Matt Barnum: Philanthropies are no longer driving education policy - Chalkbeat

Philanthropies are no longer driving education policy - Chalkbeat

After a high point in the Obama administration, philanthropies no longer drive education policy

Soon after the pandemic shuttered school buildings across the state, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an ambitious plan to “reimagine” education in the state with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Let’s take this experience and really learn how we can do differently and better with our education system in terms of technology and virtual education,” Cuomo told reporters a year ago, saying the effort would be a collaboration with the Gates Foundation.

The announcement drew widespread attention. It seemed like a blast from the recent past: a deep-pocketed foundation shaping education policy.

But this time, it didn’t play out that way. There was a swift backlash, and it soon became clear the ambitions of the plan were much more modest in scope. In fact, there’s no indication the philanthropy played any role at all, and Gates did not issue any grants to the state.

Why the plan apparently fell apart is unclear, but it’s one recent example of the waning role of education philanthropy in national and state policymaking.

That marks a rather dramatic change from just a few years ago, when wealthy benefactors helped reshape American education in remarkably swift fashion. But their priorities don’t appear to be affecting school policy in the way they used to. That likely reflects the fierce backlash to philanthropies’ influence during the Obama era, as well as a scaled-back federal role in education, a Trump administration that some funders CONTINUE READING: Philanthropies are no longer driving education policy - Chalkbeat

Principals Show Bias in Responses to Black parents, New Study Finds | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

Principals Show Bias in Responses to Black parents, New Study Finds | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

Principals Show Bias in Responses to Black parents, New Study Finds

Principals show bias in responses to Black parents, new study finds 

Matt Barnum, Chalkbeat  

Apr 26, 6:00am EDT

A few years ago, thousands of high school principals across the country received a variation of the same email from a parent asking for “any information you can provide about enrolling.”

When the email was sent by “Emily Walsh” seeking to enroll her son “Greg,” 64% of principals responded. But when an identical message came from “Tamika Washington” with a son named “Jamal,” the response rate fell to 57%.

The emails were actually sent by two political scientists, Zachary Oberfield and Matthew Incantalupo, in an effort to gauge racial bias in public schools. Their findings — that principals are less likely to respond to parents who they may have assumed were Black — illustrate one way that bias plays out in schools nationwide, aligning with past research as well as the experiences of many families.

“We wanted an easy ask,” said Incantalupo, a professor at Yeshiva University. “If they’re throwing down hurdles for something as simple as this, it’s not too much of an inference to say there are probably other ways in which inequality manifests in these schools.”

The new paper, published last month, looks at responses from a nationally representative sample of 3,600 high school principals.

White principals, in particular, showed signs of discrimination: They were 9 percentage points less likely to respond to emails from a parent whose name suggested they were Black. Their behavior shapes national trends, as nearly four in five public school principals are white.

“Principals — just like teachers, just like everyone else — have the potential to harbor explicit or implicit racial biases that CONTINUE READING: Principals Show Bias in Responses to Black parents, New Study Finds | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

A long-awaited federal survey highlights challenges ahead for schools - Chalkbeat

A long-awaited federal survey highlights challenges ahead for schools - Chalkbeat

The federal government finally has data on schooling during COVID. Here are 3 key takeaways.

The federal government has released its first, long-awaited snapshot of schooling during the pandemic.

A newly released federal survey shows that a huge swath of American school children — particularly students of color — were still learning remotely in January. Of those students, a small but substantial share were getting little or no live instruction from a teacher.

The information was collected as part of President Biden’s push to get more schools reopened for in-person learning. The Trump administration had rejected the idea of such national recordkeeping.

The survey questions were given to a representative set of schools in 44 states serving either fourth or eighth grade. The data will be updated monthly through July.

In the months since schools answered these questions, more school buildings have opened as COVID case rates have fallen. A more recent estimate suggests that 80% of students now have access to in-person instruction.

But the federal survey highlights two major, continuing challenges facing school officials: the fact that tens of millions of students have received virtual instruction for months, and have missed out on learning and crucial support, and the continued reluctance of some families to return for in-person instruction, even when it’s available.

“We have a huge and long road of recovery and restoring instructional support to CONTINUE READING: A long-awaited federal survey highlights challenges ahead for schools - Chalkbeat

Matt Barnum: Do schools spread COVID? It depends on the community, new studies suggest - Chalkbeat

Do schools spread COVID? It depends on the community, new studies suggest - Chalkbeat

Do schools spread COVID? It may depend on how bad things already are around them

Opening school buildings doesn’t increase the spread of COVID-19 in places where cases or hospitalizations from the virus are rare, according to two new studies.

Reopening schools in areas with higher caseloads, though, does spread the virus, one found, while the other couldn’t rule out that possibility. It remains unclear exactly at what point school reopening becomes more risky.

The papers are the most rigorous efforts yet to understand the link between schools and COVID spread in the U.S. It’s research that could guide school officials and health officials grappling with whether to reopen or keep open school buildings. But there aren’t simple answers for places with higher numbers, at a moment when some counties are seeing COVID cases peak.

“It appears that, when hospitalizations rates are low, it is safe to reopen schools in person,” said Douglas Harris, a professor at Tulane University who co-authored one of the studies, which examined national data. “This is important given the side effects of closure for students, such as limiting access to essential services, social isolation, and learning loss.”

At the same time, his co-author Engy Zieden warned that these conclusions don’t apply everywhere. “Given the recent spike in hospitalizations in recent months, policymakers should be cautious,” she said. “It may not be safe to reopen schools where the virus is already widespread.”

The national study, released Monday, examined whether opening schools increased COVID hospitalization rates in surrounding communities. The answer was no, up to a CONTINUE READING: Do schools spread COVID? It depends on the community, new studies suggest - Chalkbeat