Lindsey Sawyer

Former Educator in Special Ed & Developmental Risk (UVA). Current Pediatric & Heme/Onc Genetic Counselor (CHKD). Advocate for putting children first. Wife. Mom.

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

Why have US test scores dropped since 2013, after decades of gains?

Smartphones/social-media is part, but @imkahloon offers a compelling complementary factor: a decreased willingness to hold students to high standards.
In @TheAtlantic

https://t.co/iDzTkeLCJZ

[Lindsey Sawyer @Lindsey_CGC]

@BehindTheWallvm Wow this is a fantastic rate ! My husband I both work in health care (CHKD, Sentara). For a family, both of our employers have us pay a contribution which is over $1,200 / month . Then we have high deductible plans - over $7000 out of pocket before insurance even jumps in.

[Phil Kerpen @kerpen]

Fantastic hire.

Congrats to @VPrasadMDMPH, a liberal who has gotten all the major issues right in recent years because he's guided by evidence not ideology.

[Lindsey Sawyer @Lindsey_CGC]

Excellent news

[STAT @statnews]

#Breaking: Vinay Prasad will be the next director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, after Peter Marks was forced out. https://t.co/XGVPbf2bHL

[STAT @statnews]

#Breaking: Vinay Prasad will be the next director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, after Peter Marks was forced out. https://t.co/XGVPbf2bHL

[Anthony DiGiorgio, DO, MHA @DrDiGiorgio]

Doctors order CTs for every minor head bump, not because it's good medicine, but because it’s legally safe.

Missing a trivial brain bleed? Career-ending.

But irradiating 20 people to find one? No lawsuit. No friction. No second thought.

Yet this new @UCSF study shows that medical radiation causes up to 5% of all U.S. cancers.

Overtesting isn’t benign. It's just delayed harm that no one tracks back to us.

This is exactly what @ThomasSowell meant by unseen trade-offs. We protect ourselves from rare, immediate harms by inflicting diffuse, long-term ones. The incentives are perfectly misaligned.

Real policy fix?

For non-emergencies, adding cost friction isn't a bad thing. "Just taking a look" isn't harmless. It also shouldn't be "free."

We also need to enact common-sense med mal reform that distinguishes rare misses from negligence.

Build a culture of risk literacy, not just risk aversion.

Until then, we’ll keep harming more patients to protect fewer doctors, and feel morally superior doing it.

[Glenn Youngkin @GlennYoungkin]

DEI is done at UVA. Today, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted for commonsense saying NO to illegal discrimination and YES to merit-based opportunity. Students at Mr. Jefferson’s University—and across America—deserve unlimited intellectual freedom, not ideological gatekeeping.

[Vinay Prasad MD MPH @VPrasadMDMPH]

Please amplify this paper so that everyone knows how much the CDC failed Americans

https://t.co/szmB78lfDC

[James A. Furey @JamesAFurey]

“Equity” in today’s classrooms often translates to: dumb down the curriculum, inflate grades, and pretend everyone’s succeeding. This doesn’t close achievement gaps; it creates achievement chasms.

By removing all obstacles, we’re not helping struggling kids, we’re crippling them.

Real equity means high expectations for ALL students, not lowering the bar for everyone.

[Lindsey Sawyer @Lindsey_CGC]

❤️🏀

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

Going phone free is a great step, but then giving every kid an iPad or Chromebook means that they still face the pull of powerful distractions all day long. Is the personal tech really helping kids, overall?

https://t.co/SFm5dgdtNs

[Fixing Education @FixingEducation]

What are the costliest areas of waste in school district spending?

1. Administrative Bloat

2. Underutilized Facilities

3. Inefficient technology purchases. Schools often buy expensive or quickly outdated technology without a clear implementation plan, resulting in wasted funds.

4. Overpriced Textbooks & Materials

5. Ineffective PD

6. Failing to Evaluate Programs. Districts frequently implement new initiatives without properly assessing their effectiveness, leading to repeated cycles of expensive but ineffective programs.

7. Legal fees and lawsuits. Many districts face high costs from lawsuits, often due to poor policy enforcement, special education disputes, or mismanagement.

8. Poor Use of Federal or Grant Funds. Mostly due to poor regulation.

[Lindsey Sawyer @Lindsey_CGC]

@Athleta I don’t usually complain but very bad cus service at Athleta. Submitted an order and had wrong default address on it. Called 2 hours after and they say they can’t cancel it but “will submit a claim to try” but it’s 50-50. I’ll find out in “a few days”. Ridiculous.

[Lindsey Sawyer @Lindsey_CGC]

@MsKteachK

[Lindsey Sawyer @Lindsey_CGC]

@MsKteachK We were there too!!! Kip says hi!

[Daniel Buck, “Youngest Old Man in Ed Reform” @MrDanielBuck]

Grades are higher than they’ve ever been while U.S. test scores continue to fall internationally

Conclusion?

Schools are lying to parents about their children’s academic readiness

[Genetics in Medicine @GIMJournal]

Faster answers = Better care. Ultra-rapid genomic testing is changing the game for diagnosing mitochondrial disease in babies, with a diagnostic yield of 47%, and 79% had change in clinical management! https://t.co/B1VBddXF3n @ZornitzaS @thorburn_mito @Mitochondriac_ #mito

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

Now that schools are going phone-free, we have to ask about the computers and tablets kids are given in schools. Do they help, or distract?

We're starting a series on ed tech at https://t.co/jM1YTSTVnV. Jared Cooney Horvath says: They distract.

https://t.co/EfiUSKdpNQ

[Lindsey Sawyer @Lindsey_CGC]

@VPrasadMDMPH Happening in Virginia. Inserted a lottery for the only advanced elementary school in VBCPS for “equity”. Kids get complacent when they are bored. Very sad . @KrugAlli knows about this …