Avoiding an educational disaster

With the governor’s cancellation of the rest of the school year, Massachusetts districts must do more to prevent severe setbacks in student learning.

By the beginning of every fall semester, children have lost some of their progress from the previous academic year, a phenomenon so familiar to educators that it has its own name: the summer slide. So imagine the potential setback for homebound kids if they get what could amount to a five- or six-month loss of learning time this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Governor Charlie Baker’s decision Tuesday to close schools for the rest of the year in Massachusetts, with education continuing online only, was the right call, and it provided a timely contrast to other GOP governors recklessly rushing to open their states prematurely. It provides helpful clarity to districts across the Commonwealth so they don’t have to make piecemeal decisions. Now the stakes are higher for school districts, which need to ensure that the coronavirus disruption that’s certain to last much longer than a summer break does not stunt students’ education.

In other words, there can’t be a shutdown slide ― and, despite the difficulties, teachers, school districts, and the state need to ensure that learning continues as much as possible.

Many school districts and teachers have already adapted to that new reality with impressive speed, creating online learning programs, assigning students projects they can complete remotely, and even coordinating with TV stations on educational programming synched to school curriculums. And parents, often to their chagrin, have become de facto home-schoolers.

But for students, the experience is uneven. Some kids don’t have access to broadband Internet, some parents can’t tutor their kids, some districts aren’t attempting to teach any new material, and the discrepancies appear to be breaking down along familiar racial and economic lines. Data compiled by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education show that out of the state’s 20 largest school districts, only four have been teaching new material during the coronavirus shutdown. Those emerging disparities could exacerbate the state’s existing educational chasm between high-achieving suburban schools and underperforming urban districts.

While summer vacation isn’t totally analogous to the current situation, research into the summer slide does underscore the dangers. While studies have found that it affects all children, in particular in math, income-based readings gaps intensify over the summer. One group of researchers warned children could wind up a full year behind as a result of the pandemic.

So what can districts and teachers do? Some of the options that ought to be on the table include continuing some online classes over the summer (sorry, kids). More far-reaching ideas, which would probably require federal funding, include hiring a vast number of tutors.

Here’s what’s not okay: accepting treading water as the best the state’s schools can do during a shutdown of unknown length. As the Globe reported Thursday, the state’s guidance emphasizes “reinforcing skills already taught this school year”; language with more specific recommendations was removed from an early draft. That’s at variance with Rhode Island, where the state has told schools to continue coursework and also required districts to submit detailed plans for remote teaching.

It’s disappointing that the Baker administration watered down its initial proposal. Even worse, though, is the reasoning the state’s largest teachers union has offered. Merrie Najimy, the head of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said that continuing with learning would widen the achievement gap, since affluent districts were better positioned to implement remote learning.

Of course, that’s true: Not only are they better prepared, they’re also likely to keep up the classroom’s tempo with or without a mandate from the state. And that’s exactly why the state can’t allow urban districts to fall behind. The answer to closing achievement gaps can never be to expect high-achieving schools to slow down; it has to be to lift up lower-performing ones. DESE is working on new guidance for learning during the coronavirus, and, hopefully, it will set higher expectations for all the state’s schools.

At the same time, the state will need practical health guidelines on how and when to reopen schools. It’s safe to assume coronavirus will still be a problem in the fall — the director of the Centers for Disease and Prevention, Robert Redfield, recently warned of a potential second wave of infections starting later this year — but at some point, in-person schooling needs to resume. Denmark, which has already reopened its schools, did so with a series of precautions, including spacing desks two yards apart and enforcing frequent hand-washing.

Baker’s order closing the schools in Massachusetts was widely expected but still provided a measure of certainty. Districts now have to rise to the challenge of keeping students on track during a prolonged shutdown, while the state needs to figure out how to balance the risks of reopening physical schools with the duty to educate all the state’s children.

SOURCE 






May opening of elementary schools, daycares 'a necessary decision,' says Quebec education minister

Education Minister Jean-François Roberge detailed how elementary schools and daycares will gradually reopen, starting on May 11 outside the greater Montreal region — though class sizes will be limited, and high school students will be staying home.

For daycares and elementary schools on the island of Montreal, in Laval and surrounding suburbs, the reopening date will be May 19.

This timeline will only roll out as planned, Premier François Legault said earlier Monday, if hospitalizations from COVID-19 remain the same or continue to decrease.

"This decision to go back to school is a necessary one for education," Roberge said, citing mental health reasons, access to food and the importance of continued learning for students with difficulties.

All other schools — high schools, colleges and universities — won't physically reopen until late August. But it's legally mandatory for teens up to 16 years of age to be in school in Quebec.

"A teenager who is at home must continue their schooling, and their parents must accompany them in that," Roberge said.

As for elementary schools, classes will be limited to a maximum of 15 students, and the two-metre distancing rule will have to be respected wherever possible. That may mean moving some classes into vacant high schools for the time being to ensure there is enough space, Legault said.

On school buses, the rule will be one child per bench seat and recess periods will be rearranged to minimize the amount of kids playing outside at one time.

Students who have health conditions that could put them at a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19 are not to return to school, Roberge said.

The minister is also recommending that teachers over the age of 60 remain at home, saying they will be able to work from home.

Starting May 4, and upon invitation from their children's schools, parents will be able to come to school to collect their children's educational materials — as well as additional tools for remote learning, such as laptops and tablets with internet access.

Also starting next week, the entire education network will have access to free training on methods of teaching from distance-teaching.

For now, the premier said at his daily briefing Monday, the situation with COVID-19 is "under control."  There is still space in hospitals that have been all but emptied to make way for an influx of COVID patients, and there is a plan in place to gradually reopen the economy.

The premier said the decision to begin loosening coronavirus restrictions by reopening elementary schools was made, in part, because the risk of younger children developing complications from COVID-19 is very low.

"Children who have health problems or parents who have health problems should keep their children at home," he said.

He also said keeping schools closed for months at a stretch posed considerable risk to the well-being of some children, especially those with learning difficulties.

"I think it's good that they see their friends again, that they see their teachers again. I don't see children cooped up from 12 to 18 months."

Legault said schools now have two to three weeks' notice to make changes that comply with physical-distancing rules.

He stressed that the concept of herd immunity was not on the province's list of reasons to reopen schools since there is no proof as yet that those who have been infected and recovered from COVID-19 are free of risk of becoming sick once again.

Roberge said the Education Ministry worked closely with other ministries and public health to create the plan to reopen schools, and followed the lead of certain European countries.

Daycare services for teachers first
There are 305,000 Quebec children who use daycare services, however, the return to daycare will also be staggered.

Since the pandemic was declared and daycares were all but closed, the priority was to continue to provide services for the children of health-care workers.

Now, the children of school staff will be able to send their children to daycare, starting on May 4

SOURCE 





Australia: Solely digital learning isn’t fair or sustainable

If the best that can be said for digital education is that it’s useful for some months during an unprecedented pandemic, then there probably isn’t much to be said for it normally.

While it’s generally good to look on the bright side, it would be incredibly naïve to think the current situation for Australian schools presents more opportunities than threats.

The research on the efficacy of education technology is inconsistent.

Even in normal times, it is not clear that tech helps students to learn – and these are not normal times. It may benefit some highly motivated learners, but others will be worse off.

Making the transition for millions of Australian students to digital learning is arguably necessary as a temporary, emergency measure. But there is no strong evidence it is more effective than face-to-face classes.

SOURCE