Share this page!

Karen Vaites Profile picture
Twitter logo
Jun 14 • 9 tweets • 9 min read
This is HUGE:

Tennessee becomes first state to announce higher reading outcomes than pre-pandemic, with higher ELA proficiency than 2019.

"The highest proficiency the state has seen in the last five years" in BOTH elem & HS.

#Reading360 pays off!

tn.gov/education/news… Image
Y’all know that @TNedu has been pulling out all the stops on literacy.

Its #Reading360 teacher training, developed by @TNedu in partnership with @TNTP has earned, incredibly-high marks.

99.5%! This is like the unicorn of training.
But the really distinguishing thing that Tennessee did was get high-quality curriculum into virtually every district, as @lisacoons10 explained to @natwexler.

That #TNBestForAll initiative predated the pandemic, and set the foundation for what followed.

forbes.com/sites/nataliew…
There’s more, but those two pillars deserve attention from every other state. They are the must-follow actions!

Please take note, @GavinNewsom
@TonyThurmond @AllisterSBOE @brookepintodc @NYSEDNews @nyschoolboards @NYSchoolSupts @KathyHochul
I’ve had the honor to visit 9 TN districts since ‘19; very special work is happening statewide.

Read more here:
the74million.org/article/curric…
&
the74million.org/article/how-li…
&
the74million.org/article/school…

Massive kudos to @SchwinnTeach @lisacoons10. 👏 May every state follow your lead! 🙌
Also, kudos to Eds across TN for reopening the strong majority of your schools full time during the pandemic, something I’ve admired since the earliest days.

It’s not the driver alone, but it’s a key success factor in these remarkable outcomes. Proud of all my TN friends. ❤️
Talking with folks about the TN achievement, I keep bringing up something that I didn’t mention in the thread above:

@TNedu created a free Foundational Skills Curriculum Supplement in ‘20. Developed by @MJLiben & David Liben. Excellent.

Schools in MA have been piloting it.
Please watch this video from a school I visited in @LebanonSSD, which began using the free supplement this year. Swift 💯 outcomes. 🙌

Go deeper in thread to hear how strong reading foundations are fueling 💯 writing.

Hear @PennyTh00680704 talk about the role of #Reading360.
I haven’t even talked about @TNedu’s free decodable books for families or its efforts to spotlight leaders and network districts. But I hope other states are paying attention to all of it,

Me talking about Tennessee’s literacy work:

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Karen Vaites

Karen Vaites Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @karenvaites

Karen Vaites Profile picture
Jun 30
Dear @JeromeAdamsMD,

On behalf of the many parents who read the intl data on school reopening, said we could safely open schools in the face of resistance or silence from our leaders, and were 100% right:

Yes, sometimes the mom has the better read of the data. Image
.@KelleyKga is batting 1,000 in her COVID data analysis, and her (unpaid!) work has yielded a number of corrections.

This sort of disdain is not a good look in a country that, *ahem*, made its share of mistakes in how it approached COVID and children.
Here’s a BMJ award winner commending the study authors who misrepresented COVID mortality vs other causes in children for revising their work, based on @KelleyKga’s careful eye.

Is this enough of a credential for you, @JeromeAdamsMD?
Read 4 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
Jun 1
I’m almost charmed by @galbeckerman’s belief that anyone cares about American children and their needs.

By my observation in the COVID era: hardly at all.

theatlantic.com/family/archive…
When New York City schools were poised to close, my kid was on the front lines of that fight.

I still see her in @AP photos from the first parent protest of school closures.

Guess how much it mattered?
I’m pretty sure I’ve tweeted more videos of kids & their parents speaking out about school closures than any American.

I’ve tweeted elementary schoolkids, high school athletes, underprivileged & privileged kids, Black, Hispanic, AAPA, white kids.

My kid.

None registered.
Read 8 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
May 31
Now It Can Be Said, Mask Edition:

“The evidence suggests that broad mask mandates have not done much to reduce Covid caseloads over the past two years.”

By @DLeonhardt:
nytimes.com/2022/05/31/bri…
In summer, 2021, after a year+ of promoting masks in schools, I started talking about the limited evidence they were working.

I was unfollowed by a few top education researchers.

👉 People who pride themselves on promoting only evidence-based practice.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
And yeah, all the other pejoratives.
Read 5 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
May 28
Who wants to talk about something positive? 🙋🏼‍♀️

Tennessee’s #Reading360 training continues to get insanely-good feedback. 👀

When is the last time you heard these sorts of reviews of any training, no less a state training?

It’s the unicorn of professional learning. 🦄
This year, @TNedu is doing something truly pioneering, adding a Secondary Literacy Training for upper grade Eds, in addition to its well-reviewed Early Reading Training.

This is huge! Many kids get to secondary w/ reading struggles. Teachers need more support.

Details here:
So in its first week, Secondary Literacy Training got 100% positives from participants…

While Early Reading Training (for K-5 teachers) continues to get astoundingly-good feedback.

Just Wow, @TNedu @SchwinnTeach @lisacoons10 @JaredMyracle. 👏👏👏👏👏
Read 7 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
May 27
“There were 19 officers available to act.”

Reprehensible.

Don’t tell me any more about the good guy with the gun when the paid, trained guys let this happen to children.
“The 11-year-old said she believed the attack lasted three hours before responding officers entered the classroom and killed Ramos.”

💔
The traumatized 11 year old who smeared herself in blood to avoid being killed is all of us with this question:

cnn.com/2022/05/27/us/…
Read 8 tweets
Karen Vaites Profile picture
May 26
Are we sure it’s too late for an American third party?

Asking for all the politically homeless people who did vote in 2020. We would appear to have a lot of potential allies.
I’m here for the calls for a Mom Party.

Does anyone remember that old Dave Barry column where he calls for a Department of Reasonableness run by a woman named Elaine (or something), who would be able to veto ridiculous policy? That was some brilliant stuff. @rayadverb
@rayadverb I tried to find this but couldn’t, prob because I have the name wrong. If you have a link, I’d welcome it. 🙏
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(