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Elementary

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K-12

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When the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a historic shutdown of US schools in the spring, state and district leaders speculated that the disruption could last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. With a surge in new infections, the pandemic is now likely to keep many students out of the classroom until well into 2021.

Educators, parents, and students know firsthand the high cost of this prolonged period of remote learning, from rising rates of depression and anxiety to the loss of student learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken an especially heavy toll on Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities. Along with robbing them of lives and livelihoods, school shutdowns could deny students from these communities the opportunity to get the education they need to build a brighter future.

Insights to Impact

In the spring, we examined how school shutdowns were likely to compound racial disparities in learning and achievement, analyzing the toll on learning, dropout rates, and the overall economy. We now share assessment data from this fall, which show that students, on average, started school about three months behind where we would expect them to be in mathematics. Students of color were about three to five months behind in learning; white students were about one to three months behind. The picture for reading is more positive, with students starting school just a month and a half behind historical averages.

Much has improved since the spring. States and school districts have made significant efforts to close the digital divide and improve remote learning, and the implementation of school-based health and safety precautions enabled some students to return to classrooms in the fall (although some of these gains are now at risk as COVID-19 cases spike across the country). However, Black and Hispanic students continue to be more likely to remain remote and are less likely to have access to the prerequisites of learning-devices, internet access, and live contact with teachers. Left unaddressed, these opportunity gaps will translate into wider achievement gaps. Looking forward, we consider several different scenarios to estimate the total potential learning loss to the end of this academic year in June 2021. While the worst-case scenarios from the spring may have been averted, the cumulative learning loss could be substantial, especially in mathematics-with students on average likely to lose five to nine months of learning by the end of this school year. Students of color could be six to 12 months behind, compared with four to eight months for white students. While all students are suffering, those who came into the pandemic with the fewest academic opportunities are on track to exit with the greatest learning loss.

It doesn't have to be this way. While we may not be able to control the virus without an effective vaccine, we are more prepared to deal with its consequences. The immediate priority is to prevent further learning loss through a combination of bringing students back to school where it is safe to do so and improving remote learning across the board. However, that is not enough. Much damage has already been done, and even the best-case scenarios have students half a grade-level behind in June. To catch up, many students will need step-up opportunities to accelerate their learning. Now is the time for school systems to prepare postpandemic strategies that help students to meet their full potential.

Autumn report card: The high cost of COVID-19

School systems were understandably overwhelmed and unequipped to respond when COVID-19 began rapidly spreading in the spring. The US education ecosystem is built around an in-class experience, from technology investments in school-level broadband internet and devices to curriculum design and how teachers are trained. In many communities, schools are also the hub for supports such as school meals, mental-health counseling, and childcare. In many homes, especially for low-income families, students lack access to the internet, devices, and a dedicated, quiet place to study.

The disparities in basic conditions for learning are reflected in the results of formative assessments taken this fall. We analyzed assessment data from the Curriculum Associates i-Ready platform and found that students in their sample learned only 67 percent of the math and 87 percent of the reading that grade-level peers would typically have learned by the fall. On average, that means students lost the equivalent of three months of learning in mathematics and one-and-a-half months of learning in reading. The learning loss was especially acute in schools that predominantly serve students of color, where scores were 59 percent of the historical average in math and 77 percent in reading (Exhibit 1).

These results are only a snapshot of a small cross section of students, but, if anything, these students may outperform national averages. These assessments were taken in school by students who had already made it back into the classroom. In addition, because the survey compares results at the school level, it doesn't capture the full scope of student-level opportunity and achievement gaps. The OECD suggests that more than three-quarters of the variance in US student scores typically occurs within schools, not between them. Extrapolating to a student level, these scores suggest that students of color may have lost three to five months of learning in mathematics, while white students lost just one to three months. Four months roughly tracks with the number of months of disrupted learning after schools began closing in March 2020-suggesting that some students didn't learn any new material once the pandemic hit and may have even slipped backward.

The next normal: Adapting to the realities of remote learning

Conditions for learning have improved significantly since the spring, even though many students remain remote. Even students who still spend their days online are likely to have a better learning experience this year as schools have adapted their curricula, teacher training, and outreach to boost engagement with children and parents. Grading and testing have been reinstated in most schools, raising expectations for teachers and students.

We estimate that about 60 percent of K-12 students started the 2020-21 school year fully remote. Another 20 percent started school with a hybrid model of remote and in-person classes, while the remaining 20 percent headed back full-time to in-person classrooms (Exhibit 2). This reflects a patchwork of modalities across the 13,000 public school districts in the nation.

Students in urban areas and large school districts are most likely to still be learning remotely. Even within the same district, Black and Hispanic students were more likely than white students to have started the school year remote. This partially reflects parental demand, as multiple polls show that Black and Hispanic parents are less likely to want their children to attend in-person classes.

The pandemic hasn't just forced schools to remain remote; it has also prompted some students to leave the public school system altogether. Some parents who can afford it have switched their children to private schools, pandemic pods, or homeschooling. Other children lack that option, and older teens may have dropped out of school altogether. The biggest drop appears to be at the starting point for school. While we don't yet have national enrollment data, an NPR survey of more than 60 school districts across 20 states found that kindergarten enrollment is down an average of 16 percent this year. Some parents may be keeping their children in quality preschool programs that promote socio-emotional and academic growth, but others may not have that option. The decision to skip kindergarten is understandable, especially if the kindergarten experience is remote and parents are juggling work and childcare, but it has long-term consequences. Although kindergarten is compulsory in only 19 states and the District of Columbia, it can have a profound impact on children's skill development that influences later academic performance and even long-term life outcomes.

For those children who remain in the K-12 school system, the challenge is having the tools and resources to thrive academically in a remote environment. Over the spring and summer, states and districts made a Herculean effort to distribute devices, connect students to the internet, reconnect with homeless students who had fallen off the radar, and put in place new regulations and benchmarks on remote instruction (Exhibit 3). But gaps remain. The October US Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey shows that 91 percent of households with K-12 students always or usually have access to a device for learning and internet access. Although gaps have narrowed since the spring, Black and Hispanic households are still three to four percentage points less likely than white households to have reliable access to devices, and three to six percentage points less likely to have reliable access to the internet (Exhibit 4).

Access is easy to measure; quality less so. However, most experts agree that without any live instruction, many students will struggle to progress. Although more students may be receiving live instruction this fall than in the spring, significant racial disparities remain. Black and Hispanic students are twice as likely as white students to have received no live contact with teachers over the previous week and are three to six percentage points less likely to be receiving consistent live instruction (Exhibit 5).

Keeping students engaged remotely is a challenge. Data from instructional software provider Zearn show that student participation in online math coursework decreased by 11 percent this fall compared with participation prior to the pandemic. Among low-income students, the drop is 16 percent, while participation by high-income students decreased by just 2 percent. The good news is that this is a substantial improvement from the spring, when participation was 41 percent lower for low-income students.

Beyond access and quality of instruction, students must be in a physical and emotional state that enables them to learn. The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on families, leaving many children in precarious situations. Feeding America notes that one in four children is at risk of hunger during the pandemic. The number of children who are housing-insecure has risen as families struggle to pay rent. Parental supervision and support may be more difficult in families in which both parents need to work outside the home, or in which the parents are English-language learners and cannot directly support their child's learning.

Looking forward: A high hurdle to reduce learning loss

While schools have made progress in key areas, the reality is that the 2020-21 school year is going to remain a challenge for every student. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the US education system, forcing schools to adopt strategies without certainty about the results. Existing remote learning studies are based on virtual charter schools that aren't representative of the full public school population. There are no rigorous studies on the impact of hybrid models-not just on learning, but also on students' emotional and mental health, as well as on limiting disease spread. This makes it tough for schools to design effective learning strategies and makes it difficult for researchers to predict the impact of ongoing disruptions. Guided by pre-COVID-19 studies of the effectiveness of virtual learning and by assessment data collected at the start of this school year, we created four scenarios to consider:

No progress. As a baseline scenario, this is what students were on track to lose had we continued on the same path as the initial switch to remote learning in the spring. Given the improvements this fall, we hope we have averted this worst-case scenario.

Status quo. This presumes that students stay in their current learning modalities (remote, hybrid, or in-person) until the end of the school year, with a mix of remote learning quality slightly better than historical virtual charter school performance.

Better remote. In this scenario, students stay in their current learning modalities until the end of the school year, but with significant improvements in remote and hybrid learning quality.

Back to school. This scenario is identical to the status quo scenario to the end of 2020, and then students resume a more typical in-person schedule from January 2021 to the end of the school year.

The results are startling. Students on average could lose five to nine months of learning by the end of June 2021. Students of color could be six to 12 months behind, compared with four to eight months for white students (Exhibit 6).

All of these scenarios will have a meaningful impact on existing achievement gaps, but shortening the length of disruption or improving the quality of remote learning can lessen this impact significantly, especially for students of color. If the status quo continues, students of color stand to lose 11 to 12 months of learning by the end of the year, but targeted action could help reduce this to six to eight months.

And this could be just the beginning-we also know from studies of natural disasters, such as the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, that learning losses are likely to compound over time (see sidebar, "The case of Pakistan"). Schools can take action right now to minimize further damage and repair what's already been done.

A path forward: Curb losses and accelerate learning

With remote classes likely to remain a reality for months to come, school systems could do more to make the online experience more conducive to learning. Along with access to both technology and live teaching, students need a daily schedule that builds in formal opportunities for engagement, collaboration, and feedback. System leaders should also empower teachers with new ways to share practices and receive professional development in an online format. There are already some bright spots. Recent Curriculum Associates analysis identified a subset of exemplar schools serving low-income students of color that managed to minimize learning loss. These schools eliminated the digital divide; reached out to each family; doubled down on feedback loops of instruction, learning, and assessment; and held everyone accountable while celebrating successes.

Most important, perhaps, schools can take a more holistic view of their role in a student's life, reimagining elements of curriculum, teaching, technology, and supporting infrastructure in ways that go beyond the norm. That could start with a renewed focus on early childhood-integrating healthcare, social services, and education programs to support children to be ready for school cognitively and socioemotionally. It could continue with ensuring high-quality instructional materials in every classroom, integrating best-practice personalized, blended learning to help students master content. By recognizing teachers as the lifeblood of our education system, the approach could involve a more practicum-based approach to teacher professional development and innovation in unbundling the role of the teacher. For example, Opportunity Culture has been working with several school districts to adopt its multiclassroom leadership model to remote learning-embedding real-time virtual coaching into every classroom. More broadly, schools provide so much more than academics. The pandemic has underscored the importance of investing in mental-health support, motivational coaching, skills training, and new support structures that could lead to an improved education experience.

Even if schools follow the most carefully structured, evidence-based approach to get the most out of remote learning and improve their teaching going forward, the reality is that many months of learning have already been lost. As a result, school systems need to create a step change in student learning if we are to catch up on what has been lost through this pandemic. Systems can start now to create acceleration plans using evidence-based strategies that support students with more time and more dedicated attention, all founded on exposing students to grade-level learning. These strategies can be targeted to the students who need them most, leveraging the best formative assessments and early-warning systems to identify students at risk. These approaches have been road-tested, but will require significant investment to scale (Exhibit 7).

Some of this may only be possible once it is safe to return to in-person learning, but other elements can begin remotely. In a recent survey of district and state leaders conducted in partnership with Chiefs for Change, we found that several districts and states are already experimenting to implement these strategies in the current environment. Some specific examples follow.

Expanded learning time: Acceleration Academies

Given the scope of learning loss so far and the limitations of remote learning, students will likely need additional learning hours to make up the loss. That can come through extended school-day and structured after-school programs, weekend school, and summer school programs that already have proven benefits. The most effective programs strive to reinforce core learning, be culturally relevant, and limit groups to eight to 12 students. While some of these strategies can be implemented now, others should be developed for rapid implementation once in-person instruction is safe.

The summer of 2021 presents a promising opportunity. A recent RAND analysis of 43 summer programs suggests that 75 percent were effective in improving at least one outcome, especially in reading. Promising examples include Acceleration Academies, which has helped students gain up to three months of learning through 25 hours of targeted instruction in a single subject (math or English-language arts) over week-long vacation breaks. California's Aim High organization, meanwhile, reduced chronic absenteeism by 22 percent and suspensions by 37 percent with its project-based summer program.

Some districts are already planning for extended learning time. For example, Ector County Independent School District in Texas has extended its school year from 180 to 210 days and will run a summer-long program available for all students.

What this might look like at scale: Governments, foundations, and school districts collaborate to create a national initiative to bring locally driven, evidence-based summer learning programs to every US student who needs it in 2021.

Dedicated attention: High-intensity tutoring

A proven catalyst for accelerated learning is one-on-one support for students. That requires bringing more talent into the system to provide "high dosage" tutoring and coaching. These programs were pioneered by Match Education in Boston and scaled by Saga Education in Chicago to provide students who are behind grade level in mathematics with an individualized 50-minute class period every school day. Tutors work with two students at a time in each session and cover content that not only meets students where they are but also links back to what is being taught in the regular math classroom. These types of student-tutor ratios may seem unachievable, but costs are kept (relatively) low by using paraprofessionals (for example, recent college graduates) to provide the tutoring. Although certified classroom-teaching expertise is required for teaching a class of 25, trained college graduates can effectively tutor a group of two students. The results are impressive: participating students learned one to two additional school years of mathematics in a single year.

These high-dosage programs are much more effective than low-dosage volunteer tutoring provided weekly or on an ad hoc basis, which have not been shown to have any significant effect on academic progression. Broader research on tutoring finds that it has the greatest impact on reading abilities in the early years (especially in kindergarten and first grade) but more impact in math performance in later grades. Tutoring conducted during school hours is more effective than tutoring after school, and tutoring using teachers or paraprofessionals is more effective than that using volunteers or parents.

It's unclear whether remote tutoring can have the same impact as in-person sessions, but several school systems are running experiments. For example, the Broward County Public Schools district is implementing and assessing several remote tutoring programs, including targeted high-intensity algebra tutoring for high schoolers through an external partnership with Saga Education, as well as "Ask BRIA" (Broward Remote Instructional Assistance)-a locally developed, broad-based interactive video homework helpline available to every K-12 student. The National Student Support Accelerator is working to scale quality tutoring nationwide through increased funding, clear quality standards, and communities of practice.

What this might look like at scale: Universities and school districts partner to leverage successful math-tutoring strategies, creating a national education-service program that gives college students credit to tutor K-12 students through a targeted curriculum.

Acceleration not remediation: Exposure to grade-level content

A key factor fueling disparity in achievement is disparity in teaching. Teachers who follow evidence-based best practices in curriculum and pedagogy are most likely to foster academic progression. When helping students catch up on lost learning, it's critical for instructors to keep them immersed in grade-level content. That might seem counterintuitive. Shouldn't teachers "meet students where they are"? However, recent research from the New Teacher Project suggests that well-intentioned approaches that pull students out of grade-level instruction to "reteach" earlier-grade content can reinforce low expectations and create vicious cycles of underachievement. The better approach is for instructors to provide exposure to grade-level content, while scaffolding students with "just-in-time support" so they can access such content. This is a natural way of prioritizing the building-block content from previous grades that is required to progress.

For example, the Mississippi Department of Education has provided professional development and webinars to teachers, shifting from a deficit model toward accelerated learning-starting with teaching grade-level standards. Meanwhile, the Highline Public Schools district in the state of Washington has identified the essential "essential standards" to provide just-in-time scaffolding to students, creating sample units demonstrating how to implement this grade-level teaching approach.

What this could look like at scale: Teachers and schools around the country set high expectations for every student, exposing them to grade-level learning with the scaffolding they need to succeed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has both illuminated and magnified the persistent disparities between different races and income groups in the United States. In education, attention has largely focused on the achievement gap, which is widening because of the pandemic. But to address the achievement gap, schools must focus on underlying opportunity gaps. The pandemic has forced the most vulnerable students into the least desirable learning situations with inadequate tools and support systems to navigate them. In the spring, that was perhaps an inevitable consequence of being thrust into a sudden unpredictable crisis. With the knowledge and systems we now have in place, allowing this to continue is unacceptable.

One of the distinguishing drivers of US success is Americans' ability to innovate and mobilize around ambitious goals. That drive made the country spend $250 billion to put a human on the moon in 1969 and has made the United States a magnet for talent from around the world. A similar investment and focus on innovation is needed now in education-with deeper collaboration across public, private, and social sectors. Currently, the United States ranks 36th in math and 13th in reading in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. With many other OECD countries having resumed in-person learning, the United States risks falling further behind relative to other nations. Even more important than national competitiveness, of course, is the imperative to provide every child with an opportunity to succeed. While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced this generation of students to face challenges that could shape the rest of their lives, it could also inspire a new moonshot to bring excellence and equity to an education system that's already left too many students behind.

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COVID-19 and learning loss--disparities grow and students need help

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When the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a historic shutdown of US schools in the spring, state and district leaders speculated that the disruption could last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. With a surge in new infections, the pandemic is now likely to keep many students out of the classroom until well into 2021.

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Create a new spreadsheet and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Sheets to edit Excel files. Free from Google.

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Allen Park
-tasked elementary admin to develop Summer, 75 min ELA, Math, STEM blocks for elementary, considering a secondary option but believe it will not be attended as non-credit bearing, traditional credit recovery; considering invite only due to staffing
Flat Rock
-Tasked the bldg admin team with coming up with in school day interventions (small group, workshop, etc) and after school program with priority on in school
Riverview
-data not supporting anything outside what they normally do in summer currently
Trenton
-camp learn a lot development

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Students, Families, Teachers, and DPSCD Staff,

The following statement is starting to be a cliché, which I try to avoid; however, in this pandemic, unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. After a semester of online learning, we must make some changes to improve student motivation and attendance. Too many students are struggling for reasons they cannot control. We must do what we can to keep all of our students and families engaged in the learning process as fears and concerns related to returning to in person learning and teaching are addressed and overcome.

We created an Online Learning Task Force to review, adjust, and specify initial recommendations to improve online learning. This Task Force consisted of teachers, support staff, families, students, school based leaders, and community members. I deeply thank their engagement and involvement; their feedback led to the following initial recommendations for changes. More improvements and changes will be forthcoming.

The set of changes below will be implemented with the start of the second semester for at least the rest of this school year. Some of the changes will be retroactively applied to last semester. See below for those examples. I want to be clear and direct. This is NOT about lowering standards for our students or "watering down" expectations. Many school districts which are considered "higher performing" have implemented similar changes. More relevant and more importantly, these changes provide students and their families with evidence that as a district we are listening to them and their concerns, that we are problem solving to provide them with a path to be successful in these difficult times. No one, including students and families, is asking for something they have not earned. If the strongest critics of these changes take a minute to reflect on the changes and what they mean for student engagement, effort, and persistence then one would see that all grades are still EARNED and there is still accountability for students who are not attending online classes or engaging in their learning through the "No Credit" grade.

More guidance and details regarding these changes will be released by the end of this week.

In addition to these changes, the district will be introducing incentives for students and families regarding outstanding and improved attendance.

Thank you for all that you do for our students!

Nikolai P. Vitti. Ed.D.

Superintendent

Detroit Public Schools Community District

Graded assignments will be limited to one per subject in grades K-2 and two per subject for grades 3-12. 6-12 will include elective classes. This does not include quizzes or tests. Teachers will provide a breakdown of assignments and tests each Monday for the week. Additional assignments for advanced high school courses. Additional assignments can be issued but cannot be graded.

Students may submit late assignments within a 10 school-day window and resubmit assignments for improved grades. Both must be done before the last 10 days of the quarter.

Homework (outside of graded assignments to be completed after direct instruction) will be limited to reading assignments or studying.

Students may retake quizzes and tests up to two times to demonstrate their understanding of the content.

We will now use a "G" letter grade for credit (former "Ds" and "No Credit (NC)" in Grades 3-12 for "Fs". "Fs" will be removed from transcripts and replaced with "NC" to prevent negative impacts on GPAs. "Ds" would become "Gs" and will generate credit but not impact GPAs. This will be retroactively applied to Semester 1 grades through the district's student information system.

Students who earn a 50% or higher will earn a "G" (50-69% range, rather than 60-69%).

Students attending and participating in 80% of the quarter's classes cannot receive a grade lower than a "D" or "G".

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Superintendent's Update: Changes to Grading and Assignments

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Students, Families, Teachers, and DPSCD Staff, The following statement is starting to be a cliché, which I try to avoid; however, in this pandemic, unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. After a semester of online learning, we must make some changes to improve student motivation and attendance.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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WBSD.V2. Extended COVID-19 Learning Plan Cover Page

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The staff at Oakland Schools stand with our schools, districts, and local communities in supporting student well-being and providing developmentally appropriate learning opportunities for students during our state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are some links that might support your work.

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oakland county covid-19 school resources

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The staff at Oakland Schools stand with our schools, districts, and local communities in supporting student well-being and providing developmentally appropriate learning opportunities for students during our state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are some links that might support your work.

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Just about everybody agrees that the school closures resulting from COVID-19 will lead to some student "learning loss" and that the loss will affect students differently depending on their social advantages, the effectiveness of their schools, and their degree of trauma.

Researchers have tried to predict the magnitude of pandemic-related learning loss by making comparisons with what happens when students are out of school in the summer. Recent work by researchers at NWEA, a nonprofit provider of student assessments, estimated that students would end this school year with only about 40 percent to 60 percent of the learning gains they'd see in a typical year.

Data from the federally funded Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, however, suggest a much smaller loss. And estimates that use summer comparisons aren't taking into account the learning that schools have worked hard to provide virtually this spring.

Yet even if the loss is on the larger side-say, the equivalent of three months-this change is small compared with typical existing learning differences among students as they enter a new grade. Most schools are already set up to contend with such variability, and that can work in students' favor as schools return to something closer to normal.

Most experts cautioned against a heavily remediation-focused approach to addressing unfinished student learning."

Teachers have always faced students who return in the fall with unfinished learning. Research from teachers' time-use logs show that many spend the first months of mathematics instruction, for instance, reviewing prior-year content. This fall, that review period would give students a chance to achieve mastery of material missed in the spring.

Teachers also already report spending more instructional time with students who are struggling academically, another compensatory mechanism. And key topics-the American Revolution, identifying themes in a text, fractions-recur repeatedly in the curriculum. Although reformers often object to the repetitiveness of the U.S. curriculum, in this case, it will aid students who have missed material this spring.

The fact that schools are used to responding to students with unfinished learning doesn't mean we have nothing to worry about. Children who suffered trauma from other natural disasters typically lost ground academically and experienced more behavioral problems in the short term as compared with children who did not. And we know that some communities-mostly low-income communities or those of color-are being hit harder than others by COVID-19 and its economic consequences. Schools must try to marshal resources to address those additional needs.

To learn more about how missed learning may play out in the fall, we contacted several experts in English/language arts and mathematics, including Joanne Carlisle at the University of Michigan, Bill McCallum of Illustrative Mathematics, Jon Star and Catherine Snow at Harvard University, and Denise Walston of the Council for the Great City Schools. We asked each to report their level of alarm about learning loss and what strategies they would suggest schools look to in the summer and the fall.

Read the full series here.

All experts reported feeling more concern than alarm with regard to general pandemic learning loss. In ELA, said Carlisle and Snow, students are introduced to most content by March, though they observed that with fewer opportunities to practice new skills after the closures, levels of mastery might be lower. The ELA experts were most concerned about beginning readers, who tend to need more continual reinforcement of skills.

Math experts made similar observations-with the caveat that some math content that is primarily taught in the spring, like geometry, may be missed. All experts noted the challenge of supporting the children whose learning has been strongly affected by school closures and the effects of the pandemic.

As of this writing, there is little sense of what school will look like in the fall. However, both experts and research suggest several strategies that districts can profitably work on this summer and as school begins. These include:

* Providing opportunities for teachers to learn about material never taught to or practiced by their incoming students and to adjust new school year lessons appropriately. Teachers will need opportunities to communicate across grade-level teams about very specific missing content.

* Making sure teachers have information about what students know and can do at the beginning of the new school year. Formal assessments are unlikely to provide this information in an efficient manner, both because of the time lag in reporting results and because those results are often not granular. Instead, the experts recommend quick, informal assessments done by classroom teachers.

* Moving students immediately into grade-level-appropriate content in the new school year, rather than repeating material from the end of the prior grade. Where new lessons draw on concepts affected by the shutdown, schools can add extra review but in a "just in time" fashion. Curriculum materials may also be helpful in this effort, at least in math, because many already identify key skills and knowledge at the beginning of each lesson.

* Finding time and resources for additional high-impact supports for students most in need, such as tutoring or extra time working with a teacher or paraprofessional. Most experts cautioned, however, against a heavily remediation-focused approach to addressing unfinished student learning, for instance, by pulling students out of the classroom for compensatory instruction, because it interferes with learning new material.

* Tracking down students who have disengaged from instruction this spring. Students are more likely to disengage from instruction when it occurs in digital settings, and there is a worry that more students than in past years will drop out entirely. To the extent possible, identify students at risk (perhaps using administrative data from online learning platforms) and have teachers or other adults in the school reach out.

* Identifying opportunities to recover instructional time. Studies of U.S. classrooms show missed or wasted instructional time due to either interruptions (e.g., field trips, announcements) or to teacher and student absences. Schools can help minimize the impact of student absences by keeping kids connected while at home and of teacher absences through the use of "understudies"-staff who can cover classes and ensure instruction continues when teachers fall ill. Leaders should plan for minimizing such disruptions in the fall to the extent that returns to school buildings could make them possible.

Finally, schools will need to take steps to address students' emotional needs and to strengthen the bonds between teachers and students, especially in districts that may see intermittent school closures. In our next essay, we'll take up effective responses to trauma in school settings.

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How to Contend with Pandemic Learning Loss (Opinion)

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Just about everybody agrees that the school closures resulting from COVID-19 will lead to some student "learning loss" and that the loss will affect students differently depending on their social advantages, the effectiveness of their schools, and their degree of trauma.

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One of the most difficult tests facing schools this fall is how to pull off widespread intervention and assistance for students who begin the 2020-21 school year with learning loss.

The challenge is not a new one. American classrooms have always been heterogeneous, serving students of vastly different backgrounds. But those gaps will be intensified due to the disparities in access to health care, the internet, and robust teaching wrought by COVID-19 since last March.

Historically, efforts to "catch kids up" have been disappointing, with so-called turnaround programs and even much-heralded approaches like Response to Intervention producing mixed results in practice.

Still, researchers and educators emphasize, there are ways to mitigate the damage that will inevitably be done to students as the pandemic rages on. Many are rooted in centuries-old practices and common sense but require considerable planning and finesse to make them work.

All the approaches depend on having a few key elements already in place: a solid curriculum; a commitment to grade-level teaching; and strategies to engage students, including tracking them down and contacting them if they aren't showing up for remote or hybrid learning.

By far the most effective intervention for students who have fallen behind-intensive tutoring-has high start-up costs. While there are ways to lower some of them, severe budget cuts could put it out of reach for all but a fraction of districts. Indeed, the federal government's feckless response to the pandemic means that leaders can't count on additional help to defray the cost of doing more for students who will return to school with less.

For this installment on how to address students' learning losses, Education Week interviewed two dozen researchers, teachers, and principals, and reviewed hundreds of pages of empirical studies and planning documents to identify interventions that are well supported by research-and other approaches that are unlikely to move the needle.

The pieces in this part of our series all come with a caveat: They are extrapolated from studies conducted during traditional, in-person schooling. Superintendents and principals bear the difficult responsibility not only of deciding which of these options are technically and financially feasible, but also adjusting them creatively to the realities of fully remote or hybrid schooling.
-Stephen Sawchuk Downloadable: A Guide to Help Students Catch Up
FOUNDATION

Interventions and services aimed at restoring lost learning are most likely to succeed when schools are layering them on top of a solid academic foundation.

That means districts should prioritize several things first: grade-level teaching for all students, a way to track each student's whereabouts, a curriculum synched across schools and delivery methods (in-person and remote), plenty of uninterrupted teaching time, and schedules that benefit the students most likely to need additional help.
Deep Dive: COVID-19's Harm to Learning Is Inevitable. How Schools Can Start to Address It
CLOSE TRACKING

The first step in an effective intervention is identifying the students who need extra help. Early-warning systems can be interwoven with the individual teacher-led gauges of student learning. These systems track indicators like attendance and quarter grades throughout the year and identify students who are slipping and need extra academic or social-emotional assistance.

But districts must be creative to adjust some of the indicators in these systems to the realities of remote or hybrid learning-especially as things like attendance take on new meaning.
Deep Dive: Remote Learning Is Tough for Many Students. How 'Early-Warning' Data Can Help Schools Support Them
TUTORING

Study after study identifies intensive, one-on-one or one-to-two tutoring as the most effective way to help students who are falling behind in their learning to catch up. The challenge for districts is figuring out how to pay for this expensive approach, and how to make it translate in a remote setting.

Research suggests that using paraprofessionals and volunteers can be effective. Beginning with slightly larger tutoring groups may also be an approach to consider.
Deep Dive: High-Dosage Tutoring Is Effective, But Expensive. Ideas for Making It Work
EXTENDING TIME

Extending learning time in creative ways, such as weeklong "academies" during spring or fall breaks or Saturday sessions, show promise for significant learning gains. These so-called acceleration academies are showing real promise in a group of districts in Massachusetts.

In targeted, small group environments, teachers use research-based strategies to improve students' foundational skills and content and to build strong relationships. Districts will have to take the lead in administering and planning for the extra teaching.
Deep Dive: Students Lost Time and Learning in the Pandemic. What 'Acceleration' Can Do to Help

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One of the most difficult tests facing schools this fall is how to pull off widespread intervention and assistance for students who begin the 2020-21 school year with learning loss.                       The challenge is not a new one. American classrooms have always been heterogeneous, serving students of vastly different backgrounds.

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Let me pause and note three other factors about parents:

Any sense by the child that they are under parental surveillance leads to decreased impact of learning at home. Parents cannot become learning police, demanding sustained concentration until completion . T eachers are not police , nor should parents be .

Parental involvement decreases once reading is attained , so more attention to the pedagogical aspects in non-reading tasks become s important

The negative effects on learning increase for subjects where parents are least likely to be skill ed or have knowledge , such as math, science, and history

Create as many opportunities for social interaction, not just between you and the student, but using technology for students to work, share, interact, and learn together , as you so often do in the regular classroom. Learning at home need not be a lonely activity, with the only or even primary resource the parent.

Help parents see their role as creating routines for learning and allowing their children to : T ell them that there is no point having their kids learn stuff they already know, not knowing is a sign of readiness and excitement of learning . C reate opportunities for teacher-student and student-student interaction.

Distance Learning

Distance learning shows a very low effect size, but that means that it does not matter whether you are distant or not and should not be interpreted as " distance is disastrous. "  What is more important is the methods of teaching, not the media.

Optimize the social interaction aspects (we do not want to be talked at, but learn with)

Check for understanding (listen to the feedback from the students about their learning even more when you do not have the usual cues of the classrooms

Make sure there is a balance between the precious knowledge and the deep thinking (too often online favors the former over the latter)

Bottom line: Understand what it means to be a learner online. When the usual peer interactions are often not as present, the teacher's observational skills are different, and there is too often an over-emphasis on content and repetition.

Know our impact from a distance

Learn how we as groups of teachers can evaluate, discuss , and work together

Discover ways to enhance the collective efficacy of all (now with the parents)

View this pandemic as an opportunity to learn more about how to work with students from afar, outside of our normal comfort zones of the classroom and school

E ngage with parents to realize we as educators have unique skills and expertise (and are happy to share them ), and not get upset if students are not spending 5-6 hours every day in the belief that school at home is but a mirror of the typical school day

References
Porche, Demetrius J. "Emergent leadership during a natural disaster: A narrative analysis of an acute health care organization's leadership." (PhD diss., Capella University 2009).

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author: Brendan Soules, Izzy Scheirson. and Macee Hussey

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author: Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Michael W. Smith, Hugh Kesson, and Deborah Appleman

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author: Joe Schmidt and Nichelle Pinkney

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Visible Learning Effect Sizes When Schools Are Closed: What Matters and What Does Not - Corwin Connect

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Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin With the prospect of schools being out for a while, I will review some of the Visible Learning influences that may help understand what really matters and what does not matter as much. First, does it matter that students are not in the physical place called school?

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools across the country to confront unprecedented challenges. And the longer schools remain closed-likely through the end of the academic year in most states-the higher the stakes become for next school year.

To tackle these challenges, school systems must focus on the strategies proven to accelerate student learning. Even imperfect attempts to accelerate learning back to grade level will create far better school experiences for many students than what they received before the crisis.
The key is doing the right planning for the new school year, right now.
We've created the following guidance to help school and district stakeholders responsible for that planning, organized around a few key questions:

1. How do we create a plan to accelerate student learning?

2. How do we accelerate student learning in the next two years?

3. What other challenges should we be anticipating as we plan to accelerate student learning?

This guide will help you figure out how to go about answering these guiding questions and assembling the people, information, and processes needed to plan for restarting school.
Terms of Use
These tools and resources are provided for informational or educational use only and are not intended as a service.

Unless otherwise indicated, the resources provided on the COVID-19 School Response Toolkit are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike license and are subject to the copyright rules under that license.

Commercial use of the materials is not allowed without explicit written permission from TNTP, Inc. Unless otherwise noted, any distribution of materials posted on this website must credit TNTP, Inc. as follows:

From COVID-19 School Response Toolkit (2020) by TNTP, Inc., available at https://tntp.org/covid-19-school-response-toolkit.

Permission to copy, use and distribute materials as described above shall not extend to information housed on the COVID-19 School Response Toolkit and credited to other sources, or information on websites to which this site links.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools across the country to confront unprecedented challenges. And the longer schools remain closed-likely through the end of the academic year in most states-the higher the stakes become for next school year. To tackle these challenges, school systems must focus on the strategies proven to accelerate student learning.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools across the country to confront unprecedented challenges. Teachers, principals, and school support staff are doing heroic work to offer stability for students and families during this crisis by providing meals, home learning resources, and at-home instruction.

But the longer schools remain closed-likely through the end of the academic year in most states-the higher the stakes become for next school year. A recent study predicted that students will experience a learning loss of 30 percent in reading and 50 percent in math as a result of the crisis. Left unchecked, it's an academic setback that could derail the futures even of students who were previously on grade level-and would be disastrous for students who were already behind.

To tackle these challenges, school systems need to focus on strategies proven to accelerate student learning. We know that typical remediation-assigning work better suited for earlier grades- won't come close to catching students up and will likely compound the problem. In The Opportunity Myth, we found that this approach of "meeting students where they are" practically guarantees they'll lose more academic ground and get even less access to grade-level work in the future. The students stuck in this vicious cycle are disproportionately the most vulnerable: students of color, from low-income families, with special needs, or learning English.

In other words, doubling down on current strategies for catching students up will only widen opportunity and achievement gaps. Schools need to be ready on the first day back with a fundamentally different strategy for diagnosing lost learning and putting every student on a fast track back to grade level-a strategy designed to accelerate their exposure to grade-appropriate work, not delay it.

Today, we're releasing a new resource, the Learning Acceleration Guide, to help school systems create and implement that strategy. It's organized around a few key questions:

How can schools create a plan to accelerate student learning?

How can schools accelerate student learning in the next two years?

What other challenges should schools anticipate as they plan to accelerate student learning?

Download the Guide
We explain in detail how schools can help students catch up without delaying the introduction of grade-level material, by providing "just-in-time" interventions to fill in learning gaps from the previous school year. We recommend that schools:

1. Prioritize the most critical prerequisite skills and knowledge for each subject area and grade level now.

2. Plan an approach to diagnosing students' unfinished learning in that prerequisite content knowledge and those prerequisite skills.

3. Adapt scope and sequence/pacing guidance for each subject area and grade level to reflect where teachers might need to provide acceleration support.

4. Train teachers and leaders to diagnose students' unfinished learning and provide acceleration support.

5. Monitor students' progress on grade-appropriate assignments and adjust supports for teachers and leaders based on student results.

This approach to helping students catch up will feel new to most teachers and school leaders. Adopting it won't be easy, especially given the many other challenges schools will face when they reopen. But the alternatives-going back to "business as usual" approaches to teaching and learning in the face of massive learning loss, or ramping up existing remediation strategies guaranteed to make things worse-are unthinkable.

To do right by our students in the aftermath of this crisis, we need a different approach. We hope our guide will help system leaders, school leaders, and teachers make the shift from remediation to acceleration in 2020-21 and beyond.

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Remediation Won't Help Students Catch Up. Here's What Will.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools across the country to confront unprecedented challenges. Teachers, principals, and school support staff are doing heroic work to offer stability for students and families during this crisis by providing meals, home learning resources, and at-home instruction.

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This year, the "summer" break for school children will be six months long. Some learning loss is likely, but it will vary, depending on kids' opportunities to learn during the coronavirus shutdown and on individual differences-for example, a taste for recreational reading.

How can schools figure out where individual kids are? If the kids in any classroom have different degrees of learning loss, how can schools start everyone in the first place and quickly get everyone ready for grade-level material?

These questions can't be fully answered until kids come back. But we can anticipate some of the answers by looking at the last long-time disruption in schooling-in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans schools closed abruptly in early August 2005. Though a few schools located on high ground were able to start again in early 2006, the majority of children weren't back in New Orleans schools until the following school year or later. All returning students had suffered hurricane-related trauma. Some had gone to school for a few months in Texas or other parts of Louisiana, but most were out of school until they returned to New Orleans.

The situations are not identical, but post-COVID educators need to know what post-Katrina educators tried and what they learned. Earlier this month, I interviewed school heads and academic leaders whose schools received students as soon as they returned to New Orleans after Katrina. Respondents provided some important insights.

First, about how much kids had lost:

Kids came back on average more than two years below grade level, some much more. Losses were most dramatic in mathematics.

The degree of learning loss couldn't be predicted by family income, prior school, student age, or pre-Katrina grade level. Any school that opened in New Orleans had to assess individual readiness.

Since kids trickled back to New Orleans over a long period of time, schools could never stop assessing and adjusting to learning loss.

It often took multiple years of individualized attention to resolve the largest learning losses.

What schools tried:

Schools used conventional diagnostic tests to assess student readiness. Because these were used for placement only, and not as accountability baselines, schools could choose among tests.

Elementary schools placed children in courses based on readiness levels, not age.

Some elementary schools assigned students to specially-designed make-up programs for as much as half of each school day to accelerate recovery of reading and math levels.

High schools found that students were bored in purely remedial courses and did not make progress as rapidly as did elementary level students. Students were then assigned to regular grade-level courses.

High schools developed "spiraling," whereby teachers would present regular course materials after re-teaching prerequisite materials that some students had missed.

High schools also tried to arrange tutoring for students who needed extra help keeping up with "spiraling" courses.

Schools got mixed but overall positive results:

Elementary schools that emphasized skill recovery found that students scored poorly on state accountability tests-poorly enough to threaten charter schools' existence.

A consequent re-emphasis on grade-level instruction improved score performance but left school leaders concerned that students still had not recovered lost learning.

High schools found that "spiraling" greatly improved students' persistence in school and graduation.

Fifteen years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans schools are still dealing with its aftermath, and with students who come to school unprepared for grade-level work. As one school head concluded, "A big trauma like Katrina can have effects for decades. Learning losses don't just disappear with one course or in one academic year. For schools, the need to keep track of where every child is, and to work constantly on helping everyone move along, is permanent, not short-term." The term "social-emotional learning" was not au courant at the time: as one educator said, "we thought that kids needed great teaching, personal attention, and high expectations."

These lessons might apply when schools restart in the fall. If, as some expect, additional periods of social distancing may be necessary in the next two years, schools will have to help students catch up many times, not just once.

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What Post-Katrina New Orleans Can Teach Schools About Addressing COVID Learning Losses | Center on Reinventing Public Education

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This year, the "summer" break for school children will be six months long. Some learning loss is likely, but it will vary, depending on kids' opportunities to learn during the coronavirus shutdown and on individual differences-for example, a taste for recreational reading. How can schools figure out where individual kids are?