Karen Vaites Profile picture
Feb 16 4 tweets 3 min read
I picture @DrJayVarma reading this tweet and thinking the same thing I am thinking:

Why didn’t Eliza cover this closure as a “dark moment” when it was happening…

👉 And she was one of the most empowered people who could have stopped it?
Remember that time NYC schools closed, and only @michaelgartland of the @NYDailyNews reported on the fact that BDB was acting against the advice of experts like @DrJayVarma?

What might have happened if Eliza had covered that angle?

🤔

nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny…
Remember when @elizashapiro covered the closure of schools for 1M children as if it was just a labor power struggle?

Not in the piece:
- health experts
- reassuring NYC testing data
- concerns about children
- a hint of the parent outrage / national outcry abt the closure

🧵:
“Basically a game show host”

😂😭

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More from @karenvaites

Feb 16
This piece continues the @nytimes coverage pattern when it comes to K-12 education:

An over-weighting of identity politics, to the exclusion of other major issues concerning parents.

🧵

By @thomasfullerNYT:
nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/…
Did you know that San Francisco declined to reopen schools in Fall, 2020 even though local COVID positivity was less than 1%… even as other districts opened at similar (in NYC) and higher (in sun belt) rates?

The NYT piece does not tell you this.
Did you know that SF schools remained closed until Spring, 2021… as most schools across the US reopened? (Reminder: 60% of US schools had opened by mid-October ‘20.)

And that SF parents protested the closures at the time?

@thomasfullerNYT doesn’t get into these details.
Read 16 tweets
Feb 15
Denmark to mostly-American COVID Twitter:

Stop with the misinfo.

Well done, Danes. Well done.
en.ssi.dk/covid-19/typic…
“Dear Eric,”

Standing O, Danes. 👏👏👏👏👏

Now imagine if we had an agency doing this. Accurately, of course.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 15
"The texts included in the materials are not appropriately complex for the grade level and do not build in complexity over the course of the year."

This is a review of the most popular reading curriculum in American schools.
edreports.org/reports/overvi…
It's also the lowest-rated elementary curriculum in US schools.

These reviews aren't new info... they dropped in October. Still, it's striking to read the summary of its flaws.

And to wonder how this became the most popular curriculum in America.
I’m glad to see the conversation returning to these issues…

Next up, tomorrow night’s conversation about @FountasPinnell, the other very popular curriculum with one of the lowest ratings in elementary.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 8
Lots of smart education voices are talking about this tweet.

It’s illustrative of a pretty major issue in K–12 education: many educators don’t believe that learning facts matters.

The attitude:

“Kids can just Google it.”

Just one problem: this conflicts w/ key research.
Background knowledge is essential to critical thinking.

I highly recommend this piece by @jillbarshay, explaining how & why.

It’s intuitive: You have to hold something in your head to think critically about it.

kqed.org/mindshift/5447…
Background knowledge is also key to reading comprehension.

It’s pretty easy to grasp this one, too:

Can you understand this passage? Would you succeed in answering comprehension questions about it?

The answer is no… unless you understand the game of cricket.
Read 6 tweets
Feb 7
.@DrLeanaWen, @JamesSurowiecki, and the New Jersey Education Association are all chill about ending mask mandates in schools.

Can we please stick a fork in school mask policies?

They’re done.
In other news, @NPR is covering the miracle of natural immunity, now that “better data” allows it…
npr.org/sections/goats…

And @tedlieu is preaching it.

If you need me, I’ll be getting treatment for my Monday whiplash.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 6
I was only able to catch part of @DrSarahLupo's session at #LiteracyMatters, but I was delighted to see that she was speaking about the importance of knowledge-building curriculum!

Definitely gonna catch this recording.

#KnowledgeMatters
Knowledge-building curriculum isn't just about a healthy dose of nonfiction!

There is SO much more to the intentional design.

I talked about this in my session, too. @DrSarahLupo went into greater detail.
We aren't just building new knowledge, we are thoughtful about activating prior knowledge...

#KnowledgeMatters
#LiteracyMatters
Read 4 tweets

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