Many states in recent weeks have reported poor academic indicators for their kids throughout the epidemic, including decreased test scores, an increase in chronic absenteeism, and faltering graduation rates.
When pandemics and recovery efforts are disrupted, states are seeking permission from federal education officials to delete some information on schools’ performance from school report cards, citing the fact that conventional school ratings are inaccurate. According to one report on graduation rates from America’s Promise Alliance, the peak graduation rate obtained in 2019-20 may be challenging to approach as schools battle to return to routine as the nation’s schools find their way out of the worst of the pandemic.
When it comes to using billions of dollars in school relief funds, National Parents Union polls shows that parents are being excluded from the decision-making process.
Evie Blad at Education Week reports that “56 percent of the respondents said they have not seen or heard anything about how funds are being spent in their child’s school or classroom.” Moreover half of those surveyed claim they haven’t received any information from their schools concerning the federal recovery funding. A slow reversal of progress is “heartbreaking” for parents, says NPU President Keri Rodrigues, “especially for districts that have received an extraordinary amount of resources during this critical time.”
More than just test scores, graduation rates, or relief monies, states and educational systems are dealing with obstacles brought by the epidemic and the Delta variant — and working to keep students’ education intact as the pandemic continues.
In a testimony to the General Assembly Education Committee, school counselors and educators in Kentucky claim that the COVID-19 pandemic has “compound[ed] the problems of adolescence” and led to as many as 1 in 4 children expressing mental health issues or even suicidal thoughts. One instructor told the committee, “Before the COVID pandemic, there were students at my school who were suffering from mental illness.” There’s been a dramatic increase in how many people are sick and how severe their symptoms are since the pandemic. COVID has had a negative impact on my school’s suicide threats, just like the national average. School mental health programs, staff, and services should be given more money by teachers and administrators, they said.
NM DOE has renewed a contract with an academic coach service that links students and their families via text and phone calls. Over the previous two years, the initiative has recommended almost 40,000 students, with roughly half of them choosing to work with academic coaches.
National attention is being paid to an elementary school in Phoenix that has implemented an extensive new literacy program in all of its classes, including music and physical education. The principle of Sevilla East Elementary, Erika Twohy, cited national and state-level assessment statistics showing substantial decreases in student literacy progress during the epidemic as a reason for focusing on literacy when school began this year. Literacy and instructional coaches were employed by Twohy to help teachers of all subjects learn how to incorporate literacy education and practice into their classes. It was also redesigned to incorporate the science of reading and phonics into the curriculum, activities and resources. Despite the extensive efforts, Twohy says she is worried about students who are two years behind where they were when the pandemic first started. Twohy added, “I feel like we’re running out of time.
Kelcie Moseley-Morris of the Idaho Capital Sun argues that the story of two instructors and their experience with pandemic education represents the issues that many teachers around the state face. According to Moseley-Morris, the pandemic has resulted in record retirement rates in the Gem State, and this trend has not been spared when it comes to K-12 schooling. While the pandemic saw an increase in retirements, Idaho schools were able to keep their instructors in place without as much difficulty as many other states and districts.
State education authorities’ statement earlier this month that schools will begin requiring pupils to be vaccinated against COVID-19 once the vaccine is certified for use by children has sparked doubts about whether other states will follow suit.. By downplaying the limitations of simpler vaccination waivers and gradual implementation of vaccine requirements, state officials downplayed a vaccine mandate for most younger children not anticipated to be implemented until the summer of 2022 for most students under the age of 18 years old. According to Education Week’s reporting, it’s unlikely that other states will follow California’s lead in mandating vaccines for children, given the wide range of state vaccine laws, the growing number of states that actively prohibit schools from requiring certain vaccines and national survey data showing that nearly 20% of parents oppose vaccination against COVID-19.
Teachers in Indianapolis Public Schools are expected to earn a 3% raise following years of salary freezes, according to a tentative agreement negotiated with the teachers union. Lawmakers have been urged by teachers across Indianapolis to focus on teacher remuneration during the current pandemic, but they have not been able to do so because of low pay in Indiana.
Following the pandemic, Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson said that school enrollment has continued to decline. According to Watson’s announcement, more than 15,000 pupils across the state’s public schools will leave between 2019 and 2021, with no sign of a return at the beginning of the new year. According to Watson, “the last 18 months have been the hardest on our state, and schools are a microcosm of that.”
Over $5 million in COVID-19 school relief funds will be utilized to assist a wide range of “afterschool, summer, and extended-year learning programs” across Arkansas. Arkansas Out of School Network network director Laveta Wills-Hale commended the investments, saying that for every child already enrolled in an afterschool program, there are three more waiting in line. “Summer learning programs are no different.” A program for more than 26,000 additional children would have been offered to them in 2019,” Wills-Hale said at the end of the study.
Efforts are underway in Louisiana to “home-grow” educators to address the state’s growing teacher shortage, a problem that is affecting many other states. “Educators Rising” clubs have been established in high schools around the state to introduce students to the teaching profession as they plan for college, with the Louisiana Department of Education even launching a “pre-pathways” program to enable high school students gain college credit. Aimee Barber, an associate professor in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s College of Education, described the long-term strategy as a “grow your own” program. It’s time to rethink what it means to be a teacher in our own community.
As part of the federal government’s COVID-19 pandemic response, Clark County School District, which serves Las Vegas and is the nation’s fifth-biggest school district, has announced that free lunches will continue through the 2025 school year. Following in the footsteps of California and Maine, the district has extended its free lunch program.