FYI from BSF, 7.31.20

Some things we have read through recently...

Notes in the Margin

Reopening Schools, Local

Under pressure from principals, charges of “chaos” from its own staff and supporters, and school nurses sitting in outside of City Hall, BPS launched a series of community sessions for responses/feedback on its “Hopscotch” plan for reopening school in about 6 weeks.

A full list is here.  Language on the site indicates videos and notes are available.  School Committee meeting on 7/22/20 is the only available video, and notes are not posted for 6 of the 7 meetings since Hopscotch was released last week.

We have attempted to piece together some important themes/developments from this first round of meetings from our attendance and social media posts.

There is noise, but no clear signal from families.

• With ~10,000 respondents, the BPS family survey response rate cannot be claimed as representative.

• Over ⅔ of responding families would prefer in-person or hybrid models.

• But, there are big differences by subgroup (not surprising to anyone who has been following MassInc’s work).  A quick glance at the y-axis also shows that the racial background of respondents doesn’t reflect BPS student demographics.

There are many questions about how the “simulcast” approach (wherein half of the students in a class receive on-site instruction, while instruction is streamed to the other half of the class at home).

• Despite references at School Committee and community meetings, no evidence or exemplars of this approach have been shared.  Significant professional development would be required for educators.

• This will not just require a lot of expensive cameras and microphones, but you also need good wifi to back it up.  For example, this is the BuildBPS assessment of Boston Latin Academy, one of the city’s three exam schools.

There were many questions about many things - support of students with IEPs, hygiene, start dates, what days do my kids actually go to school, shades in classrooms - and few answers.

• These will start to be addressed when school leaders convene next week.

Here are the key dates to watch in the next two weeks:

Reopening Schools, (MA) Local

There were over 20 different print, radio, or television stories covering the agreement between the state and teachers’ unions to allow districts to direct up to 10 days of the typical 180-day calendar for preparations.  Overview here.  Note, districts still need to start by 9/16 (or get a waiver).  Many school calendars will need to be amended and approved by School Committees.

Soon after signing on to this agreement, the Massachusetts Teachers Association recirculated its previously released plan for a phased-in reopening, and protested outside of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education offices in Malden.  Approximately 100 of the state’s 75,000 public school teachers attended.

Although Governor Baker is releasing an additional $50M to support PK-12 and higher education reopening, it is being reported that education will be level-funded for next year.  May seem like years ago, but this past November the Student Opportunity Act was signed with the promise of an additional $1.5B for education.  Tougher times are likely ahead, according to many academics.

Reopening Schools, National

A battle of acrostics begins as the US Senate releases Heals Act on the heels of the House’s Heroes Act (both proposed follow-ups to the Cares Act).  Helpful chart here.  The Senate bill has some major differences for education funding, most significantly that ⅔ of the funding would be earmarked for schools physically reopening.  Regardless of the amount or strings attached, time is of the essence - major school districts are slated to open in two weeks.

Whether it is public health realities, partisanship, or advocacy by teachers, there is a growing movement amongst school districts nationally towards remote or hybrid models - a big shift even in the past two weeks.  From CRPE.

Achievement gaps being accelerated by COVID-19 is no longer theoretical.  From a sample of almost 800,000 students completing math work on zearn, via Opportunity Insights:

And it wasn’t just household social capital at play - low-income students were assigned less work than other students, and what was assigned was more likely to be just worksheets.

How will schools/districts/states track student learning this coming year?  A repeat of federal waivers for state tests is not a given.

Think 39.2% contraction of GDP hurts?  Economic effects (short and long) of school closure seem as concerning.

Other Items

A new report lays out the paradox that while the diversity of American student population has increased, so has segregation by school (which often correlates with state accountability levels).  Overview.  This research backs up previous work on greater Boston by Boston Indicators.    

After years of advocacy, “Breakfast after the Bell” appears to have a chance to be enacted.

School police and restorative practices were discussed at City Council this week.  Racial disparities in school discipline in Massachusetts is getting additional attention.

Eliot K-8 teacher N’Dia Riegler is the MA history teacher of the year.
A documentary covering Brighton High’s Spanish language debate team.