COVID-19 Policy Update #255
COVID-19 Policy Update
FRIDAY 5/14
TOP THREE
Georgia Learning Loss: GSU study on learning loss:
"In some cases, that deceleration equaled what would have been learned over three-quarters of a normal school year. It was typically worse for students who remained home and online, but even those attending school in-person generally fell behind where they should have been. The most damage occurred this school year rather than last spring."
“Across most measures, students are three to six months or more behind where they would have been had the pandemic not occurred."
"On average, historically marginalized groups, such as Black students, Hispanic students, and English learners, tended to experience greater reductions in achievement growth (relative to similar students prior to the pandemic) than did White and English-proficient students, but these differences varied substantially by grade, subject, and district."
Schools Must Open This Fall. In Person. Five Days a Week: OpEd by Randi Weingarten
"Schools must open this fall. In person. Five days a week. With the space and and health safeguards to do so. The American Federation of Teachers, which I lead, is committed to making this happen."
"Yet critics have scapegoated teachers and vilified their unions because of school closures during the pandemic, ignoring the extreme disparities among schools and blaming teachers for problems outside their control."
"Vaccines have been a game changer. I hear this sentiment in educators’ voices and see it in our polling results."
"Fully reopening is not risk-free. Public-health experts caution that unless many more people get vaccinated, we will not reach herd immunity against the coronavirus. But we can manage the threat by encouraging people to get a shot and following guidance from the CDC to prevent the spread of disease—which currently includes the layered mitigation strategies of masking, distancing, ventilating, sanitizing, hand washing, and regular COVID-19 testing."
"Mitigation measures create trust. So does collaboration. So here’s an idea: Every school should have a committee of school staff, parents, and, where appropriate, students to plan for and respond to safety issues. These committees can conduct health-and-safety walk-throughs this summer"
Schools Are Deciding What The New CDC Mask Guidelines Mean For The Classroom: Via NPR.
"Becky Pringle, the president of the nation's largest teachers union, the NEA, urged state and district leaders not to scrap in-school masking mandates."
"We know at this point that only a third of adults are vaccinated and no students younger than 16 are vaccinated," Pringle said in a statement. "CDC's key mitigation measures for safe in-person instruction, including wearing masks, should remain in place in schools and institutions of higher education to protect all students and others who are not vaccinated."
FEDERAL
ED:
Catherine Lhamon nominated for Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education
Secretary Cardona interview with Motherly:
"What we're finding is with the rollout of vaccination, with the new guidance from CDC and with the data that we're seeing that shows that schools are not places where there's spread happening if mitigation strategies are followed, I'm really confident that we should be open now for in-person learning for all students and it can be done safely. But I expect that in the summer and in the fall, that our default is every day in-person option should be offered for every student."
" I spoke to a governor recently about considering that same thing you brought up, utilizing those schools for places to provide vaccinations, if possible, and I think it just makes sense."
"I want to assure the parents that their children's health and safety are first and foremost in my mind and that their social and emotional well-being, their emotional health, is critically important for me, as well. As we bring them back, we want to make sure the resources are there to provide a program that not only gives them the academic support they need, but does it in a nurturing environment where they feel welcome, they feel safe and they feel supported."
Treasury's State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds: Good summaries by Brookings and BB&K on the $350 billion.
Via USA Today: Cities are getting a windfall from Biden's COVID relief bill. Now how are they going to spend it?
Also, note that regarding broadband, "the Interim Final Rule provides that investment in wireline infrastructure that will provide a 100 Mbps symmetrical standard may be made only in areas that are unserved or underserved."
White House: CAP's Neera Tanden is joining the White House as a senior adviser.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Vaccine Hesitancy: According to a new Economist/YouGov poll, Americans see the threat of COVID-19 as more significant than the risk of vaccine side effects. But those who are uncertain about vaccination tend to believe the opposite.
Four in five Americans (83%) who reject getting the vaccine believe that the possibility of a bad reaction to the vaccine is a bigger risk than the possibility of getting the virus itself (17%).
Those who are uncertain about vaccination believe the risk of a reaction (76%) outweighs potentially contracting the virus (24%) by three to one.
Seven in 10 Democrats (71%) say the risk of contracting the virus outweighs the risk of having a bad reaction to inoculation (29%). Independents (53% vs 47%) and Republicans (49% vs 51%) are more split on whether the greater risk is vaccination side effects or catching the virus.
Pfizer:
New study suggests their vaccine generates antibody responses three-and-a-half times larger in older people when a second dose is delayed to 12 weeks after the first.
A study shows that the Pfizer vaccine can neutralize B.1.526 and B.1.429 (variants first identified in New York and California, respectively) to a high enough degree to protect against their infection.
Kentucky Poll: By the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
"Two-thirds of those living with children thought a school vaccine requirement was a bad idea."
"Meanwhile, more than half of those without kids at home thought it was a good idea for a school requirement."
CDC: Weekly COVID Tracker email includes data on hospitalization of children that increases 200% since mid-March.
"Among children ages 5-17 years, hospitalization peaked at 1.3 per 100,000 persons in early January, then decreased to 0.4 per 100,00 persons in mid-March. However, data from late March and April show that hospitalization rates have steadily increased among children ages 5-17 years, increasing more than 200% since mid-March to 0.9 per 100,000 persons by late April."
"Rising hospitalization rates in children highlight the need for continuing prevention efforts, including mask-wearing and physical distancing. Now that COVID-19 vaccination is authorized for adolescents ages 12 years and older, implementation of COVID-19 vaccines for all eligible people is another critical tool to reduce the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization in children."
STATE
California:
Still stuck at home: Some Mountain View schools can't accommodate every child who wants to be back in class full time
The Bridging the Digital Divide Fund spent millions on devices for distance learning. Here's where it went:
"The program funded and distributed 45,884 Chromebooks, 1,103 Google management licenses, 70 wireless mice, 15 printers and four $500 drawing tablets."
"About 69% of the districts that received devices are in rural areas and predominantly serve low-income families."
Florida: Results from January diagnostic tests taken by Miami-Dade students in grades Pre-K through 3 show that an average of 43% are below grade level in reading and 54% are below grade level in math.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Retail Sales: Were unexpectedly flat in April after after rising 10.7% the previous month,
Retailers Investing In Tech: Funding for retail tech tripled to $28.9 billion in the first quarter from the same period last year, according to a CB Insights report. Investments in technology that make supply chain and logistics flow faster and more efficiently nearly doubled on a year-over-year basis to $8.6 billion
Working Mothers: A study found almost 40% of working mothers in the state of Illinois lost jobs or were working fewer hours due to the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Code for America Brigades: The group has brigades in 85 cities within 41 states, which have netted roughly 25,000 localized volunteers.
"The brigade program works to identify major challenges and find digital solutions for them in the communities in which they are located, doing so by bringing together organizers, developers, designers and anyone else with an interest in collaborating with local government or other groups."
The Knight Foundation is investing $1 million in CfA to expand the group’s brigades in seven additional cities."
RESOURCES
2 Unresolved Questions About the CDC’s New Guidance for Wearing Masks: - good list including some of the questions schools face.
High Dosage Tutoring: A new primer from Transcend.
COVID-19: Toolkit for Districts and Schools: From EdTrust and ERS
Parents’ Spending on Education Boomed During the Pandemic. Here’s Why: EdWeek article covering the WFF/Tyton analysis.
"Families spent an estimated $232 billion on private schools and education-related activities, an increase of nearly $20 billion or about 10 percent from annualized spending in previous years, according to the survey of more than 3,000 parents."
"Learning pods alone accounted for $70 billion in spending"
"The survey found that 12 percent of parents put their children in a pod during the fall of 2020, which equates to about 7 million students nationwide. A quarter of higher-income families had at least one child in a pod. They generally spent nearly seven times as much on those small groups as lower-income families."
It's Friday: Time to slide into the weekend.