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...]
Do phones belong in school?
Do cell phones help or hinder education (k-12)? Do cell phones help or hurt social skills? Do cell phones cause distraction and loss of focus? Today we bring you an article published in The Harvard Gazzette by Anna Lamb Bans may help protect classroom focus, but districts need to stay mindful of students’ sense of connection, experts say Students around the world are being separated from their phones. In 2020, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that 77 percent of U.S. schools had moved to prohibit cellphones for nonacademic purposes. In September 2018, French lawmakers outlawed cellphone use for schoolchildren under the age of 15. In China, phones were … [Read more...]
Developmentally Appropriate Practice in the Age of Testing
For those of you who are concerned about the number and types of testing going on at 3rd grade and below you may find this article from the Harvard Education Letter to be of interest. It is offered as information for consideration. Personally, I'm increasingly concerned about the focus on testing rather than teaching. School needs to be fun as well as educational. Are we going down the wrong path with all the testing emphasis? http://hepg.org/hel-home/issues/25_3/helarticle/developmentally-appropriate-practice-in-the-age-of … [Read more...]