Tag: attendance

Some days are sad days…

funeral

“Don’t wait until the fourth Thursday in November, to sit with family and friends to give thanks. Make every day a day of Thanksgiving!”

— Charmaine J. Forde

It’s been a week here at the Paul house as we processed the passing of my wife’s grandmother. Most days are great, but some days are sad days.

Anyway, here’s this week’s 10 things:

10 Things Worth Sharing

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Students are missing more school–and maybe that isn’t bad

getting sick

You’re already hearing a lot of noise about student attendance and how many kids are chronically absent since the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ll hear people saying how much kids need to be in school, especially those who are “behind” and need to “catch up.”

Hogwash.

If kids are sick, they need to stay at home. As do their parents rather than going to a job and spreading the sickness. Did we learn nothing from a global pandemic that began just four short years ago?

“Learning loss” is the current buzzword bandied about by Pearson-infused cronies who want students to take more tests and get more focused learning so that they can score higher on end-of-the-year standardized tests that don’t mean anything. Learning loss comes from a deficit perspective which implies that students learned nothing during school closures.

Which is a ridiculous sentiment. Students learned all kinds of things during pandemic school closures, including maybe the most important lesson that standardized tests don’t matter.

If students are sick or think they may be sick, they should stay home. We now have structures in place to keep them connected when they’re gone. Or perhaps we’ve abandoned those structures just like we’ve abandoned common sense around attendance.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you’ve enjoyed the insights and stories, consider showing your support by subscribing to my weekly newsletter. It’s a great way to stay updated and dive deeper into my content. Alternatively, if you love audiobooks or want to try them, click here to start your free trial with Audible. Your support in any form means the world to me and helps keep this blog thriving. Looking forward to connecting with you more!