If you want to get Eduwonk by email the new supported email function is via Substack. It’s the same content as here, different format. Here’s yesterday’s for example.

The NAEP data out today isn’t very good! The 74 here. Culprits include too much testing, not enough money, Common Core, or the abandonment of NCLB style accountability pressure on states and schools. Not a culprit? Covid. These are late 2019 or early 2020 results.

It’s pretty easy to dismiss the testing and money gripes, not a lot of correlation there over time and some negative correlation. But because the test wasn’t given in 2016 it’s harder to parse out the other two.

And to add another level of questions, if the culprit is Common Core, is it the standards themselves or poor implementation?

On all this, views vary! In other words, as with every NAEP release, plenty to argue about. But this seems like a problem the sector should focus on. It’s a noteworthy outcome. I don’t say that every time!

I’m pro vax. I was vaxed in January, my wife is a teacher and was vaxed early in the year as well, and my kids are. If you want my view, I’d suggest getting a Covid vaccination, it could save your life and is generally the safe choice based on all the available evidence. And I’ve seen Covid close up, you don’t want it. All that said, the issue that is bubbling around with adolescent males seems like something to keep an eye on and not without some risk for school districts that are mandating the vaccine. There’s a big what if here. If the guidance on this changes at some point- and we should always remember they call it a *novel* coronavirus for a reason – the downstream costs in terms of trust and vaccine policy would be real and consequential. From a Politico look at a Hopkins doctor with some questions:

He isn’t entirely alone in his thinking. Health officials in Hong Kong, Britain, Norway and other countries have recommended a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children 12 and older. Health officials in these countries have become increasingly worried about new data suggesting myocarditis may be more common among this group than they originally had thought.

But other U.S. public health experts, like Mark R. Schleiss, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, told Nightly today that the vaccine is still the lowest-risk option.

Downbound Train.

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