Winter 24/25 - Helpful Resources
Helping you keep your eye on the ball: Gen AI skeptics; lots of student demographic data, domestic and international; a worrisome lawsuit over curricula in Massachusetts
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Hi all -
You made it through the longest/shortest month of December to winter break! Congratulations!
Here are some final links/thoughts for the year.
Two weeks ago, I did the year-end round up of “most popular posts.” And I’m not doing a 2025 forecast because that was mainly covered in my post-election article.
In the post election article, I talked about the ascendance of the Silicon Valley billionaire (bro-ionaire?) and in this winter edition of Helpful Resources I’m adding an asterisk because I’ve read some differing opinions on the path of generative AI and they are worth considering. Perhaps we had a surge forward and we’re now on a plateau - and how it develops is more a question mark than maybe we initially thought. Perhaps!
You might want to consider how much you’re wrangle with the question of generative AI in the classroom. Is it the best use of your time? In fact, you can develop a lot of pedagogy that bypasses tech. After you read some of these articles, I suspect you will give that a think.
For Winter 24/25, enclosed are readings on the following topics -
EdTech/Generative AI (skeptics edition - sometimes it feels like all Generative AI, all the time out there, but as GenAI’s flaws and limitations become more apparent, there’s actually many reasons to believe we may not be marching forward into the inevitable)
Demographic data for domestic and international student enrollment
National staffing data from k-12 public schools
A Massachusetts class action lawsuit from parents against three authors of reading curricula that has come under fire
This quarterly feature is for paid subscribers. Articles that are appropriate in terms of length and clarity to share with your board of trustees are noted as such.
And I am also happy to share the link to a January free webinar below from Chuck English of English Marketing Works, since TOOS readers are so interested in differentiating their schools in the marketplace. Get valuable advice from a real pro!
Creating a Differentiation Blueprint | A Free Webinar |January 15 • 1PM ET
In today’s competitive landscape, it’s critical for independent schools to differentiate themselves - whether from other private schools, public schools, charter schools, or the quickly multiplying micro-schools. Effective differentiation drives enrollment, accelerates fundraising, enhances your brand and contributes to the overall success of your school.
This free webinar, presented by Chuck English, an authority on school messaging and branding, will provide valuable perspectives on differentiation and eight practical techniques you can use to identify and communicate what makes your school stand out. No matter your role, learning more about differentiation is vital to you and the success of your school.
Register for the webinar here.
This is the last TOOS for 2024! I’m looking forward to 2025 - to scheduling a few drop-in Zooms, to starting Top Five Tuesdays as a new benefit for paid subscribers and getting back to posting voice narration for articles and to the People Talking interviews. I have two interviews in the works with board of trustee chairs, current and former, with more to come. There will be more writing on governance, more writing on comms and more writing on management in the New Year, with a continuation of the Women and Leadership series.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading. This is a dream come true and as other parts of my professional life develop, you can count on the fact I will keep building out this little corner of Substack. I’m so glad to have you with me as company!
Happy 2025!
EdTech/GenAI Skeptics (three links)
One
Jared Cooney Horvath writing for Jonathan Haidt’s Substack, After Babel