From the News Tribune It's a 2 cup of coffee read (maybe 3) Washington’s teacher salaries are the fourth-highest in the United States, according to the National Education Association. A News Tribune analysis also found that teacher salaries in Pierce County have increased by an average of about 82% over the last 10 years. The average salary for a teacher in Pierce County in the 2024-2025 school year is about $97,000. Some Pierce County districts that have seen the biggest increases in average teacher salaries also find themselves in financial distress, according to a News Tribune analysis. Of the five school districts that saw the highest percent change in average teacher … [Read more...]
Why Some Reading Programs Are Abandoning Phonics (And Why That’s Wrong)
When our first child started school nearly 50 years ago he was taught "sight reading". My wife and I grew up learning "phonics". My wife went to the school principal and asked that they stop sight reading and switch back to phonics. She was relentless. Finally, they agreed to consider making the switch. They looked around the school and found, in an obscure closet, covered with dust, a "phonics kit". They decided to go ahead and try it. Fast forward 1 year...the principal came back to my wife and thanked her for pushing them to switch back to phonics. Why did he say thank you? Because reading test scores improved significantly. Today's article comes from Phonics.org. Walk into … [Read more...]
Growth of staff vs students for the last 23 years
A gentleman (Jeff Myers) out of Oregon put together an interactive website for the entire USA where you can choose your state and school district. The website is: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jmyers/viz/HowStudentEnrollmentandStaffingHaveChangedOverTime/StudentandStaffChangesoverTime The data shows the time (1992-93 to 2024-25) and student headcount change vs. staff headcount (with options to look at teachers and/or support staff). It's enlightening and informative. For this article we're going to look at the Battle Ground School District in Washington State. Why this district? Because it has failed the last 3 enrichment levies and is in the midst of cutting $20 million from … [Read more...]
Creativity decline in school age children
Is the move to using tech impacting creativity in our children? In our efforts to be perfect are we getting so rigid and structured that creativity goes by the wayside? Kyung Hee Kim, a professor of creativity and innovation at the College of William & Mary, has conducted extensive research indicating a significant decline in creativity among school-aged children in the United States since the early 1990s. Her analysis of over 300,000 creativity test scores—primarily from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)—reveals that children have become less emotionally expressive, less imaginative, less humorous, and less capable of elaborating on ideas. The most pronounced drops … [Read more...]
Conservative parents and teachers unions become unlikely allies fighting tech in schools
Too much of anything is bad. Classrooms have been moving to 1:1 computers for a decade. Typed notes are retained less than hand written. Research has become "as the AI" leading to lack of development of reading, analytic and reasoning skills. Todays article shares information and examples of how this movement to tech has caused harm. From NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/moms-liberty-teachers-unions-schools-tech-screen-time-rcna263931 1 cup of coffee article Since Moms for Liberty launched in 2021, the conservative activist group has demonized teachers unions as an “education mafia” that parents “cannot trust,” blaming them for school closures in the pandemic and … [Read more...]
Tech in schools is a problem?
Want to do some reaching about how and why too much tech in classrooms is causing issues? Rising concerns over tech in schools Internal documents reveal Google’s work in schools aims to create a “pipeline of future users.” In Los Angeles, a growing group of parents say school-mandated iPads are leading to behavior problems. Parents are forming a loose network teaching one another how to opt their children out of school-issued Chromebooks and iPads. College students are using AI “humanizer” programs to beat accusations of cheating with artificial intelligence. … [Read more...]
Four-day school week: Research shows the impact of a condensed schedule varies by school location and student grade level
This article was published in the Journalist Resources and is an update to a previous version. That should make it more comprehensive. Please note that it is a 2 cup of coffee article, This link takes you to the publishing source: Four-day school week: What research suggests About The Author: Denise-Marie Ordway: She joined The Journalist’s Resource in 2015 after working as a reporter for newspapers and radio stations in the U.S. and Central America, including the Orlando Sentinel and Philadelphia Inquirer. Her work also has appeared in publications such as USA TODAY, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Washington Post. She has received a multitude of national, regional and … [Read more...]
We Gave Students Laptops and Took Away Their Brains
From The Free Press. Decades of data show a clear pattern: The more schools digitize, the worse students perform. By Jared Cooney Horvath When people think about excessive technology in schools, their minds usually go to phones. But according to a new book from neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath, we’re overlooking the true culprits: the laptops sitting on students’ desks. In “The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning—and How to Help Them Thrive Again,” Horvath explains why consuming information through screens leads to falling performance, fractured attention, and the slow erosion of rigorous thought. We’re proud to publish an exclusive, adapted … [Read more...]
The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents
From an article at FORTUNE In 2002, Maine became the first state to implement a statewide laptop program to some grade levels. Then-governor Angus King saw the program as a way to put the internet at the fingertips of more children, who would be able to immerse themselves in information. By that fall, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative had distributed 17,000 Apple laptops to seventh graders across 243 middle schools. By 2016, those numbers had multiplied to 66,000 laptops and tablets distributed to Maine students. King’s initial efforts have been mirrored across the country. In 2024, the U.S. spent more than $30 billion putting laptops and tablets in schools. But more than … [Read more...]
How the laptop revolution destroyed public education
A guest editorial published at The Blaze. Click this link to go to the website: https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/how-the-laptop-revolution-destroyed-public-education?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dlvr.it_fb_conservative-review&tpcc=social_fb-post The Chromebook turned class into a constant battle with distraction, and students learned to game the system faster than schools could patch it. A recent Fortune magazine article made waves with a grim admission: After more than $30 billion spent flooding classrooms with laptops and tablets, standardized scores keep sliding. Worse, neuroscientists now link more classroom screen time to lower … [Read more...]
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