# data[].attributes.headline
Some Colleges Have Stopped Requiring ACT/SAT Scores During the Admission Process

# data[].attributes.subject
Some Colleges Have Stopped Requiring ACT/SAT Scores During the Admission Process

# data[].attributes.body
"Inside the vast national experiment in test-optional college admissions" - April 10, 2022

Reflection:
The pandemic caused some college admissions offices to remove standardized testing requirements for prospective students.

This could be a beginning step in taking the emphasis off of standardized testing in the United States, something many involved in school reformation have called unfair for diverse students. I understand where people in favor of removing standardized testing are coming from, but recognize the necessity for a standard form of testing students' academic ability. Without it, there would be no way to compare data on how effective different forms of teaching are, or how different teachers, schools, and districts compare to each other. Without a new form of assessment, I still see a need for standardized testing.

This being said, some students struggle with standardized tests and are put at a disadvantage when there is so much emphasis on getting a good score. Hopefully this experiment will help educators figure out how to better serve students needs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As the deadline to submit college applications approached last year, Hilary Cabrera Orozco braced for disappointment.

The daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants, and a nearly straight-A student, had her heart set on attending Cornell University, the elite campus in upstate New York where her older cousin was already enrolled.

But her SAT scores were discouragingly low.

"It was humbling," said Cabrera Orozco, 18, a senior at Sleepy Hollow High School in Westchester County, just north of New York City. "I worked hard throughout all my years in high school, and then one test will determine if I'm good enough for a school. I feel like that's kind of unfair."

What Cabrera Orozco didn't realize was that the pandemic that had disrupted her high school years led college admissions offices across the country - including Cornell - to waive standardized testing requirements. The change - perhaps the most significant shakeup in college admissions since the SAT and ACT were first widely required more than 50 years ago - has become a large-scale experiment, with high stakes for both colleges and their prospective students.

"It's a sea change in terms of how admissions decisions are being made," said Robert Schaeffer, the executive director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, which is critical of the way standardized testing is used. "The pandemic created a natural experiment. Colleges were forced to see how test optional worked."

Test-optional and test-blind admissions had begun to gain steam before the pandemic, with proponents arguing that tests hurt the odds of applicants who have traditionally not done as well on them, including students whose first language isn't English, students whose parents didn't go to college, Black and Hispanic students, immigrant students and students whose families can't afford expensive test prep programs.

But when the pandemic made it difficult to safely administer those tests, the test-optional wave became a tsunami. Nearly every college freshman in the country today - and nearly every high school senior who hopes to start next fall - was able to apply without submitting a score.

MIT made headlines recently when it announced that it will again start requiring applicants to submit their scores - in part because MIT's leaders believe tests can help identify talented students whose circumstances in high school affected their grades. Hundreds of other institutions, such as the University of California and California State University campuses, have gone the other way, adopting test-optional or test-blind policies permanently.

But many of the most competitive colleges, including those in the Ivy League, are still gathering data, watching to see how the experiment turns out.

"We will be studying this first cohort," Jon Burdick, Cornell's vice provost for enrollment, said of the current freshman class. "We'll be studying this next cohort and trying to tease out and unpack in a legitimate model what kind of effects created what kinds of outcomes."

Before the pandemic, Burdick watched with curiosity as a growing number of mostly small, private liberal arts schools stopped requiring standardized tests, but it wasn't something Cornell seriously considered.

When the health crisis closed testing sites in 2020, four of Cornell's undergraduate colleges decided to go test optional, meaning students could submit a test score if they thought it would help them, but didn't have to. Three of Cornell's colleges adopted test-blind policies, meaning admissions officers wouldn't look at any student's scores.

The effects were immediate, Burdick said. Like many other colleges and universities, Cornell was inundated with applications - roughly 71,000 compared to 50,000 in a typical year.

And the new applications - particularly those that arrived without test scores attached - were far more likely to come from "students that have felt historically excluded," Burdick said.

The university had always looked at many factors in making admissions decisions, and low test scores were never singularly disqualifying, Burdick said. But it became clear that students had been self-rejecting, deciding not to apply to places like Cornell because they thought their lower SAT scores meant they couldn't get in, he said.

Other colleges also saw a similar surge in applications.

"If I had to include my score, I wouldn't have applied to the schools I applied to," said Kate Hidalgo, 19, who said her immigrant family in Elmsford, New York, also in Westchester, didn't know that she could start taking and preparing for the SAT in the ninth grade to boost her score. "I knew I had the potential, but I didn't have the resources that other people had."

When disappointing SAT scores arrived, she started revising her list of schools, until her adviser from Latino U College Access, which helps first-generation Latinos access college, told her test scores wouldn't be required.

She ended up getting into many top schools, ultimately choosing a full-ride scholarship to the University of Rochester (which shifted to test-optional admissions in 2019). She's involved in student government and is enjoying her classes.

"I'm thriving here," she said.

At Cornell, managing the surge in applications wasn't easy, Burdick said. The university hired several admissions officers and about a dozen part-time application readers - paid for in part by the additional application fees.

The staff developed a numeric system to compare high school grades, with applicants getting more points if they took more challenging classes.

In the end, Cornell enrolled a more diverse class, including a nearly 50 percent increase in the share of first-generation college students. "It showed me that these students, given the opportunity, can show really impressive competitive credentials and get admitted with the test barrier reduced or eliminated," Burdick said.

Research on colleges that went test optional years ago shows that students admitted without test scores come from more diverse backgrounds and do about as well in their classes once they arrive as peers who did submit test scores. The admissions directors at top colleges are watching closely to see how these policies play out on their campuses.

Yale University had previously studied the value of SAT and ACT scores and found that higher scores predicted better academic success, even when researchers controlled for other factors, said Mark Dunn, Yale's associate director of admissions.

But now that the pandemic pushed Yale to go test optional, researchers are studying a new set of data and administrators plan to give the experiment a bit more time.

"It has been really illuminating and instructive to be frankly kind of forced into this policy," Dunn said.

The University of Chicago shifted to test optional admissions in 2018 as a way of expanding diversity and has been thrilled with the results, said Veronica Hauad, the deputy director of admissions. The current class of freshmen has 56 percent more Black students, 26 percent more Hispanic and Latino students, 33 percent more rural students and 36 percent more first-generation students than the last class that enrolled before the policy change.

The University of Chicago had to increase its financial aid budget by 37 percent to help students from lower-income families, but that was part of the commitment the college made to diversity, Hauad said.

"For many students of many backgrounds, underrepresented or not, you come to college and you encounter people who are nothing like you," she said. "And it really opens your eyes."

The organizations that make the SAT and ACT acknowledge that wealthier, whiter students do better on average on the exams than other groups of students, but they say the tests are merely measuring inequality in the nation's education system - not causing it.

"Abandoning the use of objective assessments like the ACT or the SAT introduces greater subjectivity and uncertainty in the admissions process," said Janet Godwin, CEO for the ACT.

Priscilla Rodriguez, a vice president for the College Board, which makes the SAT, noted in a statement that many of the other factors considered in college admissions are affected by wealth and privilege, since families can hire writing coaches and admissions advisers and many schools give preference to children of alumni.

"In contrast, the SAT is available to all students, free to practice for, and free to take for low-income students," Rodriguez said, also noting that student grade point averages have been climbing at some high schools, making grades an unreliable measure.

Craig Robinson, the CEO of College Possible, a nonprofit that helps first-generation students access and succeed in college, worries that test-optional policies will lead some schools to decide that their equity work is done and fail to make other needed changes, such as making college more affordable and ending admissions preferences for the children of alumni.

"We'd be fooling ourselves to think that this one decision or one trend is going to be the game-changer that addresses years of systemic inequity in admissions," he said, but added that dropping test scores is a good start.

Cabrera Orozco credits Cornell's test optional policy with the good news she received last month, inviting her to join the university's class of 2026. She hopes the policy continues.

"It gives more opportunity to kids that are doing really well in school," she said, "who aren't in position to take the test five times to get the best score."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Really illuminating': After making the SAT optional, colleges study the results

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the deadline to submit college applications approached last year, Hilary Cabrera Orozco braced for disappointment. The daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants, and a nearly straight-A student, had her heart set on attending Cornell University, the elite campus in upstate New York where her older cousin was already enrolled.

# data[].attributes.headline
Florida Rejects Math Books Saying Some Involve Critical Race Theory

# data[].attributes.subject
Florida Rejects Math Books Saying Some Involve Critical Race Theory

# data[].attributes.body
"Florida rejects 54 math books, saying some contain critical race theory" - April 18, 2022

Reflection:
The state of Florida rejected 41% of the math textbooks they reviewed saying that some of them talked about critical race theory and other prohibited topics. My understanding of critical race theory is limited, but what I do know is that it is a post graduate level course taught in law schools. I am doubtful that K-5 math textbooks are attempting to teach it to children in elementary schools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Florida's Department of Education rejected 54 math books last week, claiming some of the texts had references to critical race theory, or CRT, and other "prohibited topics."

In a statement released Friday, the department said it had reviewed 132 math textbooks and rejected 54 of them, or 41 percent.

"The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K-5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies," the statement said.

The department said 28 of the books were rejected specifically because they "incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT." Lists of the submitted and accepted books were made available, but did not say how the rejected books referenced critical race theory.

Other rejected books did not properly align to B.E.S.T. Standards, Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking - Florida's answer to Common Core - which Gov. Ron DeSantis has worked to eliminate.

Another set of rejected books both included "prohibited topics" and didn't align with B.E.S.T.

"It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students," DeSantis said of the decision to ban certain math books.

Rep. Carlos G. Smith, a Democrat, called the claim that math books could indoctrinate students "a lie."

DeSantis "has turned our classrooms into political battlefields and this is just the beginning," Smith said.

DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have fought to ban critical race theory, the academic study of institutional racism, in public schools. Critical race theory is typically studied only in colleges and universities.

A bill passed by Florida lawmakers last month would limit how teachers discuss race in classrooms.

Also last month, DeSantis signed a bill that allows parents to decide which books could be banned from school libraries and another that limits teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade classrooms.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Florida rejects 54 math books, saying some contain critical race theory

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Florida's Department of Education rejected 54 math books last week, claiming some of the texts had references to critical race theory, or CRT, and other "prohibited topics." In a statement released Friday, the department said it had reviewed 132 math textbooks and rejected 54 of them, or 41 percent.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Recent Report Talks About Different Approaches to Extending Learning Time

# data[].attributes.subject
A Recent Report Talks About Different Approaches to Extending Learning Time

# data[].attributes.body
"Is making students stay after school the way to improve education?" - April 10, 2022

Reflection:
A report from the Education Trust was published on how to expand learning time in the classroom, saying that to be effective the extra time should be around 44-100 hours a year and that educators should be from diverse backgrounds and supported. The report also says that the most effective programs reduce class sizes to around 10-20 students.

The article says that decreased class sizes is often to costly for schools to manage and that big reforms that require a lot of money and political support usually fail, so we instead need to encourage individual teachers to make extra time for their students when they can.

The conclusions of the report make a lot of sense to me. More time for students to learn results in more learning. I personally went to a focus program in which the class sizes were much smaller than most high schools in LPS and can say that factor made a difference in the quality of education I received. My middle school had a policy they called "team time," where if a student didn't turn in their homework they would have to stay after school for an hour, which motivated me to turn my homework in on time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A report from the Education Trust offers guidance for how schools can expand learning time. (iStock)

My first lesson in how time affects education occurred in a huge classroom with risers that a wildly ambitious math teacher had stolen from the band department. It was MH-1 (for music hall) in a large East Los Angeles high school full of impoverished teenagers.

I wasn't a student. I was a reporter trying to figure out how the pushy teacher with the thick Bolivian accent, who had never taught in the United States before he was 43, had magically produced one of the most successful Advanced Placement calculus programs in the country.

His name was Jaime Escalante. One thing I noticed was that if a student was struggling in any of his classes, which included beginning algebra, Escalante would wave three fingers in the kid's face. That meant the student would have to return to MH-1 at 3 p.m., when the school day ended, and spend three hours doing homework with the assistance of older students recruited by Escalante for what was in essence an after-school club.

I was reminded of Escalante's work after reading a report from the Education Trust, a renowned nonprofit devoted to raising student achievement, on how to expand learning time. It has many thoughtful insights for district leaders wanting to expand the school day by one or two hours, double the length of reading and math periods, organize mandatory summer school and make other changes.

Teachers are important to the success of extended learning programs, says the report, "Strategies to Solve Unfinished Learning." They should be certified. If not, they should get extra training in pedagogy and classroom management. Teachers should each have a coach to view their classes weekly and make suggestions.

To be effective, the report says, the extended time should total 44 to 100 hours a year. The report says educators should be from diverse backgrounds and should be supported and compensated fairly.

A study in purpose: Young Americans spend more time on educational pursuits, less time working

That fits the Escalante model to some extent. He dragged in many students after school, mostly because of his magnetic personality, his creative teaching, his fluency in Spanish and his principal's support. He set up summer classes at the local community college so students would be ready for AP calculus their senior year. His students knew if they had questions, he could always be found in his narrow little office attached to MH-1. That made him unpopular with many other teachers at James A. Garfield High School, in part because, to be available to students, he refused to leave his classroom for faculty meetings and other distractions he considered a waste of his time.

The only weakness in the Education Trust report, as far as I can see, is its recommendation for smaller classes: Research shows, it says, "more effective extended learning programs break up students into groups of 10-20. Classes with over 20 students are less effective." That may be so, but reducing class size is often too expensive for school boards to consider.

Education Trust expert Allison Socol told me district leaders will have to balance what the research says is most effective with what is feasible given the resources and support in their communities.

Escalante got his big classroom and his after-school time because his principal, a former airborne Army Ranger named Henry Gradillas, realized early that the immigrant teacher was a genius. There were often as many as 50 students in MH-1, with each row of desks higher than the one in front in typical band room fashion.

The more kids he exposed to his higher expectations - shared by a calculus teacher he trained, Ben Jimenez - the more the school improved. In 1987, Escalante and Jimenez produced 26 percent of all Mexican American students in the United States who passed college-level AP calculus final exams. Word of that spread when a movie came out the next year about what happened at Garfield.

Most teachers aren't as daring as Escalante but find their own ways to extend learning for children they know have hidden potential.

One example is Joel Parkes, a seventh grade history teacher at Sal Castro Middle School in Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, he, as Escalante did, uses unscheduled time after the final bell.

"I stay an hour after school twice a week to provide a space for students to either get help or do homework,"Parkes said. He provided the help without compensation for many years, but just before the pandemic, his district began paying teachers for such work. There is also an after-school program called Beyond the Bell where students get help with lessons along with snacks and a chance to play soccer. His school also has special Saturday classes for struggling students four times per semester.

Let's have a 9-hour school day

Many teachers around the country do their own versions of that. Big reforms that demand much money and political support usually fail. So we should embrace efforts by individual teachers like Parkes to grab some extra time for their kids whatever way they can.

It would be difficult to quantify such efforts. Too many things are happening in too many places. But those individual educators seem to be increasing achievement, which in turn helps them feel good about their jobs and spread the word to others about how this can be done.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Perspective | Is making students stay after school the way to improve education?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Placeholder while article actions load My first lesson in how time affects education occurred in a huge classroom with risers that a wildly ambitious math teacher had stolen from the band department. It was MH-1 (for music hall) in a large East Los Angeles high school full of impoverished teenagers.

# data[].attributes.body
"Privatization of public education gaining ground" - April 18, 2022

Reflection:
Legislatures pushed to expand charter schools and voucher programs during the pandemic. Supporters say that school choice helps expand alternatives to traditional public schools for students who don't have as many options and gives parents a choice in their students' education. Critics say that the goal of the legislature is to "destroy locally controlled public schools via privatized choice."

The article then goes on to explain some of the shortcomings of charter schools, including: "nineteen states don't require teachers in voucher schools to be certified, twenty six states don't require voucher students to take the same standardized tests, and that eighty one percent of states allow voucher schools to discriminate on entrance requirements based on religion, while seventy four percent allow discrimination based on student or parent LGBTQ status."

I personally feel like the issue of school choice is complex and that I am not well informed enough to have a valuable opinion. But the article makes a good point against it in outlining some of the shortcomings and discrimination. I don't think tax money should be used to pay for a handful of students to get a different education from their peers when the money could be used to improve the quality of all students' education.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Education Department's Way of Addressing Charter Schools May Be Flawed

# data[].attributes.subject
The Education Department's Way of Addressing Charter Schools May Be Flawed

# data[].attributes.body
"(Opinion) The Education Department's 'fix' for charter schools is misguided" - April 29, 2022

Reflection:
The author claims that the Charter Schools Program "supports the development and expansion of high-quality public charter schools" and provides "training where there is demand." But the Department of Education is putting in place new rules that would "gut" the Charter Schools Program.

One of the reasons the author gives in favor of charter schools is that they lead the way in new models of learning, giving students access to project and field-based learning opportunities.

The new rules would require a federal "community impact analysis" which would give grant reviewers the ability the veto efforts to open a new charter school. Another requirement is for charter schools to prove their intent to have a diverse student body and staff, something that sounds like a positive to me.

Reading this article has further shown that charter schools and school choice as a whole is a complex problem that needs to be addressed. There are some definite benefits of charter schools, but we can't leave behind public school students. I hope to learn more about this in later education courses.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
iStock (Gobalstock/iStock)

As governor of Colorado, I've seen the enormous challenges faced by our students as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. During this time, the federal government has generally been a helpful partner to get and keep schools safely open by providing flexible funding with few administrative burdens.
Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates
So it's confounding that the Education Department is about to create chaos and limit public school choice by instituting new rules that would gut the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) - a program that I helped update and greatly expand, with bipartisan support, during my time in Congress. The CSP supports the development and expansion of high-quality public charter schools and provides technical assistance and training where there is demand.

In Colorado, that demand is higher than ever. Public charter schools - tuition-free public schools that are granted site-based governance and flexibility in exchange for high accountability - are an important part of Colorado's public school landscape. Today, about 15 percent of Colorado's public school students attend a charter school.

This is in part because of how successful the charter schools have been, in Colorado and across the country. A recent national study from Harvard University's Program on Education Policy and Governance found that between 2005 and 2017, students in the charter sector made greater academic gains than their district peers, with Hispanic and Asian students and students in the lowest socioeconomic quartile seeing nearly an additional half of years' worth of learning. In Colorado, 7 of the top 10 rated public high schools in the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings are charter schools.

Charter schools also lead the way in spurring innovative models of learning, such as the network of Colorado Early Colleges that provide students with pathways to debt-free college degrees and career credentials, and the Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning in Falcon, Colo., that gives students access to project- and field-based learning opportunities as early as preschool.

Yet the Education Department has proposed rules that would halt innovation in its tracks and make it harder for communities to meet the educational needs of their students.

The rules would put major, sometimes unworkable barriers in the way of charter schools seeking CSP funding. For one, they would require a federal "community impact analysis," giving anonymous grant reviewers in Washington the ability to veto parent, community, district and state efforts to open a new school. This second-guessing is absurd and flies in the face of common sense. Obviously a locally elected school board or other high-quality local authorizer is in the best position to weigh community support, not distant bureaucrats.

The community impact rules would also require schools to demonstrate their intent to have a culturally diverse student body and staff - a noble goal, but one that makes it difficult for schools that focus on an underrepresented population to get funding, especially when they are geographically isolated or serve indigenous populations. Consider Kwiyagat Community Academy, a public charter school in Towaoc, Colo. Founded last year by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, it teaches a new generation a culture and language infamously repressed by previous schools run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. However, under these new rules, the Education Department would disqualify a culturally-affirming school such as Kwiyagat from participating in the grant program, simply because of the mission of their school.

Another proposed regulation would require states to prioritize charter applicants that can find a school district to "partner" with them. This is ill-advised: A district could disadvantage a proposed charter school by refusing partnership - even though charters are often most needed in districts with a history of failed cooperation with new innovative models. The federal role should be to bring additional resources to serve students, especially in struggling schools and districts, and expand successful innovations.

The rules would also create numerous compliance, documentation and monitoring requirements that would make it difficult for under-resourced communities and single-site charter schools to apply for CSP grants - for example, requiring a new school to secure a facility before it can even receive funds for a planning phase. That seldom happens in real life, as landlords often look for both a charter and sufficient start-up funds before they agree to a lease and the planning phase often includes scouting locations.

This package of proposed regulations was developed with no stakeholder engagement from governors like me, superintendents or charter schools across the country who are invested in the program's continued success. They would result in reduced quality choices for parents.

The Education Department should go back to the drawing board. The CSP is the only source of dedicated federal funding to support the growth of high-quality charter schools, and we must ensure the program can meet the clear demand for these life-transforming schools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Opinion | The Education Department's 'fix' for charter schools is misguided

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Placeholder while article actions load As governor of Colorado, I've seen the enormous challenges faced by our students as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. During this time, the federal government has generally been a helpful partner to get and keep schools safely open by providing flexible funding with few administrative burdens.

# data[].attributes.body
"'Feels like forward motion' — Ambitious equity road map gives insight into LPS' future" - April 13, 2020

Reflection:
The goal of the plan is to close race based gaps of graduation rates, student behavior, enrollment in honors courses, and the hiring of diverse certificated staff.

They want to improve graduation rates by focusing on transitive periods for students, such as between eight and ninth grade. For student behavior, they want to decrease suspensions by using trauma-informed practices and making sure a common system is being used school-wide to prevent bias.

To encourage diverse enrollment in honors courses they plan to improve communication with students of color and generally increasing awareness of the gifted programs.

The article states that 94% of certified staff are white, while only 64% of the students are. Some of the recommendations to improve this include increased recruiting efforts from diverse backgrounds and better support for teachers of color.

After reading the specific goals they have in mind, I think this will be a beneficial plan for making diverse students at Lincoln Public Schools fulfill their potential more easily.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An ambitious plan to narrow disparities at Lincoln Public Schools - from the graduation rate to the hiring of diverse staff - is moving forward, providing key insight into some of the district's priorities as it enters a new five-year strategic planning process this summer.

Officials presented a draft of the plan Tuesday to the Lincoln Board of Education, which last summer established four equity goals as part of its annual priority-setting work.

Those goals aim to close gaps based on race in four distinct areas: The graduation rate, student behavior, honors course enrollment and hiring of certificated staff.

Last August, LPS laid out specific benchmarks it wanted to achieve and formed four committees - comprised of staff, students, community members and others - to pull together plans. The result: A 32-page document outlining steps to reach those equity goals.

* Raising the four-year graduation rate to 87% for all students, while cutting the difference between that overall rate and the rate of individual subgroups by 50%.

* Reducing total suspensions by 20% and disproportionality ratios to 1.2 or less for all subgroups. A ratio of 1.2 indicates a student group is 1.2 times more likely to be suspended.

* Reducing disproportionality by 75% between all students who have completed at least one honors course and each subgroup.

* Increasing the percentage of nonwhite certificated staff from 6.5% to 8.1%.

The committees met multiple times over the past five months to study data, conduct research and meet with stakeholders before recommending formal action steps.

"In some sense, individual schools have been working on these things for a period of time, but it hasn't been systematic, districtwide. And these have been longstanding disparities that are long overdue to be addressed," said Matt Larson, associate superintendent of instruction.

While the plan is broad in scope, it presents some insight into the district's vision for the future at a time when it's getting ready to welcome a new superintendent and craft a new five-year strategic plan.

"We hope this is a living, breathing document" that shows the district is putting its words into action, said Sarah Salem, director of continuous improvement and professional learning, during her presentation at the LPS board meeting Tuesday.

The "All Means All Action Plan" lists a number of strategies for each of the four goals.

Graduation rate

To tackle disparities in the graduation rate, committee members recommended evaluating the transition process for students at key junctures, such as the move from eighth grade to high school.

The committee also looked at expanding graduation pathways for students and professional-learning opportunities for new teachers.

The district already has programs in place - such as the college-readiness class AVID piloted at Lincoln Northeast - to expand upon, said Pat Hunter-Pirtle, director of secondary education and committee co-chair. AVID will be offered at 12 schools in the fall.

LPS' four-year graduation rate dropped slightly last year to 81.9%, down from the 83.6% rate in 2018-19 that the district used as a pre-pandemic baseline in the report.

Disparities also persisted. In the 2020-21 school year, 85.8% of white students graduated in four years. That's higher than their peers who are Black (64.9%), Hispanic (72.2%), Native (52.6%) and mixed race (71.3%). Only Asian students had a higher graduation rate at 92.5%.

"Ideally, there shouldn't be disparities," Hunter-Pirtle said. "That might be somewhat pie in the sky, but there shouldn't."

The goal is to cut the difference between the all-student graduation rate and all subgroups by 50%, meaning the target for nonwhite student groups would be anywhere from 76%-80%.

Student behavior

Disparities also exist in LPS' out-of-school suspension rate.

Less than 4% of all students receive out-of-school suspensions - handed down for more serious offenses - but students of color are suspended at a higher rate than their white peers. Black students, for example, were suspended last year at a ratio of 2.1, meaning they were 2.1 times more likely to be suspended than all other students.

The district would like to drop all ratios below 1.2, and the overall number of suspensions by 20%. To do so, the committee tasked with the issue recommended training staff in restorative and trauma-informed practices and ensuring a uniform system of support is implemented in each building.

The committee also recommended convening a committee to revise the LPS code of conduct to reflect restorative language.

The work to reduce suspensions is even more important given the increase in behavioral and mental health issues among students during the pandemic, said Russ Uhing, director of student services and committee co-chair.

"We had more kids coming back more anxious, not only social anxiety but also around COVID and things as well," Uhing said. "So we did see an increase in behavior (issues) at the start of the school year."

Honors course enrollment

More than 40% of LPS middle and high school students complete honors courses each year. Those include Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual-credit and differentiated classes.

Students of color, however, have historically lagged behind in honors course enrollment.

The committee tasked with this goal recommended improving communication about honors courses to students of color. Committee members also recommended growing awareness of the district's gifted program.

The committee conducted its own research into the issue, including surveying other school districts to learn about best practices, said Takako Olson, director of curriculum and instruction and committee co-chair.

Other action steps include establishing consistent districtwide practices to identify and recruit students of color into honors courses and the gifted program and providing teachers with additional professional development. Additionally, staff are exploring the idea of paying for AP test fees.

Hiring of certificated staff

Employing staff that accurately represents the student body has long been a challenge at LPS.

Roughly 94% of certified staff - which includes administrators, teachers, counselors, social workers and others - are white, compared with just 64% of students.

Retaining staff across the board is another challenge, although in recent years teachers of color have had higher retention rates than their white peers, said Vann Price, director of diversity, equity and inclusion and committee co-chair.

Committee members recommended expanding recruiting efforts and outreach to LPS students and candidates from diverse backgrounds and ensuring culturally responsive interview practices, including awareness of implicit biases.

Another recommendation included increasing support for teachers of color, including creating an optional dual-mentoring program to match teachers and mentors of color.

Price said a diverse staff helps all students, much like the movement to make sidewalks accessible helped more than just those with mobility challenges.

"I see this as that same thing. When we improve instruction, when we improve the number of staff within the district that represents the students we serve, it not only is going to help the students of color, it's going to help us all," Price said. "I just think it's a win-win."

Discussions on how to implement the plan will begin this summer, but it won't be a one-and-done process.

"Not everything can be implemented in the first semester (this fall)," Salem said. "We've got to, as a district, identify for schools what are going to be the things that we start working on right away and what might take a year to implement."

Professional development workshops in the summer will focus on the four goals and conferences held each fall with principals will include discussions concerning individual schools' progress. Schools will have their own equity benchmarks outlined in school improvement plans as well, Salem said.

Some of the strategies, such as expanding the AVID program, would require budget requests that would have to go before the board for approval.

Board member Lanny Boswell signaled his support for the plan last month during a meeting of the board's student learning committee.

"I think it's up to us as a board to make sure that we're using this plan to guide the decisions that we make," he said.

Annie Mumgaard, a school board member who also serves on the student learning committee and has been a vocal advocate for the board's equity work, said "it feels like something has changed" in LPS' approach to equity.

"This just really feels like forward motion," she said.

While a more definitive timeline will be laid out in the strategic plan, officials reiterated that the work will be ongoing and the board will receive annual progress reports.

"We didn't get to where we got overnight and we won't completely close the disparities overnight either," Larson said. "But what will be important is that everyone continuously works on this and we do make progress - measurable progress."

Top Journal Star photos for April

Contact the writer at zhammack@journalstar.com or 402-473-7225. On Twitter @zach_hammack

Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Feels like forward motion' - Ambitious equity road map gives insight into LPS' future

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An ambitious plan to narrow disparities at Lincoln Public Schools - from the graduation rate to the hiring of diverse staff - is moving forward, providing key insight into some of the district's priorities as it enters a new five-year strategic planning process this summer.

# data[].attributes.headline
Mental Health Among School Aged Kids is Deteriorating

# data[].attributes.subject
Mental Health Among School Aged Kids is Deteriorating

# data[].attributes.body
"The kids aren’t OK — Mental health issues skyrocketed for Nebraska children during pandemic" - April 15, 2022

Reflection:
The mental health of school aged children in Nebraska has been deteriorating during the pandemic. This will affect their educational development and overall school experience.

Mental health is a substantial problem among students and will need to be better addressed by schools. I believe that teaching students to be more introspective and to reflect on their own experiences would help lay the foundation to improved mental health. Another tactic to help students with mental health issues is to create a calm, safe environment in the classroom This along with including teaching healthy coping strategies could help ease the difficulties these students face.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Six-year-old Elijah Wastell of Omaha started feeling anxious last fall.

It came hard for the kindergartener at bedtime. His parents tried breathing exercises. They attempted to build up his confidence. They tried everything they could think of, but the anxiety only got worse.

It got to the point where "he wanted to be in bed with a blanket over his head before the sun went down, which can be tricky in September," said his mother, Anna Wastell.

Elijah didn't tie his newfound anxiety to the pandemic that has altered the lives of everyone - including children - over the past two years.

But experts say cases such as Elijah's have become increasingly common in the wake of COVID-19, which has stolen normal school years and upended social and emotional development of Nebraska children.

"For kids, routines and structure are so important to their mental health and their well-being, and the pandemic just turned it upside-down," said Kristine Bosiljevac, the Boys Town National Hotline manager.

Elijah is but one snowball in an avalanche of Nebraska children now facing issues that pediatric mental health providers are attempting to address. Providers report seeing a spike in all types of mental health issues, including:

Screenings that detect depression have hit a new high at Children's Hospital and Medical Center. Normally roughly 15% of kids age 11 and up receive a positive depression screen at their pediatrician appointments, hospital officials say. During the pandemic, that's risen to more than 20% - some months hitting nearly 30%.

Between February 2020 and 2022, the Boys Town National Hotline received more than 50% more calls from Nebraska children reporting anxiety than it received in the two years prior.

The Children's intensive eating-disorder program, which has a capacity between 6 and 8 children, saw its waiting list grow to up to 25 children during COVID-19.

And these mental health struggles, including the scariest ones, go much wider than Nebraska.

Nationally, rates of reported suicidal ideation and thoughts of self harm have skyrocketed, up 45% in early 2021 when compared with early 2019.

"Our entire family systems were stressed, and we were all being asked to deal with issues that we'd never developed coping strategies for," said Michael Vance, director of behavioral health at Children's Hospital & Medical Center. "While we were trying to deal with this ourselves, we were at the same time trying to figure it out for our kids."

The Wastells continued to try to figure it out. They took Elijah to Play Therapy Omaha. After his first few sessions, his anxiety lessened. He continues to attend therapy, though less frequently. He and his parents agreed to share his story.

"We work hard to normalize mental health care and mental health treatment," Anna Wastell said. "I don't ever want my children to find any shame or any guilt in mental health care."

The Wastells are far from the only Nebraskans trying to guide their kids through new mental health needs. On top of normal life stressors and brain chemistry, the pandemic upended many parts of normalcy. Current second graders have never had a "normal" school year.

Several experts identified one key issue: The pandemic caused disruptions to routines, and that can create issues even for adults.

"Human beings in general, and kids in particular, really benefit from structure and routine and predictability," Vance said. "And the pandemic threw a wrench in all that."

The Boys Town National Hotline addresses crises of all types, from a fight with a friend to a suicide attempt.

Over the course of the pandemic, it saw a jump in calls from both youth and adults, Bosiljevac said.

Call volume remains high, but she said Boys Town is now starting to see a decline in the more serious types of calls, such as thoughts of suicide.

"We're certainly starting to see that people are feeling better about the situation," she said. "But there's still stress and anxiety. I think there's enough going on in our country that people are still feeling a little bit anxious about what's going on."

The pandemic undeniably brought a lot of unpredictability to kids' lives. Was the track meet going to happen? Was school going to be on tomorrow?

That had the added problem of removing unofficial support networks - coaches, teachers and more - that some kids rely heavily on for mental well-being.

All that was coupled with family stress, as many parents lost jobs and grandparents got sick. And on top of that, kids missed out on the peer interaction that is important for social development.

"We were dealing with something that none of our generations had dealt with that had such a collective impact on our lives, and it was not something that was under any of our control," Vance said.

One factor that no experts identified as a problem: mask mandates.

"Not at all," said Tom Reimers, Boys Town behavioral health director. "Nobody likes to wear a mask, but the kids have adapted much better than the parents. The younger they are, the better they are."

Tim Royers, president of the Millard Education Association, said teachers are seeing some of the biggest struggles in kids who entered a new school during the height of the pandemic. In the 2020-21 school year, kindergarteners, sixth graders and freshmen in high school all struggled to adjust under new restrictions.

While Millard resumed full-time school for anyone that wanted it in fall 2020, many school social events remained canceled until vaccines became widely available last summer.

"I don't regret the decisions that we made," Royers said. "It's just that there are always consequences."

Now, teachers and others are trying to reach struggling kids. But the teachers themselves are overwhelmed.

"As a teacher, hands-down, that's one of the worst feelings in the world, when you know there's kids that need more, and you can't get to them, and you've given them everything you can," he said.

Another challenge for school officials: Children, particularly young ones, are not always able to articulate their feelings.

Some kids act badly instead. Others internalize their negative feelings.

"They communicate through behavior," said Stephanie Hoesing, Omaha Public Schools' social work supervisor. "They don't even necessarily understand what they're experiencing physically or emotionally to be able to name it."

For parents who are worried about their kids, Jennifer McWilliams, a medical doctor and psychiatrist at Children's, has two pieces of advice. One, look for changes that could indicate your child is struggling more than normal. Two, listen to your kids without trying to share your experiences.

The key is "listening to what your kids say and not minimizing it," she said. "It's easy to say 'Well, we didn't have anybody that we knew died.' Sometimes a lost softball season is pretty darn traumatic to that particular kid."

There is some good news. After two years of coping with the pandemic, pediatric health experts, school districts and others have identified some solutions.

Some Nebraska school districts have implemented partnerships with mental health providers, decreasing the barriers for kids to get access to care.

OPS has had such a partnership with the Methodist Community Health Program for more than two decades, Hoesing said.

A longtime partnership with Project Harmony has also strengthened OPS students' access to services.

Royers pointed to an initiative in Millard to hire staff that are not assigned to a classroom, but support kids in various ways.

Others have found additional silver linings.

Vance lauded families that have found ways to spend extra, positive time together. Some families implemented new traditions or routines such as family game night or theme night.

Hoesing pointed to a new, increased focus on mental health care for kids.

"One of the unintended consequences is more recognition around mental health," he said.

Even as a host of groups work to help Nebraska children recover, it will take time for kids to rebound from the mental health effects of COVID-19.

"There are going to be some days where we measure progress in inches not miles," Royers said. "There's no way to force a kid to move out of trauma at a certain speed. You have to meet them where they are and support them where they are."

The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska's first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.

Top Journal Star photos for April
The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska's first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.
Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The kids aren't OK - Mental health issues skyrocketed for Nebraska children during pandemic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Six-year-old Elijah Wastell of Omaha started feeling anxious last fall. It came hard for the kindergartener at bedtime. His parents tried breathing exercises. They attempted to build up his confidence. They tried everything they could think of, but the anxiety only got worse.

# data[].attributes.headline
Maine Court Case on Separation of Church and State 

# data[].attributes.subject
Maine Court Case on Separation of Church and State 

# data[].attributes.body
This Supreme Court Case Could Take a 'Wrecking Ball' to Separation of Church and State - December 6, 2021

Reflection:
The family in the article qualify for tuition assistance but the state will not let them use it at a school that provides a religious education. The family says they are violating the religion clauses and equal protection clauses of the Constitution, while the state says they are in line with the separation of church and state. The Supreme Court will decide who is right.

I can see where each side is coming from, but am unsure who I would side with. The ideal outcome, in my mind, would be for the state to allow the tuition assistance program to be used at religious schools as long as they are properly accredited and with options for other major religions. It would be unfair if they allowed it at one Christian school and have no alternative private religious schools for people of other faiths.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This Supreme Court Case Could Take a 'Wrecking Ball' to Separation of Church and State

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Carson v. Makin is only the latest in a series of recent cases that have asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on religious liberty

# data[].attributes.body
"Why Are Teachers Leaving?" - February 25, 2022

Reflection:
The author of the article describes the multiple reasons she and other teachers are leaving the profession. Included in these is lack of pay, over testing of students, disrespectful parents, and lack of discipline among students.

While these reasons make sense to me, they do not detract from my desire to become a teacher. I am currently a construction worker, which I feel gives me a different perspective on the downsides of other jobs. I would gladly trade the negatives of construction with the negatives of teaching.

I enjoy reading articles like this now, because if I'm going to realize I don't enjoy teaching I would rather it happen as early as possible.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Are Teachers Leaving? Here’s What They Told Us - The Educators Room

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers are leaving. Here’s what they told us why.

# data[].attributes.headline
Some People are Against Social Emotional Learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Some People are Against Social Emotional Learning

# data[].attributes.body
"Critical Race Theory Haters Find a New Target: Social Emotional Learning" - March 25, 2022

Reflection:
Detractors of critical race theory have moved their sights to social emotional learning, saying that it is a disguised way of getting critical race theory into classrooms. In reality, it is a way of addressing and fostering children's mental and emotional health, which falls in line with the definition of education.

The article also mentions that multiple reputable studies have found that social emotional learning leads to improvements in almost every aspect of a student's schooling. This makes sense to me personally, as unaddressed mental and emotional issues had a negative impact on my elementary and middle school self's education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Have you signed up for The Educator's Room Daily Newsletter? Click and support independent journalism!
In growing numbers, parents and political groups have a lot to say about education. Certain acronyms are drawing especially intense criticism. CRT, SEL, and DEI have inspired ravenous debate. The absurd assertion that educators are teaching white children to hate themselves is the catalyst for this greater hunt for "liberal indoctrination."

If you can't recall the school board meeting in the 1989 film Field of Dreams, you might want to revisit that one. It's good and more relevant today than ever. In 2022, banning and burning books is very much on the table, with political leaders openly endorsing it.

The Critical Race Theory Moral Panic

Conservatives claim that CRT (Critical Race Theory) is infiltrating our classrooms, and children are sacrificial lambs to a radical liberal agenda. Did you know that preschoolers with special needs in North Carolina are learning about their role as oppressors and the inherent evil of their whiteness? Actually, no. That's not happening. At all.

Oddly, in Idaho, parents are facing the same crisis. Their three-year-old children are mastering a collegiate academic theory about systemic racism instead of learning their colors and shapes. Wait, scratch that. That's not happening either.

What's actually happening? In the case of North Carolina, teachers were offered training in "Equity and Cultural Responsiveness in the Early Childhood Classroom." They explored ways to incorporate multicultural picture books. They reflected on how students can see themselves in the curriculum. They thought compassionately about how to support every student.

In Idaho, one Republican lawmaker, Dorothy Moon, claimed they were teaching CRT in Boise County. She provided no evidence. That didn't matter to The Idaho State Senate. They became one of only four states to provide zero funding for pre-k education. The perceived "indoctrination" of three and four-year-old children resulted in the abandonment of early childhood education entirely. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

"Not since McCarthyism have teachers been this vilified. We've been cast as devious liars, secretly hiding destructive, pornographic lesson plans we thrust on your children the moment you turn your back." Click To Tweet

"Preying on Disabled Three-Year-Old Children": The Smear Campaign Against Teachers

Sloan Rachmuth, the president of Education First Alliance, had this to say about CRT in schools: "Preying on disabled three-year-old children- getting them to participate in a political movement, and to hate themselves based on skin color in the process, show our public schools to be more morally corrupt than all others."

According to Rachmuth, teachers are pariahs in a morally reprehensible system promoting self-hatred among three-year-olds! How could you send your child out the front door if you believe that?

Not since McCarthyism have teachers been this vilified. We've been cast as devious liars, secretly hiding destructive, pornographic lesson plans we thrust on your children the moment you turn your back. The same group applauding the defunding of early childhood education have labeled our teachers "abusers."

The Attack on CRT Has Moved on to SEL

"Misinformation," otherwise known as lies, built this rage. It fed and nurtured it. As an educator, it's profoundly disappointing to see so many people devour propaganda and organize to regurgitate it. Classroom teachers and administrators are in real danger of being targets of a new Red Scare as we are regularly accused of promoting our "communist agenda."

With some significant wins in their column, this conservative push is coming for more. Social-emotional learning (SEL) is now under attack. We, as a profession, are accused of using SEL as a trojan horse for Critical Race Theory. Groups like Truth in American Education and The Center for Renewing Education are patting themselves on the back for seeing through our thinly veiled disguise.

Social-emotional learning teaches children how to be decent human beings. That's it. It's about learning the value of kindness, responsibility, empathy, and self-respect. Jane Robbins from the conservative online magazine The Federalist would call me a liar. Her description of SEL? "Forget teaching kids to play nice - today's SEL intends to propel them into Antifa." Sadly, her outrageous claim receives eager nods of agreement in many school board meetings.

Recently, terms like "safe," "identity," and even "kindness" are scoffed at and dismissed as "woke" culture. A loud minority have drunk the kool-aid and demand we leave their children's emotional welfare alone. What would that even look like? "Alright, kids, we're going to learn and practice empathy today. Josh, please go in the hallway. Your parents will explain empathy at home."

"Patriots" would claim they're just protecting children from deranged teachers openly endorsing suicide. Yes. They believe teachers are encouraging their students to commit suicide through SEL. Education First Alliance argues that SEL is anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-American.

Meanwhile, some conservatives argue that children aren't capable of having mental health issues anyway. Strangely, they won't hesitate to describe the emotionally devastating and mentally scarring impact of masks and remote learning.

Georgia's gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor runs on the campaign slogan, "Jesus, Guns, and Babies." She tweeted that SEL is a "communist, evil, divisive curriculum" (emphasis mine). There's that word again, strategically slipped in whenever possible.

"Our research-based evidence crushes their hyperbole. Don't shy away from speaking up for social-emotional learning." - Critical Race Theory Haters Find a New Target: Social Emotional Learning Click To Tweet

Teachers Must Fight for SEL
Editor's Note: If you enjoyed this article, please become a Patreon supporter by clicking .
And so, it has come to this. Teachers must advocate addressing the emotional health of children. We must debunk nonsensical accusations. What can we do?

We can speak up. Speak up for social-emotional learning. Reputable studies are overflowing with evidence that SEL leads to greater academic achievement, emotional health, and overall success. Schools that implement SEL see significant and consistent improvements in almost every facet of school life. Any teacher can tell you that. Cold Water Springs Middle School in rural Nevada is a perfect anecdotal story of how and why SEL works.

Our research-based evidence crushes their hyperbole. Don't shy away from speaking up for social-emotional learning. #SpeakUpforSEL is a powerful resource for teachers to show the world what SEL does for children. When parents understand what SEL actually is, see it in action, they overwhelmingly support it for their children. Fear-mongering has vilified our best teachers for valuing racial equity and being anti-racist. Don't let them destroy social-emotional learning as well.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Critical Race Theory Haters Find a New Target: Social Emotional Learning - The Educators Room

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Have you signed up for The Educator's Room Daily Newsletter? Click and support independent journalism! In growing numbers, parents and political groups have a lot to say about education. Certain acronyms are drawing especially intense criticism. CRT, SEL, and DEI have inspired ravenous debate.