Category Archives: Uncategorized

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This One’s About AI

Schools without teachers are here

The schools of the future are here – in Arizona, at least.

That is, schools without teachers. Schools where students zone-in on a device for two hyper-focused hours and then play Dungeons and Dragons or use a rock climbing wall the rest of the day.

Adults are in the building – but for emotional support and supervision, not for teaching.

Unbound Academy, which also operates in Texas and Florida under the name Alpha Schools, claims that kids can learn twice as much using a two-hour learning plan that gets customized by an AI program instead of a traditional human teacher in front of a classroom.

an artificial intelligence illustration on the wall
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Bill Lees Track Record on School Funding is Just Plain Sad

In Response to Trump’s Education Secretary

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

A Plan for Universal Pre-K in Tennessee

Sen. Charlane Oliver Fights for Affordable Childcare

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On the Folly of Student Surveillance

The profits are the point

Peter Greene takes a moment to examine the persistence of the student surveillance industry.

The point of using all those devices – school-issued or otherwise – to monitor student behavior/activity is allegedly to protect the students.

However, as Greene notes, there’s often more involved – like amassing mountains of data that can be used for marketing and profit.

But the fact that we were all kind of distracted did not stop the march of ed tech’s surveillance industry. How could they? It was like printing money, and it dovetailed perfectly with the longstanding interest in data mining children to get that womb-to-tomb pipeline up and running. No matter how creepy it seemed, it was a profitable way to fix it so that busy CEOs could log on and select meat widgets like picking out toasters on Amazon.

 Data is the new gold, and what we get are a whole bunch of companies saying, “I would like to collect a bunch of your gold, but don’t worry, I’ll keep it safely stored in this unlocked desk drawer.” Then before you know it, you’re reading about how huge investment firm Blackstone has bought Ancestry.com and its vast stores of genetic information. Probably just because they have a keen interest in genealogy.

thoughtful man with book sitting in dark room
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Bill Lee’s Voucher Bait-and-Switch

A Response to Trump’s Ed Secretary Pick

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

Ending the Grocery Tax

Opposing Lee’s Voucher Scam

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Is Summer Break Too Long?

The case for changing the school calendar

Summer is long.

And hot.

Especially in Tennessee.

And then there’s the issue of “lost” learning – kids needing to catch up and rebuild skills when they return from a summer break that is 10 weeks or longer.

Thus, a renewed argument for a year-round school calendar – one with a shorter summer break and more breaks throughout the year.

Another argument against summer break is that while it may not have emerged to meet the needs of the bygone agricultural era, our economic and social structures have indeed changed dramatically and made summer less practical than it once was.

And:

Brookings Institution’s Megan Kuhfeld and Karyn Lewis analyzed summer slide research in 2023, finding that “a long line of research on learning and cognition has shown that procedural skills and those that involve a number of steps tend to rapidly deteriorate in the absence of practice or other reinforcement.” They note that learning loss is especially detectable in the span from 3rd grade through 8th grade.

What do you think? Should long summer breaks be eliminated from the school calendar?

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Vouchers Bust Local Budgets in Indiana

Kentucky Voters to Decide on School Vouchers

MORE Tennessee News

Fighting Corporate Grocery Giants

Low Voter Turnout Plagues TN Elections

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Are Cell Phone Bans On the Way?

Cell phones will be banned in L.A. classrooms starting in January

Peter Greene wrote earlier this year about the challenge presented by cell phones in school.

When phones first became ubiquitous, schools tried to ban them during class time. Then sought to use them as a learning tool, but restrict their use otherwise. Then faced parent pressure to allow the use of phones so parents could always be in touch.

Now, we’re back at banning them during the school day.

At least, that’s what’s happening in Los Angeles starting in January.

Los Angeles Unified teachers,  parents and students expressed support for the district’s upcoming cell phone ban — but with some concerns about the details. 

The new policy, set to roll out in January, is being created in response to a school board resolution.   

Studies show the unregulated use of phones on campus can harm students’ academic progress and cause harm to kids’ mental health.

As the article notes, there’s broad support for the plan – but the actual response to implementation is not yet clear.

How will parents – accustomed to getting real-time updates from their kids – respond to not having constant access to them?

In what ways will students attempt to skirt the policy?

What will enforcement look like? Will phones be confiscated for periods of time?

What is clear, though, is that cell phone use at school presents a range of challenges – from being a distraction to learning to being a source of anxiety for students.

It will be interesting to see how this policy plays out – and what other districts do in terms of cell phone policy in the near future.

exterior of school building in daytime
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Vouchers Die in South Carolina Court

On the Pain of Teacher Burnout

MORE Tennessee News

Lawmakers Push Back on Grocery Price Gouging

Condemning Project 2025

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Virtual Charter Schools: Actually Useless

PA study demonstrates harms of virtual charters

Peter Greene takes a look at research out of Pennsylvania on virtual charter schools. The results are not great. At all.

Last year, research showed problems even beyond the actual years of schooling. “Virtual Charter Students Have Worse Labor Market Outcomes as Young Adults,” a 2023 working paper from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, showed a correlation with several undesirable outcomes:

“Virtual charter students have substantially worse high school graduation rates, college enrollment rates, bachelor’s degree attainment, employment rates, and earnings than students in traditional public schools.”

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Christian Nationalism and School Privatization

Harris on Education

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The Harms of Tennessee’s Abortion Ban

TN Budget Shortfall

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Are Cell Phone Bans on the Way?

New policy trend seeks to limit cell phones at school

Peter Greene explores the trend toward banning cell phone use at schools – and points out the pros and cons of such a policy:

Just a couple of decades ago, teachers at conferences heard that smartphones were the education tool of the future. Now it appears that the national mood is to take broad steps to keep those devices out of classrooms.

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MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Free Lunch and the Campaign for the White House

A Voucher Fight in the Bluegrass State

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

Nashville Legislators Take on Grocery Price Gouging

Bill Lee’s Budget-Busting Tax Breaks

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Book Ban Backers Banished

Sumner County voters reject slate of school board candidates focused on banning books, firing director of schools

In the Republican primary last night, voters in Sumner County soundly rejected a slate of candidates focused on banning books in school libraries.

The Sumner County Constitutional Republicans (SCCR) fielded a slate of candidates in the GOP primary for School Board. All SCCR-backed candidates lost their races in a clean sweep for candidates supportive of investment in public schools.

The Tennessee Holler notes the defeat of the SCCR candidates

Among the group of SCCR candidates, there had been discussion of removing books from school libraries and mention of an effort to fire Director of Schools Scott Langford if the group gained a majority.

Instead, in a voter turnout that exceeded the county’s typical average turnout, Sumner Countians rejected SCCR in every district.

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

Will TN Lawmakers Support Free Pre-K for All?

On the Harms of School Vouchers

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Fact-Based Learning Under Fire

Tennessee teachers challenge “divisive concepts” law, say it harms students

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) joined five public school educators in filing a lawsuit challenging the state’s prohibited concepts law. The TEA says the law is unconstitutionally vague and that its enforcement could harm students.

More from NewsBreak:

According to [TEA President] Tanya Coats, the law will be harmful to Tennessee students:

“Tennessee students will fall behind their peers in other states if this law stays on the books. We are already seeing school leaders make changes to instruction and school activities due to the risk of losing state funding, facing unfair repercussions or threats to their professional standing. TEA is committed to fighting for public school educators’ right to do their job and Tennessee children’s right to a fact-based, well-rounded public education,” Coats said.

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TEA President Tanya Coats

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

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A Decade of Education News

The first education news story published at Tennessee Education Report went live 10 years ago.

Since that time, there have been hundreds of stories.

Issues like TNReady’s online testing failure, teacher compensation, the aggressive advance of charter schools, the failures of the Achievement School District – and so many more have been covered here.

Since 2019, the drive to privatize Tennessee’s public schools has grown more intense.

We now have a voucher program in Memphis and Nashville and Gov. Lee and his legislative allies are seeking to expand it.

Hillsdale College has their sites set on opening as many as 50 charter schools in the state – and has five applications (Madison, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford) active right now.

We have a new school funding formula – TISA – and this is the first year it will impact districts.

Oh, and there’s a new third grade retention law that will be impacting students and schools this year.

Tennessee Education Report has covered it all.

That’s only possible with your support.

Thanks for sharing articles, passing along tips, and donating financially to keep Tennessee Education Report going.

Your continued support – $10 for 10 years – will keep this publication going strong into a second decade.

Consider a donation today – and be sure to share this publication with anyone who may be interested in Tennessee education news.

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Reading Scores Show Promise as 3rd Grade Retention Law Takes Effect

Nashville education blogger TC Weber takes a look at a recent Comptroller’s report on literacy in the state and finds some reason for encouragement. There’s a bit of confusion, too, in terms of whether or not the growth reflected in the results shared will translate into better overall reading scores.

The issue is particularly salient this year, as a new law takes effect requiring retention for any third grader who fails to meet state benchmarks in reading.

New Third Grade Law “Devastating”

Here’s more from Weber on the Comptroller’s report:

A recently released report from the Tennessee Comptroller’s office shows that Tennessee K-3 students are making positive, albeit slight, growth in acquiring reading skills. Those conclusions were drawn from state-mandated K-3 universal reading screeners (URS), which all school districts are required to administer as part of legislation passed in 2021 during a Special Session of the General Assembly on education.

Based on graphs included in the Comptrollers report, third-grade students saw the most movement, with students starting at 43 percent in the Fall of 2021, growing to 45 percent in the Winter, and then achieving a Spring 2022 score of 46 percent.

books
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For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport