CHEERS:
Boston University philosophy professor Victor Kumar muses on saving student essays in the age of AI. His solution for now? In-class essay exams paired with low-stakes assignments that help students prepare. Kumar’s solution might also work in high school classrooms, but teachers should pay attention to his larger message: Give new strategies time to “cook,” and don’t be afraid to refine along the way. —Open Questions (Substack)
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“Just like during Great Recession-era job struggle, Gen Z graduates are pouring into education as Teach For America reports a 43 percent surge in new teachers.” —Emma Burleigh, Fortune
JEERS:
A new Brookings Institution study finds that the pandemic had a particularly negative impact on older students—those now in middle school and high school. —Daniel Mollenkamp, EdSurge
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“The Supreme Court deadlocked on religious charter schools. Round 2 is on the horizon.” —Erica Meltzer, Chalkbeat
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Future teachers at the University of Maine are debating the science of reading instead of learning the science of reading, according to Kristian Moravec of The Maine Monitor:
On a Wednesday night in November, more than a dozen UMaine students huddled in opposite corners of a classroom in Orono, writing pros and cons on giant Post-it notes to stick on the wall.
They were debating the use of books that encourage students to use context clues such as pictures to learn how to read—called leveled readers—versus books that build on phonics skills, called decodable texts.
Their task: to understand and argue which method of literacy instruction is better, simulating real-life debates happening within the “reading wars,” as one student described it.
Editor's note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli's Substack, SCHOOLED, a twice-weekly free Substack and email newsletter restarting the education-reform conversation.
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