https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2022/
NAEP reports scores at five selected percentiles to show the progress made by lower- (10th and 25th percentiles), middle- (50th percentile), and higher- (75th and 90th percentiles) performing students. In 2022, reading and mathematics scores for students at all five selected percentile levels declined compared to 2020. In both subjects, scores for lower-performing age 9 students declined more than scores for higher-performing students compared to 2020.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
https://thriveglobal.com/stories/yes-we-really-are-glued-to-our-phones/
The average person spends two hours and six minutes on social media each day – a total of over six years across a person’s lifespan.
https://www.popsugar.com/family/Teacher-Fault-Kid-45134274
++++++++++++++++++
I agree with this. As chess coach to 3,700 kids at 5 schools the past 25 years, I've had an extraordinarily unique opportunity to know many dozens of teachers and thousands of parents. Fortunately for me, chess is something that typically features well behaved kids with good brains that want to challenge themselves in school systems with great teachers and extremely supportive parents.
But I don't live in a bubble. Once a year, I have a huge chess tournament that usually brings in 25 schools. I try hard to connect with and assist the low income schools and their students for the tournament and will generate support for those students beyond that tournament.........if I can just find 1 person at a school to take on the responsibility of being their chess coach.
The unique experiences while doing this, that are repeated over and over tell us about a profound dynamic at play that doesn't get enough attention.
+++++++++++++++++++
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/86443/#86448
By metmike - June 29, 2022, 12:30 a.m.
Over a decade ago, the school lunches started carrying much healthier meals to help make kids healthier.
I remember having lunch with my sons(that we paid for) over 25 years ago at school numerous times.
I was blown away at how much food was NOT eaten and ended up in the trash. Our kids went to a mostly medium/high income families public school that likely did not feature many getting their lunch for free.
It's been nice being the chess coach at schools in this district because the kids from high achieving parents, generally follow the same path.
And when its time to help me at the big chess tournament that I run(200 kids-25 schools K-12), they respond generously as well as give constant support to their child in everything their kid does.
It's very sad to see the inner city chess programs struggle from lack of this same kind of support.
I reserve seats for everybody at our chess tournament and block them off for each school so everybody can sit with everybody else from the same school.
The kids at my schools always have at least one parent, often both parents and even another family member.
80 of the kids in the tournament are from my schools. I will usually block off around 200 seats for those 80, which is around 2.5 seats for each kid.
With the inner city schools, very often a teacher will get a van/vehicle that can transport up to 10 kids and drive them.
Most kids have 0 parents there but several might have 1 parent.
If we have 10 kids from those situations, I will block off 15 seats, assuming 1 parent for every 2 kids and that's actually being generous. So 1.5 seats for each kid.
I see this on 1 day a year in March for the chess tournament. However, during the other 364 days a year, this also defines the difference in family support these kids get with regards to everything they do.
When I explain this to other people, I've had a few of them say "maybe the poor kids parents all had to work and that's why they can't come".
If that was the case and it was such a pronounced effect because of parents working so hard, then you wonder why the poor families all stay poor (-:
I had a buddy from the gym, Mike Dedmond who was a 5th grade teacher at one of the mid/upper class schools, Scott Elementary that I coach chess at.
He told me that it took him something like 10 years to get the job at Scott, after being on a waiting list, while he was teaching 5th grade at Cedar Hall K-8.
While at Cedar Hall, he said he had numerous students that were failing because they almost never turned in homework, almost never studied for tests and were rarely prepared for class. He was concerned that THEIR performance was holding him back because he felt like a failure and was powerless to do anything about it and didn't have a shining resume. Parents often blamed him for their kids failures.
Then he got the job at Scott. Didn't change a thing. Same grade and subjects and teaching methods............but different kids and parents.
All of a sudden, he became a great teacher with tons of parents complimenting him because their kids were getting A's in his classes.
It's obvious here where the main source of the students performance was coming from.........parents. Multiply this by millions across the country. Same experience that I have every single year when dealing with all those schools as a chess coach.
Cedar Hall, noted above also has a chess coach doing it as long as me, 25 years but just his school. He's also a teacher. I admire him for his dedication all those years. He always brings students from his school to my tournament in March. Normally just a handful. Great kids and great coach. Unlike kids from my schools that have parents driving and staying with them the entire 6-7 hours of the tournament, sometimes BOTH parents, Brent has to use a school corporation van to provide transportation for his kids. He's the driver. See the previous post for more on this dynamic.
There are sometimes a couple of parents from Cedar Hall that bring their child and stay. And with my schools, there are extremely rare circumstances when parents drop the ball. This sounds judgmental but the objective is to identify the biggest reason for a child's success or failure.
At my first tournament at my first school, Scott in March 1997, we had 5 out of the 6 undefeated champs.
All the parents were so exited and proud of this new chess coach. I must have had a dozen tell me what a great chess coach that I was.
They were wrong. I didn't know diddly squat about coaching/teaching chess, but the previous chess coach, Tim McLaughlin died the previous month(I'd been helping him a little) and chess would have died if I didn't step in and take over.
I know a thing or 100 about coaching chess now but back then, I was just a motivated parent that wanted to do everything possible to help my 2 sons and their school to be successful. In that case, volunteering to supervise really smart kids from supportive families(many that played chess with them at home) for an hour a week, giving them an opportunity they wouldn't have had, including making arrangements to be in a competitive tournament.............is all I did.
Very little on teaching but big on understanding how to recognize and maximize a unique opportunity for kids that could already play great chess. I stayed with it for 25 years and greatly expanded it because of the many benefits for youth that play chess. You can credit me for that.
This is a reason that I especially admire coach Bret at Cedar Hall so much too. His school lacks those same elements listed above that resulted in me getting undeserved praise for performance in my first year/tournament.
But he doesn't do it for the praise or the tournament results. Each child does benefit from playing chess, regardless of the circumstances. I've watched chess coaches come and go. Whether its for a couple of years or for a couple of decades+, like with Bret, we always do it for the kids. It's always icing on the cake when your students rise to the very top in challenging tournaments and it makes the coach feel good, sometimes more than they deserve.
I'm in a school system with parents that strive for the icing all the time for their kids and kids that feel that way too. I'm happy to be part of getting it. .......together WITH them.
Related to this, last year I had a high school team loaded with young adults that can ALL BEAT ME!
They can also beat most of the other high school players in the state of Indiana.........and that's exactly what they did in March of this year!
I'm just providing them with adult supervision at chess practices and challenging opportunities to compete in chess. It's THEM that should get the credit. Seriously!
Our cake earlier this year had a double layer of icing on it!
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/82701/
From left to right, Ryan Houston, Thinh Nguyen, Parth Patel, Mitch Westlund, Iver Westlund, Coach Mike Maguire.