MCGRAW HILL NEWS How to Teach with Primary Sources in Social Studies
How (and why) do you use primary sources in social studies instruction? Emily M. Schell, Ed.D., Executive Director of the California Global Education Project at the University of San Diego, details the importance of using primary sources to support agency, inquiry, and culturally sustaining pedagogy in social studies.
Read more. DISTRICTS Leon County School Board sanctioned over mask rules The Florida Department of Education is moving forward with sanctions against the Leon County School Board for flouting the state’s ban on mask mandates. In a letter sent Friday to Superintendent Rocky Hanna and Board Chair Georgia Bowen, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran notified them that DOE would withhold Board members’ pay for violating school masking rules. Notably, the Board had even taken a "half step" to fall back within compliance by eliminating the requirement that a doctor clear students from wearing masks, however the District’s masking rules include a mask mandate for unvaccinated, asymptomatic students for seven days after they are exposed to the COVID-19 virus. Superintendent Rocky Hanna comments: “We at the end of the day are going to continue what we’ve done from the very beginning, follow the data, follow the numbers to make informed decisions, not simply to make a rash political statement that we are never going to require masks again or we cannot have the autonomy or the home rule to decide what’s best for the children here in Tallahassee and Leon County.”
Florida Politics
FINANCE School district boundaries and affordable housing access fuel funding disparities School districts that lack affordable housing serve significantly more affluent populations compared with districts that have concentrated low-income housing, leading to inequities in educational funding, according to a report by nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners. The drawing of district boundaries and location of accessible housing have led to a per-pupil funding disparity that averages $6,355 and affects 12.8m students. When families do not have equal access to housing, they can’t have equal access to public school districts, the Bellwether report said. That’s because lower-priced housing means lower property taxes and therefore less ability to raise local revenue for schools. “As we think about what we need to do moving forward, it’s not just an education solution alone,” said Alex Spurrier, co-author of the report and a senior analyst at Bellwether Education Partners, an education think tank. States, he said, should consider multiple policy levers to address “what is a very thorny challenge.”
The 74
CLASSROOM Consider 'unique needs' when choosing SEL programming Selecting the right social-emotional learning curriculum takes time and research, and with dozens of options, school leaders should carefully consider which evidence-based models best fit their unique needs, Heather Schwartz, a practice specialist at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, and Alexandra Skoog-Hoffman, director of Research-Practice Partnerships at CASEL, write for Edutopia. Resources like CASEL, RAND Corp. research and the What Works Clearinghouse can help district leaders sort through which approaches may work best for them. School leaders should also keep in mind it may take more than one program to achieve all of those priorities, so it's key to maintain a growth mindset with understanding that changes, additions and tweaks will be needed to better suit any new concerns or needs that arise.
K-12 Dive
OPERATIONS AFS survey underlines pandemic impact on student learning and grades The latest American Family Survey, conducted jointly by the Deseret News and Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, found that more than half of respondents whose children did not attend school in person chose not to return to the classroom when they had the option. Parents surveyed said their children’s grades and learning suffered during the pandemic’s aftermath with nearly 20% of parents revealing that their children’s grades worsened and nearly one-third reporting declines in learning. Separately, the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. predicted more significant learning losses for Black, Hispanic and low-income students. Access to technology is a significant factor as well as access to a quiet space to participate in remote learning with minimal distractions, access to high-speed internet and parental academic supervision.
Deseret News
US News and World Report
HEALTH & WELLBEING Higher student morale linked to in-person instruction Student morale is up, especially in schools that have held more in-person learning, according to the perceptions of educators in the EdWeek Research Center’s latest monthly survey focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on K-12 education. Educator perceptions of student morale ticked upward over the summer, tying an all-time high since the EdWeek Research Center first started tracking this metric in March 2020. Fifty-eight percent of teachers and district leaders still say student morale today is lower than it was pre-pandemic. In April, 67% of district leaders and teachers perceived that student morale was worse than it was prior to the pandemic. Perceptions of student morale are more positive among teachers, principals, and district leaders in districts that provided more in-person instruction last school year. In districts that spent most of 2020-21 doing in-person instruction, 49% of teachers, principals, and district leaders said that student morale was lower than pre-pandemic. That perception was worse (63%) among teachers and administrators in districts where students spent most of last school year learning from home.
Education Week
LEGAL Cruz to plead guilty to Parkland school murders Nikolas Cruz, now 23, will plead guilty to the murders he carried out at Marjoorie Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Cruz's attorney David Wheeler told Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that he will plead guilty Wednesday to 17 counts of first-degree murder. Cruz will also plead guilty to 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder. The pleas will come with no conditions and prosecutors still plan to seek the death penalty.
Associated Press
LEGISLATION Bill would teach social media literacy in Florida schools Students in Florida’s public schools would devote attention to social media in the classroom if a bill proposed by a Polk County legislator gains traction next year. Florida Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, has filed a bill that would require public schools to include “social media literacy” in their curriculum as he wants students to gain a better awareness of the hazards they might encounter on popular internet platforms and mobile applications.
The Ledger
SOCIAL & COMMUNITY Miami-Dade throws huge prom for students with autism Miami-Dade County Public Schools has thrown a huge party for more than 600 students with autism. Funded by community agencies and businesses, the prom was free for all students and featured everything from picture-taking, dancing and crowning of the king and queen. Organizer Natalie Sanz, a teacher at North Miami Beach Senior High School, says the prom was an opportunity for students to bond with their peers and learn some relevant social skills. Superintendent Alberto CarvaIho comments: “I went from table to table I danced with them. This is one of the happiest days of their lives. It's just got to continue. This is about inspiring now the community to accept these beautiful human beings, to employ them, training to make them a part of the community as they we've made them part of our school system."
NBC Miami
OTHER U.S. economists' school studies win Nobel Prize The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded to David Card, Joshua D. Angrist and Guido W. Imbens for their work on natural experiments, in particular their contributions to better understanding how the job market works. In a 2010 study, Mr. Card found that public schools in Canada performed better when facing more competition from nearby religious schools. In two studies published in 1992, he found that American students who attended schools with smaller class sizes and higher teacher salaries wound up with better paying jobs as adults. The findings “surprised the research community,” the Nobel Prize committee wrote. “The results led to a discussion on whether school quality and school resources mattered for school and labor market outcomes.”
Chalkbeat
New York Times
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