Education Week - December 14, 2022 - 2

Teenagers' Brains
Aged Prematurely
During Pandemic
Fifteen is the new 18 when it comes to teenagers'
brains. So says new research showing that those
brains aged years in a matter of months during the
stress and isolation of the pandemic lockdowns.
A study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry
Global Open Science suggests that the pandemic
caused similar effects to emotion and decisionmaking
centers in the brain as does chronic, toxic stress.
" Every adolescent in the country went through the
pandemic, " said Ian Gotlib, the director of the Neurodevelopment,
Affect, and Psychopathology Lab at
Stanford University and lead author of the study. " And
this is what we're seeing as a consequence of having
experienced yearlong lockdown. It wasn't so much
the direction of the brain aging that surprised us; it
was how pronounced it was for such a relatively short
period of time. "
Compared with teenagers coming of age before
the pandemic, those who experienced 10 months of
lockdowns in 2020 showed three to four years of premature
aging in the brain's amygdala, hippocampus,
and cerebral cortex.
When related to toxic stress, these changes are associated
with higher risk of memory and learning
problems and mental illnesses such as anxiety and
depression-which may help explain the sharp rise in
mental health disorders among teenagers.
But Gotlib's findings don't mean that teenagers
won't be able to recover academically or emotionally
post-pandemic. Brain plasticity-the ability to adapt to
new information and environments-isn't really that
different among adolescents of different ages.
Rather, he said, " I would want [school staff] to pay
attention to the mental health data and be sure that
they're trying to support teens who are showing signs
of emotional distress in any way that they can. "
In one recent survey, adolescents overwhelmingly
report anxiety, depression, and stress have become
their biggest barriers to learning.
Gotlib and his team plan to scan the teenagers again
as they turn 20 to determine whether their brains return
to their pre-pandemic developmental trajectory
or if the changes continue over time. " We don't know
if this is going to persist or if this is simply a temporary
response to the stress of a pandemic, " he said. " The
accelerated aging could slow to put them back on track
to their chronological age. "
As Head Start Quality Push Moves Forward,
Advocates Raise Red Flag on Program Equity
Quality or quantity? That's the conundrum facing local
Head Start providers that have been unable to satisfy demand
as they ramp up standards to meet federal regulations.
That's also the conclusion of a new report by the National
Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.
Its authors maintain that Congress should reauthorize Head
Start and Early Head Start programs and double current funding
to boost their effectiveness.
The findings come as K-12 educators face the dual challenge
of helping existing students make up for interrupted academics
during the pandemic while also setting the academic foundations
for incoming kindergartners.
The $10 billion Head Start and Early Head Start programs
serve children from families with income below the federal
poverty level. The institute's findings about equity and access
come after efforts in the last 15 years to improve the quality of
the programs so that they can better prepare children to succeed
in K-12 schools.
A 2007 congressional reauthorization of the programs
raised qualifications for Head Start teachers and pushed for
full- rather than half-day programs. Regulations in 2016 called
for additional relevant teacher training.
But efforts to improve quality increased the cost of local
programs, said Steve Barnett, the co-director of the Rutgers
advocacy and research organization.
For example, teachers with bachelor's degrees may require
higher salaries than peers without them. And, without a surge
of additional federal funding, providers struggle to cover
those expenses while also providing adequate seats to serve
the need in their communities.
Head Start enrolled 41 percent of impoverished 3- and
4-year-olds during the 2018-19 academic year, a number that
dropped to 30 percent in 2020-21, as total enrollment fell nationwide
during the pandemic, the institute found.
Compounding equity concerns: The institute found wide
state-by-state variations in program quality and enrollment.
The authors recommend that Congress boost funding by
$10 billion over four years.
Virtual Working
Many district
leaders and
principals say
they plan on
doing more
business online.
How Should U.S. History Be Taught? Americans
Do Disagree But Far Less Than They Think
Teaching American history. Contentious? Certainly. But there's
more common ground among Americans than expected in these
politically divisive times, finds a new study.
The report, from the international research and civic action
group More in Common, adds to a growing body of evidence
showing that most adults want teachers to focus on both the triumphs
and the dark chapters of American history.
Some areas of disagreement exist: How much focus to devote to
each and what lines to draw between the past and the present are
areas of debate, More in Common's surveys showed.
But the new research suggests that the discourse around the
" history wars " is warping Americans' ideas about what their political
opponents actually believe-potentially making it harder to
find shared points of agreement.
Researchers found what they call a " perception gap " -a difference
between what Democrats and Republicans think members
of the other party believe and what members of that other group
actually do believe.
" Many Republicans believe most Democrats want to teach a
history defined by shameful oppression and white guilt. Many
Democrats believe most Republicans want to focus on the white
majority and overlook slavery and racism. But we found that both
impressions are wrong, " the report says.
For example, only 35 percent of Democrats thought that Republicans
would say that " Americans have a responsibility to learn
from our past and fix our mistakes. " But 93 percent of Republicans
agreed with that statement.
On the other side, only 45 percent of Republicans thought Democrats
would want students to " learn about how the Declaration
of Independence and the Constitution advanced freedom and
equality. " But 92 percent of Democrats said students should learn
that.
Where Republicans' and Democrats' views differed were on
two principal issues: 1) whether the United States needs to more
publicly acknowledge past wrongs, and 2) how important it is for
children to learn about the history of Americans whose racial
backgrounds are different from their own. Those views differed
somewhat by race but more so by ideology.
BRIEFLY STATED CONTRIBUTORS: Evie Blad, Lauraine Langreo, Mark Lieberman, Caitlynn Peetz, Sarah Schwartz, and Sarah D. Sparks. Edited by Karen Diegmueller.
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