FYI from BSF, 12.8.23
Everybody loves Finland.
For years, American educators have cited, studied, and toured the country’s progressive public education system. The fact that Finland reopened its schools in May, 2020 was often cited by conservatives that opposed school closures and remote/hybrid learning.
The results are there, too. Finnish students' consistently rank highly on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an assessment administered every three years to compare the academic performance of 81 participating countries' 15/16 year-olds.
The 2022 PISA results released earlier this week make it clear that Finland - and almost no other country - could contend with the disruption of the pandemic.
The American headline? Bad, not as bad as other countries. Literacy results held constant, but a big decline in math.
Like most things, the easy explanation - that school closures played a role in learning decline - is inconveniently incorrect. A weak correlation is shown below.
The more likely culprit is just regular stuff that the pandemic made worse. For example, not having enough teachers (reported from PISA survey data).
Or having enough money.
Going forward it is probably better to focus less on the causes of the decline, and more so on its magnitude. American professor Tom Kane has articulated and advocated for policymakers and the public to understand how truly large the learning declines are in America (and what a commiserate response would be).
PISA now confirms this is a global phenomenon.
We don’t have an analog for 2020, aside from 1918. The generation born during great influenza pandemic learned, earned, and lived less than its predecessors and successors (granted, the Great Depression and World War II probably didn’t help much).
Absent a significant societal response and resources, there will significant, negative impacts for children today for a long time.
Pay now, or pay later.
notes in the margin
Boston School Committee met on Wednesday. Full materials here. Although the main agenda item was the district’s wellness policy, there was a lot happening in the memos. School quality tiers, which are used for families' school selections and assignments (1=highest, 4=lowest), were updated for the first time since 2019. Full list here.
The overall distribution changed only slightly since 2019, but for some schools there were dramatic shifts. Full methodology here. Note that the graph looks slightly different when it is cut by enrollment. Removing the exam schools and their large student bodies (O’Bryant is Tier 1; Boston Latin and Boston Latin Academy are Tier 2) reveals a larger distribution toward the third and fourth tiers.
There was another memo with a master facilities plan update. New research indicates that schools with more Black students are three times as likely to be closed.
Here is a rundown of the City Council’s opposition to moving the O’Bryant to West Roxbury. A new BPS leader for multilingual learners was selected.
The initiative to end the standard MCAS high school graduation requirement has enough signatures to be on the 2024 ballot.
A new Massachusetts report indicates significant risk for young readers, with nearly one-third of K-3 students identified as potentially failing at developing reading.
Want to improve literacy? Spend money and use tutors (Oakland).
Providence is eyeing cost-saving majors ahead of the fiscal cliff. It’s not just federal funding you have to worry about - Massachusetts revenue is currently below projections.
Recently released data reveals what many practitioners already knew: too many low-income students don’t finish college and become indebted anyways.
The Venn Diagram of geopolitics and campus culture wars hit its peak at a Congressional hearing Tuesday, when two local college presidents testified.
Other Matters
Students - and many adults - may benefit from a Newton middle school’s daily mantra.