Covid-19 Policy Update #563
Wednesday 9/7
Top Three
Districts Are Slowly Spending Relief Funds: Via The 74.
"Of the nation’s 25 largest districts, those that were in remote learning for at least half of the 2020-21 school year have spent an average of roughly 15% of their relief funds from the American Rescue Plan."
"State data compiled by the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University shows that Los Angeles Unified, where schools stayed closed until April 2021, didn’t start spending any of its $2.5 billion until this fall. And the Chicago Public Schools, which reopened the same month, has spent just over 6% of almost $1.8 billion."
“What opportunities might we be missing for kids to catch up?” asked Jana Wilcox Lavin, CEO of Opportunity 180 in Las Vegas, where the Clark County School District never fully reopened that year. The nonprofit helped gather ideas from the community on how to use the funds, but the district has so far spent less than a quarter of it. Parents, she said, “can’t point to where they see that money showing up in the classroom.”
"The Houston Independent School District reopened on time in the fall of 2020. But as in many urban districts, high percentages of Black and Hispanic families chose remote learning. So far, the district has spent just 6.8% of its $804 million."
"To pinpoint spending patterns, The 74 reviewed relief fund data from the Edunomics Lab and checked it against state figures. Districts provided details on when they fully reopened five days a week in 2020-21 — if they did. And the COVID-19 School Data Hub, led by Brown University economist Emily Oster, offered additional data on the extent to which districts remained open, closed or in hybrid mode."
"Under the legislation, districts have to obligate the funds by September 2024, and have through March 2026 to spend them. But Roza asked, “If the money was intended to get kids back on track, why wait two years?” Education advocacy groups, like AASA, the School Superintendents Association, want the department to extend that deadline until the end of 2026."
At Head Start, Masks Remain On, Despite C.D.C. Guidelines: Via the NYT.
"The Biden administration has taken credit for a relative return to normalcy in schools over the last year of the coronavirus pandemic. But in one of the few education programs the federal government directly oversees — Head Start preschools and child care centers for low-income families — mandatory masking rules are still on the books for teachers and children as young as 2-years-old."
"That requirement is out of line with current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released last month, which recommend universal masking only if there is a high community transmission rate."
"The strict Head Start guidelines were established last November during the surge in Delta variant infections, and they remain in place in half the states, including those throughout the Northeast and on the West Coast. In addition to universal masking, they require that Head Start staff members be vaccinated."
"In a written statement, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, acknowledged that the current guidelines contradict those of the C.D.C. but said that centers are not being checked for compliance on masking."
"During the pandemic, the United States was an outlier in ever calling for universal masking for toddlers. The World Health Organization has advised that masks are not generally appropriate for children under 5. In England, children below middle school age were never universally required to mask."
One Shot Per Year? We Really Need to Step Up Our Game Then: Via Katelyn Jetelina
"Yesterday, the White House announced a new plan: one COVID-19 shot per year. The idea is this will decrease public confusion and increase booster uptake by aligning with the flu vaccine campaign. Reading between the lines, I think this is also a political signal to shift out of the SARS-CoV-2 emergency phase."
"The annual COVID-19 plan largely follows our flu model: evaluate circulating strains and update the vaccine before the flu season."
"SARS-CoV-2 is mutating 4 times faster than the flu. It’s not seasonal nor annual. It’s not mutating in a ladder like form. And we do not have global surveillance systems in place. We expect and hope that COVID-19 will eventually be like the flu but to assume that has already happened is premature. I also think it is a gamble, as the virus continues to surprise us. To pivot the public—again—is risky."
"However, we can and should do better. This does not mean boosting our way out of the pandemic, but it means leveraging innovation and science to develop next generation vaccines that last longer and/or prevent infection/transmission. This would have immense, positive ripple effects. It would slow transmission. It would slow viral mutations. It would slow morbidity (long COVID-19). It could sunset the pandemic."
Federal
ED: Secretary Cardona announces "the Road to Success Back to School Bus Tour."
WH COVID Coordinator: Dr. Ashish Jha provides an update on where things stand.
Covid Supplemental: "In interviews Wednesday, GOP senators said they were skeptical of the Biden administration’s $22.4 billion request for Covid money, as well as its $4.5 billion request for combating monkeypox — citing unspent money and frustration with what they view as Democrats’ previous spending largesse.”
Obama Portraits Unveiled: Via Axios.
Meet the artists who created the Obamas White House Portraits.
Covid-19 Research
If You Build it, Will They Vaccinate? The Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine Sites on Vaccination Rates and Outcomes: NBER paper.
"We find that the presence of a participating retail pharmacy vaccination site in a county leads to an approximately 26% increase in the per-capita number of doses administered, possibly indicating that proximity and familiarity play a substantial role in vaccine take-up decisions."
"Increases in county-level per capita participating retail pharmacies lead to an increase in COVID-19 vaccination rates and a decline in the number of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, with substantial heterogeneity based on county rurality, political leanings, income, and race composition."
State
California:
Staffing shortages are straining Oakland after-school programs.
Los Angeles school district warns of disruption as it battles ongoing ransomware attack. More via LAUSD.
Indiana: Central Indiana school districts describe plans for combating pandemic learning loss.
Michigan: Michigan’s ‘partnership’ school turnaround program eased pandemic’s impact, researchers say.
New York: "This Superintendent’s Tiny, Rural District Got No COVID Aid. Here’s Why That Hurts," via EdWeek.
Washington: First day of school in Seattle delayed as educators go on strike.
Resources
Latinos for Education: Released the results of a a survey and series of focus groups exploring issues around assessment and accountability.
"Overall, 83% of survey respondents believe that statewide test results can help evaluate the quality of schools, as well as tell us how different student subgroups (such as Latinos, Blacks, English Learners, Students with Disabilities, etc.) are performing in school."
"82% of Latino parents/guardians agree that state standardized tests are helpful in identifying resources and needs to help Latino students improve and/or succeed academically."
"Most Latinos (88%) strongly agree that keeping schools accountable for the success of their students includes providing a way to ensure that Latino students receive attention and identifying learning gaps among their students (95%)."
"92% of Latino parents agree that schools should be evaluated by factors other than test results such as attendance, graduation and passing rates, whereas 83% of teachers agree that a strong school accountability system should consist of multiple measures such as attendance, suspension rates, school culture, etc. that go beyond statewide exams."
Experts Say Kids Are Far Behind After COVID; Parents Shrug. Why the Disconnect?: Via The 74.
When Life Gives You Lemons: Do not give them to your dog.
