The Ten Posts I Wrote In 2020 That Got The Most Views
Hot topics included remote learning, racial justice--and Jill Biden's doctorate.
What’s been on people’s minds this year? Remote learning, racial justice—and whether Jill Biden is entitled to be called “Doctor,” among other things.
Partly out of curiosity—and partly because I thought others might be similarly curious—I analyzed which of the posts I’ve written this year have gotten the most views. Perhaps it’s not surprising that three of the top ten have “remote learning” in the title (including one that I’m honored to say made my editor’s list of the year’s best Forbes education stories of 2020). Two others relate to racial justice, also very much a focus of public attention.
How to explain that the most-viewed post was about Jill Biden’s doctorate? I’m not sure, but it’s probably that I managed to ride the coattails of a news story that had real legs—and maybe provided a perspective that other commentators hadn’t.
I’m not saying the ten stories listed below, in descending order, were necessarily my best or the most important. But for whatever reason, they got the most eyeballs. Perhaps your eyeballs will be drawn to them as well, if they haven’t been already. Happy reading, and happy new year—with heartfelt wishes for a 2021 that’s a lot better than 2020.
What’s Really Behind the Flap Over Jill Biden’s Doctorate
A Wall Street Journal op-ed that took Jill Biden to task for using the honorific “Dr.” stirred up a storm of outrage in December. Most critics cried sexism, but more fundamentally the piece reflected scorn for academia—and particularly for the field of education. The op-ed was unfair in targeting Biden, but it’s true that education research often fails to line up with science, and that makes teachers’ jobs (including Biden’s) a lot harder than they should be. (This post is already my third most-viewed-post ever, even though it’s only been up for two weeks!)
How “Reading Instruction” Fails Black and Brown Children
Teachers have been misled by their training in how to teach reading, with devastating consequences—especially for Black and brown children, who are disproportionately likely to come from lower-income, less educated families. At a time when concern for social and racial justice is high, this is an issue that demands more attention. (Colette Coleman also made that argument forcefully this year in a piece for the education journalism news site The Grade.)
7 Tips to Help Make Remote Learning More Effective
These suggestions are grounded in what scientific research has found works best for any kind of teaching, remote or otherwise. I hope educators—and perhaps parents and others—found them useful. As learning gets less remote in 2021 (let’s hope), it still makes sense to bear these tips in mind. For example, it’s a good idea to connect new information to what students already know—with the corollary that the curriculum should progress in a logical sequence, so that students have the requisite background knowledge to absorb new information.
“Nice White Parents” Aren’t the Root Cause of Education Inequities
The much talked-about podcast Nice White Parents argues that the basic cause of education inequity is white parents’ unwillingness to send their kids to schools that serve mostly Black and brown students. But a more fundamental problem is that prevailing teaching methods don’t work for most students from less educated families, whether classrooms are integrated or not. (An interesting side note: It seems I was sent the first two episodes in advance, with an invitation to review them, largely because the creator of the podcast, Chana Joffe-Walt, was intrigued by my post on how reading instruction fails black and brown children. My hope for 2021 is that Joffe-Walt will bring her formidable talents to investigating that subject!)
Why Teachers Need to Do More than Have Kids “Turn and Talk”
Like a number of my posts, this one was prompted by a column by Jill Barshay, who covers education research for The Hechinger Report—and is the education journalist whose work I generally find most illuminating. “Turn and talk” has become a ubiquitous teacher move—I’ve been in classrooms where I’ve heard that directive every few minutes—but a study shows it’s not enough to promote learning. That finding meshed with my own observations and with other research I’ve read.
How the Science of Reading Comprehension Has Led Us Astray
Science can be enormously useful in helping us figure out which teaching approaches are or aren’t likely to work, but it can also be misleading. For example, there’s lots of evidence indicating that the key factor in reading comprehension is knowledge of the topic. But it’s easier to measure the effect of teaching comprehension strategies in a six-week study—which is generally how long studies last—than to measure the effect of building knowledge, which takes a lot longer. That’s one reason schools have focused far more on strategies than on building knowledge, with devastating consequences.
“Unschooling” Isn’t the Answer to Education Woes—It’s the Problem
The “unschooling” movement holds that kids should direct their own learning, with adults on the sidelines. The idea got a boost this past year from a new documentary about attempts to bring the approach to disadvantaged kids. But it’s just a more extreme version of the philosophy that has permeated education for the last century or so and is largely responsible for continuing educational inequities.
For Some, Remote Learning Has Surprising Benefits
Remote learning obviously isn’t working well for most students and teachers, but some like it—and the reasons could help us improve in-class environments for all students. For example, one eighth-grader who attended a school that prioritized “collaborative learning” found she could learn a lot better without all the disruption she had to put up with in class. Maybe the answer is less “collaborative learning”—a generally popular approach—and more explicit instruction by the teacher.
Parents on Remote Learning, Part 1: Worksheets Don’t Work
Based on interviews with parents around the country, this post wasn’t an attack on worksheets, per se, so much as an attack on the idea that disconnected reading passages followed by comprehension questions should be the basis of the literacy curriculum. In many places, that’s basically what remote learning has consisted of, aside from math—and it’s only a more extreme version of what goes on when schools are physically open. The parents I spoke with said their kids didn’t want to do those worksheets, and they could see why.
Want Kids to Be Better Readers? Teach Social Studies
A study released in September found that elementary students who spent more time on social studies had higher reading scores, but those who spent more time on reading did not. That’s probably because social studies builds the kind of knowledge and vocabulary that enables kids to understand the passages on reading tests. And yet almost all elementary schools spend far more time on decontextualized reading comprehension instruction than on subjects like social studies, in a vain attempt to boost scores.
Overall, that’s a pretty depressing list—for a pretty depressing year. What it doesn’t capture is that even in the midst of the pandemic, a growing number of schools and school districts are revamping their instructional approach to align better with the science of learning. That includes urban districts with challenging populations like Baltimore and Aldine, Texas, on the outskirts of Houston, both of which are lucky to have inspiring leaders. My hope for 2021 is that more schools and districts will emulate them—because that’s the only way millions of kids will be able to overcome the inequities that have been revealed and deepened by the current crisis.
This post originally appeared on Forbes.com.