TOP THREE
Moderna Booster: The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 19-to-0 to recommend a Moderna booster for some groups at least six months after receiving their second dose.
Groups recommended to receive a booster: people 65 and older, those 18 to 64 with risk factors for severe Covid-19, and those whose jobs put them at high risk for serious complications of Covid-19, such as health care workers.
"Members of the committee were far less willing to consider opening up availability for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to all people over the age of 18."
"Many of the panel members criticized the data the drugmaker presented, while endorsing the need to be as proactive as possible when it comes to people at risk of severe disease."
NAEP: 2020 Long-Term Trend Reading and Mathematics Assessment Results at Age 9 and Age 13. More via The 74.
"13 yr olds saw unprecedented declines in both reading and math between 2012 and 2020."
"Peggy Carr told reporters that 13-year-olds had never before seen declines on the assessment, and the results were so startling that she had her staff double-check the results."
"The data showed declines among the lowest-performing students, but not those at the top, suggesting that educational gaps that pervade the U.S. system are becoming larger, not smaller.”
"Scores have fallen for Black and Hispanic students since 2012 and remain flat for White children, widening the racial achievement gap"
FEDERAL
Reconciliation: Sen. Sinema told a group of moderate House Democrats that she won’t support a budget reconciliation bill until the bipartisan infrastructure bill passes, Reuters reports.
IES/NSF: New opportunity to research Artificial Intelligence (AI) augmented learning
Survey on U.S. Teens and Young Adults’ Attitudes Towards Covid-19 Precautions: Via The Generation Lab and Rockefeller
67% of young adults aged 18-29 support vaccine mandates for students and staff at their school and/or workplaces compared to 55% among middle and high school-aged students.
Families of 43% of unvaccinated youth do not want them to get the Covid-19 vaccine at all, 24% do not want their children vaccinated yet.
"Worries about allergies and side-effects, especially concerns about fertility, are the main reason some young adults remain unvaccinated. Those hesitant cite risk of adverse events, lack of long-term trials, and reports of miscarriages and menstrual irregularities as the reason why they are not vaccinated yet."
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Schools Are New Battleground in War of Disinformation Over Covid-19 Vaccines: Via CNN
UK Study: New study finds that COVID-19 infections in children in England rose in September after schools reopened.
"The REACT-1 study, led by Imperial College London found that prevalence in 13 to 17-year-olds was 2.55% between Sept 9-27, with prevalence in those aged 5 to 12 at 2.32%. Prevalence for every adult age group was estimated below 1%."
STATE
California: L.A., San Diego school districts are sued over student vaccination mandate
Illinois: Via Chalkbeat: Chicago Public Schools will allow unvaccinated employees to continue working after a Friday COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline if they take a weekly coronavirus test. The district had originally said employees who failed to get vaccinated by Oct. 15 and did not qualify for a medical or religious exemption would be ineligible to work.
Oregon: Schools are now offering weekly COVID screenings for students.
Texas: Secretary Cardona says Gov. Abbott is wrong to ban Covid vaccine mandates
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Racial Disparities in Access to Small Business Credit: Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program: NBER paper
Found that "even after controlling for a firm’s zip code, industry, loan size, PPP approval date, and other characteristics, Black-owned businesses were 12.1 percentage points (70% of the mean) more likely to obtain their PPP loan from a fintech lender than a traditional bank."
RESOURCES
Organizing Resources to Support Inclusion Models for Students With Disabilities: ERS report and recommendations for ESSER investments.
Higher Student Morale Linked to In-Person Instruction: EdWeek survey.
In Demand: The Real Teacher Shortages and How to Solve Them: Via FutureED and EdCounsel
Teachers Union Urges TikTok, Facebook, Other Big Tech to Stop Spread of Viral Challenges: Via WSJ and NEA letter
Taking Stock With Teens: Piper Sandler survey
87% of U.S. teenagers have iPhones
Teens spend 32% of their daily video consumption on Netflix followed by YouTube (30%)
Snapchat is the favorite social media platform (35% share) followed by TikTok (30%) & Instagram (22%)
Teens self-reported spending ~$2,274 per year in our survey, implying total teen spending of ~$63B
Students With Depression, Anxiety May Qualify for Accommodations, Feds Tell Schools: Via EdWeek. ED Factsheet
“Students with mental health disabilities are protected by Federal civil rights laws, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990."
“These laws require K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions to provide students with an equal opportunity to learn, free from discrimination, including during public health crises.”
Captain Kirk: Some video from William Shatner's Blue Origin flight.
An emotional Shatner upon landing: "I can't even begin to express... What I would love to do is to communicate as much as possible the jeopardy, the moment you see how vulnerable. The vulnerability of everything, it's so small."
Other astronauts have reported similar feelings, sometimes referred to as "the overview effect," which is described as a psychological effect reported by those who have seen Earth from space (more here).
Ted Lasso IRL: Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley: “I think what you’ll discover is that we have so much more in common than not”