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Karen Vaites Profile picture
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Mar 27 • 5 tweets • 5 min read
Yesterday I tweeted that @SonjaSantelises @scontrerasGCS’s work is K-12’s most under-covered story.

I truly believe that.

I had the pleasure of visiting Baltimore, and hopefully this helps explain my point.

Come for the improved reading outcomes…

eduvaites.org/2020/01/07/wha…
Stay for… everything else!

The strong work I have seen in districts like Baltimore perfectly explains why I am so excited about @DOEChancellor @DanWeisbergNYC’s work to improve curriculum.

I have seen what research-aligned curriculum and better support for teachers can do!
.@EdWriters:

A story juxtaposing NYC, a district heading for breakup with Balanced Literacy, with @BaltCitySchools, a district that saw tangible gains from such a change, is a lay up!

@kyairb @kstoryscotti @jennwenn7 and @mcglynn3 (a former teacher, current parent) = sources.
Bonus points if you cover the fact that the story was replicated in @GCSchoolsNC, under @scontrerasGCS’s leadership.

They have 2 years of gains before the pandemic hit. 👏
Or you can put the spotlight on @Detroitk12! Led by @Dr_Vitti.

Same story, different high-quality curriculum.

My hopes for NYC run through these cities, and every city could be doing this work.

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More from @karenvaites

Karen Vaites Profile picture
Mar 29
“Will you help me put this on? It’s my lucky necklace.”

My 10YO (who never talks like this)… because it’s state testing day.

Y’all, she didn’t get this pressure from her mother. Image
You can want the data from standardized testing, because we need a window into school performance on key metrics like literacy (which is troubling nationally)…

And still have ambivalence about the unintended consequences of assessments (because of adult behaviors around them). Image
This year marked a first for me:

At the parent-teacher concerned, my daughter’s teacher announced, “Our next English Language Arts unit is the test prep unit.”

I almost fell out of my chair.
Read 6 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Mar 29
Reminder that good air quality in schools is strongly correlated with better academic performance.

Glad to see @j_g_allen @zeynep @linseymarr and others raising awareness:
ICYMI:
More info here:
Read 4 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Mar 28
What color ribbon did we need to get America to focus on its children this last two years?

Can we get that ribbon on Jamie Lee next year?
I fully support refugees and think the US needs to be taking a lot more than our latest commitment.

Yet I have had @laurajfagan’s tweet in my head all night.

None of these celebs spoke out for abandoned US children last year.

None of them.

#Oscars
.@goldiehawn gets the #Oscar for Most Vocal Celebrity.

💛

If I make a related “Overboard” joke, will you get it? (One of my family’s favorite movies, BTW.)

dailywire.com/news/we-have-f…
Read 4 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Mar 27
Columbus Speech and Hearing tested Ohio children age 3-5 and found:

52% failure rate in speech-language screenings, up from 27% pre-pandemic, in 2019.

Also, 40% hearing screening failure vs 21% pre-pandemic.
The article is pay walled, so here are screenshots: ImageImageImageImage
‘Connections with family members, who often sound important alarms and catch developmental abnormalities for young parents, also didn't happen with the same kind of frequency as before COVID-19, Weaver said.

"A lot of referrals in the past were done by grandparents.”’ ImageImageImage
Read 5 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Mar 27
Sometimes I imagine that we had a different pandemic, and there had been evidence that the virus was spreading faster in our schools.

I believe we would have had closed schools for 2 years, likely across the US and globe.

And that most parents would have supported that.
I remember how closely we were watching as schools reopened in August, 2020, and how carefully we were reading the data.

It was, and is, a blessing that kids are less affected by COVID.

And they spread it less, too.
It was, and is, a blessing that COVID didn’t carry more risk for teachers than other professions.

If it had, I couldn’t have asked teacher friends to teach in-person.
Read 6 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Mar 27
I’d once again like to remind everyone that the jury has long been in on @ProfEmilyOster’s work.

Image
As @stephmurrayyyy captures nicely: anything that emerges to question that work, which completely ignores intl context isn’t worth our time.

I’d add: completely ignores costs to kids and lack of evidence that teachers experienced health issues at higher rate than population,
I could write the monster thread pointing out the holes in its critiques, but others have (good one here), and why spend any more time on this?

Read 4 tweets

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