My Views Are My Own
By Lisa Schonhoff, Ed.S.
3/11/2025
The past couple months have been filled with a great deal of learning and researching. I am the chair of our Planning and Evaluation committee and am also on the Budget and Finance committee. I was also a part of a quasi-judicial hearing that involved sifting through more than a thousand pages of documents. I certainly have a greater appreciation for the work that goes on at the state level to ensure that the needs of our students are being met.
Social Studies Standards Revision Process
One topic that we discussed in length during our Planning and Evaluation Committee meeting was the revision of our Social Studies Standards. We looked at the community feedback that was provided and discussed the process for reviewing the standards. There is a tentative timeline of having them completed by September 2025. If you are interested in sending feedback on the social studies standards, you may use the following email: nde.standardsinput@nebraska.gov
Mental Health Grants
Two mental health grants have been voted on. The February grant ($250,000) was to provide educators with 8 hours of Mental Health First Aid training. The second grant ($153,000) was to partner with Value Up to improve school culture and minimize truancy. Both grants rely on universal screenings of all students to determine the needs of a school. In short, the program is applying a universal approach in an attempt to solve a multitude of issues in our schools. These approaches have proven to be ineffective. In a recent study out of Oxford, the authors state that based on their findings, “the field should move away from universal prevention and instead invest our limited resources in the refinement and dissemination of interventions with a stronger evidence base, such as one-to-one, targeted and indirect approaches.” The first grant was blocked with a 4:4 vote. The second grant was approved with a 6:2 vote.
Tobacco Prevention
The NDE has partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services ($190,000 X3) to provide Tobacco Prevention programs in our schools for the past four years. At this point in time, there isn’t any data to show a positive impact. The same was true with the DARE program in the 90s per longitudinal study results. This grant was renewed with a 7:1 vote.
The Literacy Project Over Time ($55,000,000 from US Department of Education)
While there is a lot of work being done to improve literacy in the state, I still have the following concerns:
How are High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) determined? EdReports still seems to be the determining factor and a curriculum’s alignment is with Common Core State Standards, which is different from Nebraska’s state standards. “EdReports is funded by Broadcom Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Overdeck Family Foundation, the Samueli Foundation, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, the Stuart Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Oak Foundation.”
A good chunk of the funding is allocated to pre-K instruction. How will this be implemented since Nebraska does not have universal preschool? If we instituted universal preschool, it would be unsustainable to continue once the grant money ran out. Our tax base would not support it. Also, there has been solid research showing that government-funded preschool has failed to raise achievement rates beyond fourth grade. Head Start is an example. For best results, we need to focus on K-5.
There is little to no evidence that supports a Regional Instructional Coach Model. I see this as building a new bureaucracy through the ESUs that may be redundant. I would prefer to see the grant money spent in the schools, rather than at the ESU level. Instructional coaches are most effective when they are in the school building.
Once again, I am reminded that this is a marathon, not a sprint. The work is ongoing, and I am grateful that Nebraskans have entrusted this great responsibility to me.
Comments