By Juan Perez Jr.

Presented by Sallie Mae®

With help from Mackenzie Wilkes and Dana Nickel

An employee at ASML, a Dutch company that supplies semiconductor manufacturing machines, in 2018. | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

GOING ALL IN — A huge amount of work lies ahead for the country’s education system roughly one year after the CHIPS and Science Act became law. Elementary and high School STEM and technical education programs, in addition to community colleges and topflight research institutions, all have their hands full.

— How are things progressing? Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan offered some insight during recent congressional testimony that laid out the promise — and challenges — facing education institutions as the semiconductor law moves from policy theory to reality.

— Community colleges and universities are receiving significant and justified attention for their roles in the chip war. But Biden administration officials are making clear that other priorities, including updated school curriculums, also need scrutiny to prepare the army of builders, technicians and researchers needed to meet the government’s enormous manufacturing and R&D demands.

— “The workforce is something that I worry about,” Raimondo recently told House lawmakers. “There is a need for industry to have 100,000 semiconductor technicians. That number is going to go up to about 300,000 pretty quickly. Technicians don’t need a four-year college degree. The community college is a perfect training ground. Maybe a high school plus credentialing program.”

— A nascent National Semiconductor Technology Center is expected to play a critical role by coordinating an array of work between higher education institutions, companies and the government. They’ll tackle workforce programs by scaling up “gold-standard” education models, experiential learning and training programs. A committee just appointed the center’s first board of trustees members on Wednesday.

— “Everyone has a role to play,” Raimondo told a Senate panel earlier this month. “High schools with career and technical education. Community colleges have a huge role to play. Four-year colleges. Ph.D. programs. Up and down the ladder.”

IT’S MONDAY, OCT. 16. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. University of Florida President Ben Sasse, a former Nebraska senator, criticized other academic leaders for not publicly condemning the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

Reach out with tips to today’s host at [email protected] and also my colleagues Michael Stratford ([email protected]), Bianca Quilantan ([email protected]) and Mackenzie Wilkes ([email protected]). And don’t forget to follow us on whatever it is people call Twitter now: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro.

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MISSING IN ACTION — Close to 15 million U.S. students were often missing from school during the 2021-22 academic term during the late stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Your host spoke with Hedy Chang, the executive director of Attendance Works, to hear about her call for a massive effort to reconnect students and families to schools.

Here’s a portion of our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Reopening schools in the wake of Covid was one thing, but why is getting kids to come back such a challenge?

HC: The first issue is whether there is a barrier preventing them from getting to school. Transportation systems aren't what they used to be, and school systems are facing bus driver shortages. Trauma is another. How many kids are facing trauma and then maybe lost a family member? Then there’s things that happen in schools that maybe push them out of school. They’re being bullied. They have anxiety, especially because they’ve missed out on a lot of opportunities to learn and they don’t have support when they’re in school to help them catch up. Then you have the issue of disengagement. Then there are issues of misconceptions, where families maybe don’t realize that missing a couple of days a month can actually throw a kid off track.

What's at stake for school buildings as they try to get back on their feet?

HC: We have to pay attention to attendance and engagement as an underlying component of helping us recover from the pandemic. There is research that shows a close association between how well you do academically and whether or not you're frequently missing school. We also know it's possible to reduce absenteeism when you take a whole school community approach, use your data and engage in prevention.

What solutions might need to be the highest priority for national, state and local leaders?

HC: One of the solutions is building attention to relationship-building and connecting to kids and families as a core part of how schools operate. The other piece I really think we have to do is invest in our health systems and make sure every kid has access to healthcare. And that we're taking steps to prevent unnecessary health-related absences — whether that's making sure kids get screening, food and nutrition, and adopting good hygiene habits.

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FACING BIOMETRICS IN SCHOOLS — There’s heightened interest in schools’ use of facial recognition technology following a ban on its use in New York schoolhouses. Biometric tech is mainly used for security purposes, but it’s raised some civil rights and privacy concerns.

— Civil rights groups and tech experts have sounded the alarm. A report from New York state's technology office found the use of facial recognition in schools for security purposes “may implicate civil rights laws.” The risks of this tech outweigh the benefits, according to the report, which also noted that a “potentially higher rate of false positives for people of color, non-binary and transgender people, women, the elderly, and children” could have implications for federal and state civil rights laws.

— “The question is, how many errors are okay?” said Shobita Parthasarathy, director of the University of Michigan’s science, technology and public policy program. Parthasarathy, who has led research on facial recognition in schools, said the accuracy of the tech poses ethical questions. “What is our definition of accurate enough, right?” she said. “It's unlikely that technology is going to be 100 percent accurate.”

— On Capitol Hill, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of Congress’ tech hawks, told Weekly Education he’s “generally an opponent of facial recognition,” adding that “a lot of the systems are deeply flawed.” Wyden is one of the lead co-sponsors of the Algorithmic Accountability Act, which would require companies, including some ed tech and security companies with products that use AI or automated systems, to assess the impact of automating certain decisions. The bill would also require the Federal Trade Commission to create regulations that give companies guidelines on these assessments.

— "Facial recognition in schools should be banned until there is clear evidence that it is accurate, would actually improve safety in schools, and won't be used to target Black, Hispanic and other students of color," Wyden said in a statement.

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AI IN THE CLASSROOM? — A sweeping majority of educators use technology daily in their classrooms. But artificial intelligence? Not so much.

— Educators’ use and understanding of how to use artificial intelligence to facilitate teaching and learning is low, according to newly-released results of an online survey conducted on behalf of the American Federation of Teachers in August.

— Roughly three-quarters of surveyed teachers said they never use AI for their own work, but are most likely to use it for planning and preparation, communication, and individualized instruction when they do. A similar proportion overall said their students never use AI software or AI-enabled search engines (such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, or Bard) for learning.

— But teacher reports on students’ AI use increase by grade level. While only 9 percent of primary teachers say their students use AI, 29 percent of middle school teachers and 43 percent of high school teachers say students use AI in learning.

— Hart Research’s survey of roughly 1,750 AFT members was fielded from Aug. 3-7 and has a credibility interval of +/- 2.4 percent.

TRANSFER OF POWERS — A court order to block Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s takeover of the state’s K-12 education apparatus is creating “chaos,” according to the governor’s office.

— Seven members of Ohio’s State Board of Education sued DeWine and the state in September to stop an overhaul that allegedly violates the state’s constitution. Under the changes, control of Ohio’s education department — including decisions on curricula and academic standards — shifted from the State Board of Education and the superintendent to a director appointed by the governor.

— On Sept. 21, a Franklin County judge granted a temporary restraining order to prevent changes to the board by the governor’s office pending a court decision in the case.

— Dan Tierney, a DeWine spokesperson, said the block created confusion for local families. The temporary restraining order prevents the overhaul of the education system, and Tierney said it made residents question if funding would be available for department staffing and scholarships that students rely on to attend alternative schools.

— “The right thing to do would be to let [the lawsuit] proceed, but also let the transition move forward because it’ll create clarity that says, yes, the budget bill that funds our local school district payments, that funds teacher licensure, that funds continuing education, those are all important things that should continue,” Tierney said.

— The block remains in effect until the court makes a decision on the case, which must happen by Oct. 20. The State Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment.

JOIN 10/24 FOR AN UPDATE ON CHIPS: America is rapidly restructuring its semiconductor supply chain and manufacturing base, thanks in part to billion-dollar initiatives like the CHIPS and Science Act. But who is winning the reward? Join POLITICO Oct. 24 to get an update on CHIPS what other challenges have emerged now that the new era is underway? REGISTER NOW.

— Newsom OKs discounted community college for Mexican students: POLITICO Pro

— School board elections in Twin Cities suburbs center on LGBTQ inclusion, academic achievement: Star Tribune

— The Israel-Hamas war has roiled U.S. campuses. Students on each side say colleges aren’t doing enough: The Associated Press

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Scholarships are an important source of funding for students and families financing their higher education—especially those from underserved and underrepresented communities. Learn how Sallie Mae’s free tools and resources are helping connect more students to free money and ultimately reducing the amount they borrow for college.

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