Inside High-Stakes Testing

The Screens Schools Gave Them

Episode Summary Los Angeles Unified School District recently passed aresolution to create limits on student screen time—but this isn’t just another conversation about phones. This decision focuses on the devices schools themselves have assigned and built into daily learning. In this episode, we unpack what this policy actually includes, why it’s happening now, and what it reveals about how technology has been used in classrooms. They explore the difference between access and instructional quality, the role of attention in learning, and howscreens can quietly reshape the environment around student. The episode ends with practical reflection points for bothparents and educators, grounded in one central question: if schools are starting to limit screens now, what changed—and what does that mean for how we move forward? Key Question What changed that made this necessary now? Topics Discussed * LAUSD’s screen-time resolution and what it actually includes * The difference between phone bans and school-issued device policies * Access vs. instructional quality in technology use * Attention, multitasking, and what screens do to learning conditions * What gets displaced when screens become the default * System-level gaps: scaling devices before defining limits and oversight Readings & Resources Mentioned Practitioner & Teaching Perspectives Screen Awareness Resource Guide (Conference Materials)https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dEM1-NVbtyUfadIpqbn2a-rBk5dijgCO/view?usp=drive_link [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dEM1-NVbtyUfadIpqbn2a-rBk5dijgCO/view?usp=drive_link] A brief resource guide developed for educators andcaregivers Screen-Aware Early Childhood by Cantor, Holohan and Rogershttps://www.tcpress.com/products/screen-aware-early-childhood_9780807787281 [https://www.tcpress.com/products/screen-aware-early-childhood_9780807787281] A research-informed and practitioner-centered guide tounderstanding how screens intersect with child development, relationships, and learning. Fairplay – Screens in Schools Initiativehttps://fairplayforkids.org/campaigns/screens-in-schools/ [https://fairplayforkids.org/campaigns/screens-in-schools/] A national advocacy effort focused on reducing harmfulcommercial influences in schools Research Sources Referenced in the Episode Los Angeles Unified School District Screen Time Resolution(Summary + reporting)https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/los-angeles-schools-set-limits-classroom-screen-time-2026-04-22/ [https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/los-angeles-schools-set-limits-classroom-screen-time-2026-04-22/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] California Phone-Free School Act (AB 3216)https://apnews.com/article/a8b624f0a9fce4eab4e927a985285871 [https://apnews.com/article/a8b624f0a9fce4eab4e927a985285871?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Illinois Senate Bill 2427 (Wireless Communication Device Policy)https://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus?DocNum=2427&DocTypeID=SB&GAID=18&LegId=162470&SessionID=114 [https://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus?DocNum=2427&DocTypeID=SB&GAID=18&LegId=162470&SessionID=114&utm_source=chatgpt.com] Illinois Policy Institute – Cell Phone Use in Classroomshttps://www.illinoispolicy.org/bill-would-limit-cell-phone-use-in-classrooms/ [https://www.illinoispolicy.org/bill-would-limit-cell-phone-use-in-classrooms/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Additional District Examples & Reporting Natasha Singer, The New York Times — “ChromebookRemorse: Tech Backlash at Schools Extends Beyond Phones”https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/apr/05/chromebook-remorse-tech-backlash-at-schools-extend/ [https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/apr/05/chromebook-remorse-tech-backlash-at-schools-extend/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] A reprint of New York Times reporting on McPherson MiddleSchool in Kansas The Guardian — “Los Angeles school board votes to set limitson classroom screen time”https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/22/los-angeles-school-district-screen-time [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/22/los-angeles-school-district-screen-time?utm_source=chatgpt.com] MultiState — “Elementary School Screen Time Limits GainMomentum in 2026”https://www.multistate.us/insider/2026/4/8/elementary-school-screen-time-limits-gain-momentum-in-2026 [https://www.multistate.us/insider/2026/4/8/elementary-school-screen-time-limits-gain-momentum-in-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Policy overview of state-level classroom screen-timelegislation, noting that 2026 bills and laws are beginning to address screen time in elementary classrooms Try This After Listening Parents: Instead of asking “How much screen time is too much?” ask: What is this screen replacing right now? Teachers: Identify one part of your day where screens are not the default. What changes when that space is protected? Follow us on Instagram: @secondlookeducationListen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts | Watch on YouTube @secondlookeducation

Who Gets to Love Learning?

Episode Summary In this episode, we move from a single moment to a pattern that’s harder to ignore. What began as a conversation about a child not liking school expands into a broader question about the emotional experience of learning across classrooms, schools, and systems. Candace reflects on recurring moments — preservice teachers describing students as “behind,” classrooms driven by pacing over presence, and college students navigating learning environments that feel disconnected from relationships and meaning. Together, Candace and Amy explore how the language of urgency, remediation, and compliance shapes not just what students learn, but how learning feels. Drawing on research around motivation, emotional safety, and culturally responsive practice, the conversation examines whether joy is being treated as an extra — or whether it is a condition necessary for meaningful learning. The episode moves into a deeper tension: If joy depends on autonomy, belonging, relevance, and safety… are those conditions equally available to all learners? We close by asking what it means if they are not. Key Question: If joy is a condition for deep learning, who actually has access to it? Topics Discussed * Joy as a condition for learning, not a reward * The language of “behind,” urgency, and remediation * Emotional safety and relationships in learning environments * Scripted curriculum, pacing pressures, and system constraints * The difference between compliance and engagement * Education debt vs. achievement gaps * Joy, identity, and access across race, class, and power * Learning as human, relational, and nonlinear Readings & Resources Mentioned Practitioner & Teaching Perspectives * Gholdy Muhammad Work on culturally and historically responsive education and joy as sustained fulfillment * https://education.uic.edu/profiles/muhammad-gholnecsar/ * bell hooks Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom * https://academictrap.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bell-hooks-teaching-to-transgress.pdf Research Sources Referenced during the episode: * Edward Deci & Richard Ryan Self-Determination Theory (autonomy, competence, connection) * https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2000_RyanDeci_SDT.pdf * Daniel J. Siegel Brain development, relationships, and emotional safety in learning * Peter Gray Learning, autonomy, and the impact of control on motivation * https://drdansiegel.com/relationship-science-and-being-human/ Foundational Research & Further Reading * Gloria Ladson-Billings From achievement gap to education debt * https://thrive.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/From%20the%20Achievement%20Gap%20to%20the%20Education%20Debt_Understanding%20Achievement%20in%20US%20Schools.pdf * Bettina Love We Want to Do More Than Survive * https://www.beacon.org/We-Want-to-Do-More-Than-Survive-P1446.aspx * Jal Mehta Deep learning and system design * https://jfforg-prod-new.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/The-Why-What-Where-How-121415.pdf Parents: Ask your child not just what they learned, but how learning felt that day. Notice what brings energy — and what drains it. Educators: Reflect on your classroom environment: Where do students experience autonomy, belonging, and relevance? Where might compliance be mistaken for engagement? If joy is sustained fulfillment, then we have to ask: Which students are being sustained by school — and which are being depleted by it? Follow us on Instagram: @secondlookeducation Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts | Watch on YouTube @secondlookeducation

The Edges of Inclusion

Episode Summary Amy brings a real moment from home: her children come backfrom school excited about inclusion activities—adaptive sports, conversations about disability, and new perspectives. The experience is meaningful, engaging, and clearly impactful. But it raises a quieter question: why does inclusion still show up as a special event? As the conversation unfolds, Amy and Candace explore thetension between awareness and design. While schools have made significant progress—especially through legislation like IDEA—this progress has not always translated into fully inclusive classroom experiences. Inclusion exists, but often within boundaries that go unnamed. They examine how systems have expanded access without fully redesigning how schools function, and how this leads to a version of inclusion that is real, but partial. The conversation moves from history to classroom reality, naming the complexity teachers already hold and the structural limitsthat shape what’s possible. The episode closes by shifting from solutions toawareness—inviting listeners to notice who is present, who is missing, and what it would take to design spaces where inclusion isn’t something we visit, but something we live alongside. Key Question What does it mean to teach inclusion in spaces that arealready selectively inclusive? Topics Discussed: * Inclusion as an event vs. inclusion as design * The gap between legal access and classroom reality * The concept of “bounded inclusion” * Awareness without proximity * Teacher capacity and system constraints * The role of collaboration (gen ed, SPED, specialists) * Universal design and everyday inclusion * Noticing who is missing from classrooms Readings & Resources Mentioned Practitioner & Teaching Perspectives * Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines – CAST https://udlguidelines.cast.org [https://udlguidelines.cast.org] * IRIS Center: Universal Design for Learning Overview (Vanderbilt University) https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/udl/ [https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/udl/] * Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) – High-Leverage Practices https://highleveragepractices.org [https://highleveragepractices.org] Research Sources Referenced in the Episode * Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) – U.S. Department of Education https://sites.ed.gov/idea/ [https://sites.ed.gov/idea/] * Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) – IDEA Guidance https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.114 [https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.114] * Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) – Historical Overview https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2142/Education-All-Handicapped-Children-Act-1975.html Foundational Research & Further Reading * CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines 2.2https://udlguidelines.cast.org/more/downloads [https://udlguidelines.cast.org/more/downloads] * National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) – Students with Disabilities Datahttps://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg [https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgg] * U.S. Department of Education – Annual Report to Congress on IDEA https://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/index.html [https://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/index.html] Try This After Listening Parents:Notice how you talk about difference in everyday moments—at parks, sidewalks,or public spaces—and name design features (like ramps or adaptive equipment) aspart of how the world works. Teachers:Look at one lesson this week and ask: Who can access this easily—and who has toadapt? What small shift could make it more flexible? Follow us on Instagram: @secondlookeducationListen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts | Watch on YouTube @secondlookeducation

How did we lose the joy this early?

Episode Summary Candace shares a moment that stopped her in her tracks: her 7-year-old niece, in the middle of learning to read, said, “I don’t like school.” There was no frustration or struggle, just a quiet certainty. In this episode, Candace and Amy take a second look at what it means when a child at one of the most critical stages of learning already feels disconnected from school. They explore the difference between learning a skill and wanting to keep learning, and how systems built around pacing, measurement, and outcomes may unintentionally disrupt children’s natural curiosity. Drawing on research in motivation, development, and literacy, the conversation examines how early experiences shape a child’s relationship with learning, and what it means if students can perform but no longer feel connected to the process. Because the question isn’t just whether children can learn. It’s what they’re learning about learning itself. Key Question If a child can read but doesn’t want to read, did school succeed? Topics Discussed * The difference between skill acquisition and desire to learn * Why early reading should feel meaningful, not just measurable * Intrinsic motivation and the role of autonomy, competence, and connection * How compliance-driven systems shape student experience * The impact of pacing, benchmarking, and over-assessment * Joy as a condition for learning, not a reward after it * The growing gap between what schools measure and what students feel Readings & Resources Mentioned National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap [https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap] Edutopia – Student Engagement https://www.edutopia.org/topic/student-engagement [https://www.edutopia.org/topic/student-engagement] Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan) https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/ [https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/] Ryan & Deci (2000) Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10620381/ [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10620381/] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Flow Theory https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/ [https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/] Peter Gray – Free to Learn https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn [https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn] Gholdy Muhammad – Unearthing Joy https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/unearthing-joy-9781338856606.html [https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/unearthing-joy-9781338856606.html] Bettina Love – We Want to Do More Than Survive https://jethe.org/index.php/jethe/article/download/259/58/1078 [https://jethe.org/index.php/jethe/article/download/259/58/1078] Try This After Listening Parents:Ask your child what part of their day at school feels most interesting or exciting, and why. Teachers:Reflect on when you last adjusted a lesson based on student engagement, not pacing. Follow us on Instagram: @secondlookeducation Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts | Watch on YouTube @secondlookeducation

Inside High-Stakes Testing

Episode Summary In this episode, we start with a small moment — a child mentioning that they get to chew gum during the Illinois Assessment of Readiness — and follow it into a larger question: How did high-stakes testing become such a routine part of school that it now feels inevitable? Amy reflects on raising her own children inside a testing system she has studied, written about, and once administered as a classroom teacher. Drawing on her experience preparing third graders for their first standardized test, researching children’s experiences of testing, and later stepping away from that grade level, she examines how policy becomes classroom reality. We explore how federal accountability systems made annual testing structural, why the 95% participation rule continues to shape school responses, how Illinois moved from IGAP and ISAT to PARCC and IAR, and why teachers and parents often experience these systems differently. We close by asking what children learn when adults treat constructed systems as natural — and what it means to stay conscious inside them. When high-stakes testing feels inevitable, what are children learning about systems, authority, and participation? * High-stakes testing as policy, not inevitability * The 95% participation rule under NCLB and ESSA * Illinois testing history: IGAP, ISAT, PARCC, and IAR * Teacher compliance, care, and professional survival * Student identity and the emotional experience of testing * Parent advocacy inside institutional systems Practitioner & Teaching Perspectives FairTest. National Center for Fair and Open Testing.https://fairtest.org [https://fairtest.org] Illinois State Board of Education. Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR).https://www.isbe.net/iar [https://www.isbe.net/iar]  Illinois State Board of Education. Assessment Overview.https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Assessment.aspx [https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Assessment.aspx] Research Sources Referenced in the Episode U.S. Department of Education. Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).https://www.ed.gov/essa [https://www.ed.gov/essa]  U.S. Department of Education. No Child Left Behind Act Overview.https://www.ed.gov/media/document/execsummpdf-4020.pdf [https://www.ed.gov/media/document/execsummpdf-4020.pdf]  Foundational Research & Further Reading Schneider, M. K. (2015).Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools? Teachers College Press. https://www.tcpress.com/common-core-dilemma-who-owns-our-schools-9780807756492 [https://www.tcpress.com/common-core-dilemma-who-owns-our-schools-9780807756492?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Gorlweski, A., Porfilio, B., Gorlewski, D. (2012).Using Standards and High-Stakes Testing for Students: Exploiting Power with Critical Pedagogy https://www.peterlang.com/document/1109148 [https://www.peterlang.com/document/1109148]  Neill, M. (2016).The Testing Resistance and Reform Movement https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-testing-resistance-and-reform-movement/ [https://monthlyreview.org/articles/the-testing-resistance-and-reform-movement/]  Author Background & Related Scholarship Kelly, A. L. (2019).The High Stakes of Testing: Exploring Student Voice and Standardized Assessment through Governmentality. Brill Sense.https://brill.com/display/title/61974 [https://brill.com/display/title/61974] Kelly, A. L. (2021).A Guide to High-Stakes Standardized Testing in the United States: A Historical Overview. Brill Sense.https://brill.com/display/title/54596 [https://brill.com/display/title/54596] Parents: Ask your child what they think the test is for — and what they think it says about them. Teachers: Reflect on how testing season changes the tone of your classroom. What messages are students receiving about learning, success, and compliance? Follow us on Instagram: @secondlookeducation Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts| Watch on YouTube @secondlookeducation