According to a report from McKinsey & Company between school closures and reduced instructional time, the average U.S. child has lost the equivalent of five to nine months of learning during the pandemic. New Mexico students have lost more than most.
With government school systems in SO MANY states failing their students over the past year, legislatures and other elected officials are rushing to offer choices and opportunities to students in their jurisdictions.
You can see a full list from EdChoice here. Jason Bedrick of EdChoice writes, “In total, 14 states have enacted 18 new or expanded educational choice policies so far this year. In addition to the above, we are expecting further new or expanded choice policies in at least six states.” You can see which states are enacting reforms below.
Unfortunately, New Mexico’s union-beholden political leadership has NOT enacted any reforms.
Some of the most exciting reforms are in the following five states which have enacted brand new education choice programs:
- Arkansas (SB 680): New tax-credit scholarship for students from low-income families (up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line) who are switching out of public school or entering kindergarten or first grade.
- Indiana (HEA 1001): New ESA for students with special needs from families earning up to 555 percent of the federal poverty line.
- Kentucky (HB 563): New tax-credit ESA for students from low- and middle-income families (up to about 324 percent of the federal poverty line).
- Missouri (HB 349): New tax-credit ESA for students from low- and middle-income families (up to about 370 percent of the federal poverty line) who are switching out of public school or entering kindergarten or first grade. (Note: this bill passed both legislative chambers but is still pending the governor’s signature.)
- West Virginia (HB 2013): New ESA for all students switching out of public school or entering kindergarten or first grade.
Upon the great highways men may go
About life’s business to and fro
But I the egg shelled pinnance sleep
On crystal waters ankle deep.
Above is a color-coded map without any indication of what the colors mean. This is one of the things that really irritates me when an organization presents a chart. And the Wall Street Journal is just as guilty of meaningless charts as any other organization, so the Rio Grande Foundation is hardly alone here. But the RGF could try to do better. If a chart doesn’t have a explanation of what it is showing, please don’t include it in your article. Does this chart support the claims in the accompanying article? Who knows?
I showed the documentary on High Tech High Charter School “Most Likely to Succeed” (is on Amazon Prime) to a group of concerned citizens in Las Cruces. We are failing our children because we are not embracing 21st-century methods of educating children. I have sent my suggested resource list to Edwyn.
Suggested education resources
Videos etc.:
“Waiting for Superman” 2010
“Most Likely to Succeed” 2018 there are two by this title. Choose the one narrated by Brian Cesson. It is available on Amazon Prime TV
Sal Khan TedTalk
Ken Robinson TedTalk
TedTalks education series
Books:
“The One World School House, Education Reimagined” 2011 Sal Khan
“Out of Our Minds” 2011 and “Creative Schools” 2015 Ken Robinson
“Disrupting Class” 2007 Clayton Christensen
“Reinventing America’s Schools” 2018 David Osborne*
*Before delving into the entirety of this book I suggest reading The Introduction and Chapter 14, so a grasp of the problem and the solution is forefront in your mind and then fill in with the rest later.
Websites to subscribe to:
The Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/
The Christensen Institute https://www.christenseninstitute.org/
The 74 https://www.the74million.org/
K-12 DIVE https://www.k12dive.com
Papers:
https://www.the74million.org/article/78207-americas-most-radical-school-integration-experiment/
“Will Schools Change Forever” 2020 Christensen Institute*
“Breaking the Mold” 2021 Christensen Institute*
*I have these in PDF if not accessible from The Institute.
Adaptive learning: https://www.ciena.com/insights/articles/adaptive-learning-future-education-collaboration-edtech-networks.html