OTHER STORIES

Skills Employers Want

Most in AI Age All Have

Something in Common

EdWeek

Limitations And Bias In

ChatGPT Essay Scores:

Insights From Data

LearnAgency

The Ed. Dept. Asked for

Reports of DEI. It Might

Get Something Else

The74

Knitting & Fishing: What a

Phone Ban Looks Like in

One School District

Hechinger

Why Students Don’t Ask

for Help—and How to

Change That

Edutopia

NAEP

In this era of extreme partisan divide, both sides have long backed the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also called the Nation’s Report Card. But mass layoffs, funding disruptions, and threats of future cuts worry those aware of the inner workings of the NAEP. Data that the test relies on was cancelled. An expert panel that studies the validity of the NAEP exam was told to stop working. The long-term trend NAEP for 17- year-olds, scheduled to be administered this year, was scrapped. Officials and researchers worry this will lead to the elimination of other NAEP tests in history, civics and science. Hechinger

Common Sense Tech Use

For decades, educational technology has overpromised and underdelivered. A 2015 OECD study across 70 countries found that doubling down on technology in school didn’t yield better educational outcomes. There are, of course, effective applications of tech and AI that genuinely support children’s learning. The problem isn’t technology itself—it’s how we humans choose to use it. All of us, from developers to educators to parents, should adopt a "minimalist code" when it comes to technology in children’s learning—a simple checklist for decision-making that might include: 1. Does the problem require technology to solve? 2. If technology might help, use the least intrusive form available. 3. Choose the tech option with the lowest total cost of use, including environmental cost. Brookings

U.S. Students Losing Ground

For years, the country’s lowest-scoring students were steadily improving on national tests. Today, the country’s lowest-scoring students are in free fall. The reason is not just the pandemic. For at least a decade, starting around 2013, students in the bottom quartile have been losing ground on the NAEP. Researchers point to a number of educational and societal changes over the past decade, including a retrenchment in school accountability, the lasting effects of the Great Recession, and the rise of smartphones, which has coincided with worsening cognitive abilities even among adults. Figuring out what has happened to the lowest performers is critical for the country’s success. New York Times