“From FDR’s New Deal in the 1930s through the 1960s, there was widespread acceptance that the federal government needed to step up to the plate when the public’s health, safety and economic well-being were in peril. Now, it may be possible to create a national consensus for key priorities. There has been a lot of talk about infrastructure for a dozen years — but no action... Political polarization, obstructionism, failure to compromise have all been the order of the day. There is one area, however, that may provide common ground for those of different parties and political persuasions: protecting our children.” |
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Peter Fenn, Opinion Contributor
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Schools and student learning
Ohio is receiving $3 billion in funds from the U.S. Department of Education that is meant to help with “school reopening" plans. Additional funds through the American Rescue Plan will be released “after states submit the plans they are developing and implementing for using ARP ESSER funds to safely reopen schools and meet the needs of students.” According to the Ohio Capital Journal, State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria anticipates the funds will be used to address school readiness as well as making up for lost learning time.
On the topic of learning gaps, Governor DeWine set a deadline for Ohio schools to submit plans to address student needs post-pandemic, including summer learning. Plans were due yesterday.
Ohio lawmakers are considering further revisions to the school and district report card system, including replacing the A-F letter grade system with a “star-rating” system, according to Gongwer News. The House and Senate each have their own version of a report card overhaul bill to be discussed in their respective chambers. There have been many changes (and critiques) to school grading over time; we’ll be especially curious to see how/where state lawmakers land on details related to early learning, school readiness, and student growth metrics (which are less correlated to socioeconomics than raw performance measures).
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Here’s an article describing the great work done by the university’s Early Head Start Partnership, housed at the Crane & Schoenbaum Centers, which began in 2015 and was renewed for another five years by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2020. The program just received a five-year federal expansion grant that will allow the program to serve more children, offer assistance to pregnant women and add to the EHS network of community partners.
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A law proposed in California would give parents of kindergarteners authority to decide whether their children should be retained rather than move on to first grade. Large numbers of children have missed out on preschool or kindergarten during the pandemic, and many have understandably missed school readiness milestones and experienced learning loss. The 74 Million discusses other state ideas to address student learning loss.
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Join Action for Children (virtually) on April 29th at 7 pm for their annual fundraiser. The event will feature a live stream of an original Action for Children film and show how Child Care is Essential through the story of six-year-old Jai, and her mom, Brittany. More details and registration can be found here.
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Bellwether Education Partners provides an excellent resource in this analysis – a look at what the American Rescue Plan does for education, children, and families.
This New York Times article, “Why child care staff had to show up while teachers worked remotely,” offers a good synopsis of the disparities facing early educators when compared to their K-12 peers and how the pandemic brought this issue to a head. Articles like this are important, we think, to help K-12 educators understand the plight of their early educator peers. To be clear: Making comparisons like this are not meant to say that K-12 teachers *should* have all been teaching in person throughout the pandemic, or that they *shouldn’t* have gotten the vaccine when they did, or anything else meant to cause division. We’re stating this here and now because we imagine early educators simply want K-12 teachers to recognize their value and to show up as advocates and allies alongside them. They are, after all, caring for and molding the children who end up in every teacher’s classroom.
Ohio was named in this report by the National Council on Teacher Quality as being among the states that fully measure knowledge in the science of reading for elementary teacher candidates. Education Week discusses the report here.
This article from Vox explains what child care providers have been through the past year – declining enrollment while facing new costs, layoffs, closures – and what a crucial lifeline the American Rescue Plan provides. It cautions, however: “When the money starts going out, states will need to make sure it actually gets to the providers who need it most — and not just to the largest programs, or those whose owners are best able to deal with state bureaucracy.” This report from Action for Children describes the extent of the problem facing providers locally: Open Does Not Mean Okay: Child Care After a Year of Pandemic.
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New research from the University of Michigan examines the pandemic-related challenges facing early childhood providers - specifically those who are part of Boston’s universal pre-K program. The research illustrates that even in well-funded early childhood sectors - those that were able to keep enrollment steady as well as pay preschool teachers the same as their K-12 counterparts - programs struggled with teacher turnover.
As education and policy leaders discuss summer school as one option to combat student learning loss from the pandemic, it may be prudent to pay attention to research suggesting that summer school (when not engaging young people or run particularly well) may not produce sought-after learning gains.
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This edition written by: Jamie Davies O'Leary, Associate Director of Policy and Caitlin Lennon, Communications & Policy Specialist |
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