e-news: June 1, 2023
In This Edition:
1. A Culture of Academic Excellence Supports All Students: Here’s How
2. Lost in Translation: APS’ Elementary Grading Policy Needs a Reboot
3. How Should the County Board Support APS? Candidates Answer APE Questionnaire
4. Arlington Library Launches Programs to Support Students
5. What We’re Reading
6. 5/25 School Board Recap
7. Happening Soon
A Culture of Academic Excellence Supports All Students: Here's How
In the final part of our three-part Think Tank series we outline why and how APS should adopt evidence-based policies to foster a culture of academic excellence, which is shown to correlate with student success for all students. Our recommendations build on decades of research to identify specific and actionable steps that APS should be taking now to improve its performance district-wide, including:
Clear statements of objectives that set high expectations
Quantifiable metrics to lift the performance of underperforming students
Accountability for making progress
Why It Matters: Many quantitative and qualitative metrics show declining academic rigor within APS:
More than half of students are not taking Algebra by 8th grade, meaning they’re not on a path to take calculus by their senior year.
APS graduates report being unprepared for college-level writing.
APS offers fewer advanced course options in middle school than neighboring districts.
APS high schools trail peers in AP, IB & Dual Enrollment courses.
The Bottom Line: APS is embarking on a new six-year strategic planning process - the time to adopt policies known to result in proficiency, mastery of material, and academic excellence is now.
Read our Think Tank here.
Lost in Translation: APS' Elementary Grading Policy Needs a Reboot
If you’ve been confused by your elementary student’s report card, you’re not alone. We dove into APS data and explored the research on the Standards-Based Grading (Assessment) (SBG) guidelines, which APS began piloting five years ago and plans to expand.
What We Found:
APS is not implementing the system as it is intended. Per recommendations, Standards-Based Grading (SBG) levels should be aligned with the four Virginia SOL performance levels.
Why It Matters:
Without alignment with VA SOL performance levels, APS’ version of Standards-Based Grading:
Fails to convey content mastery.
Disguises when struggling students are lacking in content proficiency.
Appears to center the grading scale below grade level – when students receive the middle performance level, it fails to communicate to parents that a child is not on track to understand the year’s content or to pass the SOLs.
The Bottom Line: Students and parents deserve an accurate and straightforward picture of the status of their child’s content mastery and progress.
Our Recommendations: APS should align SBG levels with the four VA SOL performance levels to ensure students and parents understand students’ degree of content mastery. We also encourage APS to gather and provide data on SBG effectiveness, as well as survey and consider students’, teachers’ and parents’ experiences with the new grading system, before mandating and expanding SBG across the school system.
Keep Reading: Check out our special report on APS and Standards Based Grading for the full story.
How Should the County Board Support APS?
Candidates Answer APE Questionnaire
Early Democratic primary voting for Arlington County Board has begun.
Why It Matters: 46.8 percent of local tax revenues is allocated to APS. Also, under VA law, the County Board can provide additional funds for major expenditure categories to the School Board with which the School Board must comply. There are many avenues which the County Board can use to work with APS and Arlington students, including many County programs that support APS students and families such as public library and parks and rec programming.
We asked each of the Board candidates to answer our questionnaire about their views on issues impacting APS and Arlington students. Read their responses.
Arlington Library Launches Programs to Support Students
Two programs at our County Public libraries launch this week:
Summer Reading kicks off this weekend!
After Hours High School Study Night at Central Library starts June 4th!
Why It Matters:
Supporting our students is an all-hands-on-deck effort. There are many ways the County can help support literacy in Arlington.
Our Take:
We supported and advocated for efforts like this so we are thrilled the Library is giving our students more opportunities to read and hit the books. Learn more.
Also, consider joining one of the Library’s new parenting book clubs! June’s book club features a discussion of the much-loved parenting book How to Talk So Kids Will Listen. Learn more and register.
What We're Reading
The Brilliant Math Coach Teaching America’s Kids to Outsmart AI (WSJ)
“...the scholar had the energy of a fourth-grader on Skittles as he delivered a talk called ‘How to Survive the ChatGPT Invasion.’ And his simple, practical advice applied to everyone in the auditorium. ‘Think about what makes humans human,’ Loh said, ‘and lean into that as hard as possible.’ He says the key to survival is knowing how to solve problems—and knowing which problems to solve. He urges math nerds to focus on creativity, emotion and the stuff that distinguishes man from machine and won’t go obsolete. As artificial intelligence gets smarter, the premium on ingenuity will become greater. This is what he wants to drill into their impressionable young minds: Being human will only be more important as AI becomes more powerful.” Read more.
Students are increasingly refusing to go to school. It’s becoming a mental health crisis. (USA Today)
“ ‘We saw a larger shift in kids who were on the cusp before and then after COVID started refusing completely,’ said Krystina Dawson, a school psychologist and mental health supervisor in Fairfield County, Connecticut. ‘Once the pandemic hit and we introduced remote learning, kids got comfortable in their homes.’
" '..Educators and psychologists say the goal for every case of school avoidance is to get the child back into class. It’s important for students to stop using avoidance as a coping strategy before it becomes their primary way of dealing with problems for the rest for their lives,' Dalton said. ‘I don’t treat anxiety. I don’t have to treat anxiety because anxiety is temporary and harmless,’ Dalton said. ‘What I treat is avoidance, and avoidance ruin lives.’
"Others also argue returning to in-person class is important for social development. ‘You’re increasing the diversity of exposure to social interactions that is difficult to replicate at home because there are some things that are uncontrolled at school that benefit your social development,’ said Na’im Madyun, a school psychologist at Prince George County Public Schools in Maryland. ‘You’re more informed about how to navigate those nuances when you develop.’ ” Read more.
How classroom technology is holding students back (MIT Technology Review)
“...the evidence is equivocal at best. Some studies have found positive effects, at least from moderate amounts of computer use, especially in math. But much of the data shows a negative impact at a range of grade levels. A study of millions of high school students in the 36 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that those who used computers heavily at school ‘do a lot worse in most learning outcomes, even after accounting for social background and student demographics.’ According to other studies, college students in the US who used laptops or digital devices in their classes did worse on exams. Eighth graders who took Algebra I online did much worse than those who took the course in person. And fourth graders who used tablets in all or almost all their classes had, on average, reading scores 14 points lower than those who never used them—a differential equivalent to an entire grade level. In some states, the gap was significantly larger.
"A 2019 report from the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado on personalized learning—a loosely defined term that is largely synonymous with education technology—issued a sweeping condemnation. It found ‘questionable educational assumptions embedded in influential programs, self-interested advocacy by the technology industry, serious threats to student privacy, and a lack of research support.’
"Why are these devices so unhelpful for learning? Various explanations have been offered. When students read text from a screen, it’s been shown, they absorb less information than when they read it on paper. Another frequently cited culprit is the distraction the devices afford—whether it’s a college student checking Instagram or a first grader like Kevin drawing bright pink lines with his finger. But there are deeper reasons. One is motivation. If Kevin had been asked to combine 8 and 3 by a teacher rather than an iPad, there’s a greater chance he would have been interested in trying to do it. ‘It’s different when you’re learning from a person and you have a relationship with that person,’ cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham has said. ‘That makes you care a little bit more about what they think, and it makes you a little bit more willing to put forth effort.’” Read more.
