from a dispute in Montana.
Assessment
Opinion
It's Time to End Timed Tests
The research is clear that speed doesn't reflect intelligence, writes Alden S. Blodget.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Why Climate Change Made Me Quit Teaching
Students shouldn't have to leave school to get serious about climate change, writes Eben Bein. We have the power to change that.