The educational buzzword for this year is “personalized education.” This computerized revival of individualized instruction from the 1970s also wins the 2018 oxymoron award. Pitched by the techno-educational industry, so-called personalized education isolates a student in a digital world, progressing alone at their own speed, essentially the most “depersonalized” form of instruction possible.

If there was any bright light in the dark world of modern teaching, it was the demise of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). After over a decade of teaching-to-the-test to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the requirement that one hundred percent of students be proficient by 2014 was finally seen to be as unattainable as having one hundred percent of those who enter a hospital emerge completely cured. The best of doctors lose patients and the best of teachers lose students.

But its replacement (ESSA) has not restored teachers’ professional judgement or jurisdiction over classroom content and testing. External assessments remain. And AYP was replaced by AMD (annual meaningful differentiation) involving four different measures. It is applied building by building, rather than by district. The beancounting continues.

Veteran teachers continued to retire early or switch professions, often from assessment fatigue. Education Week reported the most common teacher had 15 years of experience in 1987-88, but today is in their first 3 years of teaching. Average age of a teacher was 55 in 2007-08, but is now in the mid-30s to mid-40s. Forty-four percent of new teachers continue to leave the profession within five years.

2018 data from Kansas regents universities show only 5,273 students are enrolled in programs leading to teacher certification, compared to 8,991 in 2011. An initial decline in students entering teaching that began with the introduction of NCLB in 2001 accelerated with the loss of teacher tenure in Kansas five years ago. In several states, including Oklahoma, where teacher salaries were very low and were significantly increased, college students have not returned to teacher-training programs. While the numbers of special education students nationwide has declined one percent, the number of special education teachers has fallen 17 percent.

Math scores on the ACT have dropped to the lowest level in twenty years, causing a call for major reform of teaching math nationwide. Scores fell for all subgroups, except Asian American students whose scores went up! Nevertheless, all blame was directed toward teachers and math curriculum without considering that the ethnic study-effort might be a factor. And while Asian-American students were a discussion point in the Harvard University affirmative action lawsuit, they are dramatically “over-represented” at the specialty science high schools in New York, leading Mayor DeBlasio to propose affirmative action against them at the secondary level.
Lumina and other educational policy groups have called for increasing high school graduation rates. Many school district administrations complied, raising high school completion from below 70 percent to the mid-80 percent and higher. However, many administrative actions resulted in passing students who were chronically absent or otherwise failing. Some schools are heavy users of “credit recovery” programs, computer-based easy click tests that are substituted for actual class achievement.

More Kansas high school students are taking dual credit courses that provide both high school and college credit. As of September of 2017, the high school instructors of such courses were to possess a masters degree including 18 graduate credit hours in the field taught. Since their courses awarded college credit, the Higher Learning Commission requires instructors to have one degree higher than the course being taught. Regents schools who accept those credits could apply for a time extension to get the high school instructors credentialed. However, some did not, and some Kansas high school students are continuing to take dual credit courses under non-qualified high school teachers. Neither the KSDE nor the KBOR polices these credentials. In addition, the Kansas Legislature has moved to increase funding to make dual credit available to high school students across Kansas whether they are college able or not.

The second most common reason for teachers leaving the public school classroom is student discipline problems. The continued movement toward “no touch” policies and “restorative discipline” talk sessions has caused some teachers to feel helpless to address physical misbehavior.

If tobacco use across America has gone down, the use of e-cigarettes or Juuling in schools is soaring. Vaping devices are particularly difficult to curtail; they are small and resemble recharge devices.

Meanwhile, use of opioids has caused life expectancy in the United States to actually decline, the only lifespan decline in a developed country in modern history. Meth addiction still remains a serious problem, contributing to an unprecedented need for foster homes. Combined with the growing rate of childhood poverty and homelessness, many more teachers find their job involves counseling, food distribution and much more than teaching.

But to end on a more sunny note, some middle and high schools are moving forward their start times to begin school after 8:30am. Initial reports suggest that their students are getting more sleep at home and improving their performance in classes and on assessments at school.

John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.

By JOHN P. TRETBAR

U.S. crude oil production is spiking again. The Energy Information Administration reports total production of 11.697 million barrels per day for the week ending Dec. 21, an increase of 99-thousand barrels per day over the previous week and 1.9 million barrels per day more than a year ago at this time.

The government reported U.S. commercial crude oil inventories remained virtually unchanged from the previous week. At 441.4 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 7% above the five year average for this time of year.

EIA said imports averaged 7.7 million barrels per day, up by 233,000 barrels per day from week before. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 7.4 million barrels per day, 2.3% less than the same four-week period last year.

It’s been a bumpy ride for oil prices, which posted two percent losses last Thursday after gains of 8% on Wednesday. Those were the biggest price gains in two years. But the U.S. and international crude oil benchmarks have lost more than a third of their value since the beginning of October and are heading for losses of more than 20 percent for the year. At $35.50 per barrel last Friday, Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson has dropped more five dollars since the beginning of the month, and is about $20 lower than the price at the end of October.

Crude oil output has more than doubled in New Mexico over the last four years, but a change in state leadership to Democratic control in January has industry executives fearing tougher regulations and reduced revenues are on the way. The incoming Governor and State Land Commissioner plan to limit new leasing on state lands where drillers planned to tap freshwater aquifers. The incoming administration also has pledged to crack down on methane waste by flaring. The new Land Commissioner will oversee nine million acres of state land. She wants to increase the production royalty by at least a third, which would match Texas’ royalty rate and boost revenues for funding schools and hospitals.

An offshore oil platform toppled by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 continues to leak oil into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. The company that has failed to end the 14-year-old leak is now suing to an order by the Coast Guard to design and install a containment system. A new estimate shows that between 10-thousand and 30-thousand gallons of crude oil are leaking into the ocean each day. Taylor Energy is trying to block an administrative order from October that includes daily civil penalties of up to $40,000 if it fails to comply.

Five conservation groups filed a lawsuit to block oil production from a proposed artificial gravel island in federal Arctic waters off Alaska’s north coast. The groups asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review an offshore production plan approved for the Liberty project in the Beaufort Sea that they say violates federal law.

The latest report from North Dakota shows another all-time record for oil and gas production and the number of producing wells. It also shows the state’s average gas-capture rate heading in the wrong direction. Preliminary numbers from the Department of Mineral Resources show total statewide oil production of more than 43 million barrels in October. That’s 1.39 million barrels per day, an increase of more than 32-thousand barrels per day over the month before. But North Dakota operators “flared,” or burned off, more than 20% of the natural gas produced at oil wells in the state, an increase of two percent over the month before. Last month the state announced it was “relaxing” its anti-flaring goals, which haven’t been met in years.

Oil-by-rail traffic continues to increase, as pipeline bottlenecks continue. According to the Association of American Railroads, petroleum and petroleum products filled more than 30-thousand rail cars, an increase of more than 27% over last year at this time. The cumulative total for the year, nearly 584-thousand rail cars, was up more than 17% through December 15, the latest numbers available. Canada filled more than 11-thousand tanker cars, up more than 31%. Canada’s cumulative total is up 22% for the year.

With pipeline and rail tanker-car shortages driving down Canadian crude-oil prices, a new technology has emerged that boosters say will improve safety and increase the country’s distribution options. Canadian National Railways says its scientists are mixing bitumen extracted in Alberta with plastic made from grocery bags, and then encasing it in more plastic. This makes it possible to use grain hopper cars to ship what appear to be little hockey pucks containing oil that fit in the palm of your hand. The pellets float, and are sealed in their protective plastic wrap, so they are not dangerous in an oil spill. They are a bulk commodity that can go in open rail cars and transported like coal or grain. In the event of a spill, they would simply need to be picked up.

The Canadian Government has unveiled a $1.19 billion financial package to support the country’s oil and gas industry, mostly in the form of loans. The government hopes to encourage efforts to find new export markets. Reuters reported Canada reached record output of 4.9 million barrels of oil per day recently, but struggled to move the crude oil to the US due to transportation bottlenecks.

Exxon-Mobil has withdrawn an export project in Canada from an environmental assessment. The move effectively signaling that the project in Canada’s British Columbia has been shelved. It was expected to produce about 15 million tons per year of Liquefied Natural Gas, with plans for further expansion up to 30 million tons per year.