This is A Tale of Two AP Classes... AP African American Studies and AP Precalculus.

Both will have their first AP test in Spring 2024. Both have their controversies, but only ONE is being blocked by states like Florida & Arkansas.

Let's look at the facts, shall we?

A 🧵... 1/ AP African American Studies (APAAS) course began development in 2017 in partnership with the Teachers College at Columbia University, University of Notre Dame and Tuskegee University. The pilot program has expanded including into Arkansas last year.
2/
tc.columbia.edu/articles/2020/…

Who is Michael Farris and why was "New Generation" mentioned SIX times in Gov. Sander's Inaugural Address?

It is capitalized each time. My English teachers taught me only proper nouns should be capitalized.

Is this code? Any thoughts?
governor.arkansas.gov/news_post/sand…

A thread 🧵... 1/ More from Sarah Huckabee Sanders's inaugural speech. 2nd and 3rd references to "New Generation".
2/

I asked teachers a very important question as a litmus test about the LEARNS Act...

Knowing that signing the referendum petition is the same as teachers signing away their raises, will they still sign the petition?

I was actually stunned by the results.

A thread... 🧵 1/ Before I go over the results, I will first share some data from Gallup about the honesty and trustworthiness of various professions in the United States.

Our elected officials say LEARNS is good. Teachers say it's bad.

Who should you believe? 🤔

2/

news.gallup.com/poll/467804/nu…

Before you decide whether or not to sign the petition to #SayNoToLEARNS, read this thread.

Zero spin. Just the facts on what choosing to sign (or not sign) means.

But first, some information about the LEARNS Act in case you don't really know.

A thread... 🧵 1/ The LEARNS Act was Governor Sanders' landmark education reform legislation.

Here is a link to the full text of the 145 pg LEARNS Act:
arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocume…

Here is the approved ballot title (aka a 16 pg full summary of the LEARNS Act by topic): files.constantcontact.com/8f6756a9801/12…

2/

Huckabee and IBLP

Did Mike Huckabee use IBLP/ATI material to teach his children at home (including SHS)? The blog post claims homeschool...but I thought SHS went to public schools? So maybe it just means Mike used ATI material at home.

A thread 🧵 1/

jancriley.blog/2018/06/16/hol… When Mike ran for President, he was endorsed by Michael Farris of the Home School Legal Defense Association which had connections to IBLP before negative publicity came out much later around Bill Gothard.
2/
homeschoolersanonymous.net/2014/02/03/a-b…
Quote is from Huck's book, "Do The Right Thing"

🚨🚨 Standardized Tests Measure Poverty! 🚨🚨

After news broke of the state takeover of Marvell-Elaine School District, I began to wonder how well Little Rock School District did while it was under state control.

As I looked at the data, it led me down a rabbit hold.

A 🧵 1/ I used data from ADE to look at the ACT Aspire: All Grades Meets or Exceeds Standards for Literacy. The ACT Aspire scores began in the 2015-16 school year.

The downward trend seemed odd to me and seemed to begin before Covid-19 learning loss popped up. Why the decline?

2/

The AR Legislature commissions a biennial study to determine adequate funding level for schools in the state. This takes place over 10 months with several meetings and extensive data analysis.

Let's examine the feedback OFFERED by stakeholders & IGNORED by legislators.

A 🧵 1/ Stakeholder feedback was offered from eight organizations across Arkansas. Their feedback represents the concerns of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the communities across the state.

Next, let's see what they said. Then let's look at some patterns.

2/

Did you know you have 10 minutes to cast your ballot in Arkansas? Your time is split between selecting candidates running for various offices, reading amendments, ballot measures, and other items like referendums.

Arkansans are being denied ballot access too!

A thread... 🧵1/ In any given election year, there are typically one to six different ballot initiatives or amendments that Arkansans ready and vote on. Two to four seem to be customary. With a 10 minute time limit, that means ballot titles can't be too long.

2/
sos.arkansas.gov/uploads/electi…

I feel humbled by the amount of attention my tweets have received in the last month or so. But I feel I owe everyone an introduction, because I went from no one to an outspoken voice speaking against Arkansas LEARNS.

Hello, I am Trevor McGarrah (rhymes with 🚗).

A 🧵... 1/ Twitter used to be my safe place to catch up on news, education, technology, video games, & the Arkansas Razorbacks. I might retweet things, but that was basically it.

I teach high school computer science and am constantly on the lookout for new educational technology tools. 2/

Arkansas LEARNS is praised by some as the magic cure for the problems facing public education. The sound bites and fluff pieces sound good to the uninformed.

School choice. Teacher raises. The biggest, boldest education reform ever.

But wait! Not so fast!

A thread... 🧵 1/ In a previous thread, I shared some data analysis I performed to discover what makes some school districts in the state successful while others fail. I used data provided by the Arkansas Department of Education.

You can find that original post here.
2/

https://twitter.com/Mr_McGarrah/status/1638259741456494608?s=20

TLDR: I like looking at data. So I have crunched A LOT of education-related data in Arkansas. With LEARNS threatening "failing" schools with charter school takeovers, I was curious what factors contribute to a schools failing or succeeding according to the data. A thread..🧵1/ This 🧵 will only show a small bit. If you want to view this information in detail, visit this link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

This screenshot shows how I determined the combined district grades. There would be too much data to process to look at individual schools.
2/

I read most parts of the Arkansas LEARNS bill a couple of times and some things stood out to me. While the whole thing isn't bad, holding good ideas hostage in a giant omnibus bill is reckless! Here is a quick list of my concerns in simple terms (not in order). A 🧵... 1/ New teachers in poor districts get an immediate $14k raise. Some teachers in those districts have taught 20+ years and still don’t make $50k…so they will get a small bump, but not proportional to the pay bump for new teachers. Definitely not fair to those veteran teachers. 2/

The future of education in the world of #ChatGPT will look more like a movie set with each student becoming a director, rather than them being passive spectators at the opening premiere of a movie. Let me explain in the next 17 tweets. #AI #FutureOfEducation 1. In a traditional classroom, students are talked to and told what to do. It is a game of compliance with points given for how closely each student gets to the predefined outcome. It is uninspiring. After all, they can find the answers in 5 seconds.