It’s the first Saturday in August, which for many means summer is almost over and it’s time to start preparing for the start of a new school year.
With teacher shortages, curriculum changes and bans on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the equation, this school year is shaping up to be a tumultuous one.
In Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed a bill into law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs at state-funded colleges and universities. Schools are already feeling an impact even though the law will not go into effect until January.
“The horizon is pretty bleak for the recruitment of top-notch faculty to UT [University of Texas at Austin] and Texas A&M when they could go elsewhere,” Angela Valenzuela, a professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas at Austin, told Prism. “It’s gonna feel like cold water, come January or before, when all of a sudden there [aren’t any] more programs like there had been previously that were paid by the state.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed similar legislation that bans state-funded colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, leaving educators across the nation concerned about how these laws could impact them and their students.
Meanwhile, Cambridge, Massachusetts is just one U.S. school district where eighth graders are no longer able to take algebra 1 at their public middle schools — meaning they wouldn’t be eligible to take calculus as high school seniors if they follow the typical progression of math courses.
“Many students continue to reel from pandemic-related learning losses and are not ready to take algebra I before high school, and offering it only for those who are prepared… would only widen the persistent disparities of educational performance among subgroups,” said the district, according to Epicenter-NYC.
Cambridge is the latest school district to either scrap or consider scrapping the advanced math course from its middle schools, but New York City has vowed to take a different approach — offering the course to all middle school students. The only problem? It hasn’t made it clear how students will be placed into the advanced track.
“Let’s stop trying to educate ‘all’ children in one way, and work on educating ‘every’ child in their own way,” Alina Adams writes for Epicenter-NYC. “Let’s pretend that it’s the kids who actually matter.”
Underlying these issues is the fact that school districts across the nation are experiencing historic teacher shortages — shortages that have forced states like Minnesota to look into alternative licensing programs to bring in more educators.
This summer alone, Teach Minnesota is training nearly 50 teachers, many of them educators of color, who will be deployed into classrooms this fall.
“Teaching has always been my passion,” Maya West, a Teach Minnesota fellow, tells Sahan Journal. “And it’s exactly what I wanted to do. This program has just emphasized that to me.”
West graduated from the University of Minnesota this spring with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, but in order to get her teaching license through the school, she would have had to spend another year pursuing a master’s degree, which she could not afford.
The program, praised by the state’s largest educators’ union, says it needs additional funding to scale so it can train teachers in high-need subject areas while bringing more diverse educators into schools.
“Part of it is we need to get more teachers that can reflect the kids,” Minn. Rep. Mary Frances Clardy told Sahan Journal.
As for the tiniest learners, starting school is a big step, and Epicenter-NYC put together some tips for parents as they prepare their children for the transition.
