[Xmca-l] Re: "learning loss" and summer slide

[Julian Williams]

Andrew - hi

I think the key phrase is in your parentheses "taking its validity for granted" - why would you do that? Validity always has to be viewed in terms of consequences, and context. Ask yourself, perhaps: what is this ideology doing to learning-teaching and the curriculum and assessment?

The result of this concept here in my country is a combination of (i) poorer children who have no access to internet and  adequate WIFI being more or less forced to socially mix in school to get an education (even in lock-down) and take the virus home to their elderly relatives; (ii) suffer a "catch-up" curriculum that focuses on maths and language targets at the expense of the creative arts, eg music, dance and drama that offers emotional expression and mutual support;  and (iii) that denies children forced to stay home from the access to lunch and breakfast support that they get when they attend. (See I tend to go in threes - 🙂 )

Meanwhile the children of the relatively wealthy are online at home, with family and private tutors when the school can't manage.

The learning loss is- quite simply - a con perpetrated on the disadvantaged to disadvantage them further - because it offers the oppressed everything they dont  need to 'get on' or compete.

I say, forget the measurement - go to consequential validity.

Julian

PS Re the current pandemic, more broadly: Now we have found our "magic money tree" (aka the national bank)  -  spewing out billions into the coffers of the governing party's "mates" to keep their businesses afloat, and in many cases awash with cash that is producing next to nothing of use, and undermining the public service that we used to rely on and now desperately need - be it in health, education, .....

Check out our national disaster on "Double Down News" (eg 8 broadcasts by epidemiologist and 'prophet of doom'  Prof John Ashton over the last 11 months: he saw it coming and kept telling us while our prime mnser did his best to spread the virus) - neoliberalism has screwed us here even worse than Trump.  I think our death rate currently 'trumps' the US by quite a bit.


________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Coppens, Andrew <Andrew.Coppens@unh.edu>
Sent: 19 January 2021 20:22
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: "learning loss"


Hi Shirin, all –



I really appreciate this piece; it finds an immediate place in my courses this semester and condenses so many important historical and political issues.



I’d like to make explicit a connection to “summer slide,” a close cousin of “learning loss,” with very similar deficit and colonial origins. Your and Maxine’s critiques are as relevant to SS as they are to LL. The former has some helpful and recently published psychometric critiques whose implications are complimentary – summarized, here: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.educationnext.org/is-summer-learning-loss-real-how-i-lost-faith-education-research-results/__;!!Mih3wA!TC9ALYJLAxIZDnA1kcitCbcvnY0mI_kXZAM_nrYNdcbV5ZnHqH8PIQpMLjxLS3WVofjM6A$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.educationnext.org/is-summer-learning-loss-real-how-i-lost-faith-education-research-results/__;!!Mih3wA!VQH3djGtT8ulS6h0jloYrs49v96mjKRkqMoQow4RauTKqDDyUIlFgfnmbOyI7v07eaXrVQ$>.



Looking into the issue a year or so ago, nearly all of the proposed solutions I encountered to SS (taking its validity for granted) were consistent with the basic deficit logic that the more time that children and youth of non-dominant race or class backgrounds spend with their own families and communities the worse off they are, and promoted the colonial “fix” that schooling ought to occupy more and more of these children’s days, weeks, and years.



Again, many thanks.



/ Andrew



---

Andrew D. Coppens

UNH Education Dept., 330C Hamilton Smith Hall

603-862-3736, @andrewcoppens<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://twitter.com/AndrewCoppens__;!!Mih3wA!VQH3djGtT8ulS6h0jloYrs49v96mjKRkqMoQow4RauTKqDDyUIlFgfnmbOyI7v2RPWdBPg$>

Schedule a meeting: calendly.com/acoppens<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://calendly.com/acoppens__;!!Mih3wA!VQH3djGtT8ulS6h0jloYrs49v96mjKRkqMoQow4RauTKqDDyUIlFgfnmbOyI7v0CzeilJw$>





From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Date: Monday, January 18, 2021 at 12:18 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] "learning loss"

Caution - External Email


Dear all,



Sharing an op-ed co-authored with Maxine McKinney de Royston that draws on cultural historical ideas to challenge the increasing narrative around "learning loss" and other deficit ideologies, and to center families of color as educational partners and leaders:



https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://truthout.org/articles/fixating-on-pandemic-learning-loss-undermines-the-need-to-transform-education/__;!!Mih3wA!TC9ALYJLAxIZDnA1kcitCbcvnY0mI_kXZAM_nrYNdcbV5ZnHqH8PIQpMLjxLS3Wm20-ptg$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Furldefense.com*2Fv3*2F__https*3A*2F*2Ftruthout.org*2Farticles*2Ffixating-on-pandemic-learning-loss-undermines-the-need-to-transform-education*2F__*3B!!Mih3wA!V_zce6_iKqDaSj7UBvVR2qFpfRrDGZ4J1l2cSf8ts02DFRY9qwcdVYG42K3tfecDn5vPGQ*24&data=04*7C01*7Candrew.coppens*40unh.edu*7C09fd52b4e9a94809968408d8bbd51305*7Cd6241893512d46dc8d2bbe47e25f5666*7C0*7C0*7C637465871106662532*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C2000&sdata=1WzVtGweUA6AC73qtH*2BoROSauZo2ydRzD0lNRv7aYEE*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUl!!Mih3wA!VQH3djGtT8ulS6h0jloYrs49v96mjKRkqMoQow4RauTKqDDyUIlFgfnmbOyI7v1TtkyyMg$>



~Shirin




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