John Passantino

@kmele @franklinleonard Reading the replies here, I’m not sure why anyone would open up about their thoughts and evolution. Does anyone not think they’re in a bubble that is reinforced by their own experiences?

@franklinleonard You should watch the whole thing. youtube.com/watch?v=7_ds5V…

I'm curious whether he grapples with the fact that in order to be in his bubble, he had to consciously ignore everything that other Black people had said about race in America for his entire life until his adopted daughter experienced it directly.

@MelK_Ed @hilarym99 Do away with the test. If we must, test only key grade levels. In the paper-based days, our team processed over 40,000 test booklets a year. The cost and stress for everyone securely handling those materials was insane. State testing distorts instruction more than it informs.

This. A lot of poor polcy and decision making in schools isndriven by state tests. Make the state assessment paper based again. They can just be scanned in and AI can grade or something. This is all insanity

@oliviajune82 @helenrey Teachers weight differently, assess differently, and have different rules for late work. Some offer extra credit and others do not. Grades in the course are reflective of the teacher as well as the student. Best would be to measure learning separately from work habits.

@helenrey There are no things in life where only your knowledge of the subject matters, I guess this goes back to "what is school for" and I think it's for more than learning literal content. Your grade should reflect how you did in the course, not just what you know.

I want kids to understand they are part of a community and turning work in "whenever" makes life much harder for their teacher, and perhaps their classmates since the late student is less able to participate in the current material.

@thTexasTeacher @JAustinEDU I’ve known a teacher to drop student work in the trash in front of the class for being late. I’ve know others who don’t accept late work, period. Too often grades are weaponized. Traditional grades unreliably measure learning and whatever else is important to the teacher.

@JAustinEDU No one is taking 50 points off for something being one day late and probably never has.

@CathyYoung63 I hope there’s an option to avoid this. We’ve already aren’t getting the annual America the Beautiful national parks pass. Why doesn’t anyone say no to this absurdity? It doesn’t let up.

This is psychotic. I'm pretty sure not even Russia has Putin's mug defacing its passports.

@SeanTrende @SarahLongwell25 The Dispatch is closer to The Bulwark than you are stating when it comes to Trump. The Dispatch is more analytical of events, but they see Trump for what he is, and that’s not just a bad president.

@SarahLongwell25 That's fine. Sounds like we agree on the distinction. Have a great weekend!

Yeah. And we’re right.

@rastokke The problem is the binary approach to these topics. It’s obvious that algorithms enable efficiency, and it’s also obvious that knowing when and why to apply the algorithm to solve complex problems is essential. We careen from edge to edge when the answer is in the steady center.

Not ALL education research is terrible (e.g. a lot of ed psych researchers set up good studies w/ statistical analyses). But a lot of education research is terrible and can often be spotted as such just by exercising critical thinking skills. If the education claim being made is counterintuitive, and supposedly backed by research, that research is likely is bad. I've been reading shoddy education research for absurd claims in math education for ~15 years. Here are a few of the things that are supposedly backed by education "research" that I've looked into and found the research to be terribly flawed or non-existent: ❌standard algorithms are harmful ❌timed tests cause math anxiety ❌taking math makes a teacher worse at teaching math ❌learning math in groups on whiteboards (BTC) improves math learning ❌procedural skill harms understanding ❌inquiry is the best way to teach math The field has a problem. I'm glad reporters are writing about it, but the policymakers (e.g., in schools of education, school districts, government level) need to do something about it because it will keep happening and districts and schools will keep buying products based on fake research claims.

@hilarym99 @MelK_Ed @CurriculumIP It’s on approved lists and it’s attractive to teachers in the review process. It looks accessible to teachers who have used traditional programs and promises SOR. With its kitchen sink structure, everyone finds what they’re looking for.

@MelK_Ed @CurriculumIP Still on soooo many state lists. Right next to Wonders!

"SFUSD adopted Into Reading, the bloated curriculum with no books... I’d be shoving it aside, too, if I taught there. Also, SFUSD selected Creative Curriculum for PreK, a play-based, structure-lite curriculum notoriously weak on early reading and math. None of this is good."

@karenvaites @MissyPurcell @georgiadeptofed Implementation benchmarks of quality curriculum would be ideal, but monitoring at the state isn’t feasible given the scale. Districts report what they’re doing, but that reporting doesn’t tell the story of what’s happening in classrooms. Accountability for outcomes is a must.

@MissyPurcell @georgiadeptofed Or accountability to take action if iReady is potentially the #1 most-used curriculum in your state. And, maybe pausing your Accountablity Self-Congratulaton Tour until you have done that aspect of the work. x.com/karenvaites/st…

“Mississippi’s success went far beyond curriculum changes — accountability for schools and districts was key.” sfstandard.com/2026/04/16/sfu…

@karenvaites Dopamine-driven is a feature of ed tech software with the promise of the feedback/reward system increasing engagement and hence learning. That’s the hook. Too bad the motivation is extrinsic and not transferred well to overall learning.

“A lot of the software seems to be very dopamine-driven." – Parent Open-access link: archive.ph/OAJdg

This story is one to watch, because it is bound to recur. 200 parents sign petition to opt out of devices. District says they can't. By @maddiehanna:

@karenvaites 15 years ago we thought we’d save on textbook costs, and we couldn’t have been more wrong. Digital licenses were never a cost saver, and it turns out that, in almost all cases, we still need physical materials. We are pretty much a 1:1 district, and there were never savings.

Who wants to tell him about the cost of curriculum licenses?

@karenvaites Compared to the days of NCLB, ed reform as a movement barely exists. I suspect it’s due to lack of perceived effectiveness of NCLB, ESSA, and Race to the Top initiatives and the charter effect flattening out. State and federal accountability are the walking dead at this point.

I honestly thought the "EdReform" and instruction crowds would rally behind this idea. In conversations, I get agreement that this is the highest-leverage thing we could do inside of one year. But the idea lies dormant.

I've been literally begging folks to rally behind greater transparency about the products used in schools, BC it would enable better research. As @KelseyTuoc reminds us of the crummy research problem, can we pls act to address one underlying issue?

@karenvaites The reduced volume of student writing once Colorado switched to CBTs was insane. Give a kid blank lines on a page and most will write. Give them a blank box and a blinking cursor, it's a completely different story. It's absurd. This is not a valid test to measure writing.

"Digital Tests Don’t Require Digital Classrooms" thedigitaldelusion.substack.com/p/digital-test…

"Taken together, these findings suggest digital testing follows a threshold model. Students need enough familiarity with the tool to avoid interference. But beyond that point, additional exposure provides no benefit – and may even be harmful." Jared Cooney Horvath debunks the myth that kids need to do lots of digital testing to succeed on state assessments:

@MelK_Ed The reduced volume of student writing once Colorado switched to CBTs was insane. Give a kid blank lines on a page and most will write. Give them a blank box and a blinking cursor, it's a completely different story. It's absurd. This is not a valid test to measure writing.

Except for the 3rd-5th grade demand “read 3 passages, answer a slew of questions and then type a 5 paragraph essay all in 75 minutes” I agree Paper pencil tests would fit better with paper pencil lives. If kids can’t type quickly you won’t be able to gauge their writing ability

@KJWinEducation @BenisonMrs Please no. This is far too complex and serious an issue for a meme like that.

@BenisonMrs Wow....

No additional words needed it.

@MelK_Ed @oliviajune82 Students learn to decode fluently so they can read to learn and build conceptual knowledge. Students develop computational fluency to solve conceptual math problems efficiently. Without the conceptual, none of this really matters. Too bad “balanced” has become a bad word.

@oliviajune82 While true reading is more complex on a variety of levels there are parallels in failed implementation of both Curriculum swings too heavy in either direction and fails to meet the needs of each particular grade and developmental need Neither has black and white answers

Yes. We did overcorrect. But/and some people loudly objecting to conceptual/discovery math are oversimplifying the issues. Some seem to be treating “math facts” in the same way “SoR advocates” treated phonics The pendulum swung too far for reading. I fear the same soon for math

@hilarym99 If you think of the instructional core (Elmore) as students, teachers, and content (materials) and how all three interact, there are many variables on the human side. Evidence-based implementation is better than not, but there will be variations. Always getting better is the key.

A genuine question we should investigate is why existing implementation of evidence based instruction seems to have a limit for success. Thinking about that school profiled on the Daily that raised proficiency to 35% or something. Sure a lot of improvement but still painfully low

@DrJenniferWeber @AbbyTeachesDSM This is exactly what schools should have been doing all along, especially with the implementation of RTI/MTSS almost 20 years ago. It’s impressive that a state was able to do with the whole system. It’s a shame that schools weren’t doing it on their own.

The key takeaway from Mississippi should be that accountability isn’t just testing, it’s also what you do with the data. They tracked growth, focused on their lowest-performing students, and intervened early with support. That’s why the results changed for the state.

@hilarym99 @KJWinEducation I served on hiring committees for ~30 years and have rarely seen continuation of current practice as a focal point. Since the work is never done, everyone’s looking for change agents so candidates are asked what they’ll do to improve outcomes. I don’t see how we break the cycle.

@KJWinEducation A lack of consistency is a real plague on a lot of districts. I’ve been teaching for 15 years. I’m on my 8th superintendent, 10th assistant principal, 5th math program, 6th benchmarking system, 5th SEL initiative…I could go on.

I can absolutely believe this

@KJWinEducation @PureMichigannow Very few get hired for the changes they won’t make. School boards expect to hear all the great ideas candidates have and want their action oriented entry plan and strategic plan. It’s as if the district needs reshaping every hiring season. It’s a sad cycle.

@PureMichigannow Million dollar question. Each administration wants to reinvent the wheel and comes in with their own strategic plan.

Dr Louise Waters led a turnaround of Oakland Unified's reading scores. For 7 years in a row, the district was the fastest gaining in CA. Kids were thriving. In 17 years since, they've gone backwards. Can you believe nobody from the district has talked to or asked her a question?