COVID-19 Policy Update #129
COVID-19 Policy Update
FRIDAY 10/16
TOP THREE
Minnesota: The Association of Metropolitan School Districts released survey results showing that student enrollment from early October is down in nearly every district. The declines range from 1 to 4.8 percent of what district leaders had anticipated.
CDC: Politico reports that the CDC is denouncing mandatory testing in schools. “It is unethical and illegal to test someone who does not want to be tested, including students whose parents or guardians do not want them to be tested."
Dramatic Drop in College Enrollment: First data on college enrollment trends. Enrollment is down everywhere except for the for-profits
-23% community colleges
-14% public 4-year
-12% non-profit 4-year
FEDERAL
Phase 4:
It’s possible that Senate Majority Leader McConnell will move forward next week with a vote on a smaller, more “targeted” COVID-19 relief bill (we're hearing it will be around $500 billion) that would provide more funding for PPP.
Speaker Pelosi continues to maintain that Democrats will not support a stimulus package less than $2.2 trillion. She said the latest Senate proposal “falls significantly short of what this pandemic and deep recession demands.”
STATE
California:
How some school districts deal with students absent from virtual classrooms
The California Teachers Association released a survey conducted by Hart Research of 1,300 registered voters, 527 of them public school parents.
65% said they weren’t confident in school safety, even with a low risk of infection at that point.
67% said they weren’t confident about what the status might be in November.
69% say it will take until next year for the virus to be under enough control for the state to start getting back to normal
Hawaii: The Hawaii Board of Education unanimously voted to discontinue use of Acellus Learning Accelerator by the end of the school year.
Michigan: Lansing School District will continue online learning through Jan. 2021
Tennessee: Gov. Lee calls for temporary suspension of accountability measures for 2020-2021 school year.
Virginia: Fairfax County school board deadlocks on the district's plan to extend online learning.
West Virginia: The parents of Advocates for West Virginia's Future rallied in front of the Raleigh County Board of Education this week, telling members of the Board of Education that they want an option to send their children to school five days each week.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Slipped Into Poverty: Two studies out today with estimates:
Columbia University researchers estimate 8 million since May. "The CARES Act’s stimulus checks and unemployment benefits lifted more than 18 million individuals out of monthly poverty in April, but this number fell to around 4 million individuals in August and September after the expiration of the $600 per week unemployment supplement."
University of Chicago and Notre Dame estimate 6 million in the last three months.
Unemployment Benefit Boost: The JPMorgan Chase Institute released a policy brief measuring the impact to roughly 80,000 families’ saving and spending after the $600 weekly federal benefit supplement to unemployment insurance expired in July. Researchers found that the unemployed who were receiving benefits increased their spending by 22% when benefits were delivered and declined their spending by 14% in August. While liquid savings roughly doubled over the four-month period between March and July, two thirds of the accumulated savings were spent in August alone. NYT has more.
Amazon Prime Day: Third-party seller sales reached $3.5 billion for this year's Amazon Prime Day, up almost 60% from 2019 and outpacing Amazon's overall retail business.
Retail Sales: Grew 1.9% in September, beating economists' forecasts and topping the 0.6% increase in August.
First Year Earnings: New report: Buyer Beware: First-Year Earnings and Debt for 37,000 College Majors at 4,400 Institutions The analysis is based on program-level data from the College Scorecard.
About one-fifth of associate-degree holders earned a median of $24,000 or less one year after graduating, but 15% earned up to $48,000 and 10% earned up to $96,000. T
27% of workers with an associate’s degree earn more than the median for workers with a bachelor’s degree
35% of workers with a bachelor’s degree earn more than the median for workers with a master’s degree.
Coursera: The company reports that in the last seven months, the number of institutions using Coursera for Campus has grown from 30 to more than 3,700. Since mid-March, over 21 million learners have joined Coursera, a 353% increase from the same period last year, while over the same period enrolments on Coursera grew 444% to eclipse more than 50 million.
LEARNING PODS
Indianapolis: The mayor’s office and Mind Trust are contributing $88,000 to keep three learning pods open until Dec. 17.
Pablo Center Pods: The program is designed for students grades 4-10. Supervisors will help students with their scheduled virtual learning and then provide other hands-on experiences including LEGO robotics, theatre sound and lighting labs, art and design workshops, manufacturing seminars and recording studio seminars. The center will offer scholarships and tuition waivers for families that qualify.
RESOURCES
Learning Loss: The Hunt Institute released a new report: COVID-19 Policy Considerations: Overcoming the COVID-Slide in Math
School Reopenings: Via Vox: What we’ve learned so far from school reopenings.
Child Trends: Resource: "Trauma-Informed Strategies for Supporting Children and Youth in the Child Welfare System during COVID-19"
Data Breaches: GAO report "Recent K-12 Data Breaches Show That Students Are Vulnerable to Harm." The GAO found 99 breaches from July 2016 to May 2020. The leading group responsible for intentional breaches was students. Important report given the increase in the use of digital services during COVID.
Sheep Dogs and Learning Loss: Pre-school. How it's supposed to be done. Clear learning loss.