TOP TASKS

Tell the truth about what the shutdowns cost kids

Four years ago this week the WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, cities shut down across the country and millions of American children found their lives and education upended. Despite the voices calling for the nation to move on and move forward, we believe it’s critically important to look back to the decisions made by adults in that moment and in the recovery that has followed.

“Today, there is broad acknowledgment among many public health and education experts that extended school closures did not significantly stop the spread of Covid, while the academic harms for children have been large and long-lasting,” The New York Times’ Sarah Mervosh, Claire Cain Miller and Francesca Paris write in a new article for The Upshot. “While poverty and other factors also played a role, remote learning was a key driver of academic declines during the pandemic, research shows — a finding that held true across income levels … Comparing districts with similar remote learning policies, poorer districts had steeper losses. But in-person learning still mattered: Looking at districts with similar poverty levels, remote learning was associated with greater declines.”

New Jersey Governor Murphy deserves praise for releasing a 900-page, first-in-the-nation analysis of government response during the pandemic. Published earlier this month, the report slammed the prevalence of misinformation, including in the debate surrounding schools. “School closures not only led to lost learning for students, but huge burdens on families with school-age children whose parents had to figure out how to keep their children happy, healthy, and learning,” the report concluded.

Embrace a better future

The crisis our students have faced has led to a number of important efforts at the state level to do more for kids. Behind that energy is the belief that now is the time to build a better education system for all.

It was this realization that led our network to publish our Believe in Better policy framework, centered on five promises we can make to families about the experience their children deserve from American education. We are inspired by the progress made and hopeful of the promise of even bigger changes to come.

State Senator Dolezal, who sponsored the Georgia ESA bill, meets with students from Ladies of Favor Dream Academy before the vote.

More students than ever before have the opportunity to seek out the education that’s right for them, with landmark ESA bills happening in states across the country. Last week, Georgia joined North Carolina to become the second state in our network to pass a statewide ESA, following wins by partners in Texas, Iowa, Utah, Alabama and others. And more states aren’t far behind. In Tennessee and Louisiana, universal ESA bills have begun clearing committee hurdles with the full support of their governors. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in tutoring and summer camp programs in Tennessee, New Jersey and Louisiana, where local advocates are working to enshrine tutoring with permanent state dollars as the ESSER cliff approaches. New career programs, including innovative new approaches to computer science, are launched each month. The country is in the midst of a literacy revolution. And as parents demand answers to how much learning their children lost and how funds are being spent to rectify it, our coalition of partners has continued to fight for transparency and accountability to families.

Key Resources

The 74 Million looks at the explosive growth of microschooling in Tennessee, finding that there’s more demand than supply and parents are eager for an even more diverse suite of microschool options.

Former Superintendent of Newark Schools Cami Anderson authors a piece for Education Next on the lessons the modern education reform movement can learn from the Newark reforms of the 2010s.

Ed Working Papers hosts research suggesting that Black students gain statistically significant effects from having a Black teacher, including in self-efficacy, classroom engagement, test scores and absences.

Chalkbeat continues investigating tutoring programs across the country, finding that in addition to academic boosts, matching a student with a tutor increases school attendance by 7%.

Brookings finds that outside of student government activities, schools are failing to offer a set of extracurricular clubs, activities and events focused on civics and civic engagement.

Urban Institute released a new, searchable tool that graphs changing demographic data for every public school in the country.

Charter authorizers can predict the eventual success of new charter schools, and distinguish between strong and weak schools in advance, according to new research from the Fordham Institute.

The 74 Million reports on a new study from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that shows a significant increase in student interest in “on the job” training programs.