FYI from BSF, 7.10.20
Some things we have read through recently...
Notes in the Margin
Reopening Schools, Local
We held our first session this week, with our partner, Attuned, to support schools and school leaders to develop plans for September.
There are no Boston school reopening guidelines or plans yet.
Reopening Schools, (MA) Local
The Massachusetts Teachers Association is continuing to raise safety concerns, and announced they are creating their own reopening guidelines.
An example of design-thinking and reopening schools.
A medium-sized, local liberal arts college joined other schools in limiting on-campus enrollment and moving instruction online; that same school and a technical university down the road are proposing a lawsuit, and other local colleges and universities are concerned, too.
Reopening Schools, National
New York City is staggering school in September, with kids in school 1-3 days per week (and an opt-out for remote). City-level guidelines, and schools have a month to create plans to match building, student, and staff needs. Miami-Dade, led in part by former BPS superintendent finalist Marie Izquierdo, released a comprehensive plan that allows families to opt-in for remote learning. New York City Public Schools and Miami-Dade have ~20 times and ~6 times, respectively, more students than Boston.
Schools are vital American infrastructure. (Bars aren’t.)
Reopening and protecting vulnerable students.
“The devil is in the details.”
Student enrollment and the teacher workforce are hard to predict for this fall.
Following the lead of Florida (which is nearly out of hospital capacity), the federal government is pressuring the CDC and putting governors in the political hot seat to open schools, or the administration will withhold funds. [Note: They can’t do that.] Governor Baker responded.
Reopening Schools - Global
Conditions changed very quickly in Israel when schools reopened - and then were reclosed.
Other Items
EdNext, leveraging its annual poll, reported out very similar national findings to last week’s MassInc poll on remote learning and reopening schools: parents reported varied experiences in the actual practices of remote learning (e.g., virtual lessons, teacher contact) and that impacted satisfaction; background (such as race) matters; parents reported different experiences by sector (traditional district, charter, parochial, private). The lede is a pretty arresting paradox to work out:
A summary of student surveys/polls was released, too, with data matching local observations. Kids don’t love remote learning, engagement is harder for older kids, mental health concerns, variations by sector, race, and more.
There is continued advocacy for intervention in early education and childcare.
Good news: Boston fared well (second nationally) in a study of cities for kids attending schools that “beat the odds” for their performance. Bad news: having 80% of your kids in schools that don’t beat the odds still gets you second place.
Questions and stories about the new admissions test for Boston’s exam schools dragged into a second week. Reporting has raised process questions around the decision, which had apparently been in the works for several weeks.