Author: Danny Hurd

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What Can You Do With a Master’s in Education?

Educators have the privilege and opportunity to shape both the future of education and the minds they educate. At once a challenging and fulfilling career, they play a key role in our society by equipping students of all ages with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. For those looking to pursue supervisory roles or specialize in their careers, discovering what you can do with a master’s in education can be the key to pursuing professional goals and an exciting vocation.

Benefits of a Master’s Degree in Education?

Many recent college graduates grapple with whether to begin teaching or to pursue an advanced degree. For those opting to pursue a specialization or teachers who have work experience and wish to transition to a specialty or supervisory role, a master’s degree may be the gateway to reach these career goals. By pursuing advanced education, future leaders gain the skills and in-depth knowledge needed to excel in their specialty and the opportunity to earn the increased salary that can accompany it.

Some of the advantages of earning a master’s degree in education include:

  • Increased confidence within and outside of the classroom
  • Professional networking opportunities
  • Increased chances of consideration for specialized roles such as instructional coach, mentor teacher, or school district specialist
  • Potential for a higher salary and increased benefits
  • Subject specialization

Pursuing a master’s degree allows instructors to take control of both the content they teach as well as the type of position they wish to pursue. With added knowledge, skills, and a network of fellow teachers, candidates increase their value as an educator and may have a better chance at reaching their professional goals, dictating how, where, and when they work.

Educator Specializations

Earning a master’s degree provides an exciting opportunity for teachers to develop their skills and knowledge in a particular area of education. Specialization allows instructors to embrace the aspects of teaching that inspire them, working in various areas, including student-focused specializations, such as exceptional student education; leadership roles; or programs, such as instructional design and technology.

Exceptional Student Education

Teachers who work in exceptional education work with pupils with disabilities. For those who already have a certification in exceptional student education, pursuing a master’s degree in exceptional student education is an opportunity to refine and build upon existing skills, gain an in-depth knowledge of alternative strategies and techniques to approach education, and improve the lives of their students.

Applied Learning

Instructors who specialize in applied learning focus on innovation in teaching, adapting both the ways in which they teach and the ways in which students learn by engaging in active and reflective learning. An advanced degree in applied learning focuses on modern psychological theories, principles of human learning and motivation to create a positive and engaging learning environment for students.

Educational Leadership

The field of education is constantly evolving, requiring leaders to drive change and innovation in the development of both new techniques for the education of students and the theories that inform education itself. Candidates interested in pursuing supervisory roles may want to seek a master’s in educational leadership to influence those changes and policies.

Elementary Education

Students learn differently and benefit from various teaching techniques throughout their educational careers. Individuals who enjoy working with children may decide to specialize in elementary education and pursue an advanced degree that focuses on the theories and practices that are most effective for young students. With a master’s in education, candidates are able to pursue roles at elementary institutions and advocate for positive change in the development of young minds.

Instructional Design and Technology

As business becomes increasingly dependent on technology, educators need to understand and embrace technology to equip their students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the modern workplace. Teachers interested in pursuing advanced education in instructional design and technology are able to focus on a rapidly evolving specialty, learning current processes and influencing the future of their field.

Career Opportunities and Salaries for Educators

With the proper education and qualifications, graduates have the freedom to pursue various types of education and employment. As teachers seek more specialized areas of focus, the value of an advanced degree increases exponentially. Some roles may require a set of core competencies that may not be taught at the bachelor level making the completion of an advanced degree a crucial step to building sought-after skills.

Special Education Teacher

Special education teachers work with students with a wide range of emotional and physical learning disabilities. With the ability to work in both private and public institutions, special education teachers can positively impact students of all ages. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), special education teachers earned a median annual salary of $61,400 as of May 2020.

Literary Coach

As students in elementary and middle school work on developing their reading skills, many organizations rely on literary coaches to aid in both teaching students how to read and creating plans to teach reading skills. Through public speaking, evaluations and the development of reading-focused programs, literary coaches establish programs to improve reading ability and comprehension. According to PayScale, reading specialists earned a median annual salary of around $53,700 as of August 2021.

Instructional Technology Specialist

With strong communication and technical skills, instructional technology specialists develop programs and teach other instructors how to implement them. Leveraging their in-depth knowledge of specific technologies, programs, procedures and theories, instructional technology specialists assist in key activities, such as creating and reviewing curricula, suggesting ideas for future innovations, and helping staff identify effective teaching and learning outcomes. According to PayScale, instructional technology specialists earned a median annual salary of about $52,100 as of July 2021.

Curriculum Specialist

Schools rely on curriculum specialists to ensure that students are exposed to the most relevant and accurate information and to help shape the theories, programs, and topics that teachers cover. By analyzing test scores, student or teacher feedback, and the functionality of different subjects or program tracks in the classroom, these specialists adjust curricula to improve educational outcomes and graduation rates. According to PayScale, curriculum specialists earned a median annual salary of around $58,700 as of August 2021.

Education Consultant

Choosing the most suitable postsecondary path can be a daunting prospect for many students and their family members. Education consultants are experts who aid in the decision-making process and advise students of their options as well as the steps required to pursue avenues such as higher education or workforce entry. According to PayScale, the median annual salary for education consultants was about $63,200 as of August 2021.

Instructional Coordinator

Instructional coordinators collaborate with other educators to develop, implement, and assess the curricula and teaching standards of schools. By evaluating the effectiveness of programs, coordinators can guide the policies of an organization to improve the learning environment. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment growth for instructional coordinators is projected to increase by 6{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} between 2019 and 2029. These professionals earned a median annual salary of $66,900 as of May 2020.

Dean of Students

Tasked with overseeing faculty research, student services and the success of academic programs at colleges and universities, postsecondary education administrators attend to a broad variety of highly influential responsibilities. Typically graduates of an advanced degree program, such as a master’s in education, administrators implement the policies and procedures that guide educational institutions and earned a median annual salary of $97,500 as of May 2020, according to the BLS.

Shape the Minds of Tomorrow

Leaders in education have the opportunity and responsibility to motivate and inspire current and future generations of students. By pursuing specializations and career paths that embrace their strengths and passions, individuals with an advanced degree in education set themselves up for success and achieve their professional goals.

With a passionate team of faculty members and several comprehensive online programs to choose from, the UCF Online’s master’s degrees in education are designed to provide you with every opportunity to succeed. Discover what you can do with a master’s in education and make a positive impact on the minds of tomorrow.

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UNC system to launch ambitious $97 million ed-tech start-up

The University of North Carolina system is leveraging $97 million in pandemic recovery funding to launch a nonprofit ed-tech start-up intended to bolster adult online education in a state with a looming need for more skilled workers.

Project Kitty Hawk is named after the North Carolina beach town the Wright brothers returned to repeatedly before achieving their dream of flight, an apt metaphor for an undertaking that UNC leaders herald as a transformative effort to reach the state’s estimated one million working adults who have some college education but no degree. Sweeping in its ambition, Project Kitty Hawk’s five-year financial plan projects 120 new online program launches and 24,000 net new enrollments across the system’s 16 university campuses by the 2026–27 academic year, according to working papers project leaders shared with Inside Higher Ed.

Half of the state’s workers are eligible for employer education benefits, which UNC system leaders hope to capture by doing a better job of keeping adult learners in the state. As of fall 2019, Liberty and Strayer Universities topped the list of most popular online offerings sought by North Carolina students, more than 60,000 of whom are enrolled in what the working papers called “high-cost, out-of-state programs.” UNC leaders say they want to draw those students into the state system, but in order to succeed, they must better tailor online services and infrastructure to working adults.

Project Kitty Hawk will officially launch after the new year. System leaders plan an equitable revenue share between participating campuses, which will be “well below the rate typically charged by third-party providers.”

By effectively creating its own nonprofit online program manager, UNC is trying to avoid the expense of the profit-driven OPM model for building online education programs. OPMs are increasingly under fire from educators and outside experts who believe the companies’ business models prioritize profits over educational outcomes and learning. Leaders at UNC assert that by forgoing an outside OPM—which they point out can take as much as 60 percent of revenue in exchange for covering up-front costs—Kitty Hawk will be self-sustaining by 2026 and will rely on what the working papers call a “private sector–like approach ​on behalf of a tremendous public good.”

The working papers depict a system with a uniquely ambitious vision for Kitty Hawk, which they say will provide “end-to-end support to help universities rapidly design and take workforce-aligned programs online as well as attract, enroll and support learners through graduation.” Kitty Hawk will rely on “a central technology and service infrastructure” to help UNC campuses reach working adults, in part, the working papers say, because it will be “less expensive than the traditional approach of more buildings, more personnel, and more programs … or [campuses] doing it themselves.”

While a handful of the system’s campus leaders hailed the initiative and said they weren’t worried about losing revenue or students to a competitive new systemwide hub, outside experts said UNC’s plans are at least partly reminiscent of systemwide online efforts elsewhere that struggled to get off the ground, partially because of such competition. They also questioned what they characterized as an overly ambitious goal to enroll 24,000 net new students in 120 programs with only $97 million in seed money across five years.

“Ninety-seven million is a lot, but not when you hear that they’re talking about 120 programs—that’s less than a million dollars a program,” said Phil Hill, an educational technology consultant and blogger. “The OPMs quite often invest several million per program … They might be biting off more than they could chew. They might not realize just how much time and effort and money is needed to really get these programs running.”

Richard Garrett, chief research officer at the higher education advisory firm Eduventures, called the effort “unprecedented.” But he added that while the system’s effort to centralize rather than create 16 separate online models may seem logical, the track record for doing so has not been good elsewhere.

“The culture of higher ed is decentralized, even among state systems,” Garrett said. “There’s a lot of pitfalls ahead … It’s hard to point to system-level initiatives like this in the online sphere that have thrived as opposed to struggled or been diluted … or, in some cases, failed.”

Competition for the Campuses

Administrators at the system’s campuses may see the initiative as competing with successful online programs they’ve already built at their universities, Garrett said.

Just a handful of representatives of the various campuses contacted about the initiative replied. Many of the more than a dozen queried did not return emails and calls seeking comment.

University of North Carolina at Greensboro provost Debbie Storrs’s response was emblematic of the overall reticence to discuss the initiative. Storrs said in a text message that the system was “in the best position to speak about this initiative.”

Allen Guidry, interim vice provost for academic affairs​ at East Carolina University, said via email that his campus has been “working for some time” to reach adult online learners and offers over 100 undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs online. He said that nearly half of ECU’s 28,000 students took at least one online course in fall 2021, and 8,261 took exclusively online courses. About 5,700 of the 8,261 exclusively online learners were 24 or older.

“With our history and success in online learning at ECU, we have certainly watched the development of Project Kitty Hawk with great interest,” Guidry said in his email. “We are eager to explore how this entity could add further value to our efforts to scale online learning at ECU.”

Asked about the potential for competition as institutions vie for students and revenue, Guidry said that because UNC Online now allows students to access resources across the system, “we really have joined hands in our efforts.” UNC Online currently enables students to register for thousands of online courses from the various UNC institutions but is distinct from Kitty Hawk, which will operate as an affiliated nonprofit OPM.

Chancellor Darrell Allison of Fayetteville State University, a historically Black college where about half of the 5,661 undergraduates are 25 or older, said Project Kitty Hawk will be an important addition to the system, which he said must adapt to changing demographic trends.

“We don’t have an option—this is the new reality,” Allison said. He added that the days of counting on recent high school graduates to populate a freshman class “are long gone.”

Only 9 percent of UNC system undergraduates currently learn exclusively online, and just 13 percent are over the age of 25. UNC leaders believe these statistics underscore the need for a more robust adult online offering.

System planning documents show the statewide growth rate for 18- to 24-year-olds is forecast to be 8 percent through 2029 and just 1 percent from 2029 to 2039, a radical slowdown that system leaders say is in part fueling their work.

UNC system president Peters Hans said he is determined to win back adult online learners who now turn to outside online education providers, many of whom he called “bad actors.”

“I think about those adults and the chance for them to get ahead in their jobs, or perhaps start a new career, [and] what a difference we can make towards hitting our state’s ambitious educational attainment goals,” Hans said. “We set the goal of two million more North Carolinians with high-quality credentials by 2030, and we see [Project Kitty Hawk] playing a critical role.”

Hans added that while some of the system’s universities already offer online programs targeted to adult learners, the current offerings do not engage them “nearly to the extent I think that we could and should be.”

He said Kitty Hawk classes will be high quality and more than “basically Zoom classes.” He hailed his senior vice president for strategy and policy, Andrew Kelly, who helped create the blueprint for Kitty Hawk after meeting and speaking with other system leaders and educational technology experts across the country about lessons learned from prior efforts. 

The plan “was to create an OPM-like nonprofit,” Kelly said, “thereby enabling our universities to build more of those undergraduate programs that can really serve those 25-plus working adults.”

He added that Kitty Hawk’s nonprofit status will give new programs “more latitude” to merely break even.

But even if programs are allowed to break even, UNC has a tough road ahead, said Iris Palmer, a deputy director with the education policy program at the center-left think tank New America who has studied other state university systems’ online education models. Palmer said her research has focused on adult learners and the difficulties many have faced. 

How Others Have Targeted Adult Students Online

Many state systems and individual universities have long viewed adult students as an important population to cultivate and have created or expanded online programs to appeal to the demographic. Strategies for building these programs have varied, with some systems electing to take over an existing university to lay a foundation for their efforts and others building a new internal unit, as UNC is doing. Still others have created entirely new institutions, as the California Community Colleges opted to do with their Calbright College effort.

Purdue University, the University of Arizona and the University of Arkansas and University of Massachusetts systems are among the most notable examples of institutions that have bought existing online programs. The model typically requires relying on external—and expensive—OPMs. These attempts to co-opt existing online universities are broadly seen as risky and have at times been riven with controversy.

Purdue’s acquisition of the for-profit Kaplan University, for example, spurred an outcry from faculty members who worried about lower educational quality and blurred lines between the university and its online counterpart, Purdue University Global. While many of these new efforts are still too nascent to judge, institutions have faced tough questions about how they intend to achieve their vision for massive new online efforts without sacrificing quality or introducing a troubling profit motive to nonprofit state systems.

An important precursor to the UNC effort can be found at the University of Missouri, which in March united the online programs offered by its four system universities under one umbrella, Missouri Online. The new online platform debuted with 260 degree and certificate programs, and officials promised an additional 22 programs by next year. System leaders spearheading the Missouri effort said the consolidation would increase collaboration and efficiency, though whether that prediction will prove true remains to be seen.

The California Community Colleges’ Calbright initiative has posted clearer results—and they are disheartening. Calbright was launched in late 2019 to great fanfare, but it is now under threat of being closed, with a recent state audit finding the online-only institution graduated merely 12 of more than 900 enrolled students in its first year. Calbright leadership was blasted by auditors for making poor strategic choices even when armed with a staggering $175 million in state funding promised through June 2025.

Palmer said her research findings make clear why programs like Calbright have struggled: adult learners often strain to learn online, particularly given the competing pressures they face at work and home. She said faculty mentorship and significant engagement with professors has proven to be vital for these students. Palmer worries that an online-only model could be challenging for UNC, since it is difficult for all but the most self-directed students to stay motivated when learning exclusively online.

Kelly said student success coaches are central to the Kitty Hawk model and that he foresees in-person support to complement the online instruction once the pandemic ends.

Project Kitty Hawk leaders say campuses will be able to opt out of participating, and they made clear they view their organization as a source of support for individual institutions. But competition dynamics are nonetheless a problem embedded in these efforts, Palmer said. With Kitty Hawk anticipating 24,000 new enrollees in five years—which Palmer said in an email is “very ambitious”—the 16 university campuses inevitably will be vying for the same students and revenue.

“Once you start to have centralized online programming,” Palmer said, “it can be seen as competition; it can be seen as the beginning of some kind of regulation, or throttling, of the online programs that are offered at each individual campus. It’s a very difficult thing to pull off.”

UNC leaders seemed to anticipate Palmer’s line of reasoning; the working papers assert that the organization will not support any institution’s plans for new programs without an attempt to “validate market demand.”

“New program opportunities can originate from Kitty Hawk’s own market intelligence function, emerge from the universities, or be solicited directly from employers and education benefit providers,” the documents say. 

Kelly emphasized the autonomy individual campuses will have to execute programs. He said the individual institutions will award degrees, offer the instruction and make assessments.

Hill reviewed the working papers and said he came away with the impression that the system hasn’t yet “done the hard work” of consensus building.

“They make a compelling argument why we need to invest internally, as in UNC system capabilities,” Hill said. “But it raises the question … ‘Are we building up capabilities just within this Kitty Hawk initiative? Or are we going to do it as a way of making each of the … campuses better?’ And I don’t think they’ve figured it out.”

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Some districts looking to cut back PE as campuses reopen

Photo by Jessica Nosal/Courtesy of Playworks

Some districts have contracted with Playworks, an Oakland nonprofit, to provide activities and games for students.

Photo by Jessica Nosal/Courtesy of Playworks

Some districts have contracted with Playworks, an Oakland nonprofit, to provide activities and games for students.

As many students begin returning to campus after a year of being mostly stuck indoors during school hours staring at screens, some districts in California are cutting the programs that advocates say students need more than ever: physical education.

Faced with declining enrollment, several school districts are trying to save money by laying off or reassigning PE teachers. Hermosa Beach School District, an elementary district south of Santa Monica, laid off its only PE teacher in February. In Capistrano Unified in Orange County, about half the PE teachers have been reassigned, leaving some remaining PE teachers with rosters of more than 500 students. San Lorenzo Unified, south of Oakland, voted to eliminate 12 PE teachers, including its entire elementary PE staff.

These cuts follow deep reductions to PE that many districts made during the pandemic, due to the difficulties of teaching PE virtually. Over the year that campuses were closed, 40{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of California PE teachers said they provided less instruction than they did before the pandemic, according to a research brief published in March by the California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

In addition, 1 in 10 PE teachers said they’d been reassigned to teach a subject other than PE, and 2 in 10 elementary schools said they didn’t offer PE at all during the pandemic, according to the report.

Physical education instructors in elementary schools are especially vulnerable to cutbacks. That’s because under state law most regular elementary school teachers have multiple subject credentials, which means they are qualified to teach PE in addition to other subjects. In middle and high schools, PE instructors must have a special credential.

The cutbacks to physical education in some districts could not come at a worse time, advocates said. Exercise, games, time outdoors and other hallmarks of PE can play a key role in helping students readjust to in-person school, especially after a year that’s left many students stressed and out of shape, said Terri Drain, president-elect of the Society of Health and Physical Educators and a former PE teacher in Pleasanton.

“We know what kids need right now. They need to get moving, reconnect with their peers, build their self-esteem. They need to laugh again,” Drain said. “Why would we not do everything we can to prioritize students’ physical and mental health right now?”

California’s K-12 physical education standards are mandatory, and state law requires that schools provide 200 minutes of physical education every 10 days in elementary schools and 400 minutes every 10 days in middle and high schools. In March 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom waived the minimum number of required PE minutes when campuses closed, and PE teachers found creative ways to get students moving while learning from home.

As federal and state funding becomes clear over the next few months, some districts may reinstate their PE teachers. It may be too early to predict a drastic downsizing of PE teaching staffs, said Troy Flint, spokesman for the California School Boards Association.

“It’s hard to generalize about teacher layoffs, and the current moment is more unpredictable than usual since districts are undertaking so many new endeavors and there are so many different approaches to instruction during the pandemic,” Flint said.

But even before the pandemic, some districts were cutting back on PE as a way to save money. Some eliminated elementary school PE teachers and assigned classroom teachers to lead PE with their students, which is allowed by their credentials, but which some teachers say they have little time for. Other districts cut back their PE staffs in middle and high school, leading to classes of 100 or more students. Some rely on online PE programs, which is allowed under state law.

And some districts have cut back PE while hiring nonprofit groups to run on-campus sports and physical fitness programs.

Playworks, an Oakland-based nonprofit, was founded in the 1990s in part to fill the gap left by diminishing PE programs, especially in elementary schools. It now serves 525 schools nationwide, including 140 in California.

Playworks provides coaches and trains existing school staff and volunteers to lead games such as tag and kickball during recess, something students were doing less of as PE was cut back. Learning to play simple childhood games — especially those that involve plenty of exercise — can help students learn teamwork and conflict resolution, gain social skills, focus better in class and have fewer behavior problems, according to a 2013 study by Mathematica.

But Playworks staff are not credentialed PE teachers, and the coaches don’t necessarily follow the state’s PE standards.

“We are very clear. We provide a complement to PE. We’re not a replacement,” said Michelle Serrano, Playworks’ vice president of field operations for California. “We focus on recess, which can be a challenging part of the school day for some students.”

During the pandemic, most schools offered PE online. These classes were mostly delivered virtually by the school’s PE teachers, but in some cases by for-profit online curriculum providers. The quality varies, but some online PE courses have advantages over in-person PE when it is a choice for both student and teacher, said Dr. David Daum, an assistant professor of kinesiology at San Jose State who’s studied virtual PE programs.

For under-resourced schools that only have a few basketballs or crumbling facilities, online PE can provide a safe way for students to get exercise. It also eliminates the need for locker rooms, which are a frequent site of bullying and all-around dread for some students. It also focuses on individual activities, such as running or calisthenics, instead of team sports, which some students prefer. And students who are working or caring for younger siblings like the flexibility to exercise when they have time, Daum said.

But online PE has a few significant shortcomings, he said, because it usually focuses on fitness, and only covers a fraction of the state’s PE standards. Also, during the pandemic, it’s difficult for students to establish personal relationships with teachers online, he said.

“The whole goal of PE is to give students skills for a lifetime of physical activity,” Daum said. “Online PE existed prior to the pandemic and will continue post-pandemic. It’s out there, it’s not going away. I think we need to ensure that it’s high quality.”

Dan DeJager, a PE teacher at Meraki High School in San Juan Unified near Sacramento, said his job is secure but his son’s elementary school in a nearby district reassigned its PE teacher. DeJager’s son, Hunter, a 2nd-grader, was crushed when he found out.

“He cried,” DeJager said, noting that the lack of PE during the pandemic has also been hard on his son. “My son is very active, he loves to move around. Now, he gets almost none of that. He’s gone from playing tennis and baseball to playing a lot of video games. I do what I can, but telling him to do pushups is not the same as him learning movement skills in PE.”

DeJager, a national High School Physical Education Teacher of the Year in 2019, said he’s frustrated that PE is not more of a priority for school districts as campuses reopen. Playing games, getting exercise and having fun outdoors can provide students with a healthy and much-needed chance to blow off steam after a year of lockdown, he said.

“Here we are in the middle of a pandemic, with rising rates of obesity, mental health challenges, underlying health conditions … and yet the first thing we cut is PE? It’s ridiculous,” he said.

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INFLUENCER OF THE WEEK: Michelle Lucas-Lawhorne, of Whispering Oak Elementary School | West Orange Times & Observer

Michelle Lucas-Lawhorne is a Voluntary Pre-K teacher at Whispering Oak Elementary School. Her day is divided into a morning and an afternoon program, with two separate groups of children ages 4 and 5. She teaches her students school-readiness skills, such as letters, sounds and numbers; as well as classroom routines and responsibilities that help them transition successfully to kindergarten and elementary school in general. She was named Teacher of the Year in 2017-18 and was named an A+ teacher for Spectrum News 13 this year.

 

What brought you to your school?

When Whispering Oak Elementary was first built, I lived within the community and thought it would be a great opportunity to work with children in my community. It was also a bonus that it was so close to home and I could attend many after school functions.

 

What do you love most about your school?

I love the strong sense of community that has always been here. The students, the families and my colleagues here have always been great and promoted a positive atmosphere.

 

What is your motivation?

My motivation has always been to help students reach their full potential and to enjoy learning. To not only learn the ABC’s and 123’s but to also learn to be good communicators, be helpful to those around them and to spread kindness.

 

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Watching the students grow and flourish. It is so rewarding to see where students start out and how much they grow in a single school year.

 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

In my spare time I like to play and snuggle with my two dogs, watch Hallmark Christmas movies, take naps, and spend time with my husband and family.

 

Who was your favorite teacher when you were in school? Why?

It is very difficult for me to pick just one. I had amazing teachers throughout my schooling. I attended many OCPS schools growing up. The one that I think made a such a difference in my life was my fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Police. His classroom was amazing. He not only taught us what we needed to know for school, but he taught us life skills, like being organized.

 

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Since I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a teacher. When I was younger, I had a lot of great teachers who were there for me, supported me, mentored me and inspired me to want to do the same thing one day when I was older. Teaching is truly a calling.

 

What is your favorite children’s book and why?

My favorite children’s book is “The Gingerbread Girl” because she is strong and determined.

 

What are your hobbies?

I would say a hobby of mine is creating new games for my students to learn important concepts in a creative way. I also love spending time with my family.

 

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

If I could have one superpower, it would be time travel so that I could go back and spend time with family and friends who are no longer with me.

 

If you could only listen to three bands or artists for the rest of your life, what would they be and why?

Journey, Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift. I have always loved Journey’s music, especially the song “Don’t Stop Believing.” I have seen Garth Brooks three times in concert, and I love country music in general, but his songs are so fun and energetic and great to sing along to. I love Taylor Swift ever since she showed up to the scene. Her songs are fun. I believe she is very down to earth, as well as a good person.

 

What was your go-to lunch as an elementary student? Any favorite snacks or special treats you remember?

PBJ! Extra-crunchy Jiff peanut butter and strawberry jam. To this day, I love PBJ sandwiches, and if I do not feel like making them, my husband will make them for me.

 

What is your favorite holiday and why?

Christmas! I love the music, decorations, the meaning of Christmas — and hanging out with my family has always been important to me. It’s a special time of the year for me.

 

Who was your best friend when you were in school and why? Are you still in touch?

My best friend was my sister Jennifer. We always encouraged and uplifted each other.

 

What were your extracurricular activities as a student? Did you win any accolades or honors?

I was a member of the National Honor Society.

 

How long have you been at your school and with OCPS? 

I have worked for OCPS for 22 years, the last 15 at my current school, Whispering Oak Elementary. 

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What Glenn Youngkin Owes Virginia Parents

It’s no secret that parents are fed up.

Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin was able to claim victory in Virginia—a state that went for Joe Biden by 10 points just a year prior—by echoing parents’ frustrations with school closures and radical, divisive classroom content.

In a WFXR News/Emerson College poll, education claimed the top issue spot among likely voters, beating out jobs and COVID-19, along with more perennial concerns like health care and taxes. And Youngkin won parents’ support (polling at 56 percent to McAuliffe’s 42) by a greater margin than the general electorate.

Simply put, the governor-elect owes his seat to parents in the commonwealth, and soon it will be time to deliver on his campaign promises.

Radical curriculum content, from critical race theory to gender-bending ideology and even soft pornography in school libraries, did not spring forth overnight. The politicization of the education system was decades in the making, as teachers, administrators, and contractors all marinated in the underlying ideology. It will not be easy to steer schools away from their chosen path on these topics. Making election promises into a reality will require a multi-faceted, sustained policy effort.

These efforts should focus on three strategies: offering immediate leverage and options to parents through a broad school-choice program; ensuring total transparency so that parents can continue to monitor lessons; and supporting a state law forbidding racial essentialism and radical gender ideology in public school curricula.

Education choice can serve both as leverage in battles with districts, and as an exit strategy for parents frustrated that their voices are being ignored. During the campaign, Youngkin promised voters, “A student’s zip code cannot determine his or her destiny. Parents must be free to make the decision best for their children.” Real education choice would look like an extension for Education Savings Accounts—flexible accounts that follow the child to any educational opportunity—to all commonwealth families.

Youngkin should encourage the General Assembly to expand and reconfigure the state’s tax credit scholarship program, and immediately create Learning Loss Education Savings Accounts for students who failed the spring 2021 state assessment. Virginia can use federal funds provided to state and local governments through the American Recovery Plan to fund these education accounts.

Glenn Youngkin
Virginia Governor elect, Glenn Youngkin (L), and his wife Suzanne Youngkin, attend the Christmas parade in Middleburg, Virginia on December 4, 2021.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images

Importantly, while Virginia’s charter school law is among the worst in the nation and requires an overhaul, most charter schools provide no escape from the woke ideology engulfing their traditional public counterparts. Nor are they an immediate solution, as any charter law update would take years to result in new schools. That’s too long for Virginia parents and students.

Virginia only has seven charter schools—a comically low number compared to other states. A “down payment” on parental choice in the form of adding 20 schools will barely impact districts, which desperately need the competition, or parents, who deserve true educational options.

Other non-negotiables for a Youngkin education agenda should include introducing a ban on CRT and gender ideology in the state legislature and demanding total transparency from districts about what children are learning.

On the campaign trail, Youngkin told parents, “We have abhorrent chapters in our history, we have great chapters in our history, we must know it all but let me be clear: I will ban Critical Race Theory at our schools.” Virginia parents expect him to follow through on this promise, and to evaluate the impact of the activist-drafted, state-mandated transgender policy as well.

The governor-elect also committed himself to transparency: “Our parents have been kept in the dark long enough. When I’m governor, schools will make teaching materials, textbooks, lesson plans all available to parents who request them.” Parents should not have to commit long hours to FOIA requests, and pay districts prohibitively high fees, to see what a day in the classroom will bring their children.

In addition, with the new Omicron variant causing uncertainty, Youngkin must remain a bulwark against what will undoubtedly be another fear-fueled effort by teachers’ unions to shut down in-person schooling again. Although mandated by state law to offer in-person education this year, Virginia school districts have been announcing last-minute closures throughout the fall. Without school choice or clear policy direction from the state, parents are powerless to stop this accelerating trend.

Some of these policy solutions might seem overly grand in a moderate state like Virginia. But the reality is that education savings accounts are overwhelmingly popular, including with independents and moderate Democrats. And cultural topics long considered “divisive” by Beltway consultants and insiders—like removing critical race theory from the classroom—are actually areas of broad agreement between moderate and conservative voters.

Leaning into these fights is what brought Glenn Youngkin his victory. Now he needs to commit to an education agenda that matches the rhetoric voters of all political backgrounds enthusiastically supported.

Inez Stepman is a senior policy analyst for the Independent Women’s Forum. Virginia Gentles is a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.

The views expressed in this article are the writers’ own.

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CCISD sees increase in enrollment and attendance rates

Corpus Christi ISD saw an increase in enrollment compared to last year by 1,902 students.

But the school district has about 1,500 fewer students than in the 2018-19 school year, and staff is working to continue the trend of growing enrollment, said Delma Bernal, director of admissions, attendance and student support service.

During the board of trustees meeting Monday, Bernal shared a report on the district’s current enrollment and attendance for the first and second six-week periods of the 2021-22 school year.

Texas schools receive state funding based in part on student attendance. Districts lose funding if students are absent or withdraw. 

Students arrive at Jones Elementary School on the first day of in-person classes for Corpus Christi Independent School District schools on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020.

Enrollment trends and goals

The district is aiming to return to the 2018-19 enrollment of 34,674. The current enrollment is 33,171.

For the past three school years, CCISD has experienced a decrease in enrollment. Bernal said contributing factors include  parents seeking other in-person or virtual school options at private or charter schools or through home schooling, children staying home due to COVID illness or contact, and refinery jobs that have left the area.