Top Three
New York City Weighing A Temporary Remote Option: NYT reports:
"Instead, the city and the teachers’ union appeared to be negotiating in public about whether and how to implement a remote learning option."
"The two sides have — for nearly two years — been unable to agree on whether teachers should be allowed to livestream their in-classroom lessons to students learning at home. Without such an agreement, it’s unlikely that a remote option will materialize."
"Speaking at a news conference, Mr. Adams said that, even though public health experts believe school is the “safest” place for children, “we do have to be honest that there is a substantial number of children, for whatever reason, parents are not bringing them to school."
“I have to make sure children are educated,” he said. “We’ve lost two years of education, two years. The fallout is unbelievable.”
COVID Tests: You will be able to order free rapid coronavirus tests online at COVIDTests.gov beginning on Wednesday, but the tests will take time to arrive: they will typically ship within 7 to 12 days after being ordered, senior Biden administration officials said.
"Some insurers say it will probably take weeks to fully set up the system the White House envisions."
"The White House gave a statement to The New York Times on Friday encouraging patients to hold on to receipts for the tests they purchase: “If Americans are charged upfront, it is important that they keep their receipts and be prepared to submit them for reimbursement. The most important thing is that starting Saturday those tests are covered free of charge.”
America Has Failed to Learn from the Safe Opening of Classrooms Abroad: Via the Economist.
"Over the past two years America’s children have missed more time in the classroom than those in most of the rich world. School closures that began there in early 2020 dragged on until the summer of 2021. During that time the districts that stayed closed longest forced all or some of their children to learn remotely for twice as long as schools in Ireland, three times longer than schools in Spain and four times longer than in France."
"Teachers’ unions have ignored encouraging findings from other countries, such as research suggesting that teachers in schools that had opened faced no greater risk of severe sickness than other professionals."
"Remote teaching has harmed children’s learning, mental health and physical safety. America’s schools should be buoyed by early evidence suggesting that Omicron infections lead to less severe symptoms than other variants of covid (which are themselves mild in most children) and that vaccination still offers strong protection against serious illness."
"When staff shortages are severe, it would be better to force only some year groups into remote learning before closing whole schools. Even then, schools should allow vulnerable children and those of key workers to remain in the building. That has been common in Europe, but far from standard in America."
"Children have little to gain from school closures and much to lose. Teachers’ unions should stop dumping the pandemic’s costs on them."
COVID-19 Research
How Schools Can Access COVID Testing: NAESP's Danny Carlson with a helpful thread of the steps schools need to take to secure the additional tests.
Omicron Pushing Hospitals to the Brink: At least 80% of staffed hospital beds were occupied in 24 states on Thursday, including Georgia, Maryland and Massachusetts, the figures show.
"More troubling, the data showed that in 18 states and Washington, D.C., at least 85 percent of beds in adult intensive care units were full, with the most acute scarcity of beds in Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Texas."
(The hospitalization figures include people who test positive for the virus after being admitted for conditions unrelated to Covid-19, but there is no national data showing how many people are in that category.)
"Deaths are up 53 percent to an average of roughly 1,871 a day."
Vaccine Cards: "Whether they realize it or not, about 200 million people in the United States now likely have access to a COVID-19 digital vaccine card."
"The digital pass known as the SMART Health Card is voluntary and minimal by design to protect personal information. It has a person’s name, date of birth and the dates and brands of vaccination doses, all contained within a type of scannable bar code known as a QR code."
"Rather than a single app, the SMART Health Card is open-source computer code that anyone can use to ping a verified source of health data and produce the unique QR code. The digital cards are now widely available from more than 400 sources including states, pharmacies and health care organizations."
As Omicron Surges, Effort to Vaccinate Young Children Stalls: Via KHN.
Children and COVID-19 Vaccinations Trends: Via AAP:
7.5 million (27%) US children ages 5-11 have received their initial dose of COVID-19 vaccine
15.9 million (64%) US children ages 12-17 have received their initial dose of COVID-19 vaccine
13.3 million (53%) of these children completed the vaccination series.
State
Arizona: The Treasury Department told Arizona officials on Friday that it could claw back some of the state’s pandemic aid and withhold future payments if the state did not halt or redesign programs that use the money to undercut mask requirements in schools.
Also the Open for Learning Recovery Benefit portal is now live and available for parents of kids whose schools or classrooms have temporarily shifted to full remote learning.
Minnesota: St. Paul schools to stay open as district, teachers can't agree on distance learning plan.
New Mexico: National Guard may help staffing shortages at New Mexico schools.
Ohio: 15% increase in masking, 8% drop in in-person learning due to COVID-19.
Pennsylvania: Via Mathematica,"School Instruction in Pennsylvania During the COVID-19 Pandemic," which provides an overview of how LEAs, including both traditional school districts and charter schools, implemented different approaches to deliver instruction and support students’ needs during the 2020–2021 school year.
Texas: Schools struggle to stay open as teachers and bus drivers call in sick with COVID-19.
Virginia: Incoming governor, Glenn Youngkin, said he will rescind the statewide K-12 mask mandate. School districts will be able to keep mask recommendations in place, but parents can choose not to follow them.
International
France: Teachers strike over 'chaotic' COVID-19 strategy for schools.
Resources
Virtual Learning, Now and Beyond: New brief from COVID Collaborative, CRPE, Bellwether Education Partners, WFF, and Allstate.
Sharpening the Picture of Early Pandemic Schooling: Via Fordham post covering, "Broadband Access, District Policy, and Student Opportunities for Remote Learning During COVID-19 School Closures."
"Once the pandemic—and school closures—began, 68 percent of surveyed teachers reported regularly sending electronic learning resources to students via email or learning management systems such as Google Classrooms and Class Dojo."
"Thirty-three percent reported regularly sending physical learning resources home with students, and 28 percent reported regularly holding synchronous virtual classes or tutoring sessions with students."
"Rural teachers were most likely to report using physical resources (packets or textbooks), while urban teachers were most likely to report holding virtual classes. School-level economic disadvantage was negatively associated with the likelihood of teachers regularly providing electronic learning resources or holding virtual classes and tutoring in all geographic contexts."
"A 10 point increase in the percentage of economically-disadvantaged students in a rural district was associated with a 16 percent decrease in the likelihood that teachers provided electronic resources and an 18 percent decrease in the likelihood that teachers reported regularly holding virtual classes or tutoring sessions."
The Agony of Parents With Kids Under 5: Via Slate.
Students Don't Want to Learn in a 'COVID Petri Dish.': Via USA Today.
With No End in Sight to Pandemic Life, Parents Find Disruption Is the New Normal: Via KHN
As Pandemic Continues, Educators Say They'll Continue to Use Technology In and Out of the Classroom: Survey results from Clever.
Most teachers (nearly 90%) plan to continue using at least some of the edtech tools they adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 Is Like a Kitten: And we are all this unsuspecting, innocent dog.