Moms Have Borne the Brunt of Pandemic Turmoil at Work and at Home – Mother Jones

Moms Have Borne the Brunt of Pandemic Turmoil at Work and at Home – Mother Jones

Moms Have Borne the Brunt of Pandemic Turmoil at Work and at Home

A Mother’s Day labor force check-in: It’s getting a bit better. It’s still bad.

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On this Mother’s Day, let’s remember the pandemic’s dire impact on American moms, who have shouldered the burden at work and at home.

In April 2020, the coronavirus’s impact on working mothers was disproportionately acute. In the United States, the number of mothers both working and living with school-aged children fell 22 percent from the previous April, a sharper decline than among fathers, the New York Times reported. The 10 million mothers not working meant that one third of moms with school-age children in the US were unemployed, a Census survey noted in March. Single mothers have been hit especially hard, with the sharpest decline in labor force participation and the slowest recovery.

The flip side of this decline is the disproportionate share of childcare at home mothers are handling themselves. And working moms are more likely than working dads to say they face challenges in the office due to balancing work and family responsibilities, according to the Pew Research Center. CONTINUE READING: Moms Have Borne the Brunt of Pandemic Turmoil at Work and at Home – Mother Jones

During Pandemic, More Parents Come To Appreciate Teachers and Understand Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

During Pandemic, More Parents Come To Appreciate Teachers and Understand Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

During Pandemic, More Parents Come To Appreciate Teachers and Understand Teaching

Teacher Appreciation Week begins May 3rd. With school closures over a year ago and the onslaught of remote instruction, many parents have come to appreciate not only what teachers do in classrooms (and now on screens) than ever before (see here) but also how complex the act of teaching is.

Celebrities sport T-shirts asking that teacher should have higher salaries. Actor Ron Farrell who has three children being home schooled was seen in his neighborhood picking up garbage.

Celebrity parents calling for higher salaries only mirrors now more than ever that Moms and Dads sitting in kitchens and bedrooms hovering over their children have a deeper understanding (and appreciation) about teaching being not only a complex activity but also a relationship built on trust and respect.

That appreciation and understanding were too often unconsidered by many CONTINUE READING: During Pandemic, More Parents Come To Appreciate Teachers and Understand Teaching | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Parent as Teacher during the Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Parent as Teacher during the Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Parent as Teacher during the Pandemic

Renee Enyart, 28, was across the room from her sixth-grader when it happened. She glanced over and saw her daughter Emi, who was virtually attending science class at their home in Winter Haven, Fla., reaching for her laptop’s power cable. Suddenly, a sharp voice rang out from the speakers. “It was just an instant scolding: ‘I told you to look at the screen. You know what you’re supposed to be doing. I shouldn’t have to tell you guys,’ ” Enyart recalled.

Tears sprang into Emi’s eyes. “I didn’t know she was unmuted, and I just told her, ‘Go ahead and let it die.’ Because it just annoyed me — she was still paying attention. She was grabbing our charger, trying to be present in the class,” Enyart said. “I was actually kind of glad that the teacher did hear it, because for a second it was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ She instantly apologized.”

From a survey of parents six months after schools closed:

*In the early days of the pandemic, the majority of parents (78%) were educating their child at home.

•Only about half (55%) of parents felt prepared to educate their child at home and 50% of parents felt overwhelmed by responsibilities to educate their child CONTINUE READING: Parent as Teacher during the Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

CURMUDGUCATION: What An Education Uber Actually Looks Like

CURMUDGUCATION: What An Education Uber Actually Looks Like

What An Education Uber Actually Looks Like

Betsy DeVos is among the many education disruptors fond of imagining a world in which education is handled Uber-style; but we don't have to imagine what a gig-economy education system would look like. It already exists.

Outschool was founded in 2015 by Amir Nathoo (he cutely lists his title as "learner" in his LInkedIn profile), and while he looks like he's about twelve, he's been at work for a while. He got a Master's Degree from the University of Cambridge in 2002, worked in software development for IBM, founded a couple of companies, invested in a few other, and then launched Outschool. The company is based in San Francisco.

Nathoo was interviewed by Rick Hess back in 2019 in an interview that Education Next just dusted off because, as you might imagine, Nathoo's distance learning micro-credential marketplace is having a strong pandemic moment. In it, Nathoo describes Outschool this way:

Outschool offers live online education experiences that connect teachers with learners in small-group settings to explore everything from Minecraft, Pokemon, and cooking to chemistry, algebra, and literature.

Nathoo also talks a lot about fun and passion, and his story always mentions how he got a computer when he was five and that sparked an interest in games and programming and his technology career, leading him to create this marketplace for "fun and social learning experiences." Others have characterized it with less sparkle, like the Techcrunch article that characterized it as "a platform for CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: What An Education Uber Actually Looks Like

'I'm overwhelmed': Single parents navigate virtual learning - NonDoc

'I'm overwhelmed': Single parents navigate virtual learning

‘I’m overwhelmed’: Single parents navigate virtual learning

Succeeding in the world of virtual learning can be difficult for students. It can also be difficult for single parents who are now wearing the hat of caregiver, teacher and financial provider.

Home offices have been turned into makeshift classrooms, kitchen tables are now school desks and parents are doing extra planning around their usual work day to ensure that their children are still able to get the education they deserve.

Liz Turner has a third and fifth grader that attend Zarro International Elementary School, a sixth and eighth grader that attend Carver Middle School and a child in pre-k in Tulsa Public Schools. The children attend multiple Zoom meetings a day, four days a week, while completing all of their usual curriculum virtually.

Turner, however, also works full-time for a promotional company, and while her workplace is family oriented, she knows those allowances can only go so far.

“I am uniquely lucky in that my work is very understanding and family oriented, but anyone could lose their job basically,” Turner said. “It’s in the back of your mind: My work is great, they support families and they let me bring the kids in if they’re sick, but at the CONTINUE READING: 'I'm overwhelmed': Single parents navigate virtual learning

Teacher Tom: No One Knows How to Do this Better than You: A Short List of Things to Think About

Teacher Tom: No One Knows How to Do this Better than You: A Short List of Things to Think About

No One Knows How to Do this Better than You: A Short List of Things to Think About

A recent national survey found that over 70 percent of American families will be engaged in some form of homeschooling this fall. I don't know what the number is for families of preschool aged children, but I'm assuming it's similar.

Most schools are going to be relying on some version of online instruction, which from where I sit, and from where the school-agers in my life sit, and from where the pubic school teachers I've spoken with sit, is pretty close to useless, although, perhaps in some ways, for some kids, is better than nothing at all. As for preschoolers, medical professionals recommend no more than one hour of screen time per day, which is probably moot given that this is way longer than most of them will be able or willing to sit there no matter how much they love their teachers and friends. 

Some places are going to experiment with "hybrid" methods, which combine some mixture of live and remote learning, with kids attending school in shifts, in smaller, consistent groups. I imagine some preschools might try a version of this, but that still leaves parents on point for much of the week.

And then there are many families who will simply keep their preschoolers at home whatever their school offers because they don't want to tempt fate and because they can.

In other words, no matter how you slice it, there are going to be a lot families at home with their young children.

If you or someone you know finds yourself in this position, CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: No One Knows How to Do this Better than You: A Short List of Things to Think About

Jack Schneider: Is Homeschooling The Next Big Thing? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jack Schneider: Is Homeschooling The Next Big Thing? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jack Schneider: Is Homeschooling The Next Big Thing?

Jack Schneider is a historian of education. In this post, which he wrote at my request, he analyzes the new push for homeschooling. In the midst of the global pandemic, with millions of children quarantined at home, its not surprising that parents are compelled to be teachers. But how many parents will want to homeschool when real schools are one day available again?

Schneider writes:

Never let a good crisis go to waste. As any policy advocate knows, the destabilizing nature of an emergency creates a rare opportunity: sweeping change can happen quickly.

Both parties have a history of exploiting difficulties and disasters. During the Great Recession, for instance, the Obama administration pushed through a series of heavy-handed federal education reforms that might otherwise have met with stiff resistance. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, the most ambitious education proposals have come from Republicans, because the shuttering of schools has played to their advantage.

With state revenues shrinking before our eyes and CONTINUE READING: Jack Schneider: Is Homeschooling The Next Big Thing? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Please Open Schools - The Atlantic

Please Open Schools - The Atlantic

I Can’t Keep Doing This. Please Open the Schools.
The idea that I might have to continue to work while facilitating another subpar semester of virtual learning is almost too much to bear.

“I can’t keep doing this.” I hear that over and over from my friends with kids. Holding a job, parenting, and teaching all at once during the pandemic is a juggling act that no one was prepared to undertake, and it has brought working parents to the breaking point.

Many of us are now riddled with anxiety over whether we’ll send our kids back to school, even part-time, or keep them home. The idea that I might have to continue to work while facilitating another subpar semester of virtual learning is almost too much to bear. Even though COVID-19 cases have spiked where I live in Texas, I want to send my children back to school in the fall. I don’t want to have to repeat the spring, for my kids’ sake and my own. Schools simply need to find a way to make reopening safe.

I spent the first couple weeks of stay-at-home orders thinking: This will be tricky, but I’ve got it. After all, I homeschooled all four of my kids when they were younger, while I was working part-time. But I quickly discovered that overseeing virtual learning while working full-time is really nothing like homeschooling.

Juliette Kayyem: Reopening schools was just an afterthought

For one thing, I found it difficult to establish a routine. As a self-employed writer, my workload constantly changed, and my children’s schedules shifted too. Our district struggled for several weeks to streamline the school day. And don’t get me started about the technological problems. With four children in two different schools and at least 10 different teachers, my kids and I often had to access multiple online portals just to CONTINUE READING: Please Open Schools - The Atlantic

Rachel Cohen: Pandemic Creates Opening for Public Funding of Home Schooling | Diane Ravitch's blog

Rachel Cohen: Pandemic Creates Opening for Public Funding of Home Schooling | Diane Ravitch's blog

Rachel Cohen: Pandemic Creates Opening for Public Funding of Home Schooling

Rachel Cohen writes that the pandemic is encouraging many parents to consider home schooling and to pressure Congress to pay them to do it.

I disagree.

Before the pandemic, about 2 million children were home schooled, mostly by parents who were either evangelical Christians or who worried about the diverse culture of the public schools or bullying or low standards.

But parents who work don’t want to home school. Most parents prefer that their children learn from knowledgeable teachers alongside others and engage in the academic, social, and cultural activities at school.

The vast majority of parents are eager for school to resume so they can return to work.

Of course, the anti-public school lobby will take advantage of the pandemic to try to divert funding from public schools to private bank accounts.

The home school organizations have CONTINUE READING: Rachel Cohen: Pandemic Creates Opening for Public Funding of Home Schooling | Diane Ravitch's blog