COVID-19 Policy Update #113
COVID-19 Policy Update
FRIDAY 9/25
TOP THREE
Tennessee Learning Loss: Gov. Lee released preliminary data which estimates a 50% decrease in proficiency rates in 3rd grade reading and a projected 65% decrease in proficiency in math.
CDT Survey: Important new parent poll from CDT covering a wide range of topics including access to technology, privacy issues, and steps parents are taking to monitor their children's online activities.
One concerning finding: African-American parents and parents in lower-income households report fewer types of interactions between students and teachers.
Only 4 in 10 respond that someone at their child’s school has discussed how the school protects student data.
Solid majorities believe technology is “worth the risk” to deliver key education benefits.
Coders Against COVID: Took the community risk indicators released by the CDC and looked at the distribution of schools in those areas. Results are here and Axios turned them into a map.
FEDERAL
ED: Secretary DeVos announced more than $126 million in grant funding to eight states to provide students the opportunity to develop new skills in high demand areas. Details and summaries of the proposals here.
Alabama Department of Commerce: $17,827,178
Arkansas Division of Workforce Services: $13,579,455
California Department of Employment Development: $14,440,118
University of Hawaii: $13,370,383
Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity: $17,827,178
Governor's Office of Workforce Innovation: $13,818,298
New York State Department of Labor: $18,067,845
Hampton University: $17,735,349
FDA: The agency announced the launch of a new Digital Health Center of Excellence that will reside within the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). The Center will focus primarily providing both internal and external stakeholders with technological advice, coordinating and supporting work being done across the FDA, advancing best practices, and reimagining digital health device oversight all with the ultimate goal of empowering digital health stakeholders to advance health care by fostering responsible and high-quality digital health innovation. Bakul Patel (who has previously served as the lead on all of FDA’s regulatory and scientific efforts related to digital health devices since 2010) will serve as the CDRH’s first director.
STATE
California: San Juan Unified in Sacramento had 38 students in its home-school program in March. Now, it has more than 700. Charter schools are also reporting long wait lists.
Maryland: A week after saying all staff members would return in-person on October 19, Baltimore County Schools is reversing its decision saying that the return will be "determined after continued review and collaboration."
INTERNATIONAL
EU: Concerns of a second wave. Poland, the Netherlands and France are seeing infections well beyond their April and May infection peaks. The Czech Republic - which was the first EU nation to mandate masks - is seeing cases 6x higher than March. Country by country charts here.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Changing Workforce: McKinsey surveyed 800 executives around the global (400 in the U.S.) to get a sense of the post-pandemic workforce. The results suggest that the crisis may accelerate some workforce trends that were already underway, such as the adoption of automation and technology, increased demand for contractors and gig workers, and more remote work. 67% of companies have accelerated automation - important for education/workforce conversations as these technologies can displace some workers or increase the skills needed for the jobs they create.
LEARNING PODS
Do You Really Need a Contract for Your First Grader’s Learning Pod?: Bloomberg Law article.
Teenagers Launch Tutoring Service: Teenage brothers from McLean launched an online tutoring service called Intutorly.org for elementary school students.
RESOURCES
Pandemic Widening Gaps: Long Politico piece on widening achievement gaps.
Vaccines: After reports surfaced that the FDA was considering stricter approval criteria for COVID-19 vaccines, President Trump said he "may or may not" approve the stricter standards.
Vaccines for Children: Good USA Today piece on when vaccines might be tested with children.
Lessons Learned: Lancet article outlining five strategies that helped some countries emerge safely from COVID-19 lockdowns. Well worth reading the whole thing but here are some observations on schools:
In Asian countries and regions, workplaces and schools also practice mask wearing and temperature checking.
Schools have largely facilitated a staggered return of students, with different countries and regions prioritizing different groups of students.
New Zealand, Norway, and England started with younger children, such as children attending primary schools (eg, aged approximately 5–12 years).
Hong Kong and Spain also started with older students, such as students attending higher secondary schools (eg, aged approximately 15–18 years), as they are presumably better able to follow complex rules on physical distancing and personal hygiene than are young children.
Japan has staggered attendance, starting with graduating cohorts.
Countries varied considerably in the extent to which they used the lockdown to prepare schools for reopening and provided resources for online learning.
IHME Update: This week's update. One map depicting the forecasted percent infected by COVID by Jan 2021.
Drones: Walmart is testing the use of drones to drop COVID-19 diagnostic kits at customers’ homes. The pilot is in North Las Vegas and Cheektowaga, New York in partnership with Quest Diagnostics Inc. and DroneUp. As an aside, the use of drones in Africa has been instrumental in helping to distribute critical medications and vaccines.
The Child Opportunity Index: Created by Diversity Data Kids, can provide such a baseline to identify neighborhood-level strengths and weaknesses affecting children’s outcomes, and it is now available on PolicyMap
Dancing to September: is what you need heading into the last weekend of September.