CURMUDGUCATION: Should Schools Offer Virtual School Options In The Fall?

CURMUDGUCATION: Should Schools Offer Virtual School Options In The Fall?

Should Schools Offer Virtual School Options In The Fall?

 I'll admit that this blooming controversy snuck up on me. In Pennsylvania, school districts have offered virtual options for years in the Time Before Covid. It would never have occurred to me that a district shouldn't. But apparently we're going to have fussing about that. kickstarted today by the NYC mayoral announcement that public schools will be all in person this fall.

That's a dumb idea. 

I understand where some of it comes from, given the insistence that we must get students back in school Right The Hell Now. Political leaders trying to court a certain constituency are going to go this route, plus it will also be a way to signal that you aren't going to be pushed around by the teachers unions for all those folks buying the bullshit narrative about how the evil teachers are solely responsible for the closing of school buildings. 

It's still a bad idea.

Mostly it's a bad idea to demand only-in-person districts because the alternative sucks. And it's not going away. There are many, many states already offering "free" online "public" [sic] school, and that's before we even get to cyber-schools that hide behind the mask of homeschooling. 

Cyberschooling isn't going away any time soon for three reasons. First, it does actually work for a small percentage of students with very specific special needs. Second, particularly in states with PA with dumb rules governing cyber-tuition, it is a very attractive way to make a lot of money. Third, the charter worlds not only finances a good assortment of astroturf groups, but it also funds plenty of regular lobbyists, too. Legislatures could shut cyber charters down, but it's a lucrative business CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Should Schools Offer Virtual School Options In The Fall?

Why Parents and Students in Los Angeles Won't Go Back + What You Need to Know about Distance Learning in 2021 - LA Progressive

Why Parents and Students in Los Angeles Won't Go Back - LA Progressive

Why Parents and Students in Los Angeles Won’t Go Back

The exact figures may change slightly over the next few weeks, but for the most part, parents and students in the massive Los Angeles Unified School District have had their say. In overwhelming numbers, it appears, they’re not going back to the classroom this school year.

It’s not for a lack of effort on the part of the LAUSD, the nation’s second-largest school district with more than 600,000 students. Quite the opposite: After spending many months describing why it wasn’t safe for students to return to class, district administrators have launched a recent media blitz aimed at convincing parents and students it’s OK to send their children back to campus — an effort that includes detailed explanations of the mitigation and sanitizing measures in place at every school.

But the reluctance is real. It is borne out by LAUSD’s own survey data, which indicates that as of April 1, only about 38% of elementary school children will return to campuses when they reopen in mid-April. Among middle schoolers, the figure drops to 25%, and among high school students it plummets to 16%.

Because those survey figures assume that any nonresponding family is going to remain in distance learning, there’s some wiggle room in the CONTINUE READING: Why Parents and Students in Los Angeles Won't Go Back - LA Progressive

What You Need to Know about Distance Learning in 2021

Introduction

Distance learning has existed long before COVID-19 was unleashed on the world, beginning in 2020. In 2017 alone, an estimated 6.6 million students depended on online platforms to receive their education. Distance learning has always been advancing; the pandemic only boosted its growth as it forced the world to acclimatize to e-learning school education. 

Distance learning may be here to stay

Initially, everyone doubted that e-learning and education in classrooms could yield similar results to traditional methods of learning. In fact, most institutions gave no credence at all to the idea; however, in order to maintain continuity in learning, educators and institutions were left with little choice in the matter. As a result, as lockdowns took hold across the world, soon everyone became acquainted with the benefits of e-learning school education.

Although a quick retreat back to more conventional methods of learning could occur, the shift to an online education e-learning method was destined to become a reality.

Now, world leaders are beginning to speculate what education will look like in a post-COVID-19 era. Although a quick retreat back to more conventional methods of learning could occur, the shift to an online education e-learning method was destined to become a reality. It has become clear that e-learning will likely continue to be adopted as the go-to learning method for the foreseeable future. Throughout this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to benefit from online distance learning — dubbed “distance learning 2021.” Be sure to keep reading for more CONTINUE READING: What You Need to Know about Distance Learning in 2021

Five Key Lessons I’ve Learned About Distance Learning This Semester | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Five Key Lessons I’ve Learned About Distance Learning This Semester | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

FIVE KEY LESSONS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT DISTANCE LEARNING THIS SEMESTER

I have been regularly documenting what’s been working and what hasn’t been working, along with my fears and concerns for the future.

Now that the semester is ending next week, I thought it would be useful – for both readers and for me – to share some practical reflections.

Before I do that, however, here are some of my past pieces (that have appeared here, at the British Council, and in The Washington Post, in case you’re interested:

Distance learning and English Language Learners

A teacher’s deepest fears about 2021: Students who disappeared, covid-19 myopia and six more

First Quarter Report On What I’m Doing In Full-Time Distance Learning & How It’s Going

I’m Worried About My Students – Very Worried. And Here Is What I’m Planning To Do About It

Personal Reflections On My 2020 Professional Experiences

 

Okay, now for some key recent practical realizations and changes I’ve made related to teaching online:

 

1) Don’t require homework outside of Zoom classroom time.

This has been my policy all year with my English Language Learners classes since I teach them five days a week.  That’s because I voluntarily teach four extra classes each week for no pay.  I point that out not to demonstrate how “wonderful” I am, but to point out how empty much of the rhetoric from our district leadership is about equity and justice.  Our school’s ELLs are thriving with this extra support, and it’s CONTINUE READING: Five Key Lessons I’ve Learned About Distance Learning This Semester | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Private schools pull students away from public schools - Axios

Private schools pull students away from public schools - Axios

Private schools pull students away from public schools

Private institutions are attracting wealthy families who are frustrated with public schools' flip-flopping on remote and in-person learning.

Why it matters: The trend is weakening public schools, which will lose funding as they lose students, and deepening the divide between how rich and poor kids are educated.

What's happening: In districts across America, public schools have had to follow local and state guidelines and stick with online school, while private schools have offered in-person alternatives.

• That's appealing to parents who are fed up with virtual learning because it forces them to juggle work and child care or because the schooling is not as high in quality as in-person instruction.

Just 5% of private schools were virtual this fall, according to survey data from the National Association of Independent Schools, cited by CNBC. Compare that with the 62% of public schoolkids who started the fall on Zoom, per Burbio, which has been tracking public school re-opening plans.

Private schools have a clear advantage in how they've been able to handle the pandemic:

• They were able to devise and advertise their reopening plans throughout the summer while CONTINUE READING: Private schools pull students away from public schools - Axios

Teachers and students face COVID winter break challenges - Los Angeles Times

Teachers and students face COVID winter break challenges - Los Angeles Times

Facing a spike in Fs, winter break isn’t a vacation for many teachers and students

During her winter break, English teacher Keara Williams has hit the phone, making call after call determinedly trying to make contact with her students and their parents.

She needs to reach 28 students, including 11 seniors, who received an “incomplete” grade at the end of the fall semester. She tells them they will fail her class if they don’t complete make-up work to raise their grade to at least a D by the end of January. There is still time to get the work done, do not give up, Williams says. And she lets them know that she is here for them — all winter vacation if that’s what it takes to avoid an F.

She has reached 13 students and left messages and emails with the others. But when she last checked her computer, only one had signed in online to look at the make-up work.

Williams, like so many teachers in the Los Angeles school district, is grappling with wrenching grading decisions amid the hardships of the raging pandemic that has shuttered campuses for nine months. An F grade in a required class would delay or deny a high school diploma, require a make-up class and could ruin a GPA during the college admissions cycle. How do they balance compassion and empathy with the low grade points in their record books? How do they find and engage their lost students before it’s too late? The magnitude of work ahead for both teachers and students feels CONTINUE READING: Teachers and students face COVID winter break challenges - Los Angeles Times

Audio: A Quiet And 'Unsettling' Pandemic Toll: Students Who've Fallen Off The Grid | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: A Quiet And 'Unsettling' Pandemic Toll: Students Who've Fallen Off The Grid | 89.3 KPCC

A Quiet And 'Unsettling' Pandemic Toll: Students Who've Fallen Off The Grid

For American families and their children, school is more than just a building. It's a social life and a community, an athletic center and a place to get meals that aren't available at home. The pandemic has disrupted — and continues to disrupt — the lives of U.S. students in profound ways.

Many kids haven't set foot in their schools since March, when most in-person schooling shut down across the country. Teachers are working tirelessly to educate their students online, but they are growing increasingly anxious about the kids who aren't showing up at all.

An estimated 3 million students may have dropped out of school learning since March, according to Bellwether Education Partners, a national nonprofit that focuses on underserved youth. The group's study cited a lack of Internet access, housing insecurity, disabilities and language barriers as major obstacles to attending virtual classes during the pandemic.

"It is really, really unsettling," says Alex, a teacher in western Virginia, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of repercussions for speaking out. "I think people don't realize how much we need to see these kids. A lot of times in schools, we are the first line for seeing signs of child abuse, for seeing signs of food insecurity. And you don't have that with virtual students. Especially when they ghost."

That "ghosting" is a constant problem for school employees who track attendance in CONTINUE READING: Audio: A Quiet And 'Unsettling' Pandemic Toll: Students Who've Fallen Off The Grid | 89.3 KPCC

glen brown: Of course, teachers are considering quitting because of the pandemic

glen brown: Of course, teachers are considering quitting because of the pandemic

Of course, teachers are considering quitting because of the pandemic

"The coronavirus pandemic has put significant pressure on America’s teachers. Some have been asked to weigh risks to their personal health and teach in person. Some have been asked to teach from behind computer screens and perfect distance learning. Many have been asked to do both. These pressures are taking a toll on teachers across the country. 

"According to a new report, 77% of educators are working more today than a year ago; 60% enjoy their job less, and 59% do not feel secure in their school district’s health and safety precautions. Roughly 27% say they are considering leaving their job, retiring early or taking a leave of absence because of the pandemic.

"Horace Mann Educators Corporation surveyed 1,240 U.S. educators from K-12 public schools for the report. 'Before the pandemic, large numbers of U.S. educators were already leaving the profession due to the financial pressure the job puts on their lives. Then COVID-19 came along.'

"Richard Milner, professor of education at Vanderbilt University says these figures do not surprise him.  'In fact, I suspect those numbers will probably increase over time,' he says. 'Many teachers are barely keeping their heads above water and we don’t know how much longer we’re going to be in this space.'

"Teachers have long raised concerns about the difficult financial circumstances that educators often face. Over the past several years, tens of thousands of teachers have gone on strike for improved pay and school funding.

"These financial concerns are also highlighted in the Horace Mann report: CONTINUE READING: glen brown: Of course, teachers are considering quitting because of the pandemic

Online proctoring services pose privacy concerns for remote learning - Vox

Online proctoring services pose privacy concerns for remote learning - Vox

How teachers [sic] are sacrificing student privacy to stop cheating

Surveillance software for remote learning is drawing criticism from privacy advocates and lawmakers.

As the fall semester began at the University of Nevada, Reno, psychology professor Mark Lescroart faced an increasingly common dilemma for teachers: How to prevent his newly remote students from cheating on the quizzes and exams he’d designed to be taken in class with supervision.

“I have been uncomfortable with the idea that cheating is pretty easy when you’re online,” Lescroart told Recode in October.

One possible solution his university provided was Proctorio, an online proctoring service that uses machine learning. But Lescroart didn’t like the prospect of third-party software recording and analyzing his students in their homes. Ultimately, he decided that violating their privacy was worse than leaving a potential cheater uncaught.

But many teachers around the country have come to a different conclusion. As online education has become the norm in the Covid-19 pandemic, they’ve opted to use services like Proctorio. The services have ignited controversy, too. Privacy advocates hate them, and students have protested, starting petitions and accusing the services of being invasive, discriminatory, and inaccurate.

In December, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) accused five online test proctoring services, including Proctorio, of unfair and deceptive trade practices in a complaint filed with the Office of the Attorney General of the District of Columbia. EPIC also informed the five companies that it is preparing to file a lawsuit unless they change their practices. Several US senators have also recently written to the companies producing these tools to request more information about privacy, bias, and accessibility concerns raised by their tools.

Some educators have spoken out against this tech or, like Lescroart, have opted not to use it. But for the most part, the schools that use the software haven’t budged, citing the importance of maintaining academic integrity.

“All these things are kind of predicated on a relationship where academic dishonesty is CONTINUE READING: Online proctoring services pose privacy concerns for remote learning - Vox

Students accused of truancy when they didn’t turn in their work

Students accused of truancy when they didn’t turn in their work

They didn’t turn in their work for remote school. Their parents were threatened with courts and fines

After their kids experienced tech glitches or turned off cameras during online learning, these families were accused of truancy and received legal threats

Hayden, 12, had been having panic attacks about school even before a letter arrived at his home last month, threatening legal action for his alleged absences from distance learning. 

The sixth grader has been attending online class from his home outside Austin, Texas, since August, and having difficulties adjusting. When his grades dropped, he started having intense bouts of anxiety, working himself up until he cried so hard he could barely catch his breath. He wailed that he hated himself and wished he could do better in school.

When the letter arrived from Round Rock School District in November, saying that legal charges punishable by fines or court action could be brought against his mother for his absences, Hayden spiraled into a dayslong episode, says his mother Holly Barentine. He started crying even before they finished reading the letter, disclosing fears about worst-case scenarios that he would fail his classes. When he went to stay the night at his dad’s house, the crying continued. His father emailed Barentine, expressing concern for their son’s well-being.

Hayden, a sixth-grader, hadn’t actually been missing online school. However, his school district only counts kids present in some classes if they both show up and submit their homework for the day. Some of Hayden’s homework hadn’t been reaching his teachers due to apparent technological glitches on the school’s online platform, or in some cases because he hadn’t handed it in ― an oversight he didn’t expect to be met with potential legal action. 

Around the country, school districts are subject to state truancy laws and regulations. However, as the coronavirus pandemic has turned schools upside down and put most learning online, some of these rules are CONTINUE READING: Students accused of truancy when they didn’t turn in their work

Will Pandemic Changes in Schooling Be Temporary or Permanent? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Will Pandemic Changes in Schooling Be Temporary or Permanent? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Will Pandemic Changes in Schooling Be Temporary or Permanent?

“As Customers Move on Line, Shopping Is Forever Changed,” a New York Times article announced. For the holiday season, Macy’s department stores in a few states have closed their doors to in-person shopping and become fulfillment centers for online shoppers.

Jeff Gennette, Macy’s chief executive, said the dark stores are part of an experiment as the company responds to customers buying more online and demanding ever-faster shipping for free. But the conversion of a department store into a fulfillment center, even temporarily, reflects how retailers are succumbing to the dominance of e-commerce and scrambling to salvage increasingly irrelevant physical shopping space.

The U.S. continues in the throes of a three-decade school reform movement in which business and civic leaders have pressed schools to be more efficient in operations and more effective in raising test scores, high school graduation rates, and college admissions–the “bottom line” for tax-supported public schooling in the U.S. Will brick-and-mortar schools succumb to online instruction as the major form of schooling as Macy’s and other department stores shift to online shopping?

I don’t think so.

Let’s count the changes that have occurred in organization, curriculum, CONTINUE READING: Will Pandemic Changes in Schooling Be Temporary or Permanent? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

THE GLASS JUST MIGHT BE HALF FULL – Dad Gone Wild

THE GLASS JUST MIGHT BE HALF FULL – Dad Gone Wild

THE GLASS JUST MIGHT BE HALF FULL

“There are two ways to be fooled One to believe what isn’t true The other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Soren Kierkegaard

The battle between those who believe that school buildings should be open and those who believe they are unsafe under current circumstances shows no sign of abatement. In fact just the opposite, as opposing sides cling tighter to their positions.

Personally, my focus isn’t on either option, but rather encouraging policymakers to find means to ensure that students are getting what they need, be it in school buildings, rec centers, churches, or individual homes. Obviously, the benefits of in-school learning are well known, but we are still discovering the potential of remote learning. Yes, it is difficult, inconvenient, and the jury is out on its effectiveness. But in its defense, it is still in its infancy, so potential in addressing long standing issues with in-person instruction remains untapped.

Because remote learning is so new, and we don’t have reliable data on which to draw from, there is a concern with so-called learning loss. Policymakers and administrators are leaping to use that supposition as a weapon against schools. Whether the belief is backed by evidence, or not, is immaterial.

On a recent, Zoom call with Nashville’s PROPEL, State Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn went so far as to proclaim that when children are not in classrooms, learning can’t take place. In her words, “Learning does not happen through osmosis.” Yeah…that’s not exactly right. I would CONTINUE READING: THE GLASS JUST MIGHT BE HALF FULL – Dad Gone Wild

New Grants and Training to Address Learning Gaps - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

New Grants and Training to Address Learning Gaps - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Additional Educator Trainings and Grants to Address Equity and Learning Gaps

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced Tuesday that the California Department of Education (CDE) is launching additional virtual educator trainings and mini-grants designed to accelerate ongoing efforts to address equity gaps, strengthen distance learning, and support students’ social emotional wellness during the pandemic.

The latest professional development webinars and the new grant opportunities are the latest efforts to build on the CDE’s training, guidance, and direct assistance provided to schools and educators throughout the months-long pandemic.

“Like all educators, I am concerned about the pandemic’s continued impact on our students, especially those students already pushed to the margins by historic and systemic inequities that have existed for generations and created persistent barriers to educational opportunity,” Thurmond said. “We know that until we eradicate the COVID-19 virus, some forms of remote learning will remain necessary in the weeks and months ahead for our schools to continue safe teaching and learning. That means we must continue putting resources into supporting our educators who are going above and beyond to engage all students.”

The upcoming professional development webinars include:

SEL Workshop for School Well-Being: Monday, December 14, 2020, 3:30-4:30 p.m. via Zoom and CDE Facebook Live. Coordinated in partnership with Beyond Differences and the Social Emotional Learning Alliance for California, this interactive professional development webinar for educators will provide resources and strategies for building supportive connections with students in the virtual world across K–12 grade levels.

Effective Distance Learning Practices and Home-School Connections: Wednesday, December 16, 2020, 3:30-5 p.m., via Zoom and CDE Facebook Live. Coordinated in partnership with leading equity groups the California Association of Bilingual Education and the Parent Institute for Quality Education, this webinar will highlight evidence-based distance learning strategies that are working for students, with an emphasis on reaching and supporting students who are historically underserved in public schools.

Mini-Grants for Equity: Funded through a $200,000 contribution from the Stuart Foundation, the CDE will award grants of up to $20,000 each to schools, districts, and charter schools that can demonstrate how they will address equity and opportunity gaps by utilizing the funds to target educators’ or students’ needs in distance learning, in-person instruction, or hybrid models. Funds can be used for a variety of purposes including professional development, family engagement, or other activities that strengthen student learning and connections. More details, grant criteria, and the application process will be issued in the coming days.

The resources announced are a continuation of the CDE’s ongoing professional development for educators during this pandemic, including dozens of webinars on the CDE Coronavirus Webinars web page, on the CDE Facebook page, the CDE YouTube channel, published guidance, the distribution of weekly resources to school districts, and more.

# # # #

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

New Grants and Training to Address Learning Gaps - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

CURMUDGUCATION: Distance Learning and Compliance Culture

CURMUDGUCATION: Distance Learning and Compliance Culture

Distance Learning and Compliance Culture

Compliance culture in the classroom has always, always been a problem.

This is the teacher who demands compliance, in fact, grades on compliance. Most folks have a story about That Teacher--the one who wouldn't accept a paper because it was ten minutes late, or who took off a letter grade because the paper had the "wrong" heading on it. 

For some people, compliance is practically the whole point. No Excuses charter schools are founded on the principle that students need to learn to comply with every action in every moment of the school day. Just this weekend, a USA Today op-ed suggested that if students aren't given zeros for late work, that's a failure to hold those students to standards of excellence. 

Students have to learn compliance, the argument goes (though it rarely uses the term "compliance"), because out in the Real World, students will have to learn to meet deadlines and expectations and basically do as they're told promptly and "correctly," and the longer the argument goes, the more you can see that compliance culture is often meant for Those Peoples' children. But it is also true that life involves deadlines and expectations and most of us don't grow up to live in the world of do-as-you-please. Compliance has its place (like on your face, over your mouth and nose, too, please).

The problem with compliance culture in the classroom is that it loses the plot, falls off the track of CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Distance Learning and Compliance Culture

My Remote Teaching Tips Videos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

My Remote Teaching Tips Videos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

My Remote Teaching Tips Videos

Maybe the only advantage to teaching remotely is that you can fart anytime you want.

Compared to live teaching, remote teaching introduces so many new challenges. I think the biggest challenge is that teachers don’t get to leverage a personal connection with their students. Hearing a pep talk from a teacher in a small square on your screen just doesn’t have the same effectiveness. And with all the windows on my screen and the technologies, I’m not able to build relationships the way I did before. Delivering content has its own challenges. In a live classroom, I can feel the energy of a class that is getting it, but on Zoom with students looking tired it is hard to gauge.

Last spring when we switched to full remote in March, the main technology I used was Zoom with chat and breakout rooms. I wasn’t so happy with my effectiveness so this year I made sure to improve things. Now I have a daily flow that I am quite proud of and I am sure my students are learning very well because of it.

I made a series of videos which I put on a playlist to share with other teachers who want to be more effective remote teachers.

Here is the playlist https://youtu.be/8CH8tZ8gS8s

There are currently 6 videos up and if people seem to like them, I will make more. The first video shows the hardware I used in school to maximize effectiveness. The second video is how I did a similar setup from home. The third video is what I sent to parents ahead of CONTINUE READING: My Remote Teaching Tips Videos | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

5 Things We've Learned About Virtual School In 2020 | 89.3 KPCC

5 Things We've Learned About Virtual School In 2020 | 89.3 KPCC

5 Things We've Learned About Virtual School In 2020

Deborah Rosenthal starts her virtual kindergarten class on Zoom every morning with a song — today, it's the Spanish version of, "If You're Happy and You Know It." Her students clap along. There's a greeting from the class mascot (a dragon), yoga, meditation and then some practice with letter sounds: "Oso, oso, O, O, O".

Rosenthal teaches Spanish immersion in a public school in San Francisco's Mission District. Most of the families are low-income, and many are now affected by COVID-related job loss. She has taught kindergarten for 15 years, and she loves how "hands-on" "tactile," and "cozy" it is to work with 5-year-olds.

But this year, she's spending 10 or 12 hours a day on, basically, her own home production of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood En Español. "It's a very two-dimensional experience," she says.

Few people would tell you that online kindergarten was a good idea, or frankly even possible. That was, before 2020. The number has fluctuated as cases rise across the country, but throughout this fall pandemic semester, between 40 and 60 percent of students have been enrolled in districts that offer only remote learning, according to a tracker maintained by the company Burbio.

And even in hybrid districts, some students have been learning remotely, either part or full time. In short, online learning is the reality for a majority of students this fall.

We are still starved for data on what this all means. The earliest standardized test scores coming out show modest learning loss for students in math, but there are worries that the most at-risk students are not being tested at all.

For this story I talked to educators in six states, from California to South Carolina. For the most part they say things have improved since last spring. But they are close to burnout, with only a patchwork of support. They said the heart of the job right now is getting students connected with school and keeping them that way — both technologically and even more importantly, emotionally. Here are five lessons learned so far.

1. The digital divide is still big and complex.

Eight months after schools first shut down, how many students still can't sign on? We don't really know, and that's a problem, says Nicol Turner Lee, director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution. "We've not done a CONTINUE READING: 5 Things We've Learned About Virtual School In 2020 | 89.3 KPCC