Can Covid-19 Take School Reform in a New and Different Direction?
Covid-19 offers the opportunity to think anew and differently about the direction of schooling in America. Chances are it won’t happen.
Consider mandated state tests. U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos said states could waive the spring tests which occurred at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. As to whether the Secretary of Education will permit states to waive the fall administration of those tests is yet to be decided. In mid-July, one of her Assistant Secretaries said that “[a]ccountability aside, we need to know where students are so we can address their needs.” He told reporters that “Our instinct would not be to give those waivers.”
Now, that is goofy. Since the default option for schooling has been remote instruction during the spring and fall semesters with some districts opting for hybrids of it and in-person classroom lessons. What makes a decision to give state tests as mandated by the Every Student Succeeds Act (2016) particularly dumb is that student attendance rates that usually run above 90-95 percent during the 36-week school year have been running well below that figure and in some instances 80 percent attendance especially for those schools with high numbers of low-income minorities (see here, here, and here).
Moreover, continuing technical lapses have occurred before and during remote CONTINUE READING: Can Covid-19 Take School Reform in a New and Different Direction? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice