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In the Media

Rethinking School Staffing

written by Public Impact on October 8, 2020

AEI, October 8, 2020, by Nat Malkus

As schools confront massive budget shortfalls in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it is critical that they examine how they might use existing funding more efficiently. On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus talks with Bryan Hassel about how districts might rethink their staffing models in a way that will increase students’ access to excellent teachers and create opportunities for advancement within the teaching profession, all without spending more money. Byran is the co-president of Public Impact and a contributor to the newly released volume, Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck. Listen to the podcast…

Tracking fall reopening plans for all North Carolina districts: New database from EdNC and Public Impact

written by Paola Gilliam on October 7, 2020

EdNC, October 7, 2020, by Beth Clifford, David Gilmore, Cole Smith, Preston Faulk and Molly Osborne

Since the COVID-19 pandemic upended life as we knew it in March, North Carolina school districts have had to rethink how they deliver education. After transitioning online in the spring, districts could choose between a hybrid model with limited face-to-face instruction (plan B) and 100% virtual instruction (plan C) for the start of the 2020-21 school year this fall.

Many school districts, particularly the largest ones, made the decision to start the school year fully remote, while others opted for a hybrid approach. In mid-September, Gov. Roy Cooper announced schools could move to plan A, fully in-person instruction, for students in kindergarten through fifth grade starting Oct.5. This week, after almost seven months, some K-5 students are returning to the classroom full-time.

With every district choosing its own instructional plan this fall, EdNC and Public Impact teamed up once again to track how schools are responding to the pandemic this school year. The NC Districts Fall 2020 Reopening Database documents some details of all 115 districts’ reopening plans. It is our hope this database can help guide school leaders and policymakers as plans continue to evolve throughout the year. Read the full article…

Cost-Effective Ways to Rethink School Staffing

written by Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel on October 1, 2020

Education Week, October 1, 2020, by Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan Hassel

Even before COVID-19 sent students and educators home, teachers’ jobs had grown increasingly complex. Rightful demands for standards matching those of other nations—and for equitable opportunities allowing students to meet or exceed those standards—swelled over recent decades.

With research clearly indicating how important teacher and principal quality are to student learning growth, a thoughtful school staffing and compensation strategy would have been a natural response. Instead, decades of benevolently intended policy shifts snatched dollars from teachers’ pockets as their jobs got harder, while failing to innovate like other professions.

As we explain in Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck, the consequences have been devastating for students and committed educators. A vigorous pivot is long overdue.

Over the past five decades, U.S. public education went on a spending spree benefiting nearly everything and everyone—except classroom teachers. Since 1970, real per-pupil spending increased 145 percent, yet real teacher pay was nearly flat, increasing just 7.5 percent (see figure). Teachers work longer hours, so hourly pay actually declined. If teacher pay had increased in proportion to K-12 spending, teachers today would earn nearly $140,000, on average, instead of less than half that. Read the full column…

Will Learning Pods Be Only for the Rich?

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett and Bryan C. Hassel on August 25, 2020

Education Week, August 25, 2020, by Bryan C. Hassel and Sharon Kebschull Barrett

To exhausted or worried parents deciding whether to send their children into school buildings this fall, “pandemic pods” may look like an appealing way out. Keeping their boys and girls at home learning alone may be better for physical health but not for mental health, and the arrangement is difficult or impossible for many employed parents. Equally undesirable is the greater risk of children catching and spreading a potentially deadly disease from a larger number of people at school.

Some parents are creating home-based, closed groups of a few families’ children to learn together under the rotating supervision of parents or a paid supervisor. Pods could keep students’ learning and social-emotional development on track while helping protect their and their teachers’ health.

But if pods are exclusively organized by parents and those parents are disproportionately well-off, this approach will inevitably further widen economic and racial gaps in learning opportunity.

Lower-income families are in fact more likely to need pods because the parents are more likely to have to go off to work. According to a study from the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago, 63 percent of jobs cannot be done from home, and these jobs are disproportionately lower paid.

Even if they can arrange adult supervision for a group of children, lower-income families may struggle to provide spaces conducive to learning in their homes. The KidsCount Data Center found that as of 2018, 14 percent of children live in overcrowded households. [Read more…]

Charters Were Quicker to Provide Instruction, Regular Contact During Closures, Reports Say. But That’s Also How They ‘Keep the Kids,’ One Expert Explains

written by Paola Gilliam on August 25, 2020

The 74, August 25, 2020, by Linda Jacobson

Charter schools appeared to follow a more routine class schedule and stay in closer contact with students and families following shutdowns than district schools, according to a new analysis out Tuesday from Public Impact and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

But similar percentages of both charter and district schools distributed devices to students, and districts were more likely than charter networks to provide students with internet access, according to the report. Less than half of both district and charter schools clearly explained through websites or social media how they would deliver services for students with special needs.

“This fall, which likely will bring continued disruptions from the pandemic, all public schools can work to improve access and consider changes to schedules, instruction delivery, and student progress monitoring to address learning losses,” the authors wrote.

Drawn from the Center on Reinventing Public Education’s widely used database of how districts and networks of charter schools planned to handle remote learning, “Learning in Real Time” focuses on “bright spots” where charter school organizations set expectations for teachers regarding live instruction, taking attendance and staying in touch with families.

The report finds that charters have the biggest advantage in terms of teachers providing instruction, with 74 percent of charter networks reporting this expectation, compared with 47 percent of districts.

On another indicator, 54 percent of the networks said they expected teachers to check in with students, compared with 37 percent of districts. The authors highlight, for example, Excel Academy Charter Schools in Massachusetts and its “relentless outreach” to students. Read the full article…

States: It’s not too late to guide districts on teaching and learning

written by Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel on August 4, 2020

CRPE, August 4, 2020, by Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel

One striking finding of the CRPE and Public Impact review of state reopening plans is what’s not there: the primary purpose of schools, teaching and learning. During COVID-19, states are giving districts only minimal guidance and support about teaching and learning. Yet district and school leaders are already working around the clock to plan for social distancing, health checks, contact tracing, and device distribution, among other vexing challenges.

In effect, states are dumping the instructional planning burden during an unprecedented modern pandemic onto teachers’ laps (or laptops).

Students—especially the myriad vulnerable to trauma and learning loss—will pay the price.

Yet it’s not too late for states to lead on teaching and learning by providing a targeted set of high-impact expectations for all districts to meet when some or all students are learning remotely. If states required just these expectations—and backed the requirement up with support—vastly more districts would have strong instructional plans to guide teachers. Read the full column…

States Overlook Academics in School Reopening Plans, Analysis Finds

written by Paola Gilliam on July 29, 2020

Education Week, July 29, 2020, by Evie Blad

State guidance on reopening schools largely focuses on health and safety practices without adequately addressing the challenges of keeping students on-track academically following extended coronavirus closures, a new analysis of state reopening plans finds.

The report, released Wednesday by education organizations the Center for Reinventing Public Education and Public Impact, urges states to provide more direction to districts as they face another unprecedented school year. Many districts plan to start the year with remote instruction, and others are preparing to transition to remote learning in the case of spiking virus rates, adding hurdles to academic plans.

But just 15 state plans require districts to prepare for a remote-only option, and just 11 states expect specific practices from districts to support students during remote learning, the analysis says. Read the full article…

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