Massachusetts is poised to implement curriculum mandates, as legislation moves through its state house. Michigan wants to follow. Should we boost these efforts or pump the brakes?
Thank you, Karen. I’ve been really trying to understand the pros and cons of the MA legislation. As a parent of young children in a Units of Study district, my instinct is this can’t come soon enough. The MA Teachers Association strongly opposes the bill, and I recently attended a webinar they hosted to try to gain understanding of their perspective. I am glad to read that you support MA moving forward with this, and I feel more confident in standing behind it after reading this.
For other MA leaders reading this important article, please talk to Erin about how she got nearly 80% of kindergartens and first graders to benchmark at her title school and what she's doing to improve that number. Really important work happening work in our wonderful state if you know where to look!
Thanks, Erin! How did MTA describe their opposition? I understand that unions are primed to oppose anything that legislates instruction, and I take solace in the fact that the local AFT affiliate has not been as vocal, and the MA superintendents’ association backed off its 2024 opposition to a similar bill. (Not sure if you read my Mass Mojo piece in November which got into those weeds.)
"There are vigorous debates about the best dosage and model for phonics instruction (linguistic phonics vs traditional print-to-speech phonics) which have yet to be truly translated to the curriculum selection realm." This is REALLY important: finding efficiency as well as effectiveness. I wrote about it in Timothy Shanahan Points to a Possible Speech-to-Print Advantage (https://harriettjanetos.substack.com/p/timothy-shanahan-points-to-a-possible?r=5spuf). Thanks for highlighting this!
Brilliant breakdown of the leadership gap in curriculum mandates. The contrast between Massachusetts' Katherine Tarca and Michigan's current capacity is spot-on. I've watched similiar dynamics unfold where states rush mandates without having the right expertise inplace to build quality lists. The point about Ohio's 21-option list being basically a soft ban on Balanced Literacy rather than real curation is perfect, and that's exacty what happens when process beats substance.
Thanks for these thoughts! I don’t find many people arguing this position. The real question is whether or not we can raise awareness of all the states going sideways.
Just in case people want to watch the webinar referenced in footnote 2: the link there goes to a different webinar. The one that I think you meant, Karen, is this one:
Thank you, Karen. I’ve been really trying to understand the pros and cons of the MA legislation. As a parent of young children in a Units of Study district, my instinct is this can’t come soon enough. The MA Teachers Association strongly opposes the bill, and I recently attended a webinar they hosted to try to gain understanding of their perspective. I am glad to read that you support MA moving forward with this, and I feel more confident in standing behind it after reading this.
For other MA leaders reading this important article, please talk to Erin about how she got nearly 80% of kindergartens and first graders to benchmark at her title school and what she's doing to improve that number. Really important work happening work in our wonderful state if you know where to look!
Thanks, Erin! How did MTA describe their opposition? I understand that unions are primed to oppose anything that legislates instruction, and I take solace in the fact that the local AFT affiliate has not been as vocal, and the MA superintendents’ association backed off its 2024 opposition to a similar bill. (Not sure if you read my Mass Mojo piece in November which got into those weeds.)
"There are vigorous debates about the best dosage and model for phonics instruction (linguistic phonics vs traditional print-to-speech phonics) which have yet to be truly translated to the curriculum selection realm." This is REALLY important: finding efficiency as well as effectiveness. I wrote about it in Timothy Shanahan Points to a Possible Speech-to-Print Advantage (https://harriettjanetos.substack.com/p/timothy-shanahan-points-to-a-possible?r=5spuf). Thanks for highlighting this!
Brilliant breakdown of the leadership gap in curriculum mandates. The contrast between Massachusetts' Katherine Tarca and Michigan's current capacity is spot-on. I've watched similiar dynamics unfold where states rush mandates without having the right expertise inplace to build quality lists. The point about Ohio's 21-option list being basically a soft ban on Balanced Literacy rather than real curation is perfect, and that's exacty what happens when process beats substance.
Thanks for these thoughts! I don’t find many people arguing this position. The real question is whether or not we can raise awareness of all the states going sideways.
Once again, proving it's not just the initial legislation. But also the implementation.
A curriculum lists are great when they're full of good curriculum. Not so great if they're not
This is so helpful, Karen. Will share widely in MA!
Thank you!!
Just in case people want to watch the webinar referenced in footnote 2: the link there goes to a different webinar. The one that I think you meant, Karen, is this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfeFw1ki2bU
Thank you for flagging this! Will check the link and update.