FYI from BSF, 9.13.24
High school teachers and principals were at their wits' end.
It was all-consuming, draining their time and student learning time. Skipped classes, missing schoolwork. Students were disengaged and in open conflict. Concerns about student health abounded, and families were also at a loss about what to do.
No, I am not talking about the return to school after the pandemic.
I am talking about vaping.
Ecigarette usage by teenagers exploded in the 2010s, with eventually one of every three teenagers reporting habitual vaping. This created a public health crisis in American high schools almost over night.
Now, it appears to be just stopping.
What happened?
Schools implemented new policies, procedures, and technology. Pediatriciansand health associations got involved. Innovative cessation programs and the pandemic interrupted addiction. Public awareness was raised and there were peer-to-peer campaigns. The government cracked down on companies, even banning some, that were clearly targeting minors.
It is difficult to assign values to all individual interventions, but it is clear, as a group, it is working.
Too often in education, we rely on an idea to solve problems. The success of reducing vaping is an example of how far you can get, not with an idea or a "program," but with a clear goal, consensus, and wide range of caring adults. Work remains, but this is progress worth celebrating.
There seems to be wide consensus that cell phone use and social media activity should be more limited in schools. There seems to be wide consensus that absences are still too high and kids should be in school more. There seems to be wide consensus that all children need to achieve baseline literacy.
A decade ago, most would not have predicted the graph above.
So, it is wrong to assume we cannot bend the curve of other challenges that vex us, too.
Notes in the Margin
Maybe easier said than done for Boston school buses. The annual rite of September - data and family accounts of late and missing school buses - filled media and timelines. This year’s snag?s A new app and new students. Potential fixes? Time, help from the state, families should use the app, or you can always bike instead.
More bus content (of the 1974 variety) in one oped in Commonwealth, and not one, but two in the Boston Globe.
The ribbon was officially cut on the brand new Josiah Quincy Upper School.
Details coming, but all Boston children will now qualify for free museum passes twice per month.
Boston School Committee met this week. Full materials here, which include the expansion of EMK and approval to move ahead with the White Stadium project.
Newly released American Community Survey data indicates Boston’s 0-14 child population declined by 8% in just one year.
With early voting starting soon, activity for the state’s ballot initiatives are all ramping up. Proponents of Question 2 - to eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement - secured another labor endorsement and the support of the Worcester School Committee. A similar resolution failed to make it to the floor of Boston City Council on Wednesday. Opponents of Question 2 raised more dollars than proponents and any other ballot opposition, earning the endorsement of the Lowell Sun and Massachusetts superintendents.
Are families leaving high-demand, high-tax school districts for private schools? Maybe, on a micro or anecdotal level. But private school enrollment in Massachusetts is down from pre-pandemic levels.
Just because something generally works doesn’t mean it works all the time. High-dosage tutoring with limited impact in Nashville.
Square these two statements: nearly one-third of American students are below grade level and schools appear to be assigning less work.
Northeastern, BU, Harvard and other colleges and universities are reporting declines in Black student enrollment in the first post Students for Fair Admissions application season.