Tracy O'Connell Novick Profile picture
Oct 10, 2020 15 tweets 3 min read Read on X
ok, couple of things: first, I do want to share these, as it’s among the first attempts to comprehensively look at what has happened so far: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
This is the project @AASAHQ is in on (that I suggested @MASchoolsK12 could share data with), as, nationally, there isn’t centralized data collection.
Let’s note that it would be great to find that schools aren’t super-spreaders (and, as has been noted elsewhere, there are places that have been safely running schools in other countries)
(Some out there seem to think folks are cheering on coronavirus contagion in schools, and...that is a disturbing perspective)
Anyway, the piece itself notes what it is based on: “data on almost 200,000 kids in 47 states from the last two weeks of September”
Again, it’s more than we’ve had! That’s good.
There’s about 56.4 million students in K-12 education in the U.S. this fall (that’s U.S. DoE numbers).
More to the point, what the dashboard has isn’t a representative sample of the U.S.
And (again as noted in the article, though not to that end): the big city systems aren’t back in person.
And this interacts with race and with class in the ways that public education in the U.S. does: which districts are taking which precautions and what can be afforded and what are the choices both policy makers and parents are making for kids.
The headline thus definitely seems premature, and the conclusions pretty broadly drawn for what is know.
I offer this because I am seeing this odd navigation tending almost towards “see, it isn’t that bad!” in some ed circles in the rush to do What Is Right For Other People’s Children (yikes)

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More from @TracyNovick

Mar 13
I’m sure that sometimes some of you think I am overreacting to the Boston Globe’s education coverage, but you probably couldn’t frame “how is this school funding reform working this year” WORSE than looking at Belmont, Harvard, and Westford.
I could try to invent one, but it’s an incredible manifestation of whom the Globe perceives its audience as AND how poorly it understands the state school funding system.
Read 33 tweets
Feb 26
Hey, #MAEdu advocates, can we have a word?

Please pull up a chair.
You all are my people, and I think the world of you.

I'm concerned about what seems to be how FY25 budget season is being approached.
It's not so much that I think it's missing the forest for the trees, and more that there is no forest; it's actually a prairie.

It's not even the same ballgame.
Read 15 tweets
Dec 13, 2023
So I logged off last night to have dinner with my family and write about how the Globe was wrong about school finance (chapter MMXXIII), and it appears I missed some Discourse on Worcester Public Schools funding.
Y’all were busy!
And so, a thread:
Let me first note that when I teach MA school finance (which is part of what I do for work, for those who might be new), I start in 1647, so there’s some history here.
From a Worcester perspective, let’s sum up by saying that the early colonial law that required towns to have schools once they hit a particular size was violated more than once, resulting in the town being fined.

More than once.
Read 14 tweets
Mar 23, 2023
.@jgoodeHN I think you're just repeating the framing that the city is giving you here, but I think we should clear up a misconception.

School transportation doesn't count towards net school spending in Massachusetts for ANY district. #MAEdu

heraldnews.com/story/news/edu…
The reason for that is pretty straightforward: Chelsea is three square miles; Franklin County Regional Tech is 500 square miles. Both are Massachusetts school districts. As you might imagine, they spend WILDLY differing amounts on transportation.
What is different between Fall River--and, indeed, any municipal district in Massachusetts--and their neighboring regionals, is, that while BOTH have mandated state reimbursed transportation, only one of those reimbursements gets funded.
Read 12 tweets
Mar 21, 2023
finally watching last week's Joint Ways & Means hearing, and appreciate @Jo_Comerford's question on the balance of one time versus sustained funding #MAEdu
she also did a lovely, polite refocus of her question; good chairing!
Cheers also to Sen @AnneGobi for opening her Q to @MassEducation a pointed: "on behalf of the entire Worcester delegation for your thoughtful and spot-on comments regarding the charter school in Worcester. It was extremely appreciated."
Read 5 tweets
Sep 15, 2022
ok, good morning, I have a question (just getting to #MAEdu news from yesterday):

This MEEP claim that gaps have widened over the pandemic is based on...what exactly?

We don't yet have the last year's MCAS data. We don't yet have MA NAEP data.
The report cites 2019 to 2021 third grade reading scores, and then percentage of low income 9th graders passing their classes compared to wealthier peers.
Then enrollment in college, which we know dropped...everywhere?
Read 5 tweets

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