Voices From The Field

As we move into 2017, much of the press and commentary on Current Events talk about unprecedented this, disruptive that, and uncharted t’other. Still, this year is also a continuation of last year, so it is good to think about recent trends and ideas, which one way or the other have prepared the ground for what comes next. One of the purposes of this blog is to scan other people’s blogs, and bring things to your attention which you may not have had time to encounter. So, herewith a couple of such overviews, which will certainly inform my reading and writing this year — please write in suggesting other year-end roundups you have found useful!

1. Hackeducation: What happened in Ed Tech in 2016 (and who paid for it): Top Ed Tech Trends for 2016. This is my nominee for most wide-ranging analysis of the previous year.  Blogger Audrey Watters each year writes 10 post over the course of December, each exploring an important trend.  For each trend, there is a corresponding, additional blog post in which she provides additional commentary and links to sources, and these are accessible here, from the index page (linked above).  Each “trend” receives  extensive and thoughtful treatment — hours of fun, but also a thorough education about the educational landscape.  (You can also go back to prior years’ “trends” essays as well, and it’s often very useful to do so.)  Don’t be put off by the “technology” part, if that is not a favorite interest of yours.  Watters is alert to educational policy, philosophy, and experience, and pays attention to K-12, higher ed, economics, privacy, and other dimensions of education as it is lived now.This year’s trends:  Education Technology and the year of wishful thinking; The politics of educational technology; The business of educational technology; Education technology and the promise of “free” and “open”; Education technology and the “new” for-profit higher education; Education technology and the  “New Economy”;  Education technology and the history of the future of credentialing;  Education technology and data insecurity; Education technology and the ideology of personalization;  Education technology’s inequalities. 
2. Larry Ferlazzo’s Best, Worst, and Other Education News  of 2016.  (You get a two-fer here, because the link takes you to the Answer Sheet). Ferlazzo’s blogs are a great resource for education news, and a good complement to Hackeducation — as with all good education bloggers (here’s Peter Greene’s list, which doesn’t include some of my favorites).Ferlazzo’s choice of “best news” (with supporting links)  includes:  the defeat of the Massachusetts charter-cap ballot initiative; 3 successful voter initiatives in California raising money for education including bilingual ed; rising high school graduation rates; positive new trends in student discipline practices; a study showing that teachers in lower-income communities are comparable in quality to those in higher-income communities; court victories for teacher unions, affirmative action, and teacher tenure; the continued spread of ethnic studies courses in schools, and his concluding note:  “Millions of students had great learning experiences in their schools this year.”His “worst” list:  increase stress and a “hate-spike” in recent months; likely increased support for school vouchers; school shootings;  decreasing spending on education; trends in attrition among teachers of color; the continued widespread legality of corporal punishment in public schools; discouraging progress on de-segregation; changes in the GED for the worst. Finally, “Millions of students should have gotten a better education than they did this year.”

   His choice for the most important 2016 ed news that’s neither bad nor good: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  He writes:

    The federal government is working with states to try to figure out how to implement The Every Student Succeeds Act.  It seems like it could be an improvement on No Child Left Behind, but it’s still too early to determine if this is going to be bad or good for teachers, students and their families.  There is hope that it will bring positive change to our classrooms.  However, as they say, the devil is in the details — and it is unclear what the upcoming Trump administration will do in regards to enforcing it.

   Lots of good fodder for discussion!  Add your voice this year!