Educator Needs: Increased Demands for Resources
Following reports of “learning loss” following the NAEP results, educators are calling for financial and pedagogical resources to support students and teacher development.
“It’s beyond time to stop blaming educators for the academic and emotional fallout of an international health disaster unprecedented in any of our lifetimes. Let’s focus on funding and improving the education and health resources all students are getting now and in the future.” —English Educator
“NAEP is a call to action. The bottom line is that this is no time for timid spending decisions. Instead, we need to boldly show why resources matter so much, and how to use them effectively for students – especially those who have suffered the most.” —Principal
“So, @SecCardona when you say our NAEP report card in math is ‘appalling and unacceptable’, then provide us with the resources to fix it! Listen to experts! We’ve known this!” —Elementary Teacher in Kansas
“NAEP is a standardized test. We need standardized (and equitable) school funding. We need standardized (equitable, evidence-based) teacher prep programs. We need standardized resources to support students’ social and emotional health amid a once-in-a-century pandemic.” —Special Education Teacher in New York
“So where do we go from today’s NAEP results? Well our upcoming findings from a deep dive in several urban districts are a big red flag: There is clearly an awful mismatch between the degree of learning loss and districts’ inability to make real changes in schools. We are seeing a retrenchment from ‘acceleration strategies’ and a return to doing what teachers know, are comfortable with. They are largely ‘holding tight to the steering wheel’ in the face of overwhelming needs, staffing challenges. Unions are doing all they can to wrap more money around the old schooling model. State leaders & smart superintendents need to understand that enrollment will bleed off relentlessly as long as they prove unable to deploy creative strategies & put schools on an emergency footing. The abandonment of acceleration is no mere curiosity, it’s evidence of built in rigidity, fatal in this context. They are now creating the situation they charged against charter schools, leaving the districts with only those students whose parents could not develop options.” —Director of Education Research Organization in Washington
“They told us to go back to normal, without giving us resources necessary to reestablish everything lost. They told us to fix it all without tools and time to do any of it. This doesn’t work for kids. This doesn’t work for teachers.” —Teacher in Pennsylvania