This digest compiles key industry resources and insights shared in our May 2024 Membership newsletter. This month we covered a variety of topics: the nostalgia and evolution of freeze pops, analyses of student outcomes post pandemic and declining enrollment numbers, how to motivate students through the end of the year, and creative ways to realign your staffing models to incentivize and motivate teachers next year.
Possip’s Manager of Knowledge and Content, Mandy Wallace, provides a compilation of what we’ve been thinking about this May.
We summarize each piece and suggest ways to leverage these ideas for better communication and engagement in your community.
Quick Links
- The First Year of Pandemic Recovery: A District-Level Analysis | Education Recovery Scorecard
- Interactive: In Many Schools, Declines in Student Enrollment Are Here to Stay | The 74 Million
- Strategic School Staffing: Tennessee’s Opportunity to Sustain and Elevate Great Teaching | SCORE Institute
- 10 Ways To Motivate Students at the End of the Year • Episode 127 | Teacher Approved podcast
- The Past, Present, and Future of Freeze Pops | Eater
What We Are Reading
The Past, Present, and Future of Freeze Pops | Eater
Terrible packaging for the environment, not great ingredients for the body, but my, the feelings of nostalgia they invoke. And who doesn’t love seeing a brightly dyed smile! This long form article goes through the history of freeze pops and some great trivia to whip out at field day or a end of year / beginning of summer cook out!
Here are three tidbits if you don’t get a chance to read the full piece:
- “Fla-vor-ice is East of the Rockies and Otter Pops is West of the Rockies” but also known as icee and freeze pops in the U.S., freezies in Canada, Zooper Doopers in Australia, jju-jju-bars in Korea, and other similar treats are available around the world.
- In 1996 9-year-old Kevin Kee led a group of children who successfully picketed in protest of a potential character change of one of the beloved Otter Pops flavors (direct link to the 1996 LATimes article)
- They’ve evolved: organic and electrolyte-infused versions are now available.
I hope you get to chat with current, future, and prospective families and enjoy popsicles at a playground near you soon!
What We Are Listening To
10 Ways To Motivate Students at the End of the Year • Episode 127 | Teacher Approved podcast
As we head into the final weeks of school, this podcast episode gives some creative ways to reintroduce novelty and keep students motivated without inviting chaos at the end of the year.
Here are the first five of ten tips:
- Offer a challenge
- Could this be something coordinated school-wide to build community and celebrate at end of year events?
- Involve students in a project
- Are there any campus clean up or beautification projects students could work together to identify, plan, and complete?
- Try something new
- Kids of all ages love novelty. What if you start class with a five minute freewrite or draw about an object they see in the classroom?
- Preview next year’s content
- Make sure to encourage cross-grade level collaboration!
- Celebrate growth
- Figure out how many kids you could celebrate each day by sharing one data point of growth from this year. Ask the class to write suggestions to celebrate each other anonymously.
Listen to this positive and realistic podcast with elementary teacher hosts for the last five tips. Many tips are applicable across grade levels. What ideas would you suggest to your teaching staff? How could you support their efforts on a school or district-wide level?
What We Are Reading
Strategic School Staffing: Tennessee’s Opportunity to Sustain and Elevate Great Teaching | SCORE Institute
Last week, I attended a SCORE Institute webinar on their latest report about innovative staffing models based on research and best practices. Although SCORE’s analysis focuses specifically on opportunities in Tennessee, the strategies and exercises apply nationwide wherever teacher vacancies exist.
A key point discussed was the difference between short-term strategies and sustainable ones. SCORE encourages leaders to rethink the roles of their best teachers, moving them outside the classroom to mentor novices, support colleagues, and implement differentiated compensation. This approach not only improves student outcomes in the first year but also strengthens and motivates the teaching team for continued success in the future.
The report includes data, case studies, and a self-assessment to help guide your planning for next year and beyond.
- What are your plans for next year to recover from pandemic learning loss and improve staff and student outcomes?
- How can you better use your top educators and support your less effective or novice staff members?
What We Are Thinking About
Interactive: In Many Schools, Declines in Student Enrollment Are Here to Stay | The 74 Million
In his analysis, Chad Aldeman effectively uses detailed data visualizations to examine trends in public school enrollment. He notes that public schools, including charters, might see a decrease of 2.4 million students, or 4.9%, by 2031 according to projections by the National Center for Education Statistics.
Aldeman considers various factors such as changes in homeschooling, immigration patterns, declining birth rates, and family relocations. He suggests that states and districts should prepare for these shifts, which could lead to funding reductions due to fewer students.
How can your school or district view this predicted change in enrollment as a chance to adapt and innovate to meet future needs?
What We Are Reading
The First Year of Pandemic Recovery: A District-Level Analysis | Education Recovery Scorecard
Key Takeaway:
“Between 2019 and 2022, the average student in the 30 states [they compared] lost 0.53 grade levels in math achievement and 0.31 grade levels in reading. In other words, during the pandemic, students missed out on half of a year’s typical learning in math and a third of a year in reading. Between 2022 and 2023, students recovered approximately one-third of the original loss in math (0.17 grade levels) and one quarter of the loss in reading (0.08 grade levels).”
Of course this differs by state, race, and poverty level, but it is helpful to have those national benchmarks in mind as you evaluate your students’ growth this year.
From a family engagement perspective, the report further recommends two main action items leading into summer 2024:
- For Students Performing Below Level, Inform Parents ASAP:
- Do this: Notify parents early if their child is performing below grade level in essential subjects.
- Why: This enables parents to arrange summer learning opportunities in time to utilize available federal funds.
- Engage External Summer Partners:
- Do this: Collaborate with external organizations like summer camps and museums to manage enriching activities.
- Purpose: This allows schools to focus on delivering academic content while external partners handle the enrichment component, creating a comprehensive summer learning experience.
What do your summer learning plans look like? How are you targeting students who need the most opportunities to recover from learning loss during the pandemic?
