Over at Education Talk Radio, dear ol’ Eduflack recently had the opportunity to join Coker University President Natalie J. Harder to discuss first-generation college goers and how institutions are using programs such as federal TRIO to ensure student success.
Give it a listen here – https://www.blogtalkradio.com/edutalk/2021/09/09/coker-university–meeting-the-needs-of-first-generation-college-students
Over on Education Talk Radio, dear ol’ Eduflack joined host Larry Jacobs to discuss first-generation college goers and how independent colleges like Coker University can serve this important population.
Give it a listen here – https://www.ace-ed.org/a-college-geared-for-first-generation-college-students/
In looking at the American Families proposal offered by President Joe Biden last week, there is much to be happy about. Even when it comes to education, one can get excited by major investments in PreK and free community college.
And yes, there is value to extending the 13-year public education continuum to 17 years, ensuring early childhood education and post secondary to all learners.
But what message are we sending when we don’t add any additional dollars to k12? Sure, we have pumped hundreds of billions in recent months for HVAC and Covid testing and other immediate, tactical needs to reopen our classrooms. We are falling short, though, in investing in improved teaching and learning in those same classrooms.
One has to ask, for instance, if PreK is truly the secret sauce when two-thirds of fourth graders are reading at below proficient levels AND we have school districts fighting in federal courts that literacy isn’t a civil or constitutional right.
We explore this issue over at the Soul of Education on the BAM! Radio Network this week. Give it a listen here – https://www.bamradionetwork.com/track/i-dont-want-to-sound-ungrateful-but-public-education-needs-more/.
“So how do we do it? What are the core components of the ghosts of research-provide literacy programs past that redouble our national commitment to ensuring every student is equipped with the literacy skills to read at grade level, particularly by fourth grade? How do we ensure that every child –regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or neighborhood — becomes a skilled, able reader?”
From Eduflack’s latest for Educate
Yes, it is important that we get all our k-12 public schools open and ready to educate all of our kids. But reopening cannot be the sole focus of the US Department of Education, particularly now. There is just too much that can, should, and must be done.
Over at the BAM! Radio Network, we explore how the time is now to multitask and set a real agenda with real goals.
Give it a listen here — https://www.bamradionetwork.com/track/vaccinations-state-testing-school-reopening-sel-getting-ready-for-the-classroom-ahead/.
We need to make sure we are investing in all five of the core components of the science of reading, particularly vocabulary and comprehension. We need to invest in our teachers, ensuring they have the data, knowledge, and skills to be effective literacy instructors to all students, regardless of age or current reading level. And we need to hold our K-12 schools accountable for reading proficiency.
Literacy is not mastered in the fourth grade. Those who are proficient at that stage still have a lot of work to do. Those who do need extra work, extra attention, and extra intervention. The science of reading has a lifetime of application. It has been proven effective. And we have waited far, far too long to make it a priority. The science of reading needs to be our new national literacy plan.
From Eduflack’s inaugural essay for Educate
The last year of public school has been an exercise on crisis learning. Yes, it made sense not to administer state tests last spring, as so many learners moved into a virtual setting for the first time. But this spring, our states, districts, schools, and educators need real data to understand the impact of our Covid year.
In the latest episode of Soul of Education on the BAM! Radio Network, dear ol’ Eduflack opines on why it was so important for the Biden Administration to declare testing will resume this spring, virus be damned.
Give it a listen here: https://www.bamradionetwork.com/track/what-did-your-students-learn-this-year-how-do-we-know/
“If we believe in the strength of the public education system in New Jersey, if we believe in a strong education (including literacy skills) as a key to success in both career and life, and if we believe that a high-quality public education is a civil right, then we must demand every piece of data available so that we can determine how to better support classroom teachers, how to better disperse state aid, and how to provide every learner the education that is promised to them.”
From Eduflack’s latest for NJ Education Report
These approaches work. They have worked in schools and classrooms throughout the nation for generations. They can produce the most extraordinary results in student learning and make those results ordinary, expected, and predictable. The evidence about how students learn to read bears this out. Our struggle remains in that far too few classrooms are using these approaches and far too few education schools are preparing teacher candidates in science. This research only needs to be put to work to provide every child with a good start in reading.
From Eduflack’s latest from The Faculty, Using the Science of Reading as a Roadmap to Student Success
As learning gaps grow and we wonder about those students who are being denied a qualify education (whether because of Covid or other reasons), we should be doing all we can to measure learning and understand where we fall short. That means measuring student progress, no matter how ugly.
We discuss the issue and how eliminating another year of student assessment is the the wrong answer over at BAM Radio Network.
Two Years Without Standardized Testing? Why It Matters
Eduflack By Patrick R. Riccards 