Partly that's because it is home to the Florida Virtual School. In Chicago, teachers are offering enrichment resources only, instructed to make sure there's "no new learning." Harking back to an earlier era of distance education, Los Angeles Unified is partnering with the local public television stations to pair educational broadcasts with some online resources.įlorida, where Robin Nelson teaches, is an example of a state that has moved swiftly to transition as much instruction as possible online. In the Philadelphia area, districts may use up snow days left over from the mild winter. Under the current emergency, most teachers will not have any experience at all with this approach."Ĭoronavirus Live Updates Kansas Becomes The First State To End In-Person Classes For The YearĪs they wait for clearer direction, materials, and training, states and districts are choosing different paths. And that's true even when online teachers have experience and training with online teaching. Douglas Harris, an education researcher and fellow at the Brookings Institution, has written a post calling for school districts to focus on making up time, not on teaching remotely.: "Studies of online learning suggest not only that students learn less in online environments, compared with in person, but that disadvantaged students learn the least. That will take extra funding, including money to pay teachers. Because of these inherent inequities, some researchers are advocating that public schools focus on making up lost learning when things get back to normal - through summer school and other remediation. Sadie Hernandez wrote a note and drew pictures to leave on her beloved teacher's doorstep. She tears up talking about her "babies" and how much she misses greeting them at the door with a fist-bump, handshake or hug. She's also concerned about children whose parents must go out to work, and who are sending their kids to home-based daycares that remain open. There's another little one on the way, if not already arrived." And, Nelson notes, for that family and many like it, "survival is a priority and not, you know, accommodations right now for him." Nelson thinks the student may end up repeating a grade. Robin Nelson, an educator with 10 years experience, says one of the students in her class has special needs and needs significant accommodation, and the family also struggles financially. Just over half of the nation's public school children are from families considered low-income, and an estimated 12 million lack broadband Internet access at home. But as a crisis often does, this one has exposed existing inequalities - among schools, among districts and among students. There's a backyard swimming pool for cooling off when lessons are done. When Sadie has to concentrate on her lessons, they turn on "Daniel Tiger" for her little sister Kate. Her parents are both working from home, still earning paychecks. Just three days to mobilize a community of partners and volunteers to assist our schools." Some families, like Sadie's, are adjusting reasonably well. Three days to prepare for neighborhood delivery of school lunches and snacks on our buses so children would not go hungry. Imagine that! "Three days to conduct a survey of technology needs from 130,000 students and to prepare thousands of computers for student use. Three days to train about 8,000 teachers in a whole new way of work. Three days to gather online resources so aligned instruction could continue to take place. Three days to load classes onto an online platform. Three days! "Three days to create, print and distribute about 5 million pages of instructional content. We have managed to troubleshoot the mobilization of meal programs, lack of technology equipment, online teacher training, and a whole host of issues that come with a change of this magnitude. In less than 72 hours, Team Duval moved the entire district to an at-home, virtual instruction model. Diana Greene, the superintendent of Duval County Schools where Robin Nelson teaches, sent an email to her staff on Friday, March 20 that illustrates the magnitude of the effort educators around the country are faced with: "It is amazing to me that it was just 3 days ago that we made the decision to close schools. Thrown into the breach, public schools are setting out on an unprecedented experiment: With little training and even fewer resources, in a matter of days they're shifting from a system of education that for centuries has focused on face to face interaction, to one that works entirely at a distance. Life Kit Tips For Homeschooling During Coronavirus
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