Top Three
School Pulse Panel: NCES released October results.
45% of public schools operating without a full teaching staff.
More than half of public schools in high-poverty neighborhoods (57%) had at least one teaching vacancy, compared to 41% of public schools in low-poverty neighborhoods.
83% of public schools reported having experienced procurement challenges that appeared to be the result of supply-chain disruptions during the 2022–23 school year. The most prevalent challenges were in procurement of food services (55%), laptops and other electronic devices (48%), and furniture (30%).
30% of schools had students in quarantine, a decrease from the 47% in September.
FDA Approves Updated COVID Booster for Kids as Young as 6 Months: FDA.
In its announcement today, the FDA said children ages 6 months through 5 years who received the Moderna vaccine primary series can receive a single booster of the bivalent vaccine 2 months after completing the last dose.
Regarding the Pfizer vaccine, children ages 6 months through 4 years who have not yet started their three-dose series or have not yet received the third dose in the three-dose series can receive the updated Pfizer booster as their third dose. The FDA said as part of today's announcement that the monovalent (single-strain) vaccine is no longer authorized as the third dose of the three-dose series in the age-group.
New School Year Shows Continued Signs of Academic Rebounding, But Concerns Remain: New NWEA research (The 74 / Chalkbeat)
Academic rebounding in reading and math continued in fall 2022; however, rebounding is not even across school years and summers, especially in reading.
The youngest students in the sample (current 3rd graders who were kindergarteners when the pandemic began) have the largest reading declines and showed the least rebounding.
"These young students’ reading improvement was slower than their math improvement, researchers found. And they estimate that it will take them at least five years to fully recover from the pandemic in both reading and math, longer than nearly any other group studied except current eighth-graders. Given the five-year time horizon, many of those students may never fully get up to speed in either subject by the time they finish high school, they warn."
Federal
ED: Launches new “Initiative to Enhance STEM Education for All Students”
90 organizations are listed as having made STEM commitments.
Other groups/companies/philanthropies can make commitments by Dec 31 using this form.
Sidenote: It’s surprising the Department doesn’t connect this with any of the funding in the IIJA, CHIPS Act, or IRA that will be awarded in part based on STEM workforce plans (e.g. CHIPS, IIJA Community Benefits Plans).
CDC: "The CDC Encouraged people to wear masks to help reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses this season as Covid, flu and RSV circulate at the same time."
Using Data to Inform the Location of the 20 New Regional Innovation Hubs: EIG with a new report suggests where 20 newly created research centers could best revitalize struggling economies and accelerate new technologies.
NYT: "The hubs are part of that broader agenda. They are meant to help turn scientific research, from universities and other innovation centers, into new and marketable industrial applications. And by virtue of where they will be located, they seek to catalyze economic growth in parts of the country that could use a spark."
Covid Research
Meta-Analysis Estimates 29% Vaccine Effectiveness Against Long COVID: Via CIDRAP.
Long Covid App: "The new app, called Visible, aims to help people manage that process by collecting data every day in order to understand how their symptoms fluctuate. Users measure their heart rate variability (the variation in time between beats) every morning by placing a finger over the phone’s camera for 60 seconds. This measures the pulse by recording small changes in the color of the user’s skin."
For the Uninsured, Covid Care Has Entered a New Stage of Crisis: Via the NYT, "As federal funding dries up, people without insurance may be left footing the bill for tests and treatments, or they may be discouraged from seeking care altogether."
Walgreens Launches Free Paxlovid Delivery Service With DoorDash and Uber: Reports ABC News.
Fall Bivalent Boosters: Science Update Round 3: Via Katelyn Jetelina, "We have lab data for fall boosters. We have real world data. And what’s coming in looks good—not perfect, but good. We have lots of reason to believe they will work even better against severe disease, especially among those over 50 years old."
State
DC: CityBridge released: Establishing Roots: Implementing Citywide High-Impact Tutoring in DC
A robust tutoring strategy requires a large coalition of partners with unique models coordinated around a common goal and set of standards.
A centralized network that provides multiple types of support across the entire implementation process leads to a significant increase in standards-aligned tutoring.
Tutoring quality improves when partners have regularly structured opportunities to share information and collaboratively problem-solve.
Oregon: Only only 8% of districts have told the state Department of Education that they are earmarking some of it for so-called “high-dosage” tutoring.
International
Australia: COVID-19 Mortality Working Group: Excess mortality continues in August 2022. Karen Cutter with an amazing Twitter thread breaking down the data.
China:
One million Chinese people are at risk of dying from Covid-19 during the coming winter months if President Xi Jinping pursues his pivot to remove strict pandemic controls, new modeling shows.
The impact of the Covid lockdowns are showing up in the trade data: Exports fell 8.7% year-over-year, compared with expectations of a 3.8% drop; Imports plunged by 10.6%, versus the 7% decline analysts had expected.
Economic Recovery
One Million Unique Credentials: According to a new Credential Engine report.
350,412 from postsecondary institutions awarding degrees and certificates, down 9,301 from its 2021 tally.
13,014 from MOOC providers awarding course completion certificates, microcredentials and online degrees from foreign universities, up by 3,624.
656,753 from nonacademic providers spanning credentials like badges, course completion certificates, licenses, certifications and apprenticeships, an increase of 107,041.
56,179 from secondary schools, including diplomas, alternative certificates and high school equivalency diplomas, up 7,260
Resources
The Crisis of Student Mental Health is Much Vaster Than We Realize: Long piece via the Washington Post.
"The CDC found 45% of high school students were so persistently sad or hopeless in 2021 they were unable to engage in regular activities. Almost 1 in 5 seriously considered suicide and 9% surveyed tried to take their lives during previous 12 months."
"We simply don’t have enough people in our profession to meet the need,” said Kelsey Theis, president of the Texas Association of School Psychologists. When families seek private therapists, “sometimes there’s a wait list of months and months before they get help,” she said."
"Hospital emergency room visits spiked for suspected suicide attempts among girls ages 12 to 17, according to the CDC From February to March 2021, the number jumped by 51% compared with the same period during 2019."
"In Georgia, Hawaii and a host of other states, schools rely on telehealth services to help meet the gap. They often involve contractors — such as Hazel Health — that respond to referrals from teachers, school counselors or parents; services are often covered through government funding or payer reimbursements."
Broadband:
Colorado is challenging 13,000 speed inaccuracies in the new federal broadband map. I wrote a brief overview of the challenge process here. States and schools only have a few weeks left to submit their challenges.
State Digital Equity Plan Toolkit from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance
NTCA found that 49% of respondents subscribe to speeds of 100 Mbps or faster broadband speeds, a jump from 37% last year. For the first time, services of 100 Mbps or faster speeds are more popular than services between 25 Mbps and100 Mbps.
"ISPs Large and Small Push for Tax Exempt Broadband Grants." I wrote about this earlier this year - really important for Congress to address this.
Family Engagement is Critical for Schools’ COVID-19 Recovery Efforts: Via Brookings.
How The 2022 Congressional Electorate Evaluated Learning Loss: Via David Winston: "Overall, the electorate’s assessment of learning loss’s toll has been consistent. Two-thirds of the electorate (66%) thought that students were either somewhat behind (30%) or significantly behind (36%). On our October survey, 65% thought students were at least somewhat behind (32% somewhat behind, 33% significantly behind)."
A Reminder: Practice is important.
Love This: The moment this young man finds out he passed the California bar exam.