COVID-19 Policy Update #239
COVID-19 Policy Update
THURSDAY 4/22
TOP THREE
State Leaders Outline Strategies for Accelerating Student Learning Amid Pandemic: Great landscape analysis from NGA/CCSSO with state breakouts by:
Getting organized and understanding what needs to happen.
Using summer 2021 to accelerate learning.
Supporting more students to be successful learners (including SEL and academic supports)
Tackling other challenges: Future considerations.
2021 Summer Learning & Enrichment: State Guidance for District and School Leaders: New resource from NGA/CCSSO which touches on organization, staffing, SEL, academic supports, assessments, and family engagement.
COVID Vaccines and Kids: Via Nature, five questions as trials begin
Do we even need to vaccinate children?
How will the trials in kids work?
Will children and adults respond differently to COVID-19 vaccines?
How will scientists know if vaccines work in children?
How will researchers know if the vaccines are safe in young children?
FEDERAL
HHS: Launches ‘We Can Do This: Live’ Initiative to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence
COVID-19 RESEARCH
218.9 Million: Number of vaccines administered in the US.
AstraZeneca: Britain's medicines regulator said there had been 168 major blood clots following a dose of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, a rate of 7.9 clots per million doses.
"Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics at Bristol University, said the jump in reported cases was expected. "Cases are being reported reliably and quickly but there are also cases that occurred previously now being recognised and reported as well," Finn said. "I would expect the true number of cases per million doses of vaccine to become clear fairly soon as these reports stabilise but it is already clear that it is going to remain a very rare event."
Public-Private Partnerships to Increase Vaccine Distribution, Equitable Access and Uptake: New Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and COVID Collaborative resource: Building Public-Private Partnerships to Support Efficient and Equitable COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution, Access, and Uptake
Vaccine Hesitancy and Social Media: New study provides insight into COVID-19 vaccine reluctance among social media users
Women, young people, less-educated people, and members of other than white ethnic groups are more hesitant about getting vaccinated
People who get their information about COVID-19 from social media are more hesitant about getting vaccinated
Vaccine hesitancy among people who get their information about COVID-19 from social media is completely accounted for by more negative vaccine attitudes and stronger conspiracy suspicions
Vaccine hesitancy among members of other than white ethnic groups and members of low-income households is almost completely accounted for by more negative vaccine attitudes and stronger conspiracy suspicions
Among those who have negative views of vaccines or who suspect that COVID-19 conspiracy theories may be true, more highly educated people appear to be more vaccine hesitant than less highly educated people
Vaccine Hesitancy and Faith Based Community: Survey from Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Interfaith Youth Core
Among those who attend religious services at least a few times per year, 44% of those who are hesitant say faith-based approaches would make them more likely to get vaccinated.
Among white evangelical Protestants who are vaccine hesitant, nearly half (47%) who regularly attend services say faith-based approaches would make them more likely to get vaccinated.
Hispanic Protestants are particularly likely to be vaccine hesitant (42%), and an additional 15% do not plan to get vaccinated.
Approximately one-third of Black Protestants (36%) and Hispanic Americans (33%) who are vaccine hesitant say one or more faith-based approaches would make them more likely to get vaccinated.
26% of Republicans and 24% of rural Americans who are vaccine hesitant say faith-based approaches would improve their likelihood of getting vaccinated.
Notably, three in ten (30%) of those who are very worried about the safety of vaccines and are vaccine hesitant say that faith-based approaches would make them more likely to get vaccinated.
Youth Sports and COVID Poll: The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health
23% of parents report their child participated in school, travel, or community sports, with participation slightly higher for older children 12-18 years compared to younger children 6-11 years (25% vs 21%).
Among parents whose child did not participate, 34% report their child’s sport was canceled due to COVID-19 and 25% felt it was not safe due to COVID-19.
Among parents whose child participated in one or more sports, most recall receiving information from the school or sports league about masks and social distancing guidelines for players (91%) and parents/spectators (92%).
1 in 4 parents rate their child’s sports league as fair/poor for consistent enforcement of COVID-19 precautions.
COVID-19 Outlook: Preparing to Vaccinate Children as Our Nation Reaches a Turning Point: New report from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Policy Lab:
"Nearly 300 children have died from COVID-19 nationwide, meaning it represents a threat on par with the flu (200 deaths), measles (500 yearly deaths before a vaccine was available), and varicella (75-100 deaths a year before a vaccine was available)."
"Vaccines reduce morbidity from an illness, not just mortality. Measles and varicella caused much suffering and disruption in the lives of children and families prior to routine vaccination. COVID-19 can lead to multi-inflammatory syndrome in children or “MIS-C”—a rare but often severe and potentially fatal condition with unknown long-term effects that has affected more than 3,000 children in the U.S. The potential morbidity from MIS-C needs to be considered in the decision to vaccinate children."
"Many children benefit immensely from the social, emotional, academic, and physical benefits of in-person school and extracurricular activities. One of the values of influenza vaccination is that when protective, it can reduce days that children miss school and parents miss work."
Children and COVID-19: AAP State-Level Data Report
3.6 million total child COVID-19 cases reported, representing 13.6% of all cases.
Children were 1.3%-3.0% of total reported hospitalizations, and between 0.1%-1.9% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization
Children were 0.00%-0.21% of all COVID-19 deaths, and 10 states reported zero child deaths
STATE
California: As California schools reopen to in-person instruction, students and families decide if it's right for them. Great collection of stories from families and how they're making decisions.
Connecticut: Governor aims to send 70,000 kids to summer camp for free
Illinois:
The Chicago Teachers Union now says that the district must again bargain with it if it aims to offer full-time in-person instruction in the fall.
Pritzker Administration set to reimburse schools for COVID-19 testing following a lawmaker's bill and a Patch investigation.
Pennsylvania: PDE released a toolkit: "Accelerated Learning Through An Integrated System of Support"
South Carolina: The General Assembly passed joint resolution S.704 on Wednesday requiring in-person learning to remain an option every weekday in the next school year. Gov. McMaster signed it today. The Palmetto State Teachers Association backs the proposal, especially the part that tries to prevent making teachers work in class and online at the same time.
Texas: The Texas Distance Learning Association has named the district’s Katy Virtual School as the 2021 K-12 winner of its Outstanding Commitment to Excellence and Innovation in Distance Education recognition.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Preparing Students of Color for the Future Workforce: CAP report with lessons from communities in Indiana and New Mexico.
LEARNING PODS
How A Homeschool Co-op Meets the Needs of Black Families in Detroit: New video from the Vela Fund on Engaged Detroit
"The co-op is part of a network started specifically to serve Black families in response to the pandemic and the continued challenges in Detroit Public Schools."
The Paxton Pod: Educates at home during the pandemic
San Luis Obispo High School: Lessons from their learning pods.
"For Rayas, the improvement was almost immediate. He finally felt like—despite the masks and physical distancing—he was in a semi-normal classroom environment where he could focus on his schoolwork. Tackling it all didn't seem so daunting with his pod leader, John Franklin, a retired SLO High teacher and beloved substitute, by his side. Now, just a few months after joining the pod, Rayas' grades have jumped from straight F's to all A's and a C."
"730 students in San Luis Coastal have participated in pods so far this school year. The district has since hired around 60 pod leaders."
Parents and Teachers Want Learning Pods: Via EdChoice
RESOURCES
The Implications of Testing Flexibility on Measuring Student Growth and Learning Trends: Former state officials from South Dakota and North Carolina write an oped on promise and limits of flexible options.
Skip-year growth measurement is possible
Shorter tests: "In our experience, 40 to 50 items on a non-computer adaptive assessment typically provides enough stretch in the scale to reliably measure student growth."
Remote testing
Extended or multiple testing windows
Fewer students taking tests
Addressing COVID-19 Learning Disruptions: Four Recommendations for Effective Tutoring Interventions: From AIR
Mothers on What it Means to Have Black Children in America: Via the19th
Dream Capital for Innovators Advancing Racial Equity in Education: NSVF is opening their first Racial Equity funding opportunity providing $1.5 million in “dream capital” to innovators of color with bold ideas to advance racial equity in education.
Incarcerated Coders Developed an LMS for Offline Remote Learning: A group of incarcerated coders in Missouri have developed an offline learning management system for prisons that is now expanding throughout the state.
Community Learning Hubs: Meeting the Needs of Students & Families: Resources from the Afterschool Alliance.
Biden’s School Pandemic Relief Funding Is an Opportunity, but One With Risks. Spending Without Planning First Could Be Costly: Rotherham reflects.
Outdoor Unstructured Play Spaces: Outdoor unstructured play spaces engage kids more than equipment-based playgrounds. Interesting visualization of two 30 min play sessions
Do You Work Here? Ikea worker reflections Part 1 and Part 2. Nice Quantum Realm reference.