This week’s evidence focuses on the fact that real reading requires real books, and it’s not too late to stop the madness of technology substitutes. The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results are miserable – and we can’t just blame it all on COVID and TikTok. Students spend 8 hours a day on screens, and some schools are succumbing to the siren song of letting tech substitute for reading literacy.

This week’s evidence comes from Trump Administration statements regarding the dismantling of the US Department of Education. Although these announcements have created considerable anxiety among school districts that depend on USDOE funds – especially schools with high percentages of high-poverty students and high percentages of special education students – there are some hopeful signs on the horizon. 

This week’s evidence comes from the recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, often called the “Nation’s Report Card.” Cuts in the US Department of Education, especially in research, may make this the last NAEP report we’ll see for a while. Therefore, it is worth taking a hard look at the data.

Today’s research update has surprising (at least to me) findings. It’s from The Johns Hopkins University's “Best Evidence in Brief” series and always features a variety of US and international research. This study of 1,000 11 to 12-year-old low-income students found that when they had access to e-readers at home (their home access to books was very limited), the students selected their own books and received recommendations from teachers. The

This week’s evidence discusses how the social sciences – including educational psychology, economics, political science, and many other fields students need – are under attack. This is not a new development, but the enthusiasm for diminishing scientific inquiry of all sorts has accelerated with the recent election results.

This week’s evidence shows how a solid research finding can have a global impact. A new study from the UK about how students study. The results are remarkably similar to what our friend and neighbor Pooja Argawal (Powerful Teaching) has found. The bottom line is that we know what study strategies work, and yet students are stubbornly indifferent to these strategies. 

This week’s evidence is a timely reality for far too many. What should schools do if ICE agents arrive at the door?  This thoughtful New York Times offers examples of how several school districts are developing protocols for this eventuality. 

This week’s evidence is a disappointing report on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Years after students returned to school, the evidence suggests that a combination of absenteeism and the failure of distance learning had a particularly adverse impact on high-poverty families. 

This week’s evidence comes from the US Department of Education Awards for research. I offer this with the caveat that much of the publicity for artificial intelligence is overblown. I’m the eternal optimist, but please be a critical consumer of this and ask our school leaders and teachers to do the same.

This week’s evidence comes from the New York Times about a topic of central concern for many teachers, administrators, and board members – constraints on what is taught in schools. 

This week’s evidence comes courtesy of Jodi Anderson, who found this fascinating article on the origin of grading in the 1700s at Yale. I’ve attached it, and it is worthy of study.

This week’s evidence, an article from a Harvard student, is courtesy of Kim Marshall: AWOL from Academics | Harvard Magazine.

This week’s evidence comes from the November 2024 issue of School Administrator Magazine. Denver Public School Chief Information Officer Richard Charles offers some cautionary tales about the perils of unchecked artificial intelligence.

Dear Friends,

This week’s evidence involves students who may be most severely affected by the recent election- students raised here but lacking legal immigration status.

This week’s evidence comes from Professor Gloria Mark, author of the wonderful book, “Attention Span,” who shared this remarkable data in one of my favorite podcasts, “Hidden Brain” hosted by Shankar Vedantan.

Many of you are already seeing the use of AI in classrooms and collaborative teams of teachers. If you ask Chat GPT to identify the ten most important influencers in education, John Hattie is at the top of the list. Here are some observations that John and I have about AI so far:

This week’s evidence comes from Edutopia and the Fordham Institute. It’s a stark reminder about how things that we take for granted – such as the essential need for social and emotional learning – are alien to many parents. The report (https://sel.fordhaminstitute.org) said:

This week’s evidence comes from one of my favorite authors, Charles Duhigg. “Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection” (2024) is particularly relevant to educational leaders. For people who are coaching colleagues, this might be especially helpful. Some key findings:

This week’s evidence comes from the annual Phi Delta Kappan poll about education in America (https://pdkpoll.org/2024-poll-results/). Some key findings include:

While the national teacher shortage has received a great deal of attention, just as alarming is the shortage of qualified principals. In 2021, the National Association of Secondary School Principals reported survey results that suggested a mass exodus of principles, with more than half of school administrators planning to quit.