Education Week - October 19, 2022 - 2

School Shootings
Set Record Levels,
Latest Data Reveal
Only last week-week number 41 of the calendar
year-another school shooting occurred. By the time
you read this, based on record-high numbers this year,
yet another may have taken place.
Thirty-seven school shootings have resulted in injuries
or deaths so far in 2022, more than in any single
year since Education Week began tracking the incidents
in 2018.
With 2 1/2 months left in the year, that surpasses the
previous record of 34 shootings that Education Week
tracked in all of 2021.
On Oct. 10, a juvenile was wounded in a shooting in
front of a high school in Milwaukee.
The record total comes as state and federal lawmakers
continue to debate responses to the May 24
shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas,
where 19 students and two teachers died after a gunman
barged into their building.
The latest shooting happened outside Madison High
School at the end of the school day. The injured youth
was not a student at the school, officials say.
Education Week's school shooting tracker counts
incidents in which at least one person, other than the
individual firing the weapon, is injured by gunfire on
school property when school is in session or during a
school-sponsored event.
Events on the tracker often differ from the mass
active-shooter attacks that are typically the focus of
school safety debates. School-sponsored events could
include evening activities, like football games, and injured
persons may or may not be students.
The second-most-recent incident occurred in
Dorchester, Mass., where police say a 17-year-old student
shot and injured a 17-year-old classmate in front
of their high school in the morning of Oct. 4.
And before that, a 17-year-old student was killed and
three people-another 17-year-old boy, a 20-year-old
woman, and a 9-year-old girl-were wounded in a
shooting outside a stadium at a high school football
homecoming game Sept. 30 in Tulsa, Okla.
Other organizations and government agencies, such
as the U.S. Department of Education, use varying criteria
to determine what constitutes a school shooting,
some narrower and some broader than Education
Week's. Nonetheless, various measures show the incidents
have increased this year.
Teachers, Too, Are in Different Camps When It Comes
To What Civics Content They Introduce to Students
What should civics classes teach? Like everything else in the
United States these days, there's disagreement over that, too.
Research is scant, but the RAND Corp. is shining a light on
how teachers approach the subject with the results of a survey
of a nationally representative sample of public school teachers.
Using questions derived from an international survey of educators
on civic instruction, the RAND study found a majority of respondents,
68 percent, believed that promoting students' critical
and independent thinking was the top aim for civics education.
Other popular responses were developing students' skills and
competencies in conflict resolution and promoting knowledge of
citizens' rights and responsibilities.
Only 5 percent of educators said they believed the goal was preparing
students for future political engagement.
The civics field has in general faced tensions over whether it
should prioritize foundational civics knowledge-like the legislative
process and development of the Constitution-or hands-on
instruction that shows students how to engage in civic avenues in
their own communities.
Some recent social studies standards revisions in such states as
Texas and Florida seem to align, at least in part, with what survey
respondents believed was the goal of civics instruction.
The RAND survey also found variations on responses between
male and female respondents. Female teachers tended to select
developing students' skills and competencies in conflict resolution
and supporting the development of effective strategies to
reduce racism as among their top aims. Men favored promoting
knowledge of social, political, and civic institutions, and promoting
the capacity to defend one's point of view.
When it comes to well-rounded civics instruction, it's not an
either-or scenario for Lawrence Paska, the executive director of
the National Council for the Social Studies.
" Students do need to have a grounding in basic knowledge,
they need to understand how our federal versus our state versus
our local systems of government work, " Paska said. " At the same
time, what do you do with that information as you have it? How
do you use that to be informed and thoughtful as a participant in
our society? "
Enjoying
the Ride
Principal Mike Lester
greets students as
they arrive at Clear
Lake Middle School in
Iowa. The former
teacher routinely
wears costumes as he
welcomes the student
body and often
accompanies the
reception with music.
To Combat Restrictive Measures, Teachers' Union
Doubles Down on Partnerships With Parents
Just being ticked off isn't much of a solution. So the nation's
second-largest teachers' union is putting money into a campaign
to fight back against conservative efforts to restrict protections
for LGBTQ students, limit how teachers can address race in lessons,
and expand school choice.
The American Federation of Teachers says it is awarding more
than $1.5 million collected from member dues to 27 state and
local affiliates. The money will go toward organizing parents and
educators, providing training to support advocacy campaigns,
and increasing collaboration among union affiliates and other
community organizations.
" As others try to ban books and split people apart and split
America apart, we are being honest about our problems and
working together to solve them to have a better America, " said
AFT President Randi Weingarten. " This program helps deepen
and strengthen the relationships that are critical to student success. "
Weingarten
said she hopes that the grants will be seed money
to lay the groundwork for sustainable projects, and that this may
be the first year of a multiyear commitment from the AFT.
While polling suggests that most parents trust and support
their children's teachers, groups claiming that schools aren't sufficiently
dedicated to parents' rights have formed in opposition
to teachers' unions. Some have argued that unions kept schools
closed longer than necessary during the pandemic and have promoted
inappropriate content about race, gender, and sexuality.
The Montana Federation of Public Employees is getting funds.
State Rep. Moffie Funk, a Democrat and former teacher, said
school board meetings have turned ugly, with tensions running
high during debates about mask mandates, critical race theory,
and books in school libraries that focus on LGBTQ issues.
The union received $75,000 to work with Funk's political
action fund, Montanans Organized for Education, to increase
participation among educators, families, and students in board
meetings and ensure civility in debate about education issues.
" Kids need to see the adults acting like adults and not going
to public meetings and throwing slurs around and misinformation, "
she said.
BRIEFLY STATED CONTRIBUTORS: Evie Blad, Ileana Najarro, Arianna Prothero, Sarah D. Sparks, and Madeline Will. Edited by Karen Diegmueller.
2 | EDUCATION WEEK | October 19, 2022 | www.edweek.org
Abby Koch/AP

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Education Week - October 19, 2022

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