麻豆影视

This is a special edition of EduClips, our recurring roundup of top education headlines from America鈥檚 15 largest school districts, where more than 4 million students across 10 states typically attend class every day. See our full EduClips archive right here.听

Taking attendance is one of the more quotidian aspects of education, less remarked upon than perennial issues like yawning achievement gaps or the inability to read at grade level. But there鈥檚 an obvious causal relationship: Reading mastery can鈥檛 develop and gaps don鈥檛 shrink if students fail to show up. Long before the pandemic, experts deemed chronic absenteeism a聽crisis, with nearly 8 million K-12 students missing 15 or more days of school a year.

That was before. Now, the blitzkrieg pace of the switch to remote learning brought about by COVID-19 has led to many more students dropping out, not tuning in. As families struggle with health and economic concerns, not to mention lack of Wi-Fi, some teachers are reporting that they can鈥檛 reach students by email or phone. Each failed connection is a story of learning lost. told the Los Angeles Times that two-thirds of the juniors in the Advanced Placement English class at her South L.A. high school had not responded to messages about assignments she鈥檇 sent three weeks prior 鈥� part of the 7 percent of students the district had not made contact with since schools there closed March 16. , a special education teacher in Atlanta, told the Huffington Post that after three weeks, he still had not heard from two of his elementary students.

In the world of attendance, those are the known unknowns, to paraphrase former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But some systems, like the District of Columbia Public Schools, have completely ceased taking public attendance, and in others, like the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District in North Carolina, remote learning is optional and teachers are therefore not required to check in with students. It goes without saying, but districts were unprepared to handle a disaster of this scale: American schools have lived through hurricanes and wildfires but nothing that encompassed the entire country or lasted so long. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a hurricane hit every district in America at the same time,鈥� said , president of the education advocacy group 50Can.

For educators, it鈥檚 not too early to prepare for the effects of the cataclysm on the nation鈥檚 most vulnerable students. Mike Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, has already unveiled a聽 to keep struggling students in their current grades once the pandemic ends. That could spark pushback from parents. A聽 found that 48 percent of parents say that students who complete a formal distance learning program should advance to the next grade come fall, but roughly a quarter say that students should advance regardless. , executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, told The New York Times that the dilemma of how to catch children up academically once the pandemic fades is 鈥渁 serious issue that could have implications for years.鈥� 鈥淢any skills build one on another,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f a child misses out on some key idea, then all of a sudden, additional ideas as they鈥檙e introduced just become Greek.鈥�

Top stories

Immigrant Students 鈥� Miami-Dade Schools Got Ahead on Online Classes, but Immigrant Students Were Left Behind ()

Student Meals 鈥� Free School Lunch Programs Forced to Choose: Fight Coronavirus or Students’ Hunger ()

Virtual Charters 鈥� Competitors or Collaborators: Some School Closure Orders Look to Restrict Virtual Charters to Protect Brick-and-Mortar Schools During Coronavirus Crisis (Read at The74Million.org)

Teacher Shortage 鈥� Coronavirus School Closures Push Out Student Teachers. Will US Teacher Shortage Get Worse? ()

Undocumented Students 鈥� For Undocumented Students, Coronavirus Pandemic Brings Learning Disruptions 鈥� and Economic Panic 鈥� With Few Avenues for Help (Read at The74Million.org)

鈥楽ocial distance鈥� learning

Analysis: How 18 Top Charter School Networks Are Adapting to Online Education, and What Other Schools Can Learn From Them (Read at The74Million.org)

An Unexpected Tool for Remote Learning During Coronavirus: Public TV Stations ()

Now More Than Ever, Houston鈥檚 鈥楧igital Divide鈥� Puts Children鈥檚 Education in Peril ()

Being Kind Online Takes On New Urgency as Socially Isolated Kids and Teens Find It鈥檚 Their Only Destination (Read at The74Million.org)

Parents and families

How NYC Parents Are Working to Keep Their Kids Socializing ()

Give Yourself 鈥楪race鈥� 鈥� and 7 Other Tips From Teachers to Home-Schooling Families ()

鈥榃hy Do I Want Digital Experiences for My Kids If It Looks Like This?鈥� 鈥� Experts Fear Parent Backlash Against Online Learning (Read at The74Million.org)

Child Care in a Locked-Down World ()

How Much Home Teaching Is Too Much? Schools Differ in Demands on Parents ()

Educators

Educators We鈥檝e Lost to the Coronavirus ()

Teachers Should Seize This Moment to Connect With Their Students ()

COVID-19: Local Educators Miss Teaching Their Students While Schools Are Shut Down ()

How Schools Will Overcome the 鈥楥oronavirus Slide鈥�: Ideas From 5 Superintendents ()

鈥楢 Tremendous Loss鈥�: Brooklyn Third-Grade Teacher Dies From Coronavirus ()

Special education

DeVos Weighs Waiving Special Education. Parents Are Worried. ()

鈥業t鈥檚 Exhausting鈥�: Illinois Special Needs Parents Struggle With Remote Learning Days ()

How Children With Disabilities Are Getting Left Behind ()

Disability Rights Groups, School Administrators Spar Over Possible Changes to Special Education Laws ()

Equity and activism

Children May Miss Meals as School Food Service Workers Fall Ill ()

For Schools, a New Challenge: How to Feed Students During Spring Break? ()

Essays and reflections

It鈥檚 Hard to Teach Writing Online: A Veteran Educator鈥檚 Tips for Reaching Students Remotely ()

Pondiscio: At This Time of Crisis, Schools Are Improvising, Innovating and Scaling Good Ideas With Love, Loyalty & Care. These Days Will Shape Us Forever (Read at The74Million.org)

Oregon鈥檚 Coronavirus Education Lockdown: Teachers Unions Block Kids From Transferring to Virtual Charter Schools ()

The Dying Art of Instruction in the Digital Classroom ()

Bradford: $13B in Stimulus Money for K-12 Schools Is a Good Start. But All Types of Schools Will Need More Help From the Feds in Order to Reopen (Read at The74Million.org)

QuotED

鈥淚t鈥檚 like a hurricane hit every district in America at the same time.鈥� 鈥擬arc Porter Magee, president of the education advocacy group 50Can. ()

鈥淚 actually need my teachers, who know me and understand me, to help me, and I don鈥檛 have that. I just keep thinking, 鈥極h, my God, I might not pass.鈥� I鈥檓 just really scared for the future.鈥� 鈥�Titilayo Aluko, 18, a junior at Landmark High School in Manhattan. ()

鈥淚鈥檇 give it about a month.鈥� 鈥�Miriam, an undocumented high school student in San Anonio, Texas, on the economic urgency facing her family during the pandemic. (Read at The74Million.org)

鈥淚 miss my kids. I miss them so much. I just want to … I want to help them. I want to teach them. I think I鈥檓 getting a little emotional. I wish I was in a class and I wish I had my whiteboard and my marker and I wish I had all of them in one room because it is not easy. OK, so. Whew, all right. Should we move on?鈥� 鈥�Keara Williams, teacher at a South Los Angeles high school. ()

鈥淲e鈥檙e built for challenging times. Children don鈥檛 have the words today to describe it, but the lessons of the pandemic will become clearer in the retelling. It鈥檚 about social cohesion, love and loyalty, and how good people step up when we need them to.鈥� 鈥�Robert Pondiscio, senior fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. (Read at The74Million.org)

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