COVID-19 Policy Update #152
COVID-19 Policy Update
WEDNESDAY 11/18
TOP THREE
NYC To Close Schools: Starting Nov. 19 after reaching a 3% positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average.
Pioneering Schools: Facing “seismic shift” this year, Colorado educators pioneer through permanent changes to schooling.
"One key takeaway across districts: The shape of school before the pandemic is now history."
“We are navigating this seismic shift in education,” said Karen Quanbeck, superintendent of Clear Creek School District RE-1 in Idaho Springs. “And my gut is, we’re not going back to pre-pandemic learning, and there’s pros and cons to that.”
"Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Thornton set up its own learning pods inside schools this fall to try to keep many of its students from being left behind. About 4,000 students were served, mostly kids whose parents’ work keeps them from participating in online and hybrid education, students with disabilities, those learning English and those living in poverty."
"Another important component to helping kids succeed in the future: keeping a range of learning modes in place to meet the different needs of different students. Anthes sees promise in districts continuing to build on the different models of instruction — such as remote, hybrid and pods — that they’ve developed during the pandemic."
The $2 Trillion Question: How to Spend on Education for the Future: Long piece by the great Greg Ip. Well worth reading the entire piece but a few highlights:
"The next decade could see a shift in teaching methods at the elementary level, such as grouping students based on learning needs, not grade level, says John F. Pane, a senior scientist studying education at the Rand Corp."
"The coming years may also see more use of digital tutoring portals to assess which skills a student has mastered and which she is ready to take on, allowing educators to fine-tune learning."
"Postsecondary institutions will have to adapt to better prepare their students for a marketplace that increasingly emphasizes skills over degrees, says Louis Soares, chief learning and innovation officer at the American Council on Education"
Additional articles in the series:
The Movement to Modernize Math Class: ‘Freakonomics’ author Steven Levitt and other reformers are pushing for more equitable curriculum that better equips students for a data-driven world.
This College Degree Is Brought to You by Amazon: As university budgets are squeezed and student debt loads rise, an era of close-knit relationships between companies and universities is getting under way.
The New M.B.A.: Flexible, Cheaper and Lifelong: Harvard’s and Columbia’s business schools are starting to add certificates and ‘lifelong learning’ to their programs, a shift that could transform business education in the years ahead.
FEDERAL
Transition: Kenny Thompson Jr. (previously with PepsiCo) and Theo LeCompte (previously with Uber) will serve as the transition team's liaisons to the private sector.
The 2020 Election Results: An Outlook for Education Policy: From our partners at Education Counsel.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Vaccine: Pfizer reported that its vaccine was 95% effective and had no serious side effects.
It's an incredible accomplishment: "The trial results — less than a year after researchers began working on the vaccine — shattered all speed records for vaccine development, a process that usually takes years."
As we shared in the 11/11 update, the average development time for the vaccines has been a little over eight years, with a median FDA review time of a year.
Dr. Fauci during a virtual STAT Summit yesterday: “Operation Warp Speed has been a success — certainly in the arena of vaccines, it’s been a success." The progress that has been made on vaccines since receiving the coronavirus sequence in January is “beyond historic.”
Vaccine Trial: Sen. Portman is the first Senator to join a COVID vaccine trial.
At Home COVID Test: The FDA authorized the first at-home coronavirus test. Results can be returned in about half an hour. It is projected to cost $50. However, it will require a prescription.
Vaccine Distribution:
Pfizer announced plans to pilot delivery for its COVID-19 vaccine in Rhode Island, Texas, New Mexico, and Tennessee.
"At least a dozen states told ABC News that they will likely need additional funding or are awaiting additional funding." ASTHO says they need an additional $8.4 billion in funding.
Children Could be Missing 9 million Vaccination Doses: According to new data from Blue Cross Blue Shield. The decrease represents a 26% drop from last year.
COVID Tracking: The COVID Tracking Project reports 1.5M tests, 155K cases, and 1,565 deaths. 77k people are currently hospitalized.
STATE
Illinois: What can Catholic schools teach CPS about in-person learning?
“The reality is that our Black and Latinx students, our youngest students and highest-need learners have not been equitably served,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement on Tuesday. “The decision to begin in-person learning this January will restore their access to high-quality instruction and is the result of balancing our commitment to equity with our current public health situation.”
Maryland: ‘We can do this': How an East Baltimore school is protecting students and staff from the coronavirus
New Mexico: Schools are tracking down 12,000 absent students.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Delivering Opportunity: New playbook from EIG to maximize the community and economic development impact of Opportunity Zones (OZs) in Indiana.
One stat: "Nine out of 10 OZ tracts (and 105,500 children living in them) are in areas with low or very low child opportunity scores, meaning they often lack quality early childhood education and schools, safe housing, access to healthy food, parks and playgrounds, and clean air."
New York State Department of Labor and Coursera: Announced a partnership to provide free access to nearly 4,000 online programs. Catalog here.
RESOURCES
New Tool Helps Parents and Educators Estimate COVID-19 Infection Numbers at Their School: The University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Modeling Consortium released a new online tool estimating how many infected people are likely to show up at a school or a learning pod on a given day given the number of people. The updated version is refreshed daily with county level data.
Operation Santa: The United States Postal Service’s Operation Santa is more than 100 years old that encourages postal customers to adopt letters and buy gifts for the children who send them. This year, because of the pandemic, customers will review the letters exclusively online. Starting on Dec. 4, customers can begin reviewing this year’s letters. And here is the address for children to send letters.
Fleetwood Mac: Mad Love gives it a great, unique cover that is rather soothing during these anxious times.