Embracing AI technologies like those from Brisk Teaching enables teachers to automate and streamline … [+] many tasks and allows them to improve education while reducing burnout.
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The teaching profession is in crisis. Burnout rates among educators are soaring, with K-12 teachers being some of the most overburdened professionals in the U.S. today. What many don’t realize is that much of this burnout stems from the hidden workload teachers face.
This situation is compounded by the fact that the average teacher uses over 140 different digital tools throughout the school year. Juggling this fragmented ecosystem of apps and platforms adds to the stress, leaving educators with little time for what really matters: engaging with students.
But there’s hope on the horizon. Artificial intelligence is emerging as a powerful ally for educators, capable of automating many of these time-consuming tasks and freeing up hours each week. In particular, tools like Brisk Teaching’s AI-powered Chrome extension and its new student-facing feature, Brisk Boost, are reshaping the education landscape.
Teacher Burnout and the Hidden Workload
Burnout among teachers has reached alarming levels. According to a recent Gallup poll, K-12 teachers are experiencing the highest rates of burnout among all professions in the United States. This isn’t just about classroom management; the true burden comes from the hidden workload that many outside the profession are unaware of.
Grading assignments, preparing lesson plans, managing student feedback, emailing parents, and attending professional development meetings all pile up behind the scenes. Teachers often spend more time on these tasks than they do teaching in the classroom. The result? High levels of stress and an increasing number of teachers leaving the profession.
How AI Can Be a Solution
Across various industries, AI has already proven its ability to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, boosting productivity and efficiency. The same potential exists in education, where AI can take over the labor-intensive tasks that weigh teachers down.
Yet, the solution isn’t as simple as just throwing new tools into the mix. Teachers already navigate a sea of educational apps, platforms, and tools each year. If AI is going to make a meaningful impact, it must integrate seamlessly into the tools teachers are already using, without adding additional complexity or creating a steeper learning curve.
Brisk Teaching’s AI-Powered Solution
This is where Brisk Teaching comes in. Brisk Teaching is an AI Edtech startup that just announced its seed round, led by Owl Ventures, which brings their total funding to $6.9 million dollars.
Brisk Teaching’s AI-powered Chrome extension is not another tool teachers have to manage—it’s a solution that works within their existing platforms to automate tasks they’re already doing. It speeds up routine activities like grading, lesson planning, and even creating new content from the materials teachers already use.
For example, Brisk Teaching’s tools can turn a news article, YouTube video, or Google Slides presentation into a dynamic, interactive learning experience with just a few clicks. Teachers can also automate feedback on student writing, drastically reducing the time spent on grading essays. The result is a system that saves teachers up to 20 hours of work each week, freeing up time for what matters most: personalized engagement with students.
But Brisk Teaching isn’t just about helping teachers—it’s about empowering students too. The newly launched Brisk Boost feature allows students to use AI in safe, controlled activities that are linked directly to their lesson objectives. By functioning as a personal tutor, Brisk Boost adapts to each student’s unique needs, offering real-time feedback, interactive quizzes, and brainstorming support. All of this helps students stay engaged while giving teachers valuable insights into how well their students are grasping the material.
Real-World Impact: Success and Adoption
The impact of Brisk Teaching’s solution has been swift and significant. Since launching just over a year ago, the company has grown rapidly, with over 500,000 teachers—one in ten in the U.S.—now using the AI-powered Chrome extension. These tools have already saved educators over 10 million hours globally, proving that AI can make a meaningful difference in the classroom.
Educators who have adopted Brisk’s solutions report not only time savings but also improved student outcomes. For example, by automating repetitive tasks, teachers have more time to focus on individual student needs and can offer more personalized instruction. At the same time, Brisk Boost has helped engage students with content in new and interactive ways, leading to greater participation and comprehension.
“Brisk Teaching is an incredible AI tool. It serves as a blueprint for instant student feedback – which you can edit on the spot,” explained Chrissy Macso, a middle school English teacher at Old Trail School in Ohio. “If this would have come out years ago, more teachers would likely be feeling way less burnout. You can tell this is a product made by teachers for teachers. They thought of everything. If you’re a teacher and haven’t tried this tool, do it.”
The Future of AI in Education
As the adoption of AI in education continues to grow, we’re witnessing a shift in attitudes. What was once viewed with skepticism—particularly when tools like ChatGPT first hit the scene—is now being embraced by teachers as a way to enhance both their own productivity and the learning experience of their students.
Arman Jaffer, CEO of Brisk Teaching, shared, “We talk to teachers and school administrators every day to understand what’s top of mind for them. It’s been interesting to see how attitudes have changed rapidly about generative AI. Many we talk to have shifted from ‘Ban it,’ to ‘How can teachers use this?’ to ‘How can schools use AI to engage students and teach them the skills of the future?’”
This shift is a testament to the value AI brings in creating more personalized learning experiences. Tools like Brisk Boost, which adapt to each student’s needs, represent the future of differentiated learning. Rather than treating all students the same, AI allows teachers to tailor their instruction to better suit the unique learning styles and abilities of their students.
Empowering Educators for the Future
The benefits of AI in education go far beyond simple time savings. By automating the most tedious and time-consuming tasks, AI is empowering teachers to focus on what truly matters—engaging with students and fostering a better learning environment. Solutions like Brisk Teaching’s AI-powered Chrome extension and Brisk Boost are not only helping to alleviate teacher burnout but also paving the way for a more sustainable and effective future for education.
It is clear that AI is not just a passing trend—it’s a transformative technology that will shape the future of education for years to come. Teachers, administrators, and policymakers should embrace AI tools that integrate seamlessly with existing systems, saving time and enhancing the learning experience. With AI as an ally, educators can finally find the balance they’ve been seeking between managing administrative tasks and delivering quality education to their students.
]]>Nearly two dozen U.S. bishops have petitioned the USCCB to reshape the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, with a focus on providing scholarships to Catholic schools.
U.S. bishops meet Nov. 14, 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the fall plenary assembly of the U.S. bishops’ conference. Credit: Pillar Media.
One signatory to the request told The Pillar this week that he hopes U.S. bishops will discern together how best they can help families break out of poverty, while emphasizing Catholic education as an anti-poverty measure.
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Twenty-three U.S. diocesan bishops signed an Aug. 6 proposal for a measure called a “varium,” suggesting that the U.S. bishops’ conference should “transform the Catholic Campaign for Human Development” by 2026.
The proposal, a copy of which was obtained by The Pillar, urged that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development be restructured, to provide more resources for local dioceses, and to distribute grants for Catholic school scholarships while continuing to make funds available for local anti-poverty initiatives.
The proposal has been formally submitted to the USCCB’s committee on priorities and plans, and consultation with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development subcommittee is already underway.
But with committee discussions likely to take place in November, and bishops holding a retreat in place of their spring meeting next year, there will not likely be broad discussion on the issue among the U.S. episcopate until November 2025.
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, funded by a USCCB-organized second collection in parish churches, funds grants for community organizing initiatives and programs that aim to help address the causes of systemic and generational poverty. But the project has faltered in recent years, leading to USCCB layoffs, diminished cash reserves, and a June discussion among bishops about the future of CCHD.
The August proposal, seemingly meant to continue the anti-poverty aims of CCHD, would see the retooled collection overseen by a proposed new USCCB collections subcommittee, which would be called the Subcommittee to Assist the Poor.
After obtaining a copy of the varium proposal last week, The Pillar contacted some signatories for comment. While others reached declined questions, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a principal organizer of the proposal, agreed to an interview on the issue.
Paprocki lamented that the document had been obtained the media, but agreed to offer comments regarding its content, and the reason bishops have proposed a change.
The bishop said he was “dismayed” that a copy of the proposal had been obtained by The Pillar, and lamented that a “confidential process” had been disrupted by media engagement.
“We are talking about something that’s still in process,” Paprocki explained, “which is in the proposal stage.”
But Paprocki acknowledged that he had worked with Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City to develop the proposal, which has now garnered support from more than 20 bishops.
“I think there is a sense that we need to look at the most effective way to help poor people. We want to help people. We want to help break the cycle of poverty. We understand very well what the purposes of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development are, and as something distinct from the many charitable things that are done through organizations like Catholic Charities or St. Vincent de Paul that help provide basic needs for people in poverty,” Paprocki said.
“But in terms of breaking the cycle of poverty — what’s the most effective way to do that?” Paprocki asked.
“Traditionally, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has funded community organizers, and ways of getting people in a community organized to pursue various issues and causes. We’re not saying that that’s a bad thing,” the bishop said.
“I’m sure there are many good things that have come out of that approach, but I think after several decades of that approach now: Is the most effective approach?”
Paprocki said he believes that funding Catholic education could be a more effective way to combat cycles of poverty.
“Really, one of the most effective ways to help people out of poverty is through education. That’s what our Catholic schools try to do, and do it well,” the bishop said, adding that he has known personally people who have seen Catholic education help them to overcome poverty.
“I have met people in leadership positions, for example, in Catholic healthcare who will tell me that they were raised in a very poor neighborhood, and that they lived in poverty, but they went to a Catholic school and they got a good education that enabled them to get into a good high school and a good college, and then eventually wound up in a very well-paying job.”
“And so they specifically attribute that to the Catholic education that they received that enabled them to rise out of poverty,” Paprocki said.
In addition to Paprocki’s experience, experts have long recognized the impact of Catholic school education on underserved communities in the U.S. In 2021, Boston College professor Charles Cownie noted “ a long history of research identifying associations between Catholic school attendance by students of color living in poverty or lower-income environments and the development of certain positive student outcomes such as high school graduation rates, college admission and civic engagement.”
Research on the subject “has clearly demonstrated that these schools serve the mission of the Church to serve the marginalized and excluded, which also serves the public interest of breaking the legacy of poverty in these communities,” he noted.
At the University of Notre Dame Law School, dean Nicole Garnett noted in 2020 the same reality, arguing that “urban Catholic schools have a long and noble record of helping to lift students out of poverty” — and leave a demonstrable “Catholic school effect,” impacting “the academic performance and life outcomes of disadvantaged minority students.”
Garnett cited research which has found that “Catholic school attendance increased the likelihood that a minority student would graduate from high school from 62 percent to 88 percent and more than doubled the likelihood that a similar student would graduate from college.”
“Catholic school students, controlling for a range of predictive demographic factors, are more likely to finish high school, attend college and graduate, maintain steady employment, and earn higher wages than similar students attending other types of schools,” Garnett noted.
For his part, Paprocki added that Catholic schools face a crisis in many underserved American communities.
“Many dioceses are seeing Catholic schools closing, which is not what we want to see happening, especially in poor neighborhoods or rural communities where it’s difficult to keep raising tuition.”
“The whole financial underpinnings of Catholic education are being strained right now,” Paprocki said, adding that when CCHD was founded in the 1960s, schools staffed by religious institutes faced lower costs than they do now.
“I think we’re looking at this varium proposal as not necessarily replacing the community organizations that we’ve funded in the past, but as allowing for new possibilities as well — for example, to help with funding Catholic schools in poor neighborhoods and inner cities or rural areas.”
Indeed, the varium proposal text would seem to allow for a broad set of possibilities, with discretion afforded to local bishops.
The text proposes that half of funds collected by an annual national collection be “retained in the local dioceses for: 1) grants to local programs that seek to help the poor to break out of structural or generational poverty as determined by the diocesan bishop, and 2) educational scholarships in Catholic schools (K-12) to benefit children living in poverty or in sparsely populated areas.”
The other half, it proposes, “would be distributed nationally to poorer dioceses, with the diocesan bishop in such dioceses deciding how the funds will best be allocated to assist the poor through educational scholarships in Catholic schools (K-12) and local programs that seek to help the poor to break out of structural or generational poverty.”
Paprocki told The Pillar that the proposal is a work in progress, and that he expects it could be changed, modified, or refined as more bishops enter the conversation.
In fact, he said, his discussions with bishops have proven “this is a work in progress,” the bishop said.
“When I first addressed this, I talked about sunsetting CCHD and replacing it with a national campaign for Catholic education,” Paprocki said.
But through “conversation with other bishops, the sense emerged that rather than taking that direct step — like shutting down the campaign and then starting something new — [we might] transform what we’ve got … not necessarily making this radical shift from one thing to another, but starting instead to include the possibility of helping to fund Catholic education through this campaign.”
The bishop said he understands that some observers have criticized proposed changes to CCHD as attacks on the bishops’ anti-poverty efforts.
“I think there is a natural tendency for people who have been strong supporters of a certain way of doing things, that if you question that or you suggest that maybe there’s a more effective way of doing things, they will perhaps be defensive, and want to maintain the status quo.”
But Paprocki said he hopes that among bishops, discussion about CCHD’s future will take on a tone of collaboration, rather than division.
“My feeling is that this is certainly not the final product, and I don’t want to say ‘take it or leave it.’ It’s an idea that’s been submitted to the proper channels at the USCCB, and if other people want to tweak it in a different direction, I think it’s good that we can have conversations about that.”
And if potential donors “see that CCHD is looking to responsibly reform itself, and to do something that would be more attractive to people, I think that could actually be a way of saving CCHD,” Paprocki said.
The bishop added his expectation that a thorough discussion among bishops is likely to take more than a year — especially to achieve consensus among a plurality of bishops.
“The wheels of any large organization move slowly,” Paprocki said. “The USCCB has a number of relevant committees, and it’s important to have real consensus and to get people on board.”
“I’m not looking to rush something through just for the sake of getting it done in a hurry. I want there to be buy-in — with bishops across the board looking together at this and saying, ‘All right, this is the direction we need to go.’”
“For a consensus about the way we would go forward — If it takes a little while to do that, that’s fine with me.”
Among the signatories to Paprocki’s proposal were four metropolitan archbishops: Naumann, Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver, Archbishop Alex Sample of Portland, and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco.
Diocesan bishop signatories were: Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland, Bishop John Barres of Rockville Centre, Bishop Joseph Brennan of Freson, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Bishop Carl Kemme of Wichita, Bishop David Konderla of Tulsa, Bishop Terry LaValley of Ogdensburg, Bishop Stephen Parkes of Savannah, Paprocki of Springfield, Bishop Erik Pohlmeir of St. Augustine, Bishop Steven Raica of Birmingham, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Bishop Alfred Schlert of Allentown, Bishop Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa, Bishop David Walkowiak of Grand Rapids, and Bishop Chad Zielinski of New Ulm.
It is not clear whether additional bishops have signed on to the varium proposal since it was initially submitted to the USCCB.
]]>UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A new book by a Penn State College of Education professor offers insights into how educators can learn to create equitable and accessible high-achieving pathways and learning opportunities for low-income students of color.
“This book offers an exciting new direction for research and practice in the schooling of students of color,” said Gilberto Q. Conchas, The Wayne K. & Anita Woolfolk Hoy Endowed Chair of Education. “Aside from its contributions to theory, these studies provide specific empirical findings that can be assessed in various contexts.”
The main findings of the research presented in the book is that educational leaders can promote positive relationships and a sense of belonging, Conchas said. Students formed strong bonds with one another and with their teachers. The faculty, in turn, also reported high levels of camaraderie.
“Thus, the student voices and educational leaders demonstrated, as well as the quantitative data show, that teacher relationships and peer relationships matter in school,” he said.
“The Color of Success 2.0: Race and Transformative Pathways for High-Achieving Urban Youth” is a follow-up to Conchas’ award-winning 2006 book, “The Color of Success: Race and High-Achieving Urban Youth.” The original book revealed how and why some low-income students of color, particularly Black, Latino and Vietnamese urban high school students, achieve academic success despite limited opportunity.
“When ‘The Color of Success’ was first published in 2006, I was surprised at how well the book was received,” Conchas said. “Much has occurred since 2006 and this new edition reflects the new realities of our changing society — both the challenges and the opportunities. ‘The Color of Success 2.0’ is more than a second edition as it not only builds on the transformative approaches of the original book, but also utilizes a critical lens to examine the intersectional identities of students and the role of existing power hierarchies within schools.”
In “The Color of Success 2.0,” Conchas said he aimed to amplify student voice; explore school, family and community partnerships; and promote culturally relevant pedagogy and teacher preparation. The new version includes a chapter on Black male optimism after the election of former President Barack Obama.
“With a sense of urgency, readers will gain vital insights for understanding what is needed to create, promote and expand equitable school environments and transformative pathways for racially minoritized urban youth,” Conchas said.
For the original study in the first book, data included interviews with teachers, administrators and staff at Baldwin High School in Northern California during the 1996–97 and 1997–98 academic years. For the sequel, Conchas conducted a follow-up study of 24 Black male 10th- through 12th-grade students at Smith High School, which is in a diverse Southern California city. This case study is embedded within a larger comparative project of Latino, Asian and Black males in the Palmview Male Cooperative (PMC) during 2008–09 and 2012–13. PMC, an extracurricular social and academic academy that consists of racially, ethnically and class-diverse students, is a district-wide initiative that was designed to achieve two main goals: increase high school graduation rates and support professional career planning for “underrepresented promising male students.” The goal of the research project was to determine the effectiveness of the PMC implementation and its ability to improve the educational outcomes of its members. The data, collected through semi-structured interviews with students, presented in the new edition are derived from the 2008-09 phase of the study.
“Through these interviews, we sought to illuminate their perspectives on race and ethnicity, schooling and academic achievement within the context of their lives,” Conchas said.
The new book also includes a chapter on educational leaders and their implementation of transformative school pathways for high-achieving urban youth. This case study explores innovative approaches to educational leadership that promote college and career success, Conchas said.
“These key institutional agents purposely and strategically use approaches more likely to facilitate the necessary cultural change within systems, the analysis of practices and the successful collaboration between partners,” he said.
According to Conchas, the book demonstrates a need to devise institutional support systems and new pedagogical approaches that embrace differences and create a positive disposition toward school success — especially focused on transforming students’ perceptions of the opportunity structure.
“Before tangible progress occurs, we must wrestle with the weight of larger socioeconomic inequity, racism and their devastating impact on the perceptions of students of color regarding social mobility,” Conchas said. “The numerous voices in the book wisely reveal a deafening call that the time is ripe to challenge inequality head-on and promote public school success despite incredible odds.”
Conchas, born to Mexican immigrant farm workers in East Los Angeles, California, obtained a master of arts and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Michigan and a bachelor of arts in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He was an educational policy and social context professor at the University of California, Irvine; an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and a senior program officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
]]>Escalon Educational Foundation officials are putting the pieces in place for the organization’s third annual Edible Expo, set for Saturday, Oct. 5 at the Escalon Community Center.
Hours for the event are 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and tickets are currently for sale; cost is $40 each, buy six or more at $35 per ticket.
The Edible Expo brings together local restaurants and businesses to showcase their food and beverage products with attendees visiting the various booths to enjoy sampling the wares. Past years have included food items from ravioli to steak bites, along with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
There will also be an opportunity to purchase tickets for raffle drawings, as well as take part in silent and live auctions during the evening.
Vendors confirmed for the Edible Expo include, among others, Tacos de Nieve, Hula’s, D’Boni’s Pizza, Austin Meats, Chick-Fil-A, Canes, Lumberyard Cellars, Clark Ferrea, Seagram’s Escapes, Raven Sourdough Co., Escalon Premier Brands and Mar Val.
“We are still waiting on verification from a couple more,” noted April Adams, one of the event coordinators. “We also are accepting auction items, donations and have room for a couple more food vendors.”
For tickets, more information or to get involved, contact Adams at 209-606-6487. You can also get tickets by visiting the Escalon Educational Foundation’s Facebook page.
]]>PADILLA TELLS ME SHE PLANS TO STICK IT OUT TO THE VERY END. MARIANA PADILLA IS NOW THE FIFTH NEW MEXICO PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SECRETARY UNDER GOVERNOR MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM’S ADMINISTRATION. PADILLA, APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR JUST TWO WEEKS AFTER DOCTOR ARSENIO ROMERO ABRUPTLY RESIGNED THE POSITION LAST MONTH. A HIGH TURNOVER RATE SINCE 2019. NEW MEXICO LAST IN EDUCATION AMONG 50 STATES, ACCORDING TO THE KIDS COUNT DATA RELEASED. THIS YEAR. THE STATE BOUNCING BETWEEN THE 49TH AND 50TH SPOT FOR OVER A DECADE. BOTH THE GOVERNOR AND PADILLA, ADDRESSING CONCERNS WITH ME AT THE ROUNDHOUSE TODAY. STUDENTS ULTIMATELY SUFFER RIGHT WITH WHAT CONSTANT LEADERSHIP CHANGE. AND WE’RE STILL LAST IN EDUCATION. YOU SAID IT’S NOT ENOUGH. LIKE YOU GUYS ARE EXPRESSING YOUR EFFORTS AND EVERYTHING THAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING. BUT JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO, YOU SAID IT’S NOT ENOUGH, RIGHT? SO HOW ELSE DO YOU PLAN TO TAKE ON THIS CHALLENGE? IN ADDRESSING THE STATE’S EDUCATION, BECAUSE WE HEARD OF STRUCTURED LITERACY, WE HEARD OF CHECKING THE DATA. I’M GOING TO DISAGREE WITH THAT PREMISE. THE FORMER SECRETARY AND MOST OF THE OTHER SECRETARIES, WHICH IS NOT THEIR JOB, AREN’T IN THE CLASSROOM. THEY’RE EDUCATORS WHO ARE MENTORED BY THEIR PRINCIPALS, WHO ARE PERFORMING UNDER THEIR SUPERINTENDENTS, WHO ARE THEN RESPONSIBLE TO A SCHOOL BOARD, OF WHICH WE HAVE VERY LIMITED POWER TO ENGAGE IN A DIRECT FASHION. THANK YOU, GOVERNOR, IN REGARDS TO WHAT YOU DISAGREE WITH, ARE YOU DISAGREEING WITH THE FACT THAT WE’RE 50TH IN EDUCATION? THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE STATING. SO THE DATA REALLY WASN’T MY DISAGREEMENT WITH YOU. AND ACTUALLY I HAD NO DISAGREEMENT WITH YOU BECAUSE WE’RE WE’RE PROFESSIONALS AND WE HAVE DIFFERENT STYLES. IT’S JUST THAT WE’RE HEARING THE SAME THING ALL THE TIME, AND THE STUDENTS ARE SUFFERING, AND THE PARENTS ARE CONCERNED. SO MY QUESTION WAS, WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO TO TAKE ON THIS CHALLENGE? HAVE BEEN HERE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE ADMINISTRATION. I’VE BEEN CONSISTENTLY WORKING ON EDUCATION, THE THINGS THAT WE’RE SAYING ARE OUR PLAN, THE STRATEGIES THEY’VE BEEN CONSISTENTLY OUR STRATEGIES. WE’VE BEEN WORKING ON THESE THROUGHOUT THE ADMINISTRATION. SO ABSOLUTELY, I WILL BE HERE TILL THE END. FAITH EGBUONU KOAT ACTION SEVEN NEWS SAYS SHE PLANS TO IMPROVE
Gov. Lujan Grisham, new head of Public Education Dept. secretary address concerns
“I will be here until the end. I made that commitment to governor, and to our state and to myself,” NMPED Secretary Mariana Padilla told KOAT
Updated: 10:19 PM MDT Sep 17, 2024
Video above: New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary Mariana Padilla was joined alongside Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico’s Lt. Gov., Howie Morales, New Mexico Higher Education Department acting secretary, Stephanie Rodriguez, and cabinet secretary for the Early Childhood Education Care Department, Elizabeth Groginsky, for a roundtable discussion on the state’s education at the New Mexico State Capitol on Tuesday, Sept. 17. MORE: New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary resignation raises questions Padilla and Lujan Grisham addressed progress as well as concerns with the state’s education. According to Annie E. Casey Kids Count Data, New Mexico has ranked 50th in education nationwide over the past eight years. KOAT’s Faith Egbuonu asked questions regarding Padilla’s plans to address the state’s education. The full Q & A transcript with the governor and Padilla is toward the end of the article.”When you use the supplemental income and access to programs, data, it shows that New Mexico moves from last place in the nation to child poverty, into the 22nd. This is incredible news for the state because we’ve been long saying that the results that we’re seeing on the ground with families are reflected in some of the antiquated two-year-old and again, antiquated, narrow data that the census, typically uses,” Lujan Grisham stated during Tuesday’s roundtable. Related: Governor appoints new public education secretary”The folks in this room who are completely responsible for the policies and efforts that are beginning to show incredible results in closing those really wide proficiency and achievement gaps, that are, in fact, paying off, and their hard work is now the protocol for most of the states in the nation,” Lujan Grisham said.Lujan Grisham appointed Padilla as secretary of NMPED on Sept. 10 following Dr. Arsenio Romero’s resignation in Aug. 2024. Padilla is the fifth secretary to be appointed under Lujan Grisham’s administration since 2019.”The time now is to focus on a parallel accountability track, one, inside PED and the entire children’s cabinet and two inside the schools themselves. It can’t be focused on one or the other, which is been sort of typical of government, including to some degree, ours. Our approach focused on one and the other and one and on the other, you’re going to see us have a parallel impact. We should show the same kind of striking results that the updated census data showed us this morning,” Lujan Grisham said. Note: Supplemental Poverty Measure Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is referring to regarding updated census data. According to New Mexico Voice for Children, Communications Director, Sharon Kayne, “this is a new poverty rate from the Census that wasn’t available when the Kids Count rankings were determined.” “I want to just reiterate how proud I am of this team, how incredibly capable they are, how lucky we are to have, secretary designate Padilla, at the helm directly in the department providing this continuity and insight,” Lujan Grisham added.Padilla on improvements within the state’s education system “We’re ensuring that kids get support early on and that support and interventions continue without any delays or gaps throughout the K-12 system and into secondary education and into career. This improvement around child poverty is significant. It’s significant for child well-being. But we also know that if we don’t address things like the impacts of poverty, kids are not prepared and ready to learn in the classroom,” Padilla said during Tuesday’s roundtable. “At the public education department, we’ve been focused on increasing school resources and prioritizing the things that we know make a difference. We know what makes a difference for kids. And in this work, we’ve made gains in student achievement, particularly in literacy. As been mentioned, we are training all of our educators in elementary school and will soon be training middle school teachers in structured literacy,” Padilla said. AttendanceRelated: CYFD: 789 truancy referrals amid chronic absenteeism in New Mexico schools”We’re also making gains in attendance. Last year we saw 7% improvement in our chronic absenteeism. And that’s because of the investments and steps we’re taking at the state, the efforts of ensuring that we have funding for attendance and interventionists that are working with students and working with families to address the issues that are preventing them from being in the classroom,” Padilla said. “So, these gains are notable. But we are clear this is not enough and it’s not good enough. Our students deserve better, and they’re counting on us, to put our full effort in creating the best educational system that we can, I have a strong belief in the potential of our students and our educators, and I know what they’re capable of,” Padilla added.Faith Egbuonu: I have a question for the governor, but I also have a question for Mariana.The students ultimately suffer with constant leadership change, and we’re still last in education. You (Mariana) said it’s not enough. You all are expressing your efforts and everything that you all are doing. But just a few minutes ago, you said it’s not enough, right? So how else do you plan to take on this challenge in addressing the city’s education, because we heard of structured literacy, we heard of checking the data. When we did a one- on-one interview with Dr. Arsenio Romero, he was stating the same thing and then he left, about a year and six months later. So, do you plan to stick around and see it through because our students are suffering. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: I’m going to disagree with that premise. The former secretary and most of the other secretaries, which is not their job aren’t in the classroom, there are educators who are mentored by their principals who are performing under their superintendents who are then responsible to a school board, of which we have very limited power to engage in a direct fashion.That’s done really in our state. Right, wrong or indifferent. But it’s a fact by collaboration. The person who’s been the constant collaborator has been Mariana Padilla. So, I just reject that premise. Also, the poverty standards, aren’t in any of those outcomes. And while I worry a little bit about that two-year-old lag data that ranks New Mexico, and you have to look inside that ranking, it’s not in every area. It’s not a very reflective, data point, frankly. But I don’t care whether it says 48, 42 in some areas, 50 tied with someone else. It took Mississippi ten years without Covid to move the needle. It took us a year. It’s showing that we can, with concentrated efforts, do amazing work. But what I need now is for the schools to embrace as robustly as we did with literacy. Most of that work was stood up by Mariana and the two other secretaries in this room who were also in those literacy mentoring classrooms. And the results are amazing. And the year before that, we released data showing the biggest impacts were for the hardest to serve students, tribal students. So, representing Native Americans, community, same thing, poverty, distance, access to schools in a way that’s meaningful. Particularly there was special education, who’s missing here is Dr. Cage, who’s out of town, who is also now building not only that collaboration, but for the first time, communicating with parents of special education students. So, I want to at least from my perspective, I hope I don’t sound to argumentative, but the continuity needs to be in the classroom. That’s why we proposed more hours, more days, more time extended learning. What PED needs is someone who can distinguish between a role in the classroom, maybe academic efforts that are, through the university. So, I’ll use that most recent example. And someone can focus on the department’s accountability more directly. And each Secretary’s brought their own sort of review of how to do that. And I’ve long been frustrated that it has to be both. You can’t choose one of those aspects. PED can do better, and schools can do better, and then we can provide the bridge. So, I just want to point that out. It makes it sound like having a change in a cabinet secretary means kids didn’t have access in the classroom. And that’s not true and then I do think your other question is incredibly, fair and poignant about the secretary. What is it exactly that she will do that’s different here? And I appreciate that you’ve asked that question. Faith Egbuonu: So, in regard to what you disagree with— are you disagreeing with the fact that we’re 50th in education? That’s what you’re stating? I’m going off the Data Count.Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: Yes, it’s both. There are other data points which we’re going to really start to push out and talk about because it depends on what you’re reading, how old it is and in what areas you’re looking for improvements. So, the data really wasn’t my disagreement with you, and actually, I had no disagreement with you because we’re professionals, and we have different styles.But I was just saying that the way in which I heard your question about having different leadership really creates a hardship. You know, I would disagree with that characterization for a student in the classroom.Faith Egbuonu: That was my next question. When we had a one-on-one with Dr. Arsenio Romero. He was on it. He wanted to help improve the state’s education, whatever the case may be. So, I’m not comparing your (Mariana) work to his. It’s that we’re hearing the same thing all the time. And the students are suffering, and the parents are concerned. So, my question was, what do you plan to do to take on this challenge? Because I know it’s a huge challenge. Now in regard to New Mexico being 50th in education, that just came out this year with the kids count. It’s not to take away from the strides that you guys are making—and governor, to your point with Mississippi and New Mexico, I did a report on that. I care about the state’s education. It is a question on people’s mind when it comes to the parents and our viewers. We get it all the time. You (Mariana) are the fifth person right now under her administration. So, people are just concerned. We heard about the structure literacy. We heard about the data. We just want to know are you going stick it out and see it through. We want to see great strides with our education. We want the state to continue to do well.Mariana Padilla: Faith, Thank you. I’ll just build off of the governor’s really great response. And I said in my introductory remarks, I have been here since the beginning of the administration. I’ve been consistently working on education, the things that we’re saying our plan, the strategies they’ve been consistently our strategies. We’ve been working on these throughout the administration. So absolutely, I will be here till the end. I made that commitment to Governor, and to our state and to myself that this is an opportunity. Serving in this administration for all of us is is an opportunity to do all that we can for me, for the children and families of our state. And, and I will be here until the end and I’m excited to, to be doing that at the public education department.Note: Padilla responds to another question from a journalist, then circles back to mine from earlier in response to her previous statement: “So, these gains are notable. But we are clear this is not enough and it’s not good enough. Our students deserve better, and they’re counting on us, to put our full effort in creating the best educational system that we can, I have a strong belief in the potential of our students and our educators, and I know what they’re capable of,” Padilla added.And, I’ll go back to you, Faith. It’s not so much that it’s not enough, it’s that the work isn’t done, and the work continues. We haven’t stopped. There hasn’t been a hesitation or a slowdown on any of this effort. It has been consistent throughout the administration, and the leadership. And I’ll say for myself in my role in this, in this office, has been completely consistent and focused.Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: This poverty data is very telling about the conditions in which our families will be in, which means they’ll have more opportunities. And I don’t want that to sound like I’m pushing back on other reporters. We invited you guys because we appreciate your questions, and we think they are reflective of how parents and schools are feeling and students. So, we want to address those head on.View Mariana Padilla’s biography, here.Stay updated on the latest news updates with the KOAT app. You can download it here.
SANTA FE, N.M. —
Video above: New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary Mariana Padilla was joined alongside Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico’s Lt. Gov., Howie Morales, New Mexico Higher Education Department acting secretary, Stephanie Rodriguez, and cabinet secretary for the Early Childhood Education Care Department, Elizabeth Groginsky, for a roundtable discussion on the state’s education at the New Mexico State Capitol on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
MORE: New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary resignation raises questions
New Mexico Kids Can
2024 NM Kids Count, Rankings: New Mexico ranks 50th for education nationwide.
Padilla and Lujan Grisham addressed progress as well as concerns with the state’s education. According to Annie E. Casey Kids Count Data, New Mexico has ranked 50th in education nationwide over the past eight years. KOAT’s Faith Egbuonu asked questions regarding Padilla’s plans to address the state’s education. The full Q & A transcript with the governor and Padilla is toward the end of the article.
Annie E. Casey Foundation
2024 NM Kids Count Data: New Mexico ranks 50th in the nation for education
“When you use the supplemental income and access to programs, data, it shows that New Mexico moves from last place in the nation to child poverty, into the 22nd. This is incredible news for the state because we’ve been long saying that the results that we’re seeing on the ground with families are reflected in some of the antiquated two-year-old and again, antiquated, narrow data that the census, typically uses,” Lujan Grisham stated during Tuesday’s roundtable.
Related: Governor appoints new public education secretary
“The folks in this room who are completely responsible for the policies and efforts that are beginning to show incredible results in closing those really wide proficiency and achievement gaps, that are, in fact, paying off, and their hard work is now the protocol for most of the states in the nation,” Lujan Grisham said.
Annie E. Casey Foundation
2024 NM Kids Count Data: Overall Rank for New Mexico, 50
Lujan Grisham appointed Padilla as secretary of NMPED on Sept. 10 following Dr. Arsenio Romero’s resignation in Aug. 2024. Padilla is the fifth secretary to be appointed under Lujan Grisham’s administration since 2019.
“The time now is to focus on a parallel accountability track, one, inside PED and the entire children’s cabinet and two inside the schools themselves. It can’t be focused on one or the other, which is been sort of typical of government, including to some degree, ours. Our approach focused on one and the other and one and on the other, you’re going to see us have a parallel impact. We should show the same kind of striking results that the updated census data showed us this morning,” Lujan Grisham said.
Note: Supplemental Poverty Measure Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is referring to regarding updated census data. According to New Mexico Voice for Children, Communications Director, Sharon Kayne, “this is a new poverty rate from the Census that wasn’t available when the Kids Count rankings were determined.”
“I want to just reiterate how proud I am of this team, how incredibly capable they are, how lucky we are to have, secretary designate Padilla, at the helm directly in the department providing this continuity and insight,” Lujan Grisham added.
Padilla on improvements within the state’s education system
“We’re ensuring that kids get support early on and that support and interventions continue without any delays or gaps throughout the K-12 system and into secondary education and into career. This improvement around child poverty is significant. It’s significant for child well-being. But we also know that if we don’t address things like the impacts of poverty, kids are not prepared and ready to learn in the classroom,” Padilla said during Tuesday’s roundtable.
“At the public education department, we’ve been focused on increasing school resources and prioritizing the things that we know make a difference. We know what makes a difference for kids. And in this work, we’ve made gains in student achievement, particularly in literacy. As been mentioned, we are training all of our educators in elementary school and will soon be training middle school teachers in structured literacy,” Padilla said.
Attendance
Related: CYFD: 789 truancy referrals amid chronic absenteeism in New Mexico schools
“We’re also making gains in attendance. Last year we saw 7% improvement in our chronic absenteeism. And that’s because of the investments and steps we’re taking at the state, the efforts of ensuring that we have funding for attendance and interventionists that are working with students and working with families to address the issues that are preventing them from being in the classroom,” Padilla said.
“So, these gains are notable. But we are clear this is not enough and it’s not good enough. Our students deserve better, and they’re counting on us, to put our full effort in creating the best educational system that we can, I have a strong belief in the potential of our students and our educators, and I know what they’re capable of,” Padilla added.
Faith Egbuonu: I have a question for the governor, but I also have a question for Mariana.
The students ultimately suffer with constant leadership change, and we’re still last in education. You (Mariana) said it’s not enough. You all are expressing your efforts and everything that you all are doing. But just a few minutes ago, you said it’s not enough, right? So how else do you plan to take on this challenge in addressing the city’s education, because we heard of structured literacy, we heard of checking the data. When we did a one- on-one interview with Dr. Arsenio Romero, he was stating the same thing and then he left, about a year and six months later. So, do you plan to stick around and see it through because our students are suffering.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: I’m going to disagree with that premise. The former secretary and most of the other secretaries, which is not their job aren’t in the classroom, there are educators who are mentored by their principals who are performing under their superintendents who are then responsible to a school board, of which we have very limited power to engage in a direct fashion.
That’s done really in our state. Right, wrong or indifferent. But it’s a fact by collaboration. The person who’s been the constant collaborator has been Mariana Padilla. So, I just reject that premise. Also, the poverty standards, aren’t in any of those outcomes. And while I worry a little bit about that two-year-old lag data that ranks New Mexico, and you have to look inside that ranking, it’s not in every area.
It’s not a very reflective, data point, frankly. But I don’t care whether it says 48, 42 in some areas, 50 tied with someone else. It took Mississippi ten years without Covid to move the needle. It took us a year. It’s showing that we can, with concentrated efforts, do amazing work. But what I need now is for the schools to embrace as robustly as we did with literacy.
Most of that work was stood up by Mariana and the two other secretaries in this room who were also in those literacy mentoring classrooms. And the results are amazing. And the year before that, we released data showing the biggest impacts were for the hardest to serve students, tribal students. So, representing Native Americans, community, same thing, poverty, distance, access to schools in a way that’s meaningful.
Particularly there was special education, who’s missing here is Dr. Cage, who’s out of town, who is also now building not only that collaboration, but for the first time, communicating with parents of special education students. So, I want to at least from my perspective, I hope I don’t sound to argumentative, but the continuity needs to be in the classroom.
That’s why we proposed more hours, more days, more time extended learning. What PED needs is someone who can distinguish between a role in the classroom, maybe academic efforts that are, through the university. So, I’ll use that most recent example. And someone can focus on the department’s accountability more directly. And each Secretary’s brought their own sort of review of how to do that. And I’ve long been frustrated that it has to be both. You can’t choose one of those aspects. PED can do better, and schools can do better, and then we can provide the bridge. So, I just want to point that out. It makes it sound like having a change in a cabinet secretary means kids didn’t have access in the classroom. And that’s not true and then I do think your other question is incredibly, fair and poignant about the secretary. What is it exactly that she will do that’s different here? And I appreciate that you’ve asked that question.
Faith Egbuonu: So, in regard to what you disagree with— are you disagreeing with the fact that we’re 50th in education? That’s what you’re stating? I’m going off the Data Count.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: Yes, it’s both. There are other data points which we’re going to really start to push out and talk about because it depends on what you’re reading, how old it is and in what areas you’re looking for improvements. So, the data really wasn’t my disagreement with you, and actually, I had no disagreement with you because we’re professionals, and we have different styles.
But I was just saying that the way in which I heard your question about having different leadership really creates a hardship. You know, I would disagree with that characterization for a student in the classroom.
Faith Egbuonu: That was my next question. When we had a one-on-one with Dr. Arsenio Romero. He was on it. He wanted to help improve the state’s education, whatever the case may be. So, I’m not comparing your (Mariana) work to his. It’s that we’re hearing the same thing all the time. And the students are suffering, and the parents are concerned.
So, my question was, what do you plan to do to take on this challenge? Because I know it’s a huge challenge. Now in regard to New Mexico being 50th in education, that just came out this year with the kids count. It’s not to take away from the strides that you guys are making—and governor, to your point with Mississippi and New Mexico, I did a report on that.
I care about the state’s education. It is a question on people’s mind when it comes to the parents and our viewers. We get it all the time. You (Mariana) are the fifth person right now under her administration. So, people are just concerned. We heard about the structure literacy. We heard about the data. We just want to know are you going stick it out and see it through. We want to see great strides with our education. We want the state to continue to do well.
Mariana Padilla: Faith, Thank you. I’ll just build off of the governor’s really great response. And I said in my introductory remarks, I have been here since the beginning of the administration. I’ve been consistently working on education, the things that we’re saying our plan, the strategies they’ve been consistently our strategies. We’ve been working on these throughout the administration.
So absolutely, I will be here till the end. I made that commitment to Governor, and to our state and to myself that this is an opportunity. Serving in this administration for all of us is is an opportunity to do all that we can for me, for the children and families of our state. And, and I will be here until the end and I’m excited to, to be doing that at the public education department.
Note: Padilla responds to another question from a journalist, then circles back to mine from earlier in response to her previous statement: “So, these gains are notable. But we are clear this is not enough and it’s not good enough. Our students deserve better, and they’re counting on us, to put our full effort in creating the best educational system that we can, I have a strong belief in the potential of our students and our educators, and I know what they’re capable of,” Padilla added.
And, I’ll go back to you, Faith. It’s not so much that it’s not enough, it’s that the work isn’t done, and the work continues. We haven’t stopped. There hasn’t been a hesitation or a slowdown on any of this effort. It has been consistent throughout the administration, and the leadership. And I’ll say for myself in my role in this, in this office, has been completely consistent and focused.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: This poverty data is very telling about the conditions in which our families will be in, which means they’ll have more opportunities. And I don’t want that to sound like I’m pushing back on other reporters. We invited you guys because we appreciate your questions, and we think they are reflective of how parents and schools are feeling and students. So, we want to address those head on.
View Mariana Padilla’s biography, here.
Stay updated on the latest news updates with the KOAT app. You can download it here.
]]>Dean West, OCDE’s associate superintendent of Business Services, was honored by the California County Superintendents on Tuesday during the group’s yearly awards ceremony and reception.
The organization, which supports county superintendents across the state, annually spotlights individuals who significantly advance the mission of supporting educational excellence.
Dean West, OCDE’s associate superintendent of Business Services, was honored by the California County Superintendents organization on Tuesday night.
Star Awards were presented in five categories by five corresponding committees. West, who has been a key member of the Orange County Department of Education’s leadership team since early 2017, was recognized by the Business and Administration Service Committee for his exceptional leadership and service.
“Our focus is on continuously enhancing student support through effective partnerships and strong internal practices,” West told the OCDE Newsroom. “Being recognized with this award is a humbling affirmation of our team’s commitment to advancing education in Orange County through collaboration and innovation. It reminds us of the impact we can have and motivates us to keep striving for excellence in service to our students.”
West manages OCDE’s Business Services division, which supports 28 Orange County school districts with financial management, Local Control Accountability Plan support and other business-related services. Before working at the county level, he served as chief business officer for the Laguna Beach Unified School District.
West has also served in school business services roles with the West Covina and San Marino unified school districts, and he worked as an independent consultant and auditor.
Other Star Awards were presented to Caryn Lewis of the Monterey County Office of Education for curricular improvement, Monica Vaughan of the Alameda County Office of Education for student programs, Colleen Slattery of the Placer County Office of Education for personnel services and Julie Judd of the Ventura County Office of Education for technology.
The ceremony also handed out a number of leadership awards and special honors to county superintendents throughout California.
]]>MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD) – In observance of Constitution Day, the Northeast Louisiana Children’s Museum welcomed children from the parish to encourage learning about the Constitution and how it impacts everyday life.
Two schools visited the museum, but the activities were also open to others. While there, students engaged in hands-on activities focused on laws, rights, and voting. KTVE/KARD spoke with the museum’s director about the lessons children were introduced to.
We have Judge Wendell Manning here and his bailiff to teach us a little about the importance of laws. We’ve got a great example using roads and cars and we learn a little bit about the process of voting. Then we actually have a real voting booth, machine where we’re voting on very important things like what’s their favorite exhibit at the Children’s Museum and more importantly, what is their favorite cookie.
Melissa Saye | Director, NELA Children’s Museum
Community leaders were also present at the interactive learning experience. A demonstration regarding the importance of laws was led by Judge Wendell Manning. Judge Manning spoke to KTVE/KARD about what it means for him to share the day’s importance with children in the community.
These are our future citizens to be able to reach out to them to try to explain to them the importance of the constitution, how it impacts them everyday, it’s a wonderful opportunity.
Judge Wendell Manning | 4th Judicial District Court, Morehouse Parish and Ouachita Parish
Replicas of founding documents from the Private Museum of Judge Wendell Manning were also available for viewing at the Museum.
]]>Teachers across South Carolina are sharing their thoughts after the state announced a new partnership with a conservative nonprofit organization that allows their videos to be used inside classrooms.State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver announced a partnership with PragerU on Monday to allow its content to be an optional resource for teachers. However, some teachers are raising concerns about its content.”PragerU is not an educational organization. They’re a YouTube channel,” said Clifford Lee, the vice president of the Greenville County Education Association. “I’m not here to tell students what to believe. I’m here to help them look at situations and information critically and then make up their own minds. The PragerU content doesn’t do that.”Weaver released the following statement to announce the partnership:”As we celebrate Constitution Day, the South Carolina Department of Education reaffirms its commitment to providing an exceptional education for every child. We are thrilled to announce the addition of supplemental materials for South Carolina schools through this partnership. These optional educational materials, aligned with South Carolina’s K-12 standards, will provide a wide range of essential topics like civics and financial literacy. According to U.S. History End of Course exam scores for the last school year, only 44% of South Carolina high schoolers earned a passing grade. We must focus on providing students the tools they need to be successful. These resources will inspire our students, broaden their horizons, and help them thrive in and out of the classroom. By empowering them with the real-life world knowledge and skills, South Carolina is building a brighter future for all.”On its website, PragerU states they “promote American values through short educational videos for people of all ages.”Patrick Kelly of the Palmetto State Teachers Association said the organization’s content could go against language that is written in the state budget. “That is designed to prevent teachers from presenting opinions as facts and indoctrinating students,” Kelly said. “Some of this content is nothing but opinion. It’s not fact-based information.”Kelly also said some teachers have not been informed by the state about what the deal means.”If the purpose of any partnership of this sort is that you think there’s material that should be used in classrooms, you might want to share that information with the people that are tasked every day with running those classrooms,” he said. Greenville County School District officials said they are still processing the new partnership between the state and PragerU. In recent years, PragerU has partnered with states such as Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma for potential use in classrooms. PragerU has not replied to requests for comment regarding its partnership with South Carolina.
GREENVILLE, S.C. —
Teachers across South Carolina are sharing their thoughts after the state announced a new partnership with a conservative nonprofit organization that allows their videos to be used inside classrooms.
State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver announced a partnership with PragerU on Monday to allow its content to be an optional resource for teachers. However, some teachers are raising concerns about its content.
“PragerU is not an educational organization. They’re a YouTube channel,” said Clifford Lee, the vice president of the Greenville County Education Association. “I’m not here to tell students what to believe. I’m here to help them look at situations and information critically and then make up their own minds. The PragerU content doesn’t do that.”
Weaver released the following statement to announce the partnership:
“As we celebrate Constitution Day, the South Carolina Department of Education reaffirms its commitment to providing an exceptional education for every child. We are thrilled to announce the addition of supplemental materials for South Carolina schools through this partnership. These optional educational materials, aligned with South Carolina’s K-12 standards, will provide a wide range of essential topics like civics and financial literacy. According to U.S. History End of Course exam scores for the last school year, only 44% of South Carolina high schoolers earned a passing grade. We must focus on providing students the tools they need to be successful. These resources will inspire our students, broaden their horizons, and help them thrive in and out of the classroom. By empowering them with the real-life world knowledge and skills, South Carolina is building a brighter future for all.”
On its website, PragerU states they “promote American values through short educational videos for people of all ages.”
Patrick Kelly of the Palmetto State Teachers Association said the organization’s content could go against language that is written in the state budget.
“That is designed to prevent teachers from presenting opinions as facts and indoctrinating students,” Kelly said. “Some of this content is nothing but opinion. It’s not fact-based information.”
Kelly also said some teachers have not been informed by the state about what the deal means.
“If the purpose of any partnership of this sort is that you think there’s material that should be used in classrooms, you might want to share that information with the people that are tasked every day with running those classrooms,” he said.
Greenville County School District officials said they are still processing the new partnership between the state and PragerU.
In recent years, PragerU has partnered with states such as Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma for potential use in classrooms.
PragerU has not replied to requests for comment regarding its partnership with South Carolina.
]]>JACKSON, Miss. (WTOK) – The Mississippi Department of Education has released its letter grade ratings for every school district in the state.
For a full list of the MDE’s ratings, click here.
Schools from all over work hard to improve their letter grade each year. Five of our area school districts received an A, 4 receiving a B rating, and 1 receiving a C rating. Enterprise Public School District and Newton County School District were ranked in the top ten school districts in the state.
School Districts with an “A” rating:
Enterprise School DistrictNewton County School DistrictUnion Public School DistrictNeshoba County School DistrictLauderdale County School District
School Districts with a “B” rating:
Newton Municipal School DistrictPhiladelphia Public School DistrictQuitman School DistrictKemper County School District
School District with a “C” rating:
Meridian Public School District
The Meridian Public School District Received a C rating as a whole, but Poplar Springs Elementary went from a C to a B. The principal says it’s all because of a plan they put in place.
“Small group instruction, having the kids in our faces at our tables, listening to them, clearing up those misconceptions, making the corrections in the moment and then listening to what they are saying, hearing them out, hearing their explanations,” said Principal Yolanda Davis.
MPSD did stay at a C rating but saw improvements in College and Career Readiness metrics, an increase in the English Language Learner (ELL) subgroup numbers, and increases in proficiency across English Language Arts (ELA), Math, and Science.
Superintendent of MPSD released this statement:
“I applaud our students, teachers, staff, parents and community for their hard work in helping reach these gains. Moving forward our focus remains on sustaining this momentum, improving even further, and ensuring every student is set up for success in academics and life.”
And for the first time since founded, Newton County High School received an A rating, and they could not be more excited.
“We had improvements across the board. We had improvements at the high school level and all of our end-of-course assessments. We also had improvements in our graduation rate, and that in itself is a collaborative effort between everyone involved with students at the high school,” said Newton County School District Superintendent Brooke Sibley.
The Lauderdale County School District stayed an A rated district for three consecutive years. Dr. John Mark Cain released the statement below:
Statement from Dr. John Mark Cain(WTOK)
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]]>A crash course in how our schools are funded.
by Oliver Miska and Jeff Paul
If you are reading this article about school-funding policy because you are mad about school closures, you are moving toward becoming an advocate for fully and equitably funding schools.
In order to understand why you should sign onto The People’s Big 5 Legislative Priorities to Fully Fund our Schools Campaign, it is important to do a deep dive into the root causes of the fiscal crisis Washington State K–12 schools face this year.
Our goal is to provide a “People’s Guide” as a companion to the state’s “Citizen’s Guide to Washington State K-12 Finance,” a useful, but somewhat intimidating, guide produced by the legislature’s staff, based on an even more intimidating report by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
K–12 school finance is dependent on two key terms: revenue and allocation. Revenue is money collected through taxes, some of which goes toward the education budget, which is then spent, or allocated, by local school districts to run our schools and pay our educators.
Currently, we have a local and state budget crisis because the revenue that’s collected doesn’t meet spending needs. It doesn’t help that federal dollars on education risk being further cut. Equity becomes a second priority to addressing deficits.
We cannot talk about equitable allocation of funds if the pie we’re slicing up doesn’t represent the true wealth of our great state. Our current revenue system (tax code) depends on state and local property taxes and sales taxes, resulting in inequitable funding among school districts depending on whether they have high or low property values and income levels. The pie for education spending isn’t funded by the wealthy, but the working class.
Many education advocates fighting for school funding want to again increase property taxes locally — what they call a “levy lift.” Unfortunately, while this benefits school districts like Seattle and Mercer Island, it burdens low-income residents with higher taxes and results in further inequity across the state. Many, including University of Washington (UW) education professor David Knight, point to changes the legislature made in 2017–2018, in what is called the “McCleary Fix,” as a failed effort to make our school funding system more equitable.
As we explained in an earlier Back to School Series piece, there is a program designed to redistribute funds to districts with low property values that lack local revenue: Local Effort Assistance (LEA). LEA spending only makes up about 3%–4% of our total education spending and doesn’t achieve equality among school districts, let alone equity, according to Knight. Calls for increasing LEA and Learning Assistance Program (LAP) are central to the Big 5, but these are seen as Band-Aids for a broken system.
Proposing a New Model:
The other part of the problem is allocation. The allocation model our state uses, called the prototypical model, does not meet our local or student needs. Turns out that districts’ costs do not match up with allocations in the prototypical model, and that is one reason we have a statewide budget shortfall for education this year.
The prototypical model funds districts based on the three standardized school sizes: high schools (600 students), middle schools (442 students), and elementary schools (400 students). To try to remedy the inadequate prototypical model, the state Legislature has implemented regionalization factors that increase support for districts with higher costs. When a district breaks from the prototypical model in terms of school size, it usually starts to cost more money.
Shaun Scott, candidate for state representative in the 43rd Legislative District (Seattle’s own district), has signed onto the Big 5 and published an op-ed unearthing the problematic history of not only our prototypical model, but also the roots of settler colonialism in our education system.
The question now is which legislators will join Scott, Knight, and a growing number of rank-and-file educators across the state in signing the Big 5 Pledge.
The allocation formula can only be equitable if it comes from equitable revenue. This means we must pass progressive revenue, taxing the rich, so that the pie we spend from represents the great wealth of Washingtonians.
POP QUIZ: Do You Know Your Education Finance?
True or False: The Washington State Constitution uniquely declares: “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.”
Answer: True
Regressive Revenue:
Washington’s tax code, which dictates how our revenue is generated, is decided by the state Legislature and framed by our state constitution. Our system regressively draws on sales and property taxes, and research shows this tax code has a disproportionate impact on the poor and working class (Figures 1 and 2 below). This was decided by five men on the State Supreme Court in 1933.
Our local and state taxes make up 85% of our school funding. As Figures. 3 and 4 below show, local taxes come directly from property tax levies, while state taxes come from a combination of property taxes and business taxes, with the majority coming from sales tax. The federal funds, which make up 10% of the budget, are mostly directed toward costs for Title I, a federal program that assists schools in supporting students from low-income households; special education; and unreliable emergency funds like COVID relief dollars.
Some wrongly focus on measuring equity in K–12 spending by using the percent of our budget, aiming for 50% of our state’s budget (we are currently at 43%). These measurements fail to recognize cost fluctuation between states and inappropriately pit education against other important social services.
Instead we suggest considering Washington’s national ranking for our K–12 education spending as a percent of state income (GDP). According to Knight, Washington spends about 3% of GDP on education, while the national average is closer to 4%. While some advocates are calling for $2 billion more in education funding, an extra 1% of our state GDP would mean a much needed $20 billion more for K–12 per biennium.
OSPI Superintendent Chris Reykdal released his plan for the legislature this week asking for a $3 billion yearly increase for our state’s K–12 budget. Getting to 4% is one goalpost for equity in the coming years, but that would take $10 billion more funds for K–12 education annually. To get there, we will need new progressive revenue.
There is genuine merit to blaming the federal government, since they have yet to fully fund special education as directed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1975. But it is the State’s paramount duty to amply fund our schools, so advocacy efforts have coalesced in Olympia.
Since the 1920s, Washingtonians have fought for a progressive income tax at the state level, but, with little luck, advocates have focused on advocating for increases to local levies for their own schools. The reluctance of the state Legislature to pass progressive revenue pits local districts against one another, as this UW report shows.
POP QUIZ: Do You Know Your Education Finance?
When did the fight to pass progressive tax begin in Washington State?
Answer: 1920s
Reversing Systemic Inequities and ‘Equity’ Half-Measures
The People’s Big 5 Priorities calls for new progressive revenue policies now. One proposal includes replacing regressive taxes, like sales and property taxes, with a progressive income tax, a wealth tax, expanded capital gains taxes, or, more realistically, a combination of multiple policies. But legislators and progressive advocates are waiting to see the results of several billionaire-backed November ballot initiatives before making any announcements on new legislation.
Our revenue system has two-fold inequity: (1) Revenue sources cause disproportionate burden on the poor and working class; and (2) local taxes raise less money for higher-poverty, lower-home-value districts.
The Big 5 would help flatten this regressive curve seen in both graphs in Figure 5 below, by shifting revenue to progressive sources and away from regressive sales and property tax. Expanding programs like LEA and LAP would be the first step, with larger reforms to the prototypical model to come, with a solution informed by experts like Knight, but also districts, students, and labor unions.
Figure 5: Data sourced from King County
If you want to join the 100-plus year people’s fight to tax the rich in Washington and call on our legislators to put progressive language into action, join the People’s Big 5 Campaign to fully fund our schools by taking three easy steps:
Sign the pledge at bit.ly/FullyFundWASchools
Email your legislators through Action Network.
Learn more about the advocacy efforts on our new website at www.ThePeoplesBig5.com
Another education-funding article will come out in October, with a focus on local issues in the Seattle School District and failure of the state’s prototypical model to meet student needs.
We encourage you to reach out to us on X @Back2SchoolSEA with questions or feedback.
The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.
The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.
Oliver Treanor Miska, 33, is a queer Seattleite, educator, community organizer, and lobbyist for educational justice policy in Washington State. Transitioning out of Seattle classrooms after six years, they recently founded Solidarity Policy and Public Affairs, a political consulting firm. As a community organizer, Oliver has held leadership roles within Seattle Democratic Socialist of America and Washington Ethnic Studies Now, where they co-lead a statewide legislative coalition. Oliver is organizing to advocate for progressive revenue and equitable distribution of education spending policy at the state Legislature. To contact them, email [email protected]
Jeff Paul, 31, is a special education paraprofessional who has been serving students in Seattle Public Schools for six years. They are a member of the Seattle Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators, a progressive caucus within the Seattle Education Association. Jeff is actively involved in Seattle’s growing labor movement, serving as a member-at-large on the SEA Paraprofessional Board, as well as a delegate from SEA to the MLK Labor Council. They are a trustee on the executive board of the Young Emerging Labor Leaders and a founding board member of House Our Neighbors, a housing advocacy organization in Seattle that fights for social housing, climate action and connected communities.
Featured Image: Graphic created by Oliver Miska.
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