Grade Expectations

This is not a note that America wanted to see in the margin of its test results, but it’s how one researcher described new federal data on student math and reading achievement. “I don’t know how many different ways you can say these results are bad, but they’re bad. I don’t think this is the canary in the coal mine. This is a flock of dead birds in the coal mine.” The poor grade is due to several factors, many related to the lost learning time during the pandemic. And like the general effect of the pandemic, the impacts on academic performance are not being distributed equally. “Academic recovery is increasingly a split screen: top students are making up lost ground while struggling students are falling further behind. The overall decline in scores was mostly driven by the drop in student scores among those at the low end.” WaPo (Gift Article): Students aren’t recovering from covid. Test scores are getting worse.

+ Here’s a test for you. How will these results be filtered and used? A) Politcally B) Politcally C) Politcally or D) All of the Above. While you’re pondering your answer, here’s a reminder that today’s struggle over the future education is, like so many other issues, a religious battle—one that could be decided by the Supreme Court. (I’ll skip the quiz on which way this Court leans.) Supreme Court to hear church-state fight over bid to launch first publicly funded religious charter school.

+ Meanwhile, Trump to sign sweeping executive order to expand school choice. “The Department of Health and Human Services would be directed to issue guidance that explains how states receiving block grants for families and children can use that money for faith-based and private institutions.”

Copied to Clipboard