Calif. Dept. of Education ADVISOR Jason Spencer talks 2020 Census, Technology in the Classroom & the Blueprint for Knowledge

The author spoke exclusively with Jason Spencer, Principal Advisor to the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, on Monday, September 25th, 2017. This conversation occurred immediately following the question and answer segment of the evenings discussion on public education reform at Santa Monica Pier. Mr. Spencer gave additional time to discuss his professional viewpoints on three important topics affecting SMC students on campus; enumeration, technology and curriculum. He holds degrees in Sociology and Political Science from Sonoma State and a Masters of Public Administration from USC. He has lobbied for informal science education institutions and is a long-time advocate for arts education and career tech, (vocational education).

Corsair: I’m with the Santa Monica ******* *****, Santa Monica College. I was calling today, and I may be a little off the path of the debate...I had a question about the 2020 census coming up. I noticed that in 2018, that they (US Census Bureau) are running a 2018 practice trial for the U.S. Federal census. How are students going to be held accountable? How will that affect the budget and where do you foresee …the changes in technology? I hear that they are thinking about the census where they are not particularly going door to door any more, but where people are going to be electronically responding. How do you feel for students in your districts?

JS: I’m not with LA Unified. I am with the State.

Corsair: That’s why I came to you. For a lot of the prearrangement they generally try to arrange a caucus, an educational caucus for students so that they’re aware and so that they’re more familiar with the process. A lot of families are sort of afraid; maybe they’re first, second generation and they think maybe they don’t want to be counted.

JS: Ya, no. I think that is exactly the issue. It is making people understand why the census and the value of the census and as well the technology and the tools they need to participate... I think that’s the answer to your initial question. Where I think LA unified might struggle is the fear that a lot of families are experiencing; not wanting to be seen not wanting to be counted. They (are) falling back into the shadows and aren’t counted. That’s going to impact funding in so many different areas... not for just for LA unified, [you know]. Communities around California where immigrants are likely, given the current climate are, going to be less willing to be seen and be counted. And, especially when we’re talking about not going door to door and using technology. People don’t understand how to use the tools that will be important to their participation. I will bet that our numbers will be down and that will be a bad thing for this state because that impacts the federal funding in so many different areas, not just education.

Corsair: What’s really going to push students to take this climate of technology? Where you see there was a school district in the farm belt; they’d returned numerous devices, electronic devices. They’d said that it was giving their students a sense of excitement that wasn’t really conducive to the educational process. Do you think that there is too much technical emphasis? And I feel either way, at some point, technology opens a lot of doors for us and at the same time we see a lot of pull backs.

JS: Absolutely, so I mean, technology is this amazing double edged sword. Right? It gives you the opportunity to see the world from your desktop, but always gives you the opportunity to look in the screen and not in the person in front of you. So I think in general we both see, we see in society the joys and the terrors of technology. And in the classroom it’s the same way, right? Using technology in appropriate ways to deliver information that a student may not otherwise have access to… absolutely. I think training and support, online literacy and digital literacy as a tool not just for students. Absolutely, to make sure they know how to use the technology, but parents as well. For as a state, (not across the board), but a lot of schools are sending laptops home with students that should be resources for their whole families, if they know how to use them. On line banking and tools that parents can then use that they may not ever have access to. So making sure that were getting the best value for technology and the many different ways by making sure that people are prepared and trained to use it as crucial. And, many say what are students going to do? Students are going to bring technology into the classroom in ways that we can’t even imagine in the next generation. And, technology is not,... we’re not going backwards technologically. It’s going to continue to be continuous.

Corsair: Do you ever think that cellphones should be banned, left in an office or a coat check? They are so dangerous now.

JS: No. Well, when cell phones became,… become a computer; it’s an interesting question, right? You know I can google an answer to a question and I can cheat on a test with an I-phone. A teacher can also use an i-phone, if everyone in the class has one, can also use them for poll technology. They can also use them in groups of students to get on to, to get on obviously as smart phones and get on the websites and explore information that they might not otherwise be able to.
I wouldn’t check them and take them away. I think that’s going backward. I think a smartphone that it can be used as a tool for learning and a tool for research. How do we help students understand how to use them in the classroom?

Corsair: And one last question. I read an article, and I know that the editorial board with the Los Angeles Times had listed a few responses on the same article I am commenting on now. It was about Chinese schools and how they do rely a lot on aggressive educational styles

JS: What we are doing in California is really focusing on what we call 21st century skills. Students are going to need to communicate, they are going to need to collaborate, they are going to need to be creative. SO I would say we’ve gone from a rote, memorizing facts and regurgitating and repeating them model to an inquiry model. One of the greatest things a teacher can say when a student asks a question, 'I don’t know, let’s find out together.'. So that students are learning how to sift through information and learning how to go out and retrieve all the information that is out there, through technology and then sift through that information, critically think about it and be able to work collaboratively and creatively with their peers to solve problems. That’s what businesses need that’s what we need to really thrive as a culture as a society and I think more of that versus rote memorization and repeating of facts is an astronomically better place for education to be…
There is a quote I heard somewhere that I have sort of adopted. “knowledge is.”
Knowledge is no longer power. Information is no longer power. What you do with that information is power. It’s the creativity. You can build something and I can have the blueprint on Google tomorrow. I can find the information. It’s not the information. It’s not the knowledge. It’s how we use it. It’s how creative we are. Its putting the human spirit into that knowledge that creates value and that’s what we need to be teaching …I believe that’s what we’re focusing on in California.

Corsair: I appreciate your time so much today.

JS: Thanks, I appreciate it.