Education Reads to Start Your Week, March 30th

Hi! This is Scholastic Alchemy, a twice-weekly blog where I write about education and related topics. Mondays usually see me posting a selection of education links and some commentary about each and Wednesday posts are typically a deep dive into an education topic of my choosing. If Scholastic Alchemy had a thesis, I suppose it would go a little like this: We keep trying to induce educational gold from lead and it keeps not working but we keep on trying. My goal here is to talk about curriculum, instruction, policy, public opinion, and other topics in order to explain why I think we keep failing to produce this magical educational gold. If you find that at all interesting, please consider a paid subscription here, or at the parallel publishing spot on Beehiiv. (Some folks hate the ‘stack, I get it.) That said, all posts are going to remain free for the foreseeable future. Thanks for reading!

Teacher Certification Requirements

Jess Pier writes about how, for some on the right and especially in Missouri, education itself is the enemy. The whole post is worth a read to get a sense of what actual enacted conservative education policy looks like.

Recruitment is, according to Pier, a challenge and the low pay makes it hard to attract qualified candidates. One thing you can do in this situation is lower the barriers to entry so that less qualified candidates can become teachers.

I wrote about teacher training as an example of scholastic alchemy three weeks ago. I noted that while on one hand there are calls for more rigor in teacher preparation and more accountability placed on teachers and schools, policymakers were also undercutting the quality of teacher preparation through alternative licensure programs meant to address teacher shortages. It appears that this licensure is an example of an alternative license, in other words it exists in parallel to traditional teacher certification.

At the same time that the state is making it easier to enter the teaching profession, it’s ramping up accountability efforts. The governor is requiring schools to be graded on an A-F report card scale, posted publicly so parents can see if local schools are failing. Missouri has ongoing standardized testing, the MAP, that functions as an additional accountability mechanism. They recently updated the elementary tests in 2024 to focus on foundational reading, especially phonics. In addition to both the report card and the test scores, schools are also scored on the Missouri School Improvement Plan, which is part test scores, part test score growth, part graduation rates, part graduate employment or secondary enrollment, and part “success ready” which looks to be students completing certain kinds of advanced courses.

I know I like to beat a dead horse, but if we insist on pursuing policies that undermine one another, then we can’t be surprised when things don’t work out. If you refuse to pay teachers competitively, lower GPA requirements or don’t even require that teachers complete college, then you’re going to have a hard time raising test scores, improving academic outcomes, increasing college or career readiness, and so on. You can’t expect a less prepared and temporary workforce to succeed. But hey, at least they have school vouchers!

Jan Ressenger explores how similar trends have faired in Ohio.

Schools Make Americans

Opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie discusses current attempts by conservatives to undermine prior supreme court rulings based on the 14th amendment. One of those coming up this year is a revisiting of 1982’s Plyler v. DOE.

Now, Bouie is writing more about the constitution, the politics of the reconstruction amendments (13th, 14th and 15th), and the reactionary movement against them today. What I find interesting, as an education guy, is the reminder that our schools have always been where Americans are constructed. When there is conflict over who is an American, who gets claim to citizenship or residence or just to “live within the structure of our civic institutions,” that conflict happens in schools. Bouie reminds us, for example, of another famous court case that sought to narrow the 14th amendment, Plessy vs Ferguson, of “separate but equal” infamy and that it was later semi-overturned by Brown vs BOE. It was battles over the 14th amendment that set up segregated schools and then tore them down. Bouie again:

I fear that, because these are issues raised about schools and schooling, they fly under the radar a bit. They’re not front-page material and schooling isn’t typically a top priority among voters. The stock market isn’t going to dive based on overturning Plyler v. DOE. Pundits, especially the liberals who write oodles about education reform and the Mississippi miracle and testing and the science of ___, fail to notice that the terrain has changed. The high stakes are no longer the tests, but the very idea of who is entitled to an education. The implications of overturing it are huge and, as justice Brennan warned, risked creating an underclass of “illegals”. Peter Greene picks up this thread.

For an idea of what dear leader prefers undocumented children to experience instead of school, I recommend reading Andrea Gonzalez-Ramirez’s article, What ICE Detention Does to a Child.

Melania Robots

Dear Leader’s erstwhile spouse rolled out a teaching robot for you to spend your federal voucher bucks on. I don’t have a ton of commentary here but if you’re looking to get beyond the jokes let’s just put two sentences from the article together.

I think the point is made.

Thanks for reading!