From Harvard University: https://cepr.harvard.edu/news/scary-truth-about-how-far-behind-american-kids-have-fallen Students of all ages still haven’t made up the ground they lost during the pandemic. Sometimes, panics are overblown. Sometimes, older generations are just freaking out about the youngins, as they have since time immemorial. That’s not the case, unfortunately, with kids’ learning right now, more than four years after the pandemic shuttered classrooms and disrupted the lives of millions of children. The effects were seen almost immediately, as students’ performance in reading and math began to dip far below pre-pandemic norms, worrying educators and families around … [Read more...]
America’s Largest Teachers Union Is Doubling Down On Radical Left Ideology
Zerohedge: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/americas-largest-teachers-union-doubling-down-radical-left-ideology Recently obtained internal documents from the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the US, focus on training educators to become far-left activists in support of spreading woke propaganda to their students. According to information gathered by a conservative non-profit called Defending Education, the NEA's upcoming training at an undisclosed location this December doesn’t focus on academics, but on attacking Republicans as “racist and transphobic,” pushing race-class-gender narratives, and promoting gender-transition guides for staff. The … [Read more...]
The best next steps for public schools in Washington state
An article by Liv Finne at the Washington Policy Center. The legislature is set to start its next scheduled session in January. Here are my thoughts on the issues we can expect and how they will affect Washington public schools. Due to low performance, harmful left-wing ideology and growing parent dissatisfaction, the public school system has been losing students. The state Caseload Forecast Council projects this downward trend will continue, with lower enrollment expected in the years ahead. The latest forecast projects total public school enrollment at 1,050,362 students in October 2026, a drop of 50,254 students, or 4.5 percent, from 1,100,616 students in October 2019. The … [Read more...]
Inside America’s Education Revolution
From the Free Press. It's a 2 minute read. Many of the greatest American success stories started in a public school classroom. Presidents like Harry Truman, LBJ, and Ronald Reagan. Legal giants like Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, and Steve Jobs. But is our school system the great engine of meritocracy it once was? Consider the following: Two-thirds of fourth and eighth graders aren’t proficient in reading, according to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a.k.a. “The Nation’s Report Card.” Absenteeism nearly doubled between 2019 and 2023. Between 2018 and 2023, … [Read more...]
Teachers Unions Are More Powerful Than You Realize—but That May Be Changing
This article appeared on Foundation for Economic Education on August 31, 2020. 4 years later the premise is still true...but....are teachers unions losing any control? Teachers unions throughout the US claim to be looking out for the best interests of teachers and students, but they are deeply political organizations with significant influence over what, how, where, and with whom most children learn. While the nation’s largest teachers unions have long been deeply connected to the Democratic Party and left-wing ideology, this political affiliation has become increasingly apparent in recent months. From hinging their support for reopening schools on outrageous policy demands to … [Read more...]
School Voucher efforts across the United States
Given all the Covid learning issues (masks, forced vaccination attempts, mental health concerns, etc.) are school vouchers getting any attention? The answer appears to be yes. Today we share links we found to articles about states across the country who are entertaining creating a voucher system. If you like what you see then talk to your local school board as well as your state house and senate reps. Utah - https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/2022/feb/18/school-voucher-bill-makes-waves-on-capitol-hill/ Oklahoma - https://kfor.com/news/oklahoma-legislature/school-voucher-bill-narrowly-passes-in-senate-committee/ Arizona - … [Read more...]
Big Teacher Is Watching: How AI Spyware Took Over Schools
From an article at Bloomberg written by by Priya Anand and Mark Bergen At Pekin Community High School, the teachers are something close to omniscient. Education, even in-person education, is digital in the Covid-19 era, and staff members use a piece of software to watch everything students do on school-issued laptops and to keep them off banned websites. The kids are aware. “They pretty much know that they’re being monitored 24/7,” says Cynthia Hinderliter, head of technology at the school outside Peoria, Ill. Still, class clowns persist. Hinderliter pulls up a detailed dashboard of student online activity, which reveals the identities of rule breakers. A yellow “EXPLICIT” label … [Read more...]
Teachers crossing the line: Evergreen Middle School
When teachers stray from educating to pushing their personal views and agenda the consequences can impact the lives and feelings of impressionable students. Today we bring you an example of a teacher who some think crossed the line. You be the judge: If you think what happened needs to be addressed consider reaching out to the Evergreen Superintendent (Mike Merlino) We bring you the perspectives of the student involved and of the parents. We’re removed the names of the student, parent and teacher as well as the specific school. Student: On Monday June 14th I went to my 1st period class. We had no specific assignment but were sitting around talking. At the end of the class the … [Read more...]
Covid – Teachers Unions – Returning children to school in Washington State
In March 2020 schools were closed in Washington State. Many thought it would be temporary. The impact on children was unknown but there was a large concern that they could be a "disease vector" and spread the virus. School districts scrambled madly to institute online learning programs...but it was a disaster. Going into June/July districts expected to be able to either restart school as normal in September or, at worst, move to a "hybrid model" where students were physically in class 2 or 3 days a week and "remote" 2 days. The districts planned for that and felt they were prepared. But, like all good plans, it was for naught. The governor decided there would be no "in person" school and … [Read more...]
Are kids (and adults) at risk going back to physical school?
Are kids susceptible to Covid at a lower, the same or higher rate? Can the children be a source to spread Covid even if they don't get sick or show obvious signs of infection? Lots of questions and yet few answers. We came across the following article titled: Coronavirus Testing In New York City Schools Yield Not-So-Surprising Results written by Jeff Charles that we would like to share. Click the title of the article to open a link to the original. Give it a read and what say you? New York City reopened its schools three weeks ago and found extremely low rates of coronavirus infections among students. This finding flies in the face of fearmongers trying to scare people into keeping … [Read more...]