CURMUDGUCATION: Betsy DeVos, the Catholic Church, and Public Tax Dollars

CURMUDGUCATION: Betsy DeVos, the Catholic Church, and Public Tax Dollars

Betsy DeVos, the Catholic Church, and Public Tax Dollars

The Trump administration and the Catholic Church have seemed extra tight lately. And an awful lot of it has to do with public education.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan (New York) took the lead in a fun conference call last month in which Trump, along with Betsy DeVos, swapped personal admiration and what is either some quid pro quo or just a shared love for the notion of shredding public education and replacing it with private religious schools.

Soon after, the cardinal hosted DeVos on his SiriusXM show, where this exchange was reported by Matt Barnum for Chalkbeat:

In a conversation with DeVos on SiriusXM radio, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Catholic archbishop of New York, suggested that the secretary was trying to “utilize this particular crisis to ensure that justice is finally done to our kids and the parents who choose to send them to faith-based schools,” including through a new program that encourages states to offer voucher-like grants for parents.

“Am I correct in understanding what your agenda is?” Dolan asks.

“Yes, absolutely,” DeVos responded. “For more than three decades that has been something that I’ve been passionate about. This whole pandemic has brought into clear focus that everyone has been impacted, and we shouldn’t be thinking about students that are in public schools versus private schools.”

None of this is new for the Catholic Church. Google your state's "Catholic Conference school choice" and in most cases you'll be taken to an entire page of school choice advocacy. In Pennsylvania, CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Betsy DeVos, the Catholic Church, and Public Tax Dollars

Mike Klonsky's Blog: We're re-imagining post-corona schools. So are they.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: We're re-imagining post-corona schools. So are they.

We're re-imagining post-corona schools. So are they.

Using federal school rescue funds to feed private school operators.

I find myself wishing for a storm in Chicago — an unpredictable, haughty, devastating swirl of fury. A dramatic levee break. Geysers bursting through manhole covers. A sleeping city, forced onto the rooftops. " -- Kristen McQueary, Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Rethinking corona-era schooling seems to be the order of the day for progressives and community educators. But rest assured, we're not the only ones doing the rethinking. Fifteen years ago, the shock & awe that came with Hurricane Katrina, left the door open for conservative ideologues like Friedman, along with the privateers and charter hustlers to reimagine the Gulf Coast disaster not as a crisis, but as an opportunity for privatization and profit.

I remember Obama's Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calling Katrina “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans,” because it gave the city a chance to bust the teachers union, fire the predominantly-black teaching force, and replace every public school CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: We're re-imagining post-corona schools. So are they.

NYC Public School Parents: Problems with remote learning from the perspective of a NYC student and a NYC teacher

NYC Public School Parents: Problems with remote learning from the perspective of a NYC student and a NYC teacher

Problems with remote learning from the perspective of a NYC student and a NYC teacher

First, here is testimony from Joshua Applewhite, NYC high school student, at yesterday's City Council hearings, who said that because of remote learning, "I feel like a robot. As a matter of fact, I feel like this whole situation is handled like we’re robots and we’re not humans with different feelings and different circumstances and different situations.” 

More on the findings from these hearings here and here, including the fact that the city’s summer school plan for remote learning calls for only one counselor or social worker for every 1,045 students and only one teacher for 30 struggling students.

Below this video is a piece by Ronit Wrubel, a NYC teacher, who points out another big problem  with remote learning - it's difficult for teachers to see their students' eyes.

DON'T FORGET THE EYES by Ronit Wrubel

Exactly 10 years ago, in April of 2010, I wrote an essay called "Don't Forget The Eyes".

I had been teaching using a document camera where I projected images onto a pull-down screen and showed most of my lessons using slides, photos, and various worksheets that had been transferred onto clear acetate pages. I used colored write on/wipe off markers to share my teaching points. I found value in the interactivity of this ‘teaching tool’.

My document camera was positioned behind my class meeting area in order to properly project what we were learning. The children would look at the screen while listening to CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Problems with remote learning from the perspective of a NYC student and a NYC teacher

David Berliner: Kids Missing School? Don’t Worry. | Diane Ravitch's blog

David Berliner: Kids Missing School? Don’t Worry. | Diane Ravitch's blog

David Berliner: Kids Missing School? Don’t Worry.

David Berliner, one of our nation’s most eminent researchers, advises parents not to worry that their children are “falling behind.” School is important. Instruction is important. But “soft skills” and non—cognitive skills matter more in the long term than academic skills. Relax.

He sent this advice to the blog:

Worried About Those “Big” Losses on School Tests Because Of Extended Stays At Home? They May Not Even Happen,
And If They Do, They May Not Matter Much At All!

David C. Berliner
Regents Professor Emeritus
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ.

Although my mother passed away many years ago, I need now to make a public confession about a crime she committed year in and year out. When I was young, she prevented me from obtaining one year of public schooling. Surely that must be a crime!

Let me explain. Every year my mother took me out of school for three full weeks following the Memorial Day CONTINUE READING: David Berliner: Kids Missing School? Don’t Worry. | Diane Ravitch's blog

Are you trying to teach your kids too much at home? - Teachers weigh in on what’s most important

Parents teaching kids: Teachers weigh in on what’s most important

Are you trying to teach your kids too much at home?
Teachers weigh in on what’s most important

For parents of young children who are still trudging along with homeschooling, the early years pose some of the most flummoxing challenges: Many children are trying to learn to read basic words and write simple sentences, yet they aren’t old enough to work independently. Social media is full of stories of parents-turned-teachers who are over it, sharing stories of hours spent trying to get their kids to write a few sentences or follow a packed daily assignment schedule.

For those who are still trying to forge ahead, I spoke to three educators for advice:

Writing

“I wouldn’t focus on formal writing instruction,” said Christa Newcum, a second grade teacher at Future Public School in Garden City, Idaho. “It’s hard to teach and will no doubt create unnecessary stress for families and children.” If parents do want to teach writing, Newcum suggests they keep it informal. Ask children to write in a journal, write letters to pen pals or let kids do “free writing” with no rules.

“I wouldn’t focus on formal writing instruction. It’s hard to teach and will no doubt create unnecessary stress for families and children.”

Christa Newcum, second grade teacher at Future Public School in Garden City, Idaho.

Sarah Adkins, a kindergarten teacher in the Nooksack Valley School District in Washington state, said parents should be careful not to push for perfection—particularly when it comes to spelling. “We shouldn’t be CONTINUE READING: Parents teaching kids: Teachers weigh in on what’s most important

JONATHAN KANTROWITZ: The Great Recession Badly Hurt Kids’ Schooling; Today’s Recession Could Do Much Worse - Jonathan Kantrowitz

The Great Recession Badly Hurt Kids’ Schooling; Today’s Recession Could Do Much Worse - Jonathan Kantrowitz

The Great Recession Badly Hurt Kids’ Schooling; Today’s Recession Could Do Much Worse

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Whenever our kids return to school, a severely diminished learning experience awaits them unless the federal government learns an important lesson from the past and significantly boosts state aid — and soon.

The last time that states faced a budget crisis, in the wake of the Great Recession of a decade ago, emergency federal aid closed only about one-quarter of state budget shortfalls. Once the aid was gone, states started cutting funding to K-12 schools to help comply with their balanced budget requirements. By 2011, 17 states had cut per-student funding by more than 10 percent. Local school districts responded by cutting teachers, librarians, and other staff; scaling back counseling and other services; and even reducing the number of school days. Even by 2014 — five years after the Great Recession ended — state support for K-12 schools in most states remained below pre-recession levels.

School districts have never recovered from the layoffs they imposed back then. When COVID-19 hit, K-12 schools employed 77,000 fewer teachers and other workers even though they were teaching 2 million more children, and overall funding in many states was still below pre-Great Recession levels.

Money matters in education. As my colleague Cortney Sanders recently noted, “Adequate school funding helps raise high school completion rates, close achievement gaps, and make the future workforce more productive by boosting student outcomes, studies show.” The Great Recession in particular hurt students’ educations, driving down test scores and the rate at which students attend college, Northwestern University economist C. Kirabo Jackson and two colleagues found.

Now, with the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression closing businesses and sending unemployment soaring, state income and sales taxes — on which states overwhelmingly rely to fund education and other services — are drying up. As a result, we estimate that state budget shortfalls over the next three years will total $765 billion.

Federal aid to date, plus state rainy day funds, can close about one-fifth of those state gaps, leaving states $590 billion CONTINUE READING: The Great Recession Badly Hurt Kids’ Schooling; Today’s Recession Could Do Much Worse - Jonathan Kantrowitz

School Reopenings: Expect Masks, Tiny Classes, Staggered Days | Los Angeles, CA Patch

School Reopenings: Expect Masks, Tiny Classes, Staggered Days | Los Angeles, CA Patch

School Reopenings: Expect Masks, Tiny Classes, Staggered Days
The L.A. County Office of Education released a detailed plan for returning to school, featuring stark changes for students and teachers.

LOS ANGELES, CA — The L.A. County Office of Education released a detailed plan for returning to school in the fall, and it's like nothing American schools have ever seen before. Under the new guidelines, all students will be required to wear masks, and classrooms would be limited to 16 students with lunch being served in the classroom and recess a solitary affair. School days would be staggered, each student could be assigned one ball to play with and hallways will see one-way foot traffic — all in an effort to protect the county's two million students and their families from the coronavirus outbreak.

The detailed 45-page plan released Wednesday imposes severe restrictions on both teachers and students. According to the Los Angeles Times, the framework was developed through the work of county staffers, outside advisors and representatives from the 23 county school systems, each of which must develop its own reopening plan. It remains to be seen if the county's various school districts will have the means to impose many of the recommended restrictions.

"Our main priority is health and safety," said Debra Duardo, the superintendent for the L.A. County Office of Education, which provides services and financial oversight for the county's 80 school systems. "Unfortunately some of the things that children could enjoy in the past, they're not going to be able to do that."

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Teachers and administrators face a monumental task trying to balance the health of students with their emotional and developmental need for socialization. Getting through to kindergartners eager to play tag with one another will be a major challenge.

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"That is a big challenge because our nature is to play together and the socialization is so important at that age," Cerritos Principal Perla Chavez-Fritz told the Los Angeles Times. "Maybe hula hoops and things that the students can play together alone."

Despite unprecedented efforts, schools and teachers have had mixed success garnering student engagement through remote learning. The need for a robust return to academics has never been higher than in the upcoming school year, yet schools face budget cuts of about 10% in the governor's proposed budget.

SEE ALSO: LA Sees Largest Coronavirus Spike As Stealth Spreaders Pose Risk

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.

School Reopenings: Expect Masks, Tiny Classes, Staggered Days | Los Angeles, CA Patch

Randi Weingarten: What summer programs can teach us about reopening schools this fall - The Washington Post

Randi Weingarten: What summer programs can teach us about reopening schools this fall - The Washington Post

This summer, we can test-drive best practices for safely reopening schools

Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Parents, educators and students are wondering whether, and how, public schools will reopen in the fall. It’s a daunting challenge. But with real investment and planning, the next few months could provide an opportunity to test-drive best practices for safely reopening schools. If safe to do so, school districts might offer voluntary summer school, adhering to public health protocols to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. This could help students catch up on lost learning as well as get needed social and emotional support.

The covid-19 pandemic closed schools practically overnight. Absent other choices, distance learning ramped up almost as quickly. Although teachers have done remarkable work, the past two months make clear that remote learning is no substitute for in-person classroom learning and interaction. Many parents have newfound respect for the craft of teaching, and students say they can’t wait to get back to school.

The covid-19 crisis has exacerbated some glaring inequities. Rural and low-income students often lack broadband Internet, laptops, tablets or phones with which to work. They have missed opportunities to connect with their teachers and classmates. English-language learners and students with disabilities have been at a disadvantage, as have students facing housing or food insecurity.

As much as 70 percent of the achievement gap between affluent students and their less-advantaged peers can be attributed to the “summer slide.” This year’s unprecedented “spring slide” is certain to worsen that gap. But studies also show that students who participate in high-quality, voluntary, multiweek summer learning programs make significant gains in reading and math, as well as experiencing social and emotional benefits.

Reopening schools is a key part of overall reopening, but it must be done safely and thoughtfully. The fight against the coronavirus is far from over, and the second wave of the 1918 flu was worse than the first. Absent a vaccine, no one knows what the future will bring. Adhering to public health safeguards is CONTINUE READING: Randi Weingarten: What summer programs can teach us about reopening schools this fall - The Washington Post

Burris and Kilfoyle: The Charter Schools That Are Double-Dipping Federal CARES Funds | Diane Ravitch's blog

Burris and Kilfoyle: The Charter Schools That Are Double-Dipping Federal CARES Funds | Diane Ravitch's blog

Burris and Kilfoyle: The Charter Schools That Are Double-Dipping Federal CARES Funds

Are charter schools public schools or small businesses with government contracts? They claim to be public schools, even though they have private, unelected boards and private management. Yet many charter schools applied for and received federal funds from the CARES Act, at the urging of their lobbyists, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

They took money intended to save small businesses. Public schools are not allowed to apply.

Writing at Valerie Strauss’s “The Answer Sheet,” Carol Burris and Marla Kilfoyle of the Network for Public Education ask Why charter schools get this money?

Please open the article to see the many links to sources.

Valerie Strauss writes:

When Congress passed a huge economic assistance aid package in March, known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, it included $13.5 billion in funding for K-12 grants to states. Most of the money was supposed to be distributed to school districts and charter schools through a formula based on their share of Title 1 funds, which are intended to help CONTINUE READING: Burris and Kilfoyle: The Charter Schools That Are Double-Dipping Federal CARES Funds | Diane Ravitch's blog

Schools Closed for Five Years: The Prince Edward County Story (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Schools Closed for Five Years: The Prince Edward County Story (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Schools Closed for Five Years: The Prince Edward County Story (Part 2)

That the 2020 pandemic closed public venues including schools for three to six months across 13,000 districts in the country startled American families upending familiar daily routines. Most Moms and Dads had never experienced such a turnabout in their daily lives. Then many Americans learned of earlier influenza and polio epidemics when public officials closed schools during the first half of the 20th century.

But the vast majority of Americans know next to nothing about a Virginia county in 1959 that shut down its public schools until 1963.

That is what happened in Prince Edward County when an all-white school board, refusing a court order to desegregate, shuttered its schools and using public funds for vouchers and tax credits created a private white-only academy for students. That decision left black children and youth with no access to public elementary and secondary schooling for five years.

What did black families do when the doors to their schools were locked?

Black leaders, parents, students, and a few whites protested. The white-controlled Board of Supervisors and the County Board of Education, nonetheless, kept the schools closed.

Some families sent their sons and daughters to relatives elsewhere in Virginia where at least segregated schools were open, to families in North Carolina, CONTINUE READING: Schools Closed for Five Years: The Prince Edward County Story (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

BEST DOG AND PONY SHOW OF THE SEASON: SCUSD May Revise Presentation with comments - YouTube

May Revise Presentation with comments - YouTube

BEST DOG AND PONY SHOW OF THE SEASON
SCUSD May Revise Presentation with comments

May Revise Presentation with comments - YouTube

Annie Tan: My First-Year Disaster with Teach for America | deutsch29

Annie Tan: My First-Year Disaster with Teach for America | deutsch29

Annie Tan: My First-Year Disaster with Teach for America

On May 26, 2020, a tweet by NYC teacher Annie Tan caught my attention:

I first heard of Teach for America (TFA) in 1991. I was finishing my undergraduate degree in education, and a friend who was not an education major told me that upon graduation, he would be teaching for a couple of years via provisional certification in a city with teacher shortages, in connection with an organization called Teach for America.

At the time, in 1991, I thought, that sounds okay.

Cut to 2013, the year in which I wrote my first book, A Chronicle of Echoes, which CONTINUE READING: Annie Tan: My First-Year Disaster with Teach for America | deutsch29

I’m Teaching From Home and Don’t Know How Long We Can Keep This Up | The New Republic - https://newrepublic.com/article/157601/im-teaching-home-dont-know-long-can-keep on @newrepublic

Tell Congress to protect your family’s privacy | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Tell Congress to protect your family’s privacy | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

TELL CONGRESS TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY’S PRIVACY

HR 6172, the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act, would reauthorize portions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act governing the intelligence agencies’ search and surveillance activities. A critical privacy amendment introduced by Senators Wyden and Daines failed by only one vote in the Senate last week that would have prohibited the government from spying on private citizens’ internet searches without a warrant, as well as their phone and computer histories.

Please send a letter to your Representatives in Congress today, asking them to support an amendment to FISA with similar language, to protect your privacy and that of your children under the Fourth Amendment against the government surveilling your family’s internet searches and phone and computer histories without a warrant.

Since the Wyden-Daine amendment failed, a bipartisan coalition of more than 60 groups wrote a letter to Congress saying that the FBI should not be allowed to to spy on Americans’ internet activity without a warrant.   More on this in Roll Call.

Especially in these times of students being required to use the internet for remote learning, let your House members know that the protecting privacy and civil rights of your family and all Americans are important to you.

thanks!

Cheri Kiesecker and Leonie Haimson

Co-chairs, Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Tell Congress to protect your family’s privacy | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

NYC Public School Parents: Latest podcast of "Talk out of School": My Interview with Chancellor Betty Rosa

NYC Public School Parents: Latest podcast of "Talk out of School": My Interview with Chancellor Betty Rosa

Latest podcast of "Talk out of School": My Interview with Chancellor Betty Rosa

Check out the latest "Talk out of School" podcast of my interview with NY Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa on today's "Talk Out of School" on the Regents task force on reopening schools, the search for a new NYSED Commissioner, the process of reviewing the Regents HS exit exams, the need to revisit the state  3-8th grade exams as well, and more.  The interview already made the LoHud news here.

You can apply for the job of NY State Education Commissioner here.  I think this is the most important quality among those listed, sadly lacking in most of our previous Commissioners:
"Ability to collaborate effectively, communicate openly, and listen carefully."

Episode Summary

NYC Public School Parents: Latest podcast of "Talk out of School": My Interview with Chancellor Betty Rosa

SSPI Renews Call for Investments in Tech Needs - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

SSPI Renews Call for Investments in Tech Needs - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Renews Call for New Investments as Technology Needs Still Unmet for Many California Students and Schools Look to Reopen

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond on Wednesday called on California’s cross-sector partners to accelerate investments that can help all California students access the technology they need to succeed academically in all educational settings. During a virtual media check-in earlier today,  Thurmond stressed the importance of the continued efforts to support California public school students’ widespread technology needs as schools look to possibly utilize distance learning in the fall. As plans for the next school year are being made now, most will likely including a component of distance learning, and students will only be successful if they have equitable access to devices and internet connectivity.

“Before the pandemic, we knew there were huge inequities that existed in regards to student access to devices and internet connectivity. The effects of COVID-19 have only made this more visible and created a sense of urgency that we must address now,” said Thurmond. “Access to technology and reliable, affordable internet is not only necessary for distance learning but also for lifelong success. It’s time we level the playing field for our students.”

During today’s news conference, the State Superintendent announced that it will cost at least $500,000,000 to meet the technology needs of all students. He thanked those that have donated and called upon others to consider donating now. He also invited Verizon to announce a new opportunity for students and their families to receive discounted service and hotspots for internet connectivity. The agreement was originally between Verizon and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), but thanks to the work of the Closing the Digital Divide Task Force, Verizon has graciously extended the offer beyond LAUSD, and it is now available to any districts located in Verizon’s service areas throughout California.

In addition to efforts being made to close the digital divide, Superintendent Thurmond also announced that the California Department of Education (CDE) is planning to release guidance on reopening schools in early June. He discussed ways that schools will need to implement safety considerations, such as providing face coverings for students and staff, maintaining physical distance of six feet, and taking temperatures as students and staff enter school campuses. Many of these measures will require increased costs for schools, and he reminded viewers of the need for support from the federal government via stimulus money to help schools offset these increased costs to safely reopen campuses. Federal support is also needed to help reimburse funding for nutrition service efforts as meals continue to be provided to students and families during this time.

Anyone interested in making a donation to purchase devices or hotspots can email donatetech@cde.ca.gov. If you would like to view the full media check in, please visit the CDE’s Facebook page.

# # # #

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

SSPI Renews Call for Investments in Tech Needs - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

CURMUDGUCATION: Why shouldn't high stakes testing be abandoned next year?

CURMUDGUCATION: Why shouldn't high stakes testing be abandoned next year?

Why shouldn't high stakes testing be abandoned next year?

Testing in the fall? Let's talk about that idea.

Thomas Toch is one of those reformsters who has managed to bounce from job to reformy job. Currently, he's head honcho at FutureEd, an ed reform advocacy group that bills itself as a thinky tank, and there isn't an educational disruption that they haven't tried to make a case for. This spring they have been vocal in trying to protect the future of the Big Standardized Test, which brings us to Toch's appearance yesterday in The Hill.

"Don't abandon standardized testing in schools next year — rethink it," pleads Toch, offering a plate of weak sauce to make his case.

His opening salvo is that students are currently falling behind, and that's not particularly arguable-- crisis schooling has been anywhere from "challenging" to "a freakin' mess." We could (and probably should at some point) have a whole conversation about the use of phrases like "catch up" that imply there is some heaven-set path and some objectively correct speed for students to move along it, and they dasn't fall behind or else... well, something bad will happen, apparently. It's a problematic model for education, but for the moment, yeah, we all get that the usual progress of education is not really happening.

Which brings us to Toch's first thesis--

To catch students up, schools will need to get a handle on exactly how far students have fallen CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Why shouldn't high stakes testing be abandoned next year?

Shanker Blog: What's Next for Schools After Coronavirus? Here Are 5 Big Issues and Opportunities | National Education Policy Center

Shanker Blog: What's Next for Schools After Coronavirus? Here Are 5 Big Issues and Opportunities | National Education Policy Center

Shanker Blog: What's Next for Schools After Coronavirus? Here Are 5 Big Issues and Opportunities

This is post is our first in a new blog series entitled Teaching and Learning During a Pandemic, in which we invite guest authors to reflect on the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic for teaching and learning. Our contributor today is Andy Hargreaves who is Research Professor at Boston College. This blog post originally appeared in The Conversation. Future posts in the series will be compiled here. 

No schools, no exams, more online learning and parents in COVID-19 lockdown with their kids. What a mess!

People are responding heroically. Some parents are working from home, others have lost their jobs and teachers are creating an entire new way of doing their jobs — not to mention the kids themselves, stuck inside without their friends. Somehow, we will get through this. When we do, how will things look when school starts again? 

One of my university projects connects and supports the education leaders of six countries and two Canadian provinces to advance humanitarian values, including in their responses to COVID-19. 

From communication with these leaders, and drawing on my project team’s expertise in educational leadership and large-scale change, here are five big and lasting issues and opportunities that we anticipate will surface once school starts again.

Extra student support needed

After weeks or months at home, students will have lost their teachers’ face-to-face support. Many young people will have experienced poverty and stress. They may have seen family members become ill, or worse. They might have had little chance to play outside. 

Rates of domestic abuse and fights over custody arrangements have been on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Many children will have lost the habits that schools teach them — sitting in a circle, waiting your turn, knowing how to listen and co-operate. More than a few will exhibit the signs of post-traumatic stress. 

A lot will have spent hours looking at smartphones or playing video games.

And the learning gaps will undoubtedly widen between children from poorer and better-off homes.

Although governments may be anticipating upcoming austerity, we’ll actually need additional resources. We’ll need counsellors, mental heath specialists and learning support teachers to help our weakest learners and most vulnerable children settle down and catch up.

Prioritizing well-being

Well-being will no longer be dismissed as a fad. Before this crisis, there were murmurings that CONTINUE READING: Shanker Blog: What's Next for Schools After Coronavirus? Here Are 5 Big Issues and Opportunities | National Education Policy Center