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What We’re Reading: Week of February 14, 2022

February 18, 2022

Happy Friday! This week, we’re reading articles on bringing workforce development opportunities to rural students, peer counseling to support student wellbeing, a student’s take on virtual learning, and more. Plus, check out the latest Linked Learning pathway spotlight, focused on education pathways in Los Angeles and Oakland USD. Enjoy the long weekend, and thank you so much for reading with us!


Assessment
Ed Dept urges states to rethink assessment delivery, communication, K-12 Dive
The U.S. Department of Education urged states to develop assessment systems that use multiple measures of academic achievement and follow a competency-based model.


College and Career Pathways
Growing Community Educators: Linked Learning Education Pathways Prepare the Next Generation of Teachers, Linked Learning Alliance
A diverse, well-prepared teaching workforce with close ties to their community is critical to the success of young people, ensuring they graduate prepared for lifelong success. Across California, districts are meeting this moment head-on, committing resources to attract new K-12 teachers and early childhood educators to the profession as early as high school.


Leadership
5 Ways Rural School Leaders Can Create Workforce Opportunities for Students, EdWeek
While jobs returned at high rates in 2021, most of that growth was experienced in metropolitan areas. Unfortunately, rural America in April 2021 had essentially the same number of jobs as in 2010, and that’s bad news for the nearly 1 in 5 students in the United States who attend a rural school and will thus be much more likely to miss out on high-quality, work-based learning opportunities.

Cardona: Tomorrow's problems can't be solved with yesterday's designs, K-12 Dive
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said education leaders must consider organizational innovation at the central office and school level, alongside programmatic innovation, during a fireside chat with AASA Executive Director Dan Domenech at the School Superintendents Association’s annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee.


Student Supports
Peer counseling gains popularity as California schools beef up student mental health services, EdSource
As schools look for new ways to address student mental health amid the Covid pandemic, more are turning to a practice that costs almost nothing and, if done well, can lead to life-changing results for all involved: peer counseling.


Student Voice
Virtual learning left my classmates and me burned out, but there are things schools can do to make it better for us, Hechinger Report
With expanded school services, mental health would be less stigmatized, which, in turn, would encourage more students to reach out to community services and resources, writes Maryland ninth grader Sophie Nguyen.


Workforce Development
Exits by Black and Hispanic Teachers Pose a Threat to Learning Recovery, EdWeek
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System reported a 26% increase in the number of teacher retirements in the second half of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. Of those surveyed, more than half cited challenges of teaching during the pandemic as their main reason for leaving.

Why inspiring Black students to teach is key to filling K-12 shortages, District Administration
The Philadelphia-based Center for Black Educator Development has been focused on recruiting, sustaining and retaining teachers of color since before the pandemic, which has only increased the strain on the K-12 workforce.