Latest Edu-Reads (and Edu-Listens)

Science advances one funeral at a time? That may sound morbid, but a new study finds evidence it may be true.

“Today’s average public school board member is a white male with a family income of over $100K a year.” That’s Beth Tek on the demographics of school board members.

There’s supposedly a retirement savings crisis in this country, and yet Gary Burtless reports that, “Census statistics show that the average real income of elderly households climbed 82 percent between 1979 and 2017 while the average income of households headed by someone younger than 65 increased just 37 percent.”

If you liked my short excerpt from Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, I’ve got two (old but still good) podcast recommendations. I recently stumbled upon this episode of the Getting Smart podcast where Tom Vander Ark spoke with Gene Kerns, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Renaissance Learning about the science of deliberate practice and what it means for education. Similarly, I enjoyed this episode of the Mr Barton Maths Podcast with Doug Lemov, especially the examples of “tells” teachers use in the classroom, as well as ways to deliver professional development for adult colleagues.

Speaking of podcasts, I strongly recommend Emily Hanford’s deep dive into the research on how children learn to read. I’ll have more to say on it soon, but you can read the full thing yourself here.

–Guest post by Chad Aldeman