The Cost of School Closures & Semi-Closures
As the heartbreaking pandemic wears on and new restrictions are added, subtracted, and resurrected, give a listen to those who know well the cost of closures to students, their parents, and teachers: “The United States has extracted an enormous sacrifice from its...
Remote Learning’s Already Apparent Shortcomings
A mid-October Pew Research Center survey that compared taking an online-only course with an in-person one found that: Just 30% said they “provide equal educational value.” 68% said they do NOT. So now imagine being one of the countless kids who, from mid-March to...
2020: Scams, Loss, Death, and Other COVID Side Effects
Since mid-March we’ve been pretty much stuck in an unending bad movie or Twilight Zone episode called COVID-19 that’s now infected 12,818,000 Americans and claimed some 262,000 lives. Among the virus’s other miserable side effects: Finds the U.S. Census Bureau, about...
On the Way to Normal with Pfizer, Moderna, with Thanks
On November 18, Dr. Anthony Fauci, reassuringly said, “The cavalry is on its way. It’s not here yet, but it’s going to come. We have an even better than expected efficacy signal on two vaccines. We’re likely to already start having distribution of doses, hopefully by...
The Other Pandemic: Closed School’s Effect on Teen Well-Being
Mid-June Common Sense Media/America’s Promise Alliance surveys found that schooling’s “new normal” has hit teenagers hard—especially those who are black, Latino, and Asian. If a parent, you’re not surprised. As school psychologist Rob Coad reminds us: “One of their...
Expert Schooling Guidance and San Francisco Teachers’ Ongoing Refusal to Return, Too
By now, we all know our schooling options: Send kids every day, a couple of days per week, or keep them home dnd engaged in full-time remote instruction. Choiceless choices, stuck as we are in COVID’s grip. What's a parent to do? For answers and guidance, Education...
COVID’s Non-Stop Education Side Effects
The EdWeek Research Center has found that 31% of teachers and district leaders said teacher morale was “much lower” in August than before the pandemic, up from 26% in June. Plus, 32% of teachers said they’re likely to resign because of COVID, up from 12% in May. A...
Politics in the Classroom: Yes or No Way?
In Education Week’s recent “Is the Election Still a Teachable Moment?” author Sarah Schwartz quotes Daniel Bachman, a teacher at New York’s Massapequa High School: “Teaching the election in the past has always been a joyful thing. I always looked forward to it. I just...
Character: Gone Missing in American Politics and Society
Character is much in the news of late—or should I say its lack as the country reels from rioting protestors, rising crime rates, and right on up to the highest echelons of government on BOTH sides of the aisle. As Arthur Schwartz, president of Character.org writes,...
Autumn’s Back-to-School Essential for All: The Seasonal Flu Vaccine
The back-to-school 2020 version began with most kids serving yet again as a captive virtual instruction audience, but the ties that bind have loosened, allowing many schools to now transition to a hybrid teaching model: typically three days of online learning, two...
The U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey Reveals Young People’s Ignorance
This first-ever state-by-state survey revealing how little Millennials and Gen Z know about history and the Holocaust is cause for great worry both culturally and educationally, as a new wave of anti-Semitism now overtakes America and Europe… World War II began with...
Opening Shots: What Folks Are Saying about September Schooling
“They need the structure, they need the socialization, they just need to go. I love you, but here’s your backpack, here’s your lunch… Have a good day.” ~ Missi Magness, Indianapolis parent “Given recent media coverage, parents and teachers could be forgiven for...
Common Sense Media Talks Remote Instruction with Teens
Of the 800 teens questioned in Common Sense Media’s remote instruction survey: 60% said online learning is worse than in-person instruction; 25% said it’s “much worse.” And yet, 42% think schooling now should be fully remote; 37% prefer the hybrid model, with 19%...
The Troubling YouthTruth Spring Remote Instruction Survey
It’s doubtful that the results of YouthTruth’s national survey of students in grades 5 through 12 regarding spring’s lockdown and all-remote schooling will surprise the parents of school-aged kids and/or their teachers. For instance: While 87% successfully handled the...
As Much as Things Change, They Really Don’t: Schooling 2020 Style
Based on state and federal data from 2017 to 2019, Quality Counts 2020’s final grading of America’s schools—regarding academics, school finance, and long-term socio-economic indicators—is out now, and … Our overall average schooling grade is 75.9 points out of 100--a...
The School Reopening Dilemma Keeps Making Headlines
Got to admit: Am tired of reading/sharing the contents of endless school reopening articles and the teachers suing and/or threatening to strike if forced to return in person, so... This time around, am going with headlines only; they pretty much tell all you need to...
A Good News Report that Counters the Ongoing Grim COVID Updates and Warnings
Yes!! Yes!! were the words that came to mind when, on September 1, I read the Wall Street Journal editorial board’s “A Virus Report: It’s no time to be complacent, but the summer surge has eased.” The lead paragraph: We hate to be the bearer of good news, but here...
Making the Case against Education Technology
In pre-coronavirus days, Common Sense Media found that 80% of K-12 teachers had computing devices in their classrooms; that doesn’t mean, however, that they were big ed-tech fans. In fact, says Education Week’s Alyson Klein, “… Many see these companies as bad...
Regarding the Reopening of Schools, It’s Division and Politics as Usual
The back-to-school frenzy is on, but with a decidedly political twist, as the following surveys reveal. A recent month-long Gallup Panel found that: 57% of K-12 teachers are “very concerned” about being exposed to the coronavirus on the job: 18% of teachers are...
Dr. Ellinore McCance-Katz Weighs the Consequences of Full-Out Virtual Instruction and Lack of Parent Input
Seems we’ve come full circle. In June, hope was strong for a return to 5-day, in-person schooling come fall, but that quickly morphed into the hybrid model for many: 2 days in-school, 3 days home on a screen. But now even that is pretty much off the table, prompted by...