The Education Policy Hotlist
Top News in U.S. Education Policy for the Week of November 29
I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend! My family and I spent a few easy-going days cooking, eating, and spending time together. On Thanksgiving Day I caught up on my “things to read” pile at my desk and came across an insightful and well-timed article that unpacks the systemic inequities resulting from colonization that we often ignore during the complicated Thanksgiving holiday.
In this piece, Robert Petrone and Christine Rogers Stanton explore the limitations of trauma-informed research, a type of study that uses an individualized and biomedical definition of trauma. Reading this important contribution on Thanksgiving Day was powerful because the authors illustrated how a biomedical model of addressing trauma further disappears Native and Indigenous students within our schools. Instead, they explain that:
“Instead of viewing community members and students as problem-laden subjects for objective study, what happens if we reposition them as experts, particularly in confronting and surviving historical and complex trauma?”
Petrone and Stanton propose a trauma-reducing model that applies socio-historical approaches to scholarship. They explain that by unpacking the intersections of trauma, schooling, and research the investigation itself, inclusive of community, will address and reduce systemic trauma.
I’d like to go one step further and propose that this model can also be applied when we use data emerging from the research to make policy and practice decisions (e.g., curriculum or pedagogy). A well known Indigenous scholar and local Oregon leader Leilani Sabzalian wrote Indigenous Children’s Survivance in Public Schools that illustrates what this type of inclusive study can look like in American schools.
I am thankful that our teachers have always discussed the ongoing injustice of colonization during the holidays and our kids bring it up at our own dinner table. But, I’m wondering how others discuss colonization and Indigenous communities’ resiliency during this time of year. It takes courage to make changes to traditions that reify harmful narratives and it might not always look pretty enough to post on Instagram. However, I see that my own kids and other young leaders are ready to make these changes to the social milieu surrounding our American-ized holiday season and I think it is time for us to get out of their way.
FEDERAL EDUCATION POLICY
USED | U.S. Department of Education announces $20 million in American Rescue Plan Grants to promote American Indian resilience in education for Native communities during the pandemic. The funds will go to Tribal Education Agencies to bring students back to engaging and culturally responsive in-person learning.
CCSSO | The state chief member organization released their 5-year strategic plan and framework that focuses on modernization and rebuilding.
STATE AND LOCAL EDUCATION POLICY
NE | A group in Nebraska aims to change the governance and oversight of the state department of education to the governor’s office.
MO | Montana education leaders take pause to reset strategic planning and goals for the state.
CO | A new effort to professionalize school boards is coming to fruition in some ways in Denver. Now, future board members in Denver Public Schools will get paid $750 per month.
LA | Eight-percent of parents in Orleans parish are worried about missed school-time.
SCHOOL CLOSURES
NPR | At the beginning of the year we were all concerned about students missing in-person learning due to COVID-19 cases or quarantine protocols, but now schools and districts across the country are canceling classes with short notice due to teacher shortages or burnout.
PA | Pittsburgh is another in a list of districts closing schools for in-person instruction.
PANDEMIC RELIEF SPENDING
NCSL | NCSL collected key details about each state’s plans for the COVID-19 relief funding.
IL | Illinois will pilot a new program to diversify the educator workforce.
NJ | The New Jersey Schools Development Authority will release $75 million for projects related to emergent and capital maintenance needs. This funding intends to address emergent projects as well as capital maintenance projects, especially for facilities costs to address COVID-19 concerns.
COVID SAFETY AND HEALTH
CA | LAUSD students are nearing 80% vaccinated.
Oster | Oster and colleagues estimate the relationship between district-level learning mode and students’ academic achievement in spring 2021. Not only did passing rates decline in spring 2021 overall, but the declines were greater for districts with less in-person learning.
JHU | JHU released a new analysis and online tracker that covers state policies about masks, COVID-19 vaccines, and other COVID-19 services. The tracker also includes details from 56 index school districts selected from 20 states, representing the lowest and highest poverty, as well as the largest school district in each state.
MA | The Boston Globe covers whether or not it is time to lift COVID-19 safety precautions.
STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH
The74 | A good overview of emerging state efforts to modernize student mental health services in the wake of the pandemic.
NPU & The74 | Less than two-thirds of parents rate their schools with A to B grades about how they are funneling resources to support students’ mental health; nearly 40% of parents rate them a C to F on this same topic.
UPCOMING EVENTS
December 1 (3PM EST) The Wallace Foundation is hosting Paying for Principal Pipelines: Tapping Federal Funds to Support Principals and Raise Student Achievement.
December 2 (3PM EST) The Hunt Institute presents Racial Battle Fatigue and the Lack of Representation in Mental Health Services for postsecondary Students.
December 5 - 7 (All Day) Learning Forward hosts their annual conference The Learning Conference on transformation.
December 8 (3-4PM EST) The Education Commission of the States is hosting a webinar titled “Advancing Credential Transparency for Economic Recovery”.
December 16 (3PM EST) The Institute for Educational Leadership presents Co-Creating Leadership Development Opportunities for Immigrant and Refugee Youth.
Dr. Christine M. T. Pitts serves as Resident Policy Fellow at the Center on Reinventing Public Education. As an Oregonian, raised by a multicultural family of educators, she brings over a decade of strategic leadership experience advancing a transformative vision for US education systems and bringing analytic skill to evidence-based policy agendas. Prior to joining CRPE, Christine led research and evaluation for Portland Public Schools in Oregon and served as Policy Advisor at NWEA. Her academic research, focusing on accountability, governance, and social networks, can be found in Educational Researcher and Teachers College Record. As a lifelong educator, Christine has served in schools across the country as a 3rd grade teacher, reading specialist, and school and district administrator. Christine earned her BS and MAEd at East Carolina University, as well as her PhD at the University of Oregon. Christine lives with her husband and four children in Portland, Oregon. Follow her on Twitter @cmtpitts.