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Dear John,

It is week 268 in our new reality and we are thinking about how we follow the evidence on technology and learning.

There is a well-established ([link removed]) positive and significant relationship between time spent reading books and a child’s level of reading comprehension. However, over the past two decades there has been a steady decline ([link removed]) in the time that American children spend reading for fun and, increasingly, the reading that does happen is being done on digital devices. Do children learn as much when they read books on an iPad or Kindle compared to a paper book? No.

In a new study ([link removed]) looking at the results from 469,564 participants across 40 studies published between 2000 and 2022, researchers conclude that the medium used for reading matters: “leisure digital reading does not seem to pay off in terms of reading comprehension.” If we are following the evidence, we should be doing a lot more to bring back paper books into our children’s lives inside and outside of school.

It is clear that always seeing a new technology as a step forward is a mistake. However, the flip side is also true. While it would be easier to conclude that introducing technology is always a step backwards, the evidence suggests that’s not right, either.

In a newly published study on tutoring ([link removed]) , researchers concluded that students benefit from tutoring regardless of whether that tutoring was provided in-person or online. “Based on results from an early literacy tutoring initiative delivered by university students over Summer 2023, we find no statistically significant differences in students’ literacy outcomes by instructional modality,” the authors write. “The study underscores the efficacy of remote tutoring, particularly when geographical constraints are a factor.”

The lesson on technology and learning is clear: if we want to know what works, we need to study what we are doing and then follow the evidence as it comes in.

Last time ([link removed]) in the New Reality Roundup, we looked at three charter wins for TennesseeCAN and followed the progress of our current cohort of National Voices fellows. Today, we dive into DelawareKidsCAN's fight for a fair funding formula in the First State and check out a world of open and connected learning from 9,000 feet above sea level.
Best,

Marc Porter Magee, PhD
50CAN Founder and CEO

@marcportermagee ([link removed])

Fight for fair funding for all students

In January, after having it in their sights for years, DelawareKidsCAN set a goal ([link removed]) to bring fair funding for all students to Delaware by reforming its decades-old school funding system from one where resources were allocated to schools through a convoluted process of units, to one where money will follow the students–both district and charter students–equally. The system would also provide extra resources for low-income students, students with special needs and English language learners.

Now, four months in, that debate is heating up. While a reformed system of weighted student funding–modeled off the 50CAN network’s prior years’ wins in Tennessee and Connecticut–has been a long-held goal for the team, a window of opportunity has opened this legislative session under the leadership of new Governor Matt Meyer.

How did that window open? From pressure on all sides:
* In 2018, the state was sued by the ACLU, Delawareans for Educational Opportunity and the NAACP over inequitable funding across the school system.
* A year later, in October of 2020, the state settled ([link removed]) with the plaintiffs, committing to $60 million in “opportunity funding” for low-income students and English language learners, $6 million for preschool for low-income families and the establishment of an independent organization to complete an assessment of school system finances and propose solutions.
* That organization, the American Institute for Research, made a recommendation to the Public Education Funding Commission, where DelawareKidsCAN has a seat and has worked over recent years to review AIR’s assessment and make recommendations to the legislature.

The Commission is currently working through ([link removed]) a debate over just how much the system should change. One bloc, including DelawareKidsCAN, is advocating for a full reinvention of the funding formula where money will follow the child. The other wants a hybrid model that will meet the minimum requirements of the legal settlement by providing more money while keeping the overall funding system the same.

“I’d rather be in our position than the other side’s,” Britney Mumford, Executive Director of DelawareKidsCAN tells us as she takes stock of the looming legislation. “But we’ve got work to do on the Commission to ensure that we are replacing the old funding formula with one that actually provides more resources and isn’t just a band-aid fix. The commission’s charge is to build a better system, not enshrine the very model Delaware was sued for and then make changes on the margin. In 2025, we can’t have a system that tells a student they only get 70% of the funding their friend across the street gets because they go to a charter school, or tells a non-native speaker they aren’t getting extra help because of some bureaucratic allocation process.”

It’s still up in the air where the legislation lands after the Commission has made their final recommendation and electeds have weighed in, but Britney remains optimistic: “There are a lot of committed public servants in Delaware who know things aren’t fair for all kids right now. And there’s the spectre of another lawsuit on the horizon if we aren’t willing to stand up and make wholesale changes for our children.”

We’ll be sure to keep you updated in the Roundup as the Commission makes their final recommendations and legislators begin debate.
* The task this week is to follow Britney’s example of fighting for a system of allocating funds to schools that is both transparent and fair.

Provide opportunities for learning that are way, way outside the classroom
While most American high school students settle into an iPhone or a gaming system after the final school bell rings, a group of teens in Washington State are putting on crampons, grabbing icepicks and heading for the 9,000+ foot peaks that make up the Cascade range. The kids are part of a student-led organization called the Mountaineers Adventure Club, the subject of Zoe Gates’ recent story ([link removed]) in Outside Online.

While there are adult volunteers to help with financial supervision and planning, the afternoon explorations in the field are entirely student led, organized and executed–from monthly meetings to the almost daily climbing, hiking and camping adventures taken to the extreme, from constructing homemade shelters out of snow to the advanced mountaineering techniques practiced by Everest expeditions.

The program has provided countless nature and survival skills, but it’s clear to both student participants and adult observers that something else is happening too. “I’ve learned to find ways to be happy in less than desirable conditions,” Sherley, a participating student, told Outside, reflecting on the power of “type 2” fun ([link removed]) .
These are exactly the kinds of experiences that all too often our education system fails to provide and that is one of the reasons we put such an emphasis on supporting a much broader conception of learning in our Believe in Better ([link removed]) policy framework. That means making learning opportunities inside and outside of school much more accessible, and it means finding ways to support both innovative schooling models and afterschool programs with flexible public funding.
* The task this week is to survey the afterschool and summer opportunities available, across income brackets, to students in your state and develop a plan and partnerships to expand opportunities.


Applications for 50CAN’s FIRE Fellowship, focused on equipping parents with the advocacy skills to make changes in their community, close on May 5. Encourage potential participants to get their applications in ([link removed]) soon!

Can tutoring be sustained in a world where ESSER funds have dried up? 50CAN VP of Policy Liz Cohen writes in from the National Student Support Accelerator conference at Stanford with a field report:

More than two hundred district and state leaders, researchers, and tutoring providers gathered at Stanford University this week for the 4th National Student Support Accelerator conference, the annual one-day conference where the high-impact tutoring movement gathers to talk and learn about all things tutoring.

Despite tighter budgets and uncertain funding streams, attendees remain relentlessly positive. "What is the exception in education should be the norm," said outgoing superintendent of Oakland Public Schools Kyla Johnson-Trammell. "Every child should have access to an excellent education, excellent teachers and high-impact tutoring should be part of that." Like many districts, Oakland started tutoring during the pandemic, and the use of the practice has only grown in the past five years. "Tutoring is not going to replace high-quality instruction," said Johnson-Trammell. "But it is an enhancement, which is so important for our students who are behind where they should be."

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Associate Commissioner Erin Hashimoto Martell spoke about her state's commitment to high-impact tutoring, including the $25 million Governor Healey recently committed to early literacy tutoring. "What we understand deeply at the state level is that the reality is we are only number one for some. We have to get resources and strategies to students and communities that need more support." Hashimoto Martell was also clear about funding challenges. "We had to send an email saying, 'we just don't have this money anymore' but that also activated local engagement, state legislators and other folks to say we really need to keep funding this." She said it was both "local advocacy and good data on clear outcomes" that helped them get the $25 million for tutoring in this year's state budget.

50CAN President Derrell Bradford contributed ([link removed]) a new essay to Education Next, where he warned of unintended consequences for the St. Isidore v. Drummond case that’s currently before the Supreme Court.

National Voices fellow Anahit Baghshetsyan appeared on ([link removed]) the Kevin Wall radio show to talk school choice and transparency in Nevada.

The Seattle Times’ Denise Superville looks at ([link removed]) the developing battle between the district and parents who are angry that their children are being denied spots in high-quality schools through intradistrict choice in order to protect the enrollment numbers of the schools families are transferring from.

Murmuration produced ([link removed]) a playbook for organizers, with advice and resources on topics ranging from building your base to developing field plans and operating phone banks.

A new study ([link removed]) by Urban Institute of Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program finds positive impacts on both college enrollment and degree acquisition.

AEI’s Rick Hess has a review ([link removed]) of David Zweig’s new account of pandemic school closures, finding it a book that “shakes one’s confidence in expertise.”

Chad Aldeman highlights ([link removed]) Virginia as a potential nation-leading state in getting families their state assessment results back quickly, with newly passed legislation that requires results be returned to parents and schools within 45 days of the end of the test taking window.

FutureEd and the Keystone Policy Center are rethinking ([link removed]) , from scratch, our system of measuring school performance to focus on both academic progress and longer-term indicators of success.

Bellwether examines ([link removed]) dual-enrollment funding and cost-sharing to enable more low-income students to participate across four states.

Urban Institute compares ([link removed]) states that have implemented registered apprenticeship programs, finding that even when policy environments are similar, implementation is a core differentiator.


Six students of the Seattle-area Mountaineers Adventure Club stand atop the summit of the 7,000 foot Mount Fremont, taking in the views of Mount Rainier on the horizon. The climb up Rainier is made by only 10,000 people each year–or 1% of the national park’s visitors–including the participating students of the MAC, a testament not only to the students’ developed mountaineering skills but also to their discipline and fortitude.

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ABOUT 50CAN

50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now is a nonprofit organization that works at the local level to advocate for a high-quality education for all kids, regardless of their address.

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