Make Me (Lessons from the Classroom in a Time of Corona) | Blue Cereal Education

Make Me (Lessons from the Classroom in a Time of Corona) | Blue Cereal Education

Make Me (Lessons from the Classroom in a Time of Corona)

As I write this, the nation is getting restless with all of this Covid-19 “shelter in place” stuff. The daily body count is a constant feature on any 24/7 news channel, and there are some real concerns about how we survive economically even if most of us eventually get through it medically.  I’m not going to argue the science, the economics, or even the politics of the thing at the moment. I can’t help noticing, however, several features of the current crisis which aren’t entirely unfamiliar to educators. Since many of us have a bit more time on our hands than we’d like, I figure there’s nothing lost in pondering a few of them here.

First: The Overwhelmed Medical Profession

Teachers aren’t doctors. We may save lives in some sense, but nothing like what many of them do quite literally every day. Nevertheless, there’s something familiar about the current dynamic in which medical professionals are being asked to handle an ongoing disaster which was largely preventable, using insufficient resources largely selected and distributed based on politics rather than in consultation with those who are actually experts in the field. To those in scrubs: we feel you, friend.

Just to antagonize them further, many of the same voices which are offering token CONTINUE READING: Make Me (Lessons from the Classroom in a Time of Corona) | Blue Cereal Education

As they start virtual lessons, teachers say they were handed cease-and-desist letter by SCUSD | FOX40

As they start virtual lessons, teachers say they were handed cease-and-desist letter by SCUSD | FOX40

As they start virtual lessons, teachers say they were handed cease-and-desist letter by SCUSD

Sacramento schools are back in session but shy roughly 19,000 Chromebooks for students
http://www.abc10.com/article/news/education/sacramento-schools-distance-learning/103-cbb14ecd-23d9-4eb7-89cb-396b4b867c37 via @ABC10

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — The Sacramento City Unified School District kicked off their first week of distance learning Monday.

After 20 years in the classroom, C.K. McClatchy High School teacher Lori Jablonski is no longer taking chalk to the chalkboard. 

“I’ve never expected anything like this,” Jablonski told FOX40. 

She’s one of the countless educators shouldering the daunting task of leaning on technology to teach her nearly 200 students — a third of whom do not have a computer. 

“They can’t participate in distance learning. I mean, it’s that simple,” explained Jablonski.

On Monday, SCUSD teachers began posting lessons and assignments online for students who have access. 

Jablonski said she fears the technology disparity is further widening the opportunity gap.

“We’ve known about the digital divide, obviously, anybody working in public schools know about that. But this just brings it home,” said Jablonski. “There’s no ability to compartmentalize this anymore. The haves and the have nots are just right before us with this crisis.”

District leaders acknowledge the transition to this new learning space has not been easy and said they are committed to smoothing out the road bumps. 

“We will have a lot of challenges ahead of us but our position is that those challenges shouldn’t mean that we stop moving forward. And so, in light of that, certainly none of us can predict what will be different after this COVID crisis is over. But we did think that we had to make this choice now in meeting the needs of all of our students and in particular, the needs of our most vulnerable students,” said SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar.

The school district told FOX40 that it has also already distributed thousands of Chromebooks to families in need and recently unveiled a “hybrid learning” plan where students can communicate by phone and receive textbook assignments.

District officials also said about 27,000 students will have access to either a computer of their own or a district-issued Chromebook, leaving 13,000 students without access. Aguilar pledged to get the thousands of students still without a district-issued Chromebook one soon, yet no date has been promised.

The superintendent said there are thousands of Chromebooks currently on backorder.

As educators work through the challenges, many teachers are providing technical assistance where they can. However, it is something they have been advised against doing in a cease-and-desist letter sent to teachers in early April.

“There was no grace in that letter. That letter was a threat,” said Jablonski.

The district said their more than 40,000 students should instead turn to the district’s tech support department for assistance.

Jablonski and other educators said they will continue being a source of support for students, even if it’s from behind a computer screen.

Cease-and-Desist Letter to SCTA by FOX40 News on Scribd

As they start virtual lessons, teachers say they were handed cease-and-desist letter by SCUSD | FOX40

If online learning isn’t working, try public television and radio - The Washington Post

If online learning isn’t working, try public television and radio - The Washington Post

If online learning isn’t working for your kids, try public television and radio stations

(Updating: Adding more stations)

There are many school districts across the country that have been struggling to set up distance learning programs for students. Online offerings are sometimes nonexistent or spotty at best, and getting paper work packets to students is a near impossibility with much of the country’s public life shut down because of the covid-19 crisis.

So where to turn? One possibility: your local public television and radio stations.

Many of these stations across the country are partnering with school districts and state education departments to provide curriculum-based lessons and educational programming — all free and commercial free. And in some places, award-winning teachers are leading the lessons.

According to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, its members reach almost 99 percent of the country, including areas where families have no Internet service.

There are already several strong partnerships offering extensive programming. For example, PBS SoCal says that more than 200,000 Californians in 140,000 homes are daily tuning into its “At Home Learning” broadcasts — and that the model is being used by more than 70 stations in 30 states. PBS SoCal partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District and several other California public media stations.

Sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked in the newsletter are free to access.

Here are some other examples of partnerships between local public media stations and school districts and states provided by CPB, though it is not an exhaustive list: 

• WGBH in Boston announced a partnership with PBS to launch the At-Home Learning Service to PBS stations nationwide. The five-hour block of programming for students in grades 6 to 12, backed by PBS LearningMedia resources, airs from noon to 5 p.m. on WORLD Channel, which is available to 70 percent of the country.
• WETA, MPT and WHUT in the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area have started “At-Home Learning,” 11 hours of educational programming across all three stations (including on WETA PBS) that cater to specific school-age groups.
• In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam and the Virginia Department of Education announced that the four public media stations covering the state — including WETA — have teamed up to offer “VA TV Classroom,” where instructional content at state educational standards are aired on WETA PBS Kids from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. .
• KEET in Eureka, Calif., and WNIT in South Bend, Ind., announced plans to air the WORLD Channel offerings from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• WKAR in East Lansing, Mich., announced that it is airing the WORLD Channel block and adding two hours of K-6 programming to its main channel.
• NJTV, in partnership with the New Jersey Education Association and the New Jersey Department of Education, announced the launch of “NJTV Learning Live,” which started April 6 and is broadcast on weekdays. State Teacher of the Year Kimberly Dickstein Hughes hosts, as some of New Jersey’s best public schoolteachers teach on-air classes daily for grades 3 to 6 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is live-streamed for viewers in New Jersey.
• WCNY, in partnership with the Syracuse City School District, launched the TV Classroom network, K-12 classes taught by district teachers and administrators from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays on WCNY’s GLOBAL CONNECT channel, simulcast from wcny.org, WCNY’s Facebook page via a live stream on YouTube.
• PBS Wisconsin and Milwaukee PBS have partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to support at-home learning for students and families by broadcasting a new weekday television schedule of programming with digital resources that connect to Wisconsin’s state academic standards.
• APT announced its Learn at Home With Alabama Public Television initiative, which will modify its regularly scheduled programming to offer specific pre-K-12 resources. APT’s resources are Alabama state standards aligned, customizable, and can be fully integrated with digital teaching platforms such as Google Classroom and Remind.
• Alaska Public Media announced the launch of a 12-hour educational broadcast schedule in partnership with the Anchorage School District.
• Vegas PBS is offering pre-K-12 curriculum-based educational programming from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays in partnership with the Clark County School District and Nevada Department of Education.
• West Virginia Public Broadcasting announced its biweekly TV “Education Station,” offered through a partnership with the West Virginia Department of Education. Teachers across West Virginia have sent in videos of themselves teaching their favorite lessons, and they are presented from 9 to 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays on WVPB across the state and on YouTube.
• KOSU reported that RSU-TV (KRSU) is airing courses taught by teachers from Tulsa Public Schools and Sequoyah Public Schools in Claremore four days a week. This is separate from Oklahoma Educational Television Authority’s schedule of educational programming, airing 12 hours a day statewide with accompanying digital resources.
• The Bennington Banner and others reported that the Vermont Agency of Education has partnered with Vermont PBS to provide educational programming to students, with pre-K-8 programming from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the main channel and Grades 6 to 12 from noon to 5 p.m. on the PBS Plus channel.
• Our Midland (Michigan) reported that Delta Broadcasting/Q TV is offering At Home Learning for grades 4 to 8 from 8 a.m. to noon, the PBS KIDS channel, and grades 9 to 12 through WORLD Channel.
• The Quad City Herald in Washington state reported that KCTS 9, KBTC, KSPS, and Northwest Public Broadcasting are partnering with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to offer distance learning via PBS KIDS, WORLD Channel and PBS LearningMedia.
• PBS39 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, launched Lehigh Valley Learns, on Monday, March 30, which broadcasts over PBS39’s channels in the mornings, with K-5 specific programming at the same time each weekday. It has a partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the six other public TV stations in PA..

MORE: If online learning isn’t working, try public television and radio - The Washington Post

The “Magic Bullet” in School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The “Magic Bullet” in School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The “Magic Bullet” in School Reform

In the recent past, when school reform cheerleaders touted a particular design or program, they would often drop the phrase “magic bullet” into the discussion. While in 2020 the phrase has become passe’ the thought behind it remains solidly planted in reformers’ imaginations.

Today, the words would be used disparagingly since few believe in any “quick fix” for the achievement gap or re-engaging unmotivated students into learning. However, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the search for a “magic” pill or eventually a vaccine has the ring of that outdated phrase.

The phrase, however, was commonly used in earlier decades of school reform. Remember “Career Education” in the 1970s; “restructuring schools” in the 1980s; “systemic school reform” in the 1990s. Don’t forget “choice” in the 1990s when John Chubb and Terry Moe pronounced it as a “panacea.” And for the past decade, champions of “magic bullets” have touted “teacher pay-for-performance,” Reading First, Teach for America, and principals as instructional leaders. I could go on and on but the point of very smart people believing in one CONTINUE READING: The “Magic Bullet” in School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

NYC Educator: No Grade Should Fall in Spring

NYC Educator: No Grade Should Fall in Spring

No Grade Should Fall in Spring

I just read a piece from a student journalist at Francis Lewis High School. In it, he describes the difficulty of navigating online instruction when there's stiff competition for the use of the home laptop. And alas, the home laptop may not be precisely state of the art, so there's that too.

Worse, you may have to share it with half a dozen other family members. This is the case in a lot of homes. In fact I know teachers who have multiple college students at home, all sharing an inadequate number of computers, and sucking up bandwidth from one another.

I have a pair of sisters who share a phone to attend my class. Now if this student journalist from our school has that issue, how many more students citywide have similar ones? Despite the ubiquitous phones in our classrooms, we don't really notice students who haven't got them. That's an issue.

Right now, there's talk of dropping APPR for the school year. That's a very good idea. There's no way a supervisor can rate anyone based on Danelson while students hide behind avatars. You can't observe student engagement if you can't observe students. Furthermore, you can't act to improve student engagement if you can't see it, or if you can't even guess as to why that is. If we advocate not to be judged unfairly, how can we not ask the same consideration for our students?

Who knows why they're behind those avatars? Sure, they could be asleep. Sure, they could be out of the room, or playing video games somewhere. However, they could also be in an overcrowded apartment, or living under conditions they don't see fit to share with you or their classmates. They could have someone sick, hospitalized or even dying from the virus. There are so many possibilities, we can barely begin to speculate.

Why don't students show to your online classes? We really don't know that either. Word got out early that attendance ought not to factor into grades, and maybe they know that. CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: No Grade Should Fall in Spring

Educators Get Creative To Serve Students With Disabilities | 89.3 KPCC

Educators Get Creative To Serve Students With Disabilities | 89.3 KPCC

Educators Get Creative To Serve Students With Disabilities

Despite cranky computers, conflicting schedules, shaky Internet connections and stubborn software glitches, Danielle Kovach got her whole class together a few Fridays ago for a video chat.

Kovach teaches special education in Hopatcong, N.J., and this Friday class session was a celebration: They'd made it through the first few weeks of distance learning.

Throughout those weeks, she'd maintained her 8:30 a.m. morning meeting over the computer, she was adhering to each student's IEP, or Individualized Education Plan, and juggling new lessons with old routines, as she adapted to the coronavirus crisis. She was exhausted.

And so the celebration was a big moment (and a big hit with her students). She instructed everyone to bring your pet to class. "They were all holding up their dogs, their cats," says Kovach. "We had fish, stuffed animals. They were so excited, it was just a fun time together."

She needed that victory.

"In my over 20 years of teaching, this by far has been my most challenging moment," says Kovach. The Internet has been a blessing and a curse — it took time to get all her families connected, but even now, the connection speed is flaky, and she really misses the personal contact she enjoys with her second- and third-graders.

On top of that, she's got three kids of her own at home. "I think that all of our teachers have risen to the challenge to make this work," Kovach says. "But there's also a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of worry."

As schools and learning have moved online, one of the biggest challenges has been providing special education. An estimated 14% of public school students receive such services in the U.S., and federal law requires schools to provide them. The U.S. CONTINUE READING: Educators Get Creative To Serve Students With Disabilities | 89.3 KPCC

The Pandemic: For Many Students It May Mean the End of the American Dream | janresseger

The Pandemic: For Many Students It May Mean the End of the American Dream | janresseger

The Pandemic: For Many Students It May Mean the End of the American Dream

Federal education policy, driven by laws like the 2002, No Child Left Behind and its 2015 replacement, the Every Student Succeeds Act, makes assumptions about the power of schools as institutions.  These laws presume that a school institution can mitigate the academic effects of economic inequality among families and communities. No Child Left Behind, for example, proclaimed that it would force schools to close achievement gaps and make all children proficient by 2014.

By forcing school closures across the nation, however, the coronavirus is showing us why No Child Left Behind failed to do what it promised. Today we can clearly see the depth and scope of inequality in America.  If we pay attention, we can also see why our expectations for public schools have been entirely unreasonable. No Child Left Behind was designed in a way that punishes the schools serving the poorest students, schools where test scores are unlikely to rise quickly. The goal was to provide incentives for teachers to work harder to raise scores. But no public school by itself has never had the capacity entirely to alleviate the effects of extreme poverty.

No matter how attentive a school may be to the goal of ameliorating inequality, we are learning that institutions mask the disparities in students’ economic circumstances.  This is, of course, desirable. Our society has tried to make it possible to bring children, adolescents or young adults together—to provide an equal school experience. Our society has grown so unequal, however, that no institution can erase the barrier posed by extreme poverty.

For the NY Times, Nicholas Casey traces the contrasting stories of seniors in a seminar on immigration and inequality at Haverford, a private, selective, and very expensive liberal arts college. Casey’s story is about higher education, but what he shows us is surely relevant to all educational institutions.  When the college shut down in March due to the coronavirus, a tenured and experienced political science professor teaching a class that covered inequality was stunned by what she discovered:  “‘It’s as though you had a front-row view on American inequality and the ways in which it was disguised and papered over,’ said Anita Isaacs, the CONTINUE READING: The Pandemic: For Many Students It May Mean the End of the American Dream | janresseger

Social-Emotional Learning Should Be Priority During COVID-19 Crisis

Social-Emotional Learning Should Be Priority During COVID-19 Crisis

Social-Emotional Learning Should Be Priority During COVID-19 Crisis

In Wendy Turner’s class, social and emotional learning (SEL)  comes first.  “SEL is the foundation, the heartbeat of the classroom,” she says. “It’s about connecting everybody and making them feel safe and secure before you get to the academics.”

The shift to full-time online learning in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has brought change and challenges to her second grade classroom but hasn’t shaken SEL’s standing.

“This virus has stolen our kids’ school experience for the rest of the year potentially and we’re not sure what comes next,” says Turner. “They miss their friends and their teachers, the feeling of being together and connected.”

“So we have to work on relationship skills and how to talk to each other the right way. It’s more important than ever right now.”

Turner, who teaches in Wilmington, Delaware, is a self-described “warrior” of social emotional learning. The 2017 Delaware Teacher of the Year and an NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow, she embeds SEL in all aspects of her teaching.

Many educators, however, are keenly and understandably focused on “getting the academics right” with online learning. With their classrooms, student relationships and support systems upended by the school closures, social-emotional learning CONTINUE READING: Social-Emotional Learning Should Be Priority During COVID-19 Crisis

James Kirylo: COVID-19 and Standardized Testing | deutsch29

James Kirylo: COVID-19 and Standardized Testing | deutsch29
James Kirylo: COVID-19 and Standardized Testing

In his piece below, Kirylo considers the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic upon standardized-test-dependent accountability. (A quick note: Kirylo briefly interviewed me for this article.)

COVID-19 and Standardized Testing

James D. Kirylo

COVID-19 has obviously rocked our world, forcing us to change and adapt in so many different ways, including how we do K-12 schooling. It is truly quite remarkable how educators across the country have rapidly responded by exclusively shifting to an online format for the nearly 57 million K-12 students in the U.S.

Making that shift has not been easy, nor has it been simple to do for students and their parents/caregivers, even more heightened for those who are limited with technological or internet access at home. In addition to the change to the online delivery format, school systems all over the country are scrambling around on how to go about assessing and evaluating students.

In short, the action of assessment is the tools (e.g., teacher-constructed tests, portfolios, standardized tests) that are used to evaluate students through some kind of grading system.And when it comes to standardized testing which are mandated by the federal government under the reauthorization of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), this translates into state assessment and accountability systems across the country using test scores as an evaluative tool to play a part in student grade level promotion and graduation, the evaluation of teachers, and the rankings of schools.

Yet, COVID-19 presents an interesting dilemma because the US Department of Education has allowed states the discretion to waive the CONTINUE READING: James Kirylo: COVID-19 and Standardized Testing | deutsch29

Mike Klonsky's Blog: AOC and Sanders point the way for lefties

Mike Klonsky's Blog: AOC and Sanders point the way for lefties

AOC and Sanders point the way for lefties

There’s this talk about unity as this kind of vague, kumbaya, kind of term. Unity and unifying isn’t a feeling, it’s a process. -- AOC

There's no need for us to create crises. There's plenty of them to go around. Some occur naturally and others are man-made or politically manufactured. No matter how much we all yearn for a return to "normalcy" the storms will keep rolling in.

Among the questions facing millions of those of us hardest hit by this crisis, as we to race to November, is which forces are capable of leading the way out of the coronavirus crisis and of building a coalition capable of toppling Trump and Trumpism? While sectarian and divisive practices are holding back some on the left, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders continue to point the way forward in these hard times.

Aside from identifying the main issues for the moment at hand, like healthcare for all, economic justice, a Green New Deal, and racial equality -- AOC and Bernie are modeling for young activists, good tactical leadership. How to unite and struggle at the same time. They are also finding new ways to keep the struggle alive under impossible conditions, while Democratic Party regulars have generally stayed hidden in quarantine. 

Bernie's endorsement of Joe Biden is a case in point. It enables Bernie and his large base of mostly-young activists to maintain their focus on defeating Trump while at the same time, continue to push those issues while the public is laser-focused on politics. Bernie has made it clear that his support for Biden is conditional and must continually be renegotiated. 

“It’s no great secret Joe that you and I have our differences, and we are not going to paper them over. That’s real,” Sanders said. “But I hope that these task forces will come together, utilizing the best minds and people in your campaign and in my campaign, to work out real solutions to these very, very important problems.” 

There are many young people, including African-American and Latinx activists who are simply CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: AOC and Sanders point the way for lefties

DeVos Offers $3 Billion In Education Emergency Block Grants To Governors

DeVos Offers $3 Billion In Education Emergency Block Grants To Governors

DeVos Offers $3 Billion In Education Emergency Block Grants To Governors

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced today that close to $3 billion is being made available to governors to “ensure education continues for students of all ages impacted by the coronavirus national emergency.”

The money will be given out in block grants, meaning that governors are, mostly, free to use it as they see fit. The requirements are relatively short, and the actual paperwork is pretty simple by government standards., with the stated intent of getting the money to states as quickly as possible.

The Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund is a portion of the CARES Act, carved out of the $30.75 billion total outlay for education. GEER is divided between the states based on the state’s population aged 5 to 24 (60%) and on the Title I, Part A formula count (40%). Allocations range from $6.5 million for Alaska to $355 million for California.

In her cover letter to the governors, DeVos promises, “My Department will not micromanage how you spend these funds.” True to the promise to streamline the CONTINUE READING: DeVos Offers $3 Billion In Education Emergency Block Grants To Governors

One Week of Headlines: School’s Out FOREVER (until next year), No F’s in the Last Quarter, UTLA Pushes Back on Relocations and More… – Los Angeles Education Examiner

One Week of Headlines: School’s Out FOREVER (until next year), No F’s in the Last Quarter, UTLA Pushes Back on Relocations and More… – Los Angeles Education Examiner

One Week of Headlines: School’s Out FOREVER (until next year), No F’s in the Last Quarter, UTLA Pushes Back on Relocations and More…

Well, it’s official. Yesterday morning, LAUSD announced that its buildings will be closed until the next school year giving time for more long-term planning to educate students in a safe environment while we wait for a coronavirus vaccine. Summer school will be offered online. No final word on STAR or other camps based on the school campus, but based on the language used by Beutner, I would guess they aren’t happening. LAist/KPCC, KTLA, EdSource.

The LAUSD announcement came the same day Spring Break ended and students returned to their virtual learning experience. It’s a hard way to start off Spring quarter, and in response there have been many wonderful “missing you” videos from all around the District. An exemplar is from Venice High School, where the same teachers who stole the city’s heart by dancing in the rain during the 2019 strike did their best to put a happy face on this weird experience in this video.

And while classes continue online, the move to approve charter co-locations continues in the real world. UTLA is asking LAUSD to put a halt on all charter co-location applications until the general public can be more involved in the process. Such a move is in-line with recommendations from national advocates for equity and inclusion in public processes.

From the “best practices” department comes a virtual spirit week put together by the parent advocate at Richland Avenue Elementary School (where my kids go.) If you’re looking for something fun to add to your curriculum or your kids’ sheltering at home, check it out.

Find SARS2/Covid19 resources for families here.

One Week of Headlines: School’s Out FOREVER (until next year), No F’s in the Last Quarter, UTLA Pushes Back on Relocations and More… – Los Angeles Education Examiner

CURMUDGUCATION: Florida's Troubled Cyber School Launches Alaskan Spinoff

CURMUDGUCATION: Florida's Troubled Cyber School Launches Alaskan Spinoff

Florida's Troubled Cyber School Launches Alaskan Spinoff

So Alaska's teachers were just getting themselves set up to handle distance learning, when their governor pulled the rug out from under them. He'd had a chat with everybody's favorite failed Presidential candidate and education-busting former governor Jab Bush, who suggested that Alaska would be an excellent fit for Florida's Virtual School.

No, really. I wish I were making this up. But I'm not--in a stunning display of one-size-fits-allness, Alaska is now a client of Florida's cyber school.

Dunleavy should know better-- the man's pre-politics career was in teaching. But Dunleavy has been the target of a recall campaign having taken an axe to, well, nearly everything. That included whacking the heck out of education-- 21% off the K-12 budget and a whopping 41% chopped out of the University of Alaska system. Education just needed to get more efficient, he explained.

Not the Everglades.

And what could be more efficient than a cyber-school business that has been through one mess after another (not that Florida's public ed-hating legislature cares-- they're seeing if they can't use the current crisis to get FLVS to take over the whole business).

The above links, it should be noted, only get you to the problems with FLVS that are publicly discussed. Talk to Floridian teachers (off the record) and you hear all your worst fears about cyber-school confirmed. Tests taken by heaven-only-knows-who, including voices that can be heard in the background when doing a "live" hookup. Technical issues.

One would think that, since FLVS has been in business since 1997, a prospective customer might ask CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Florida's Troubled Cyber School Launches Alaskan Spinoff

CA Receives Approval for Crisis Response Funds - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

CA Receives Approval for Crisis Response Funds - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

California Receives Preliminary Federal Approval to Free Up Funds for Crisis Response

SACRAMENTO —The U.S. Department of Education has granted preliminary approval to California’s request for flexibility in using federal funds to ease the immediate impacts of COVID-19 school closures.

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond submitted the request for waivers, authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, on Friday, April 10, 2020. The waivers were approved today.

The waivers loosen restrictions on how and when federal education funds can be spent. They remove a cap on technology purchases, ease limits on the amount of unspent federal funds that can be carried over from one federal fiscal year to the next, and relax rules about the use of money for teacher professional development.

“With this much needed flexibility, the state can shift resources to such pressing needs as training our workforce on distance learning and building up our technology infrastructure,” said Superintendent Tony Thurmond. “In this time of crisis, the ability to quickly direct resources to needs is critically important.”

Board President Darling-Hammond thanked the U.S. Department of Education for helping California’s efforts to improve online learning during this unprecedented time of crisis. “We are pleased that the federal government responded so quickly to our requests,” said Darling-Hammond. “In this time of great uncertainty, being assured that we can repurpose this money to address urgent concerns is a great relief.”

Specifically, California received preliminary waivers from:

• Section 1127(b) of Title I, Part A of the ESEA so that your State educational agency (SEA) may waive, more than once every three years, if necessary, the 15 percent carryover limitation in ESEA section 1127(a) for fiscal year (FY) 2019 Title I, Part A funds.
• Section 421(b) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) to extend the period of availability of FY 2018 funds for programs in which your SEA participates under its approved consolidated State plan until September 30, 2021.
• Section 4106(d) of Title IV, Part A of the ESEA related to local educational agency (LEA) needs assessments for the 2019-2020 school year.
• Section 4106(e)(2)(C), (D), and (E) of Title IV, Part A of the ESEA with respect to content-area spending requirements for FYs 2018 and 2019 Title IV, Part A funds.
• Section 4109(b) of Title IV, Part A of the ESEA with respect to the spending limitation for technology infrastructure for FYs 2018 and 2019 Title IV, Part A funds.
• Section 8101(42) of the ESEA, which defines “professional development,” for activities funded for the 2019-2020 school year.

In compliance with federal regulations, the state is accepting public comment on the waiver application through May 1. Please send comments via email to ESSA@cde.ca.gov or by mail to the California Department of Education, Government Affairs Division, 1430 N Street, Suite 5602, Sacramento, CA 95814-5901.

# # # #

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

CA Receives Approval for Crisis Response Funds - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)