Special Edition: Week 30
October 2, 2020

It is now week 30 of our new education reality.

Back in January, we shared the 50CAN network’s 43 legislative goals for 2020. When school buildings closed in March, we threw out the campaign rulebook and committed ourselves to a new series of spring goals focused on immediate needs like hunger and Internet access. Then in the summer, we launched our third series of campaigns for 2020 focused on emergency spending for our schools.

Today, building upon the Fund Everything and Measure Everything policy frameworks released six weeks ago, we are launching an unprecedented fourth round of policy campaigns for 2020 because the urgent needs of America’s students can’t wait.

These fall goals are focused on getting money directly in the hands of families, removing the red tape to educational innovation and ensuring that we all know how well our students are doing. They are designed to address the urgent needs that are now in sharp relief as we struggle to make the 2020-21 school year work for kids.

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As journalist Alec MacGillis documents in his heart breaking New Yorker article following the life of one student in Baltimore, our education response is failing: “While we dutifully stayed home to flatten the curve, children like Shemar were invisible.”

We can’t afford to lose a whole generation of students. We can’t afford to wait until next year to tackle their urgent needs. We have to do everything we can to make their problems visible to America’s policy makers and insist they take action to help America’s students right now.

TOP TASKS

Fall Campaigns

Across the 50CAN network, our campaigns are working on a new set of policy goals to meet the urgent needs of the students and families in their communities.

  • CarolinaCAN, building on the recent win of a $335 tax credit per child for educational needs, is advocating for universal Education Savings Accounts.

  • ConnCAN is advocating for prorated grants of $11,525 per child from the state to enable public school choice, allowing students to choose a new school in a different district.

  • DelawareCAN is advocating for an executive order from Governor Carey to cut red tape and ease regulations to make it easier for businesses and community organizations to run learning pods.

  • GeorgiaCAN is working to provide students in need with microgrants that could be spent on tutoring, learning pods, curriculum or other resources.

  • HawaiiKidsCAN is seeking grants of up to $1,500 per child for families to spend on learning programs and educational resources.

  • JerseyCAN is partnering with Senator Teresa Ruiz to provide funding for the creation of learning pods by nonprofits and in district, charter and Renaissance schools.

  • P.S. 305 in Miami is pushing for transparency from the school district to understand why so many students are not regularly attending online classes.

  • NewMexicoKidsCAN is working to ensure that all students can choose between virtual and in-person classes, every student receives weekly one-one-one tutoring and districts publicly report attendance and engagement data.

  • TennesseeCAN is advocating for a microgrant program to provide 2,100 students with education grants of $9,500 per child.

  • Transform Education Now in Colorado is working to create quality learning opportunities, by advocating for statewide funding to address individual learning needs.

THE TASK OF THE WEEK IS
Read more about our fall campaign goals.

Key Resources

  • America Succeeds released their new report, Bouncing Back, on student-centered legislative priorities for 2021.

  • AEI’s Rick Hess and the Fordham Institute‘s Brandon Wright released a new book, Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck. The book is a guide for the next decade of American education spending.

  • In a new report, CRPE urges districts to seize the opportunity to improve professional learning for teachers.

  • Education Next reviews Doug Lemov’s new book, Teaching in the Online Classroom.

  • Education Week analyzed the 2020 presidential and vice-presidential candidates statements and policy proposals on education, sortable by candidate and topic.

  • The Fordham Institute looked at the latest research on the long-running costs of the Coronavirus.

  • FutureEd’s Phyllis Jordan explores the challenges of enrollment counts in this disrupted school year.

  • Chalkbeat’s Matt Barnum examines the ways in which traditional measures of income may miss larger wealth gaps when targeting educational policies.

  • The Manhattan Institute’s Andy Smarick discusses how school choice and education pluralism has been affected by the pandemic on a new podcast.

  • The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools continue their webinar series this week with a session on enabling holistic student support in schools.

  • Alexander Russo, writing at The Grade, asks how the education media may have contributed to extended school building closures.

  • CREDO at Stanford has compiled their Covid-19 research, including an analysis of learning loss during the 2019-2020 school year.

  • The Walton Family Foundation launched the #SchoolsIn campaign, spotlighting innovation in education and asking families, educators and students to share their experiences this school year.

Moment of Resilience

Over 500,000 students in New York City, the nation’s largest school system, headed back to school last week.

The New Yorker’s Helen Rosner interviewed students as they headed into school, including kindergartener Jacob Velez.

Can you tell me about your shirt?

Jacob: I don’t really read, so I don’t know what it says.

It says “My Mom Is a Boss.”

Jacob: Ha ha, yes! She rules in the house.

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