Rep. Pebblin Warren said the goal of her bill is to erase the academic disadvantage of students who enter first grade without either attending kindergarten or being worked with at home. She said many people are surprised to learn that kindergarten isn’t mandatory in the state.
"It's just a fancy buzzword and a complete failure," said one kindergarten teacher. "My story is an accurate depiction of what restorative justice looks like in schools. It's not working and there's no accountability."
About 833,000 fewer students enrolled in public schools in fall 2021 than had been predicted, with the most surprising drops occurring in middle school, according to the latest data, foretelling a drop in the number of high school graduates and, subsequently, college freshmen.
As an academic coach, I've been working with teachers in Suwanee County School District for years to deliver foundational literacy instruction—and the science of reading is simply the best research available into how students learn to read.
When Superintendent Scott Muri took the helm at Ector County ISD in 2019, it had an 18% teacher vacancy rate and was one of the lowest-performing districts in the state. Now, its teachers can make up to $100,000 a year.
A proposal in Indiana would banish instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from all classrooms, kindergarten through 12th grade, while Iowa lawmakers aim to eliminate the topics through eighth grade.
