Just touched down from three days of great discussions at NGA’s Summer Meeting in Maine. Outgoing Chair Governor Hutchinson unveiled a Compact to Advance K-12 Computer Science Education that was signed by all 50 Governors. And incoming chair Governor Murphy announced announced his Chair’s Initiative, Strengthening Youth Mental Health, which will bring together policy experts, public officials, and private sector leaders to take a holistic approach to the youth mental health crisis. The closing dinner also featured an amazing drone light show depicting state flags, a moose, and a lobster. A brief update tonight before you head into your weekend.
Top Three
California Districts Have Spent Little So Far to Address Learning Loss: EdSource article on a new CSBA report.
"The analysis by the California School Boards Association, released earlier this month, represents the first comprehensive look at how the state’s school districts have used a total of $40 billion in federal and state funding dedicated to helping them cope with Covid. It covered reports for spending through March 31."
"The California Department of Education is required to monitor federal spending and to do spot audits of districts’ spending. But in her own audit of the state’s effort, State Auditor Elaine Howle criticized the department for not doing more audits and for not examining spending more closely. The department audited fewer than 1% of districts and charter schools in 2020-21. Howle called on the department to investigate districts that categorize the bulk of spending as “other activities,” but the department, in its response, disagreed that should become a priority.”
Harvard Economist Offers Gloomy Forecast on Reversing Pandemic Learning Loss: The 74 interview Thomas Kane.
"We went in without any clear expectations on the magnitude of the impacts we would see. The reason why I called it startling was because I know that there are very few educational interventions that have ever been shown to generate a .45 standard deviation impact [a common measure showing the difference in any population from the statistical mean; they can be loosely converted into other units, such as learning time or dollars spent] on achievement."
"Yet that’s the size of the loss that high-poverty schools that were remote for more than half the year sustained. So it was startling because when we compare the impact estimates of remote learning to the potential impact of the available interventions, it’s clear that there is no one thing that we could say, “If all districts did this and implemented it with fidelity, it would eliminate the gap in one year.”
"For instance: In a review of the pre-pandemic research, tutoring has been found to generate a gain of about .38 standard deviations. Well, you could provide a tutor to every single student in a high-poverty school that was remote for half the year and still not close the gap. You could get close, but you wouldn’t close that gap. And we know that districts are never going to be able to hire enough tutors to provide one to every student in a high-poverty school, let alone deliver that tutoring at the level of quality as these programs evaluated in the research. That’s why it was startling — not just because it conflicted with our prior expectations, but because when we saw it, we realized that we couldn’t come up with a long list of interventions that yield effects of this size."
988 National Mental Health Hotline Prepares to Launch: Via Axios:
"In July 2020, the FCC designated 988 as the new emergency service to connect with either the National Suicide Prevention Hotline or Veterans Crisis Line by July 2022."
"Fewer than half of the public health officials responsible for deploying 988 say they are confident their communities have the necessary staff, financing or equipment to field the anticipated surge of calls, according to a recent Rand report."
Covid-19 Research
Effectiveness of 2, 3, and 4 COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Doses: CDC MMWR which shows the effectiveness of boosters in restoring vaccine effectiveness after significant drop off.
UK Boosters: UKHSA announced that everyone 50 and over will be offered a COVID19 booster and a flu vaccine this autumn. Others include:
Those aged 5 to 49 in a clinical risk group
Pregnant women
Those aged 5 to 49 who live with immunosuppressed
16 to 49 year old Care home workers and residents
Frontline health and social care workers
Covid Community Levels: The CDC reports that nearly 85% of the U.S. population is in a location with a medium or high COVID-19 Community Level.
State
Arkansas: Via Heartland Forward: "New Coalition Launches to Help Close Arkansas’ Digital Divide"
Missouri: "About five weeks before some districts go back to school, many are still facing a bus driver shortage. Many bus companies are offering incentives to get more drivers as some districts rearrange routes to get every student to school. Sign-on bonuses, higher pay, and health benefits are some of the things DS Bus Lines hopes will attract people to drive buses after the pandemic took a toll on staffing."
Tennessee: "Middle Tennessee school districts look to solve bus driver shortage ahead of new school year."
Virginia: "Governor Glenn Youngkin Announces Updated COVID-19 Quarantine Guidance for Early Childhood Education." Among the changes:
"For exposed but asymptomatic persons (regardless of vaccination status), quarantine is no longer recommended for the above settings. These individuals may continue to attend programming as long as they remain asymptomatic.
Exposure is defined as being within 6 feet of a person who has COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period, or having direct contact with respiratory secretions from an infected person.
Masks: Students/staff that attend programming during this time may consider wearing a mask around others indoors until Day 10.
Testing: Schools may use Test to Stay protocols and VDH testing resources to support this testing.
If a student or staff person in this group has ongoing household exposure to a person with COVID-19, VDH recommends students, families and staff consider more frequent testing; please see Test to Stay protocols for more information."
Economic Recovery
Recession: Via Bloomberg:
"Wall Street’s two most outspoken CEOs said the US is more than prepared to withstand an economic downturn."
"JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and his Morgan Stanley counterpart, James Gorman, both said Thursday that they aren’t steering their firms toward shelter even as they see a confluence of global events denting the economy in the months ahead."
Retail Sales: Rose more than expected in June as consumers remain resilient despite inflation.
WSJ: "U.S. retail sales rose 1.0% in June, the Commerce Department said Friday, and a May decline was slightly smaller than previously estimated."
Resources
DFER Poll: Dems Trail Republicans in Trust on Education in Battleground Districts
ChromeOS Flex: Turns old Macs or PCs into a Chromebook - should be useful for schools.
It's Friday: Excited?
One More for The Weekend: Ben Waites inspires the AGT crowd with "True Colors"