Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data.
Trent Clark
After decades of debate and some of the fiercest and most expensive lobbying in Idaho’s history, parental choice in schools is just one signature away.
The opportunity for “tax dollars to follow the child” comes as a refundable tax credit (a refund that can exceed the actual tax owed). It grants $5,000 per child (up to $7,500 for special needs learners) and is capped at $50 million per year, with lower income families getting first “dibs.”
It moved through the legislature this year as House Bill 93, the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit.
Conservative policy analysts hailed Senate passage of the bill this week (it passed the Idaho House two weeks earlier). Even President Trump posted a plug for the bill on social media.
But opponents were also adamant and loud. Former Supreme Court Justice and Attorney General Jim Jones called the bill “a taxpayer boondoggle.” The Idaho Education Association called its passage “a huge step backward for Idaho’s students and public schools.”
This legislation comes after decades of sweeping advances in the science of education. As with everything driven by technology, government-sponsored schools will be among the last to standardize and scale these breakthrough techniques.
Right now, many advanced learning tools are only available through private educational providers. Among the most exciting new offerings are the following:
Sophisticated gamification — rote memorization of place and proper names, dates, and important numerical values is essential for learning, but a boring chore for students. Studies in video game psychology have yielded a promising insight: embed this learning into entertaining games offering immediate successful memory recall rewards.
Virtual reality — students can now walk among dinosaurs, look inside a living cell, or be present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Neuroscience tells us that multi-sensory learning is stored in multiple locations within the brain, improving both the speed and permanence of later recall.
Artificial Intelligence as the ultimate teacher’s aide — AI systems can now compare thousands of student test results looking for rare and subtle learning disorders, everything from mild dyslexia to rare and hard-to-pinpoint non-verbal learning disorders (NVLDs).
Collaborative Learning — New techniques promote teamwork and foster peer-to-peer learning.
Personalized Learning Courses — Imagine a course whose syllabus changes as more is learned about a specific student’s interests, aptitudes and past subject mastery.
Blended learning — uses advanced assessment tools to optimize a course of study with the perfect mix of technology and live in-person mentoring.
Cloud and mobile learning — picture a student walking through Carlsbad Cavern with a pocket geology instructor pointing out important science applications and quizzing students about what they are seeing, hearing, smelling and feeling.
3D rendering — abstract shapes, complex spatial relationships and difficult-to-visualize descriptions can be brought into reality, to be handled, viewed from different angles and placed into new contexts. If it can be imagined, it can now be printed.
Whether House Bill 93 will unlock these new learning tools for lower income parents is yet to be seen. And eventually many of these will be standardized into public schools. But in the meantime, it is unconscionable that we would only let the rich offer a full, state-of-the-art educational experience to their kids.
Trent Clark of Soda Springs has served in the leadership of Idaho business, politics, workforce, and humanities education.
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