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Education Dive
Many districts still lack consistent plans months into closures
Shawna De La Rosa
May 15, 2020
Dive Brief:
A Center on Reinventing Public Education project tracking 82 school
districts nationwide shows 33% still lack consistent expectations for
teachers to deliver instruction, while half don't require teachers to
give students feedback, The 74 reports. The data shows that, as of May
6, 59% of the districts analyzed are providing curriculum, instruction
and monitoring student progress
Districts in Boulder Valley, Colorado, and Miami-Dade County, Florida,
are among outliers that were able to quickly adjust in directing
teachers to continue instruction remotely during closures, with a
reported 90% of Miami-Dade’s students connecting.
On the other hand, Nevada’s Clark County Schools, the sixth-largest
district in the nation, reportedly doesn't have consistent expectations
that teachers provide instruction because 80,000 students had been out
of contact with the district the week of April 20, and 9,000 were
exempted due to lack of internet access or transportation to learning
packet distribution sites.
Dive Insight:
So far, districts’ responses have been hit or miss, with their success
in transitioning to remote learning largely dependent on factors
including the presence of 1:1 device programs and related training
prior to the pandemic shutting down schools, the socioeconomics of
families served, and geographic issues.
Miami-Dade, for example, had devices to give students, while Clark
County, which includes Las Vegas, had to seek donations to buy tens of
thousands of devices when schools closed. These differences may help
other districts determine how to best connect with students going
forward.
Milwaukee Public Schools, meanwhile, is using the online learning
platform Clever and has distributed computers to students who needed
one. It is also giving paper packets to families during grab-and-go
meal distribution. But there is reportedly no consistent message on
what learning teachers are expected to provide to students.
In Newark, New Jersey, elementary and middle schools, packets are
handed out with daily assignments in reading and math, while high
schools are creating their own curriculum expectations. The variance in
expectations from school to school and even teacher to teacher is said
to be creating a confusing environment for parents.
Home internet access is ultimately a determining factor in the success
or failure of district's remote transitions. Hotspots and Wi-Fi won’t
work, for example, for rural districts where some families live in
areas so remote that they still lack infrastructure for internet
service even if families can pay. Some of these locations also lack
cell towers to tether a hotspot to.
The U.S. Department of Education’s directive that all schools move to
online learning missed the fact that many districts nationwide face
these circumstances, Troy Kilzer, director of schools for Chester
County Schools in Tennessee, recently told Education Dive.
The lack of connectivity and new curriculum may cause a massive loss in
reading and math skills. The “summer slide” has long been known to set
students back. This year, the extended out-of-school period is expected
to do excessive damage. Bill Gates predicts students from low-income
families will be most affected by school closures.
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