NEA Today-Retired January 2022

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First and Foremost
Education news and trends

NEA Urges Action on Threats Against Educators

Educators across the country have bee exposed to a steady stream of threats, harassment, and disinformation disseminated
and highlighted on social media platforms.

This disturbing trend began with false information over COVID-19 safety protocols, then intensified with threats surrounding critical race theory over the summer. In September, so-called TikTok “challenges” urged students to first vandalize school property and then to “slap” a teacher.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in October that in response to “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” against educators, he was directing the FBI as to address the growing problem.

And in a letter to the CEO’s of Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, NEA President Becky Pringle urged the companies to “make a public pledge to students, educators, and their families to regulate lies and fix your algorithms to put public safety over profits.”

“Our nation’s educators are still working through a pandemic after two years, Pringle wrote. “We’re all exhausted, stressed, and stretched so thin it feels like we’ll crumble—and now we’re facing growing violence fueled by corporations with no oversight and no accountability to the communities they harm.”

Physical Activity Decreased Significantly

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that young people engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily, ideally outdoors. It’s no surprise that during the early stages of the pandemic, young people found it difficult or were less inclined to meet that goal.

According to a survey by JAVA Open Network, only one in five children and teens engaged in at least 60 minutes of physical activity in October and November 2020. And nearly 1 in 10 said that they had zero days with 60 or more minutes. At the same time, the respondents said they spent four hours per day on mobile devices, computers, or gaming systems.

“Promoting physical activity and limiting screen time may both be important targets of promoting children’s mental health during and after the COVID-19 pandemic,” study coauthor Dr. Pooja Tandon told United Press International.

A separate CDC study, released in September, found that weight gain among children accelerated during the pandemic, with the
share of obese children and teens increasing from 19 percent prepandemic to 22 percent nationally.

Widespread Acceptance of SEL

According to a study released in October, America’s educators overwhelmingly understand the value of social and emotional learning (SEL). The “2021 Social and Emotional Learning Report” found that more educators are now aware of SEL and believe it’s greatly beneficial for students. In 2018, 83 percent of educators were familiar with SEL. By 2021, that number had risen to 94 percent.

The survey also found that:

• 87 percent believe SEL is important i helping children navigate today’s world.
• Educators believe SEL will help reduce behavioral problems, such as bullying (95%), lack of motivation (94%), safety-related issues (93%), and poor student-teacher relationships (91%).
• 91 percent say it will help improve grades.
• 95 percent said it will help reduce emotional distress.

The Legacy of the First ‘Teaching Machines’

Long before Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg began championing and bankrolling online personalized learning in 2016, there was B.F. Skinner. A behavioral psychologist in the 1950s, Skinner invented a “teaching machine”— a mechanical device designed to automate and individualize instruction so that students could learn at their own pace. Before Skinner, there was Sidney Pressey, psychology professor at Ohio State University and standardized testing pioneer, who created a “machine for intelligence testing” in the late 1920s.

A new book, Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning, recounts how these and other early “innovations” failed to live up to their hype. And yet, as author Audrey Watters writes, the Pressey and Skinner machines have been hugely influential, serving as an early trial run in the push to embed computerized teaching and learning in every school.

What is it about the story of Pressey, Skinner, and other early advocates of computerized instruction that resonates today?

Audrey Watters: When I was writing the book, there was this rather didactic part of me that wanted to end every paragraph with “and this is precisely what is happening today.” So I was interested in correcting this amnesia that we have—either deliberate
or forgotten history—about education technology, in part to show what we see today is really not as new or innovative as some of the proponents would have us believe.

Pressey and Skinner were both convinced that their teaching machines would be game-changers for the education system. Why did they fail to break through?

AW: Entrepreneurs or tech people will come into schools and say, “Look everyone, I’ve got a quick fix-it,” but education is such a complex system. Skinner blamed teachers unions for resisting change, but contrary to the story that gets told, NEA was really
quite supportive of all sorts of innovations in the classroom. In the mid-to-late 20th century, teachers were intrigued about how
new technologies, such as film and radio, could be used in the classroom.

It was actually the business leaders who stood in the way of commercialization of these products, because they didn’t see how they could turn a profit on them.

But there was understandable resistance on the part of teachers to these machines. What were the concerns?

AW: It wasn’t necessarily a fear that the machine was going to replace them. Some liked the idea behind Skinner’s machine—that students were supposed to work at their own pace. Others not so much.

Also, in post-World War II America, teachers were seeing the size of their classes increase. Skinner’s pitch was that it would help them teach a class of 60 rather than a class of 20 or 25. So when they heard that Skinner’s machine would facilitate many, many more students, a lot of teachers said no, thank you.

And anyone—educators in particular—who stood up and said not so fast was quickly branded as “anti-technology” or a Luddite.

AW: I sort of embrace the Luddite, whose story has been misunderstood. The Luddites were weavers and craftspeople who used machines to make cloth. They weren’t against technology. What they were opposed to were the factories in which this kind of mechanization to make cloth was taken out of their hands.

Working with technology when you have control over what you think and what you build and what you do is very different from having your product extracted from you.

Despite technology being so immersed in everyone’s lives and the soaring amount of money spent on ed tech, you still believe the “mechanization” of education is not inevitable?

AW: I hope the book shows that resistance is possible. People have always resisted technologies that they believe are degrading or antithetical to freedom.

People generally get caught up in the gadgets and not the practices. Students aren’t learning more and they aren’t learning more quickly. We’re not going to see any educational breakthroughs through this massive adoption of technology.

So it isn’t a matter of saying no to technology. But let’s say no to practices in the classroom—technological or not—that instead of engaging and supporting students’ agency and autonomy are designed to program instruction and engineer their behavior.

Student Debt Relief on the Horizon?

After hearing from 48,000 NEA members about the failures of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), the Biden administration announced, in October, an overhaul of the broken program.

The changes to PSLF—a government program that is supposed to forgive the student debt of educators and other public-service workers who have served their communities for at least 10 years—will mean about 550,000 borrowers will move significantly closer to student debt forgiveness, including 22,000 who are immediately eligible.

NEA has led a coalition of 200 organizations in demanding that the government keep its promise and fix the program. “This is a welcome step toward keeping the promise of PSLF and cancelling the student debt of every educator who has served their commitment to their communities,” said NEA President Becky Pringle.

The Biden administration should be commended for keeping its promise to educators, said NEA President Becky Pringle. But NEA members also deserve praise: These changes wouldn’t have happened without the activism of NEA members.

NEA in Action

Here's how we've been working for our members and students.

Keeping Kids and Colleagues Safe

On Oahu, Hawaii, hundreds of NEA members took to the streets to advocate for consistent safety protocols and to ensure school officials enforce safe practices to keep students, school staff, and the community safer during the pandemic.

Demanding Higher Wages

Grown people need grown-people pay,” says Tavares Ward, head custodian at Charles A. Brown Elementary School in Birmingham, Ala. Custodians, cafeteria workers, and bus drivers in his district got a 12 percent pay raise in Octo - ber, thanks to fierce pressure by the Alabama Education Association. “If it were not for them, we wouldn’t have got what we got,” Ward says. “It was a slugfest! It’s not like (school officials) wanted to give it to us.”

Reducing High Stakes Testing

For years, NEA members have called for less mandatory testing and more time for teaching and learning—including testifying before Congress and engaging in letter-writing campaigns. In Florida, our hard work finally paid off. In September, school officials announced the end of standardized tests. The state's educators will now use progress monitoring, which measures students' performance throughout the year.

Winning Big for the LGBTQ+ Community

The Loudoun County School Board, in Virginia, voted in favor of a transgender rights policy allowing students to access school facilities and groups, such as sports teams, that match their gender identities. This win for students was the direct result of NEA and the Virginia Education Association helping to elect pro-public education and school board candidates in the state. To read about more wins go to nea.org/win .

Launching a Nationwide Campaign to Help Schools Build Back Better

NEA and 3 million members like you worked hard to pass the American Rescue Plan (ARP)—a historic investment of $170 billion in public education. And that's just the start! NEA is working to pass even more of President Biden's Build Back Better initiative. Plus, we are mounting a campaign to hold elected officials accountable and remind them who they represent. Our campaign includes:

1. Investing more than $10 million in state and local affiliates to build a network of grassroots advocates who will ensure ARP dollars reach the students who need them most.

2. Kicking off a series of town halls to raise awareness about the ARP and what it takes to ensure public schools get the resources due to them.

3. Elevating NEA members to be the leading voice in education by creating partnerships with likeminded organizations. NEA has already identified educators for participation in partner events around the country.

4. Launching an extensive digital ad campaign thanking members of Congress who voted for the ARP, while holding opponents of the measure accountable. NEA is working every day for great public schools for all students and edu

President's Viewpoint: Protecting Democracy, Building Membership

Redistricting, running for office, racial and social justice for all, protecting voters’ rights … all on the front burner when it comes to legislative issues and protecting democracy. I’m not sure where your state is in the process of protecting these precious foundations, but I trust you are there on the front lines, lobbying, sending messages, making calls and standing up to speak out! If you aren’t sure what you can do, contact your retired state president and get an assignment. We cannot wait or expect someone else to do it!

While lobbying is going on, your leadership continues to work on membership growth, communication, and leadership development. Be sure you are reaching out to your ESP members with the special 60 percent discount on membership dues. Don’t forget to ask our Higher Ed. members to belong also. We are an all-inclusive membership, and we need everyone working together.

Plan now to attend the March NEA-Retired Post-Summit meeting at the Leadership Development conference. Ask your fellow members to attend and to be a part of the training, learning, and activities. Yes, there will be an auction for the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education, our Political Action Committee, so get ready to shop, and then to bid. Go to nea.org/retired to find out more.

My goal this year as well as last has been to work on membership growth. While we continue to grow, we still only capture fewer than 2 percent of those retiring. Soon our active members will be deciding on retirement, and we really can’t afford to let one more retiree slip through the cracks without joining this final membership category.

Please work with your local to get those names and even do a special drive right at home to help sign up everyone in your area. We are stronger together because We Are NEA-Retired and WE Are Needed NOW More Than Ever. Our Commitment Continues!

The Bulletin Board

Helping when Disaster Strikes

On the morning of Saturday, August 21, a torrential flood swallowed the town in Waverly, Tenn. In this tight-knit community of 4,000 people, the flood killed 20 people and destroyed 176 homes as well as the local elementary school and junior high school. The high school and local board of education were also seriously damaged.

“There was deep grief for the loss of life, also grief for all the families that lost their homes,” says Waverly resident Carolyn Williams, a member of the Tennessee Retired Teachers Association who spent her career in the local schools. “One of the first thoughts was how blessed we were that this did not happen on a day when students were in school.”

“As soon as the flood waters subsided, active and retired educators were boots on the ground,” Williams says. She was among the many who fanned out to churches and shelters, providing food and supplies as well as day care and counseling sessions for survivors. Williams also worked with a local non-profit to collect and distribute school supplies for students and teachers who lost everything that was in their school buildings.

“Although this has been and still is a horrible tragedy, we have witnessed overwhelming support from every corner of the nation,”
Williams reflects. “We are a strong community and somehow we will return from this devastation.”

Inspiring Young Voters

Across the nation, young people ages 18 – 29 are the least likely to vote. But Phil A. Long, vice chair of the Ohio Education Association-Retired, is working to change that in his state. He is spearheading a partnership between the Ohio Education Association (OEA) and Kids Voting Ohio (KVO), a non-partisan, non-profit organization that works to educate students in grades 3–12 about the importance of voting.

Long serves as president of KVO’s board and is teaming up with fellow KVO board members, OEA Executive Director Patricia Collins-Murdock and OEA member Jennifer Juggler, to use the reach of their unions to encourage educators to sign up for the innovative program. OEA is a major financial sponsor of KVO, which offers voter education, mock elections, voter registration drives, social justice initiatives, government field trips, and more. KVO programs were offered statewide for the first time in fall 2021.

“We are especially focusing on groups who tend to not have the high percentage of participation in the election process,” Long says. “Kids Voting Ohio wants to make sure that all young people are informed of their right and responsibility to vote.”