Education Week - February 3, 2021 - 3

Global Test Finds Gap
Widening in Scores
For Students in U.S.
American 4th and 8th graders may be performing
in the top quarter of countries in both math and science, but that's not saying much, so say the initial
results of the 2019 Trends in International Math and
Science Study.
The test gauges the performance of some 330,000
4th graders in 64 countries and education systems
and 250,000 8th graders in 46 education systems.
In the latest administration of the test-before
COVID-19 surfaced-most U.S. students proved
capable of understanding and applying basic concepts in the subjects. However, their average performance has flattened since TIMSS was last given in
2015. On average, U.S. 4th graders met intermediate
benchmarks in math and science-meaning they
showed understanding of some aspects of science
and could apply basic math knowledge to solve simple problems. But the math score dropped 4 scale
points since 2015. Likewise, 8th graders scored on
average at the intermediate level in math and science, meaning they showed some understanding of
biology and physical science and could apply basic
math concepts.
Still, the nation has lost all the ground it had previously gained in ensuring all students had at least
" some basic knowledge " in math and science. In
2019, 7 percent of 4th graders didn't meet this lowest performance level in math, and 6 percent failed
to do so in science. Similarly, 12 percent of U.S. 8th
graders didn't meet this lowest achievement level
in science, and 13 percent lacked basic understanding of whole numbers and graphs in math. That's
the highest percentage of struggling 8th graders in
both subjects since 1999, and it means the United
States has a significantly wider gap in scores than
other high-performing countries such as Japan,
Russia, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and
Ontario. Even tiny Lithuania had a smaller share of
students who performed below the lowest achievement benchmark before the COVID-19 pandemic,
which has exacerbated global learning inequities.
TIMSS countries have reported implementing
policies to encourage using technology in math and
science instruction. At the same time, the data suggest teachers have not received training or support
to use technology successfully during their instruction in either subject or grade.

$350

State and Local Government Aid
Reopening K-12 Schools Safely and
Helping Students Recover

130

COVID-19 Testing for Schools, LongTerm-Care Facilities, and Prisons

50
35

Higher Education Relief for Public Institutions
Emergency Child-Care Stabilization Fund

25
15

Child-Care and-Development Block Grant
" Hardest Hit " COVID-19 Governors' Fund

Federal Behavioral-Health Services

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)

President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion plan includes
money dedicated to help K-12 schools reopen
safely and address the impact of COVID-19.
Other parts of the plan would help schools,
educators, and children as well.
Dollars (in billions)
SOURCE: Biden Presidential Transition Team

High Court Declines to Hear Teachers' Appeals
For Refunds From Unions for Agency Fees
What you're hearing from public-employee unions across
the land is one big sigh of relief.
And why not? They've lost a ton of money since 2018, when
the U.S. Supreme Court sided with workers who didn't want
to pay collective bargaining fees. But last week, when those
workers wanted to be reimbursed for all the money they did
ante up over the years, the high court nixed that idea by simply
refusing to hear the teachers' cases.
The court's action-or inaction-while not a ruling on the
merits of the cases, was a practical victory for teachers' unions
and other public-employee labor organizations that faced millions of dollars in financial liabilities if the objecting employees' claims were revived.
The cases have been pursued with the backing of some of
the same union opponents who were involved in the case that
led to the court's landmark decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31.
In essence, the justices ruled that objecting employees could
not be compelled under the First Amendment to help fund,

Trump's Vision of How to Teach U.S. History
Abandoned on Day 1 of Biden Administration
In its own way, former President Donald Trump's short-lived
1776 Commission made history. The commission, whose purpose was to deliver a report on teaching U.S. history, had no
historians as members, pulled together its report in a scant
month's time, and was scrapped two days after unveiling the
highly contentious document.
The report accused identity politics, and its influence on history studies, of fostering resentment by trying to divide people
into separate, protected classes based on race and other characteristics. Instead, the 1776 Commission report said, schools
and others who have roles to play in sharing the nation's his-

Biden's 'American
Rescue Plan' for Schools
And Children

tory should focus on providing a " patriotic education " that
celebrates America's ideals, its progress, and what unites its
citizens, even as people are taught about the nation's flaws
and mistakes. That will help lead to a restoration of American
education and a " national renewal, " it said.
On Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, President Joe Biden revoked
the executive order that had established the commission,
which released its report Jan. 18, the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr.'s birthday.
In the waning months of his presidency, Trump used his
platform to warn of a " crusade against American history " and

through their so-called agency fees, union speech with which
they disagreed.
One of the teachers fighting to get a refund-and class action
status-for some 30 years of fees paid to the National Education Association and its affiliates was Stacey Mooney. " No one
gets to keep money or property that is taken in good faith but
in violation of another's constitutional rights, " said the Illinois' teacher's appeal to the Supreme Court.
She lost in federal district court and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Numerous other federal district and
appeals courts were deciding similar cases, with virtually all
siding with the unions. In a case out of Ohio, the 6th Circuit
Court of Appeals held that the unions' good-faith defense
would overcome any retroactive remedy.
Said Alice O'Brien, the general counsel of the NEA: The
high court's " denials should be taken for what they are-the
end of the road for the post-Janus line of litigation. "
The court did not comment on the order denying review, but
it indicated that Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not take part.

threatened schools that adopted a curriculum based on The
New York Times' 1619 Project, which examines how slavery
shaped the United States and highlights the historical contributions of Black Americans.
To counter that perspective, Trump created the commission
via executive order in November. The group was led by Larry
Arnn, the president of Hillsdale College, and counted Charlie Kirk, the leader of the pro-Trump political group Turning
Point USA, among its dozen members, who clearly viewed the
nation's history through a conservative prism.
The now-defunct commission and its report have no official or mandatory role in what students learn. But the spirit
behind the commission could play a role outside the Beltway.
In November, for example, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a
Republican, proposed spending $3 million to focus on " the
incredible accomplishments of the American way " in his state.

BRIEFLY STATED CONTRIBUTORS: Corey Mitchell, Sarah D. Sparks, Tribune News Service, Andrew Ujifusa, and Mark Walsh. Edited by Karen Diegmueller.
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Education Week - February 3, 2021

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