Call to action: In-person comments needed FOR OUR KIDS at WCSD meeting
Our elected trustees will vote on how i-Ready will be evaluated this school year to determine whether to renew it again next year. Public comment is our one shot to weigh in on the evaluation plan.
Calling all WCSD parents, preK parents, homeschool parents, pediatricians, public health experts, mental health experts, child development experts, education experts, teachers, counselors, community leaders and concerned citizens! Our elected school-board trustees deserve to know how their constituents feel about what's happening in the WCSD.
When and Where
2 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, 425 E. Ninth St. in Reno (near UNR and I-80)
Join our announcement-only WhatsApp group for important WCSD meeting alerts. Depending on where the item falls on the agenda, you may be able to wait for our alert on Tuesday before heading to the meeting for comments.
More details will be posted here when the agenda drops Thursday. For now, here are some general talking points. If you have a personal story to share that is relevant to this topic, that is always the most powerful.
INSIST ON EVIDENCE-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL INVESTMENTS AND DECISIONS
Given that we all want what's best for our children, we must insist that any further instructional decisions and investments be made based on independent, third-party research. That research must provide peer-reviewed evidence that the student benefits of a product outweigh any potential drawbacks or risks. And we must have that evidence BEFORE we purchase or renew a product — not go looking for it 4 years and $8 million later.
FOLLOW THE SCIENCE FIRST
Recess, art and PE are all backed by peer-reviewed research to help children mentally, physically and academically. Yet WCSD allots no funding or instructional minutes for art or PE in our elementary schools, and recess is often reduced or withheld for academic or minor disciplinary reasons. These fundamental programs must be in place and protected before we even think about investing our tax dollars and precious student and teacher time in non-evidence-based instruction.
CONSIDER THE EFFECT ON KIDS
Many of our children have begun to lose their love for school and learning due to the tedious nature of the automated i-Ready lessons; the punishments and rewards associated with completing these lessons; and the fact that they're sometimes left staring at a screen with headphones on far longer than the 30-49 minutes per subject each week that the company recommends. For these reasons and others, numerous parents have chosen to opt out of i-Ready.
QUESTIONS THE EVALUATION MUST ANSWER
1. What does it cost?
How much money and time does i-Ready consume, by grade, and what does it displace?
2. How well does it work?
Using evidence independent of the i-Ready assessments, do the weekly i-Ready automated math and reading lessons produce enough additional learning to justify those costs?
3. For whom does it work?
Look beyond averages. Measure differential effects and independently ask students and teachers what they're actually experiencing, while protecting their anonymity.
4. How will the evidence determine the decision?
Establish the criteria before results are known and explain how the findings will support continuation, modification, limitation or discontinuation.
Bottom line: Is i-Ready a better use of students' instructional time than reasonable alternatives (human teachers), for which students, and at what cost?
We learned the hard way that in-person public comments hold more weight than emailed comments.
If there's NO WAY you can be at the meeting, email a separate comment for each item you want to comment on (item number as subject) to publiccomments@washoeschools.net.
We will not have specific item numbers for email comments until the agenda posts Thursday. At that point, we will post them here, on our Instagram page and in our WhatsApp group.
If you email a public comment you are then precluded from making a comment in person on that item at the meeting. It's one or the other.
For all the nuts and bolts on how to make a public comment at a WCSD meeting, where the meeting room is and more, please click here.