In Arizona, our nation’s 48th state, that question is no longer rhetorical. 

Last year, the state took a bold and uncommon step: Leaders across early childhood, K-12, and higher education, workforce and economic development, business and industry, nonprofit, philanthropy and government came together to create a vision for what every Arizona graduate should know and be able to do by the time they earn a diploma. 

After 15 months and thousands of surveys and conversations, the result is the , a shared, statewide profile of success that reframes high school graduation as both a milestone and a launchpad — not the finish line.  

At its core, the profile makes two declarations: First, Arizona must redefine what students should achieve by the end of 12th grade to remain competitive; and second, educating our children is a shared responsibility –- beginning on day one.

The State 48 Graduate Profile defines readiness across four futures and eight essentials. It first calls out four equally viable and rigorous future outcomes that every Arizona graduate should be prepared to pursue: enrollment in college or postsecondary education, enlistment and service, employment and entrepreneurship. It then outlines eight essentials which acknowledge the enduring importance of academic knowledge and literacy while elevating the digital fluency, human skills and real-world competencies required in a rapidly changing, AI-accelerated economy.

With its statewide release, Arizona has set a new north star, from day one to diploma, for students, families, educators, employers and policymakers alike.

Technology and work here are advancing at gigabit speed. The state’s economy is thriving, and nearly every sector is evolving. But education seems to be stuck on dial-up. We are not making the progress we need: Graduation and post-secondary attainment rates fall well short of our stated goals. 

The challenge is not a lack of effort, innovation or even school choice — Arizona boasts some of the top performing K-12 and higher education institutions in the U.S. and is home to some of our nation’s most talented educators. At the core, Arizona’s challenge is a lack of a shared vision and direction. Without agreement on what success looks like, it is all but impossible to make progress here. 

The State 48 Graduate Profile is Arizona’s response to that challenge. It is a common definition of success around which an entire state can align and, ultimately, begin to modernize our education system to meet the needs of our students, families and economy. 

Getting there required a fundamental shift in how the problem was framed.

From the outset, leaders involved in the effort made a deliberate decision to set aside the debates that so often derail progress in Arizona: funding, school choice, accountability, and governance models. Those conversations matter, but they are nearly impossible to resolve without first answering a more foundational question: What do we want for our children?

The conclusion was clear: The traditional version of school most of our children now attend and we once experienced — what we call School 1.0 — was built for a different era. That world no longer exists. Neither should that version of school. Arizona needs to start with School 2.0 today and pursue even more boldly School 3.0 tomorrow. Modernizing and even futurizing our education system requires a new vision, not only for learning but also for how we organize ourselves to get there.

That reframing catalyzed a movement.

In late 2023, a small group of school superintendents, college presidents, CEOs and nonprofit and philanthropic leaders convened as H5: a coalition focused on the intersection of high school, higher education and the high-skill, high-demand, high-wage workforce of the future.

Two years later, the coalition has grown to include more than 200 organizations representing every county in Arizona. Its scope now spans early childhood, PK–12, community colleges, universities, business and industry, workforce and economic development, faith-based and nonprofit organizations, military, government, and philanthropy. 

Just as important as its size is its diversity: Indigenous, rural, urban, and suburban communities are represented. Leaders from the wealthiest ZIP codes work with those from the most under-resourced. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents share tables at coalition convenings. Competing institutions temporarily suspend individual agendas to focus on a shared future for Arizona’s children.

Perhaps most notably, leaders from traditional school districts charters, private schools, career and technical schools, and micro schools — often divided in public discourse — come together to solve Arizona’s biggest challenge.

While convening senior leaders from across sectors, the effort also centered the voices and lived experiences of students, parents, educators, employers and community members. Over 15 months, thousands of Arizonans were surveyed, and hundreds of focus groups, summits and listening sessions were held. Workforce trends, industry needs, and emerging technologies — including artificial intelligence — were studied alongside community aspirations.

The State 48 Graduate Profile is the synthesis of that work.

Publishing a statewide graduate profile is a significant milestone, but it is not the destination. The real work now shifts from design to adoption: building awareness, galvanizing support and driving alignment across every corner of Arizona. 

In practice, what will that look like? 

Childcare providers weaving the profile into kindergarten readiness. PK-12 systems embedding it into curriculum, instruction, advising and accountability. Out-of-school programs reinforcing mindsets, habits and skills beyond the classroom. Higher education and industry evolving credentials, internships and work-based learning around the same vision. Government agencies and philanthropy aligning policies and investments to this shared north star.

Additional tools are on the horizon: a statewide playbook called Permission Granted, a push for a regulatory sandbox to support innovation, evolving AI guidance, and other efforts to help Arizona move from ideas to impact. Students, parents, educators and employers will be involved every step of the way. 

This work won’t be quick, and it won’t be owned by any single entity or sector. As educators, employers, communities and institutions align around the profile, it will become part of our state’s DNA, shaping the learning experiences of Arizona’s youth from day one to diploma and strengthening the state’s economy and competitive advantage. 

The online tool, its creators say, will democratize school performance data at an important time, as schools nationwide struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scheduled to go live today, the new website sports a simple interface that allows users to query it conversationally, as they would a search engine or AI chatbot, to plumb math and English language arts data in grades 3-8. At the moment, there are no firm plans to add high school-level data.

If, for instance, a superintendent is curious about math scores for kids learning English in her state, she can : “Show me math scores over time for English learners and non-English learners in Minnesota.” Want to know the 10 school districts in Mississippi with the highest ELA scores in 2023? .

Similarly, parents moving to a new town or neighborhood can ask about data for individual schools in most cases.

The project, dubbed , is a partnership between Brown University and , the company that built the site’s AI functionality. 

The tool takes a cue from data dashboards, such as the federal government’s , which collect statewide assessment information. This one goes further, allowing more up-to-date analyses of state, district and even school-level data, with protections that shield individual students’ scores in small districts and schools. 

Within state, local and school-level data, users can also break down results by race, ethnicity, economic level and other indicators.

The AI aspect allows users to query the database in plain language, said Emily Oster, a well-known economist who often writes on parenting. Oster led the tool’s development and said its potential customer base is broad, from parents and school board members to state policymakers and journalists.

“You can imagine people actually wanting to see in a more granular way, or be able to explore in a more granular way: ‘How are different schools in this district doing’ or ‘How is my district doing relative to another district?’ This will make that much easier.”

Oster said the tool is so easy to use that a school board member sitting in a board meeting could pull out her phone and in a few seconds produce a chart showing school-by-school test results districtwide. 

Policymakers could also benefit from the tool, she said, since they can’t always access state assessment data without cumbersome requests to state education officials. “And that takes time. If you want to have access to get an insight quickly, this is going to make it easier.”

What’s perhaps most useful, Oster said, is the ability to look inside individual states, down to the district or school level, to figure out which schools and populations are doing better than others. “I think that’s actually pretty powerful in terms of where the policy is made.”

Reliance on ‘plain language’

Project Manager Clare Halloran said Zelma grew out of Brown researchers’ own frustration in trying to compare COVID recovery data across states. “It was usually hard to find out where the information was, what was missing,” she said.

Even states with public-facing data portals and dashboards don’t make the job easy, she said, as many are “a little bit clunky.” They rely on dropdown menus that can only offer one indicator at a time. With Zelma, she said, “You can really just kind of say in plain language what you’re looking for,” even if it involves several variables. 

“I think it will make a lot of data just a lot more accessible to a lot more people,” she said. “When the states release their data, we get the headline. But it’s hard for the average person to explore it a little bit more.”

All queries are public but the authors aren’t identified. The site resembles a Twitter-like feed, with the most recent queries at the top so users can see what others want to learn about.

It also offers warnings — dubbed “notable events” — that caution users not to read too much into proficiency levels in certain cases, such as in states and districts where new assessments are being administered, or where they see lower participation rates.

And while it can offer rudimentary comparisons between states, Oster said neither Zelma nor the assessments themselves are built for such comparisons. 

“There are things across states you might get out of this, for example how much recovery has there been” in one state vs. another, she said. “You can sort of squint a little and think about differences in trends. And I actually think there is some stuff we can learn from those kinds of trends. But in terms of levels, these data are just not well suited to a question of, ‘Is Mississippi outperforming Michigan?’ That’s why we’ve got the NAEP data.”

Actually, asking the tool to compare states will prompt a warning saying that states administer different assessments and that proficiency rates “are not comparable across states.” 

Even with a more user-friendly interface, though, the site is only as good as the data underlying it — and it’s uneven among states. Minnesota, for instance, offers test scores clear back to the late 1990s. But Rhode Island has no data before 2018.

And, of course, virtually no states returned test scores in 2020 and 2021, when the U.S. Department of Education granted blanket standardized testing waivers amid the pandemic.

Paul Peterson, who directs the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, said he welcomed the ability to more easily dig into states’ updated testing data.

“Any enhancement of transparency is a good thing,” he said.

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to Zelma and �鶹��Ʒ.

But nearly a year after most of us came face-to-face with the first of these tools, a that few states are offering educators substantial guidance on how to best use AI, let alone fairly and with appropriate privacy protections.

As of mid-October, just two states, California and , offered official guidance to schools on using AI, according to the Center for Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University. 

CRPE said 11 more states are developing guidance, but that another 21 states don’t plan to give schools guidelines on AI “in the foreseeable future.”

Seventeen states didn’t respond to CRPE’s survey and haven’t made official guidance publicly available.

As more schools experiment with AI, good policies and advice — or a lack thereof — will “drive the ways adults make decisions in school,” said Bree Dusseault, CRPE’s managing director. That will ripple out, dictating whether these new tools will be used properly and equitably.

“We’re not seeing a lot of movement in states getting ahead of this,” she said. 

The reality in schools is that AI is here. Edtech companies are pitching products and schools are buying them, even if state officials are still trying to figure it all out. 

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Satya Nitta, CEO of , a generative AI company developing voice-activated assistants for teachers. “Normally the technology is well ahead of regulators and lawmakers. So they’re probably scrambling to figure out what their standard should be.”

Nitta said a lot of educators and officials this week are likely looking “very carefully” at Monday’s on AI “to figure out what next steps are.” 

The order requires, among other things, that AI developers share safety test results with the U.S. government and develop standards that ensure AI systems are “safe, secure, and trustworthy.” 

It follows five months after the U.S. Department of Education released a detailed, with recommendations on using AI in education.

Deferring to districts

The fact that 13 states are at least in the process of helping schools figure out AI is significant. Last summer, no states offered such help, CRPE found. Officials in New York, , Rhode Island and Wyoming said decisions about many issues related to AI, such as academic integrity and blocking websites or tools, are made on the local level.

Still, researchers said, it’s significant that the majority of states still don’t plan AI-specific strategies or guidance in the 2023-24 school year.

There are a few promising developments: North Carolina will soon require high school graduates to pass a computer science course. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin in September on AI careers. And Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in September to create a state governing board to guide use of generative AI, including developing training programs for state employees.

But educators need help understanding artificial intelligence, “while also trying to navigate its impact,” said Tara Nattrass, managing director of innovation strategy at the International Society for Technology in Education. “States can ensure educators have accurate and relevant guidance related to the opportunities and risks of AI so that they are able to spend less time filtering information and more time focused on their primary mission: teaching and learning.”

Beth Blumenstein, Oregon’s interim director of digital learning & well-rounded access, said AI is already being used in Oregon schools. And the state Department of Education has received requests from educators asking for support, guidance and professional development.

Generative AI is “a powerful tool that can support education practices and provide services to students that can greatly benefit their learning,” she said. “However, it is a highly complex tool that requires new learning, safety considerations, and human oversight.”

Three big issues she hears about are cheating, plagiarism and data privacy, including how not to run afoul of Oregon’s Student Information Protection Act or the federal Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act. 

‘Now I have to do AI?’

In August, CRPE conducted focus groups with 18 superintendents, principals and senior administrators in five states who said they were cautiously optimistic about AI’s potential, but many complained about navigating yet another new disruption.

“We just got through this COVID hybrid remote learning,” one leader told researchers. “Now I have to do AI?”

Nitta, Merlyn Mind’s CEO, said that syncs with his experience.

“Broadly, school districts are looking for some help, some guidance: ‘Should we use ChatGPT? Should we not use it? Should we use AI? Is it private? Are they in violation of regulations?’ It’s a complex topic. It’s full of all kinds of mines and landmines.” 

And the stakes are high, he said. No educator wants to appear in a newspaper story about her school using an AI chatbot that feeds inappropriate information to students. 

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say there’s a deer-caught-in-headlights moment here,” Nitta said, “but there’s certainly a lot of concern. And I do believe it’s the responsibility of authorities, of responsible regulators, to step in and say, ‘Here’s how to use AI safely and appropriately.’ ” 

Maryland, Colorado, California and New Jersey are among the states that have recently passed laws that expand access to youth mental health care.  New protocols and resources are aimed at getting care to those who need it most — particularly youth experiencing abuse at home, uninsured and LGBTQ+ students.

In all four states, rates of youth struggling with and mental illness have worsened with pandemic isolation and inconsistent schooling. Nationally, only 8-9 percent of students of color with major depressive episodes received , compared to 22 percent of their white peers. 

“This worsening crisis in child and adolescent mental health is inextricably tied to the stress brought on by COVID-19 and the ongoing struggle for racial justice and represents an acceleration of trends observed prior to 2020,” an October statement from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital Association read. 

But increasing demand for services comes in an era of limited capacity. There’s only about . According to the AACAP, there should be more than four times as many available, particularly because providers are congregated in large cities. .

The groups late last month, advocating for increased access and funding for telemedicine, school-based mental health care and workforce development programs for practitioners.

Some recent laws fund free therapy and depression screening for youth. And in California, all middle and high schoolers in health class will learn about mental health and illness.

Statewide reforms have historically been slow to meet student needs. While many are now allocating federal relief money for school-based mental health care, it’s not yet clear from legislation which programs may take root.

before adulthood. And for children aged 5 to 11, visits to the emergency room for mental health reasons last year. The U.S. Department of Education in late October to help educators and schools better support children.

Here are  four statewide efforts underway that address the youth mental health crisis: 

Maryland

As of Oct. 1, Maryland minors . Previously, youth needed to be 16 to access mental healthcare without a parental guardian.

assert this will expand mental healthcare access to LGBTQ+ youth, those in abusive homes and those whose families may stigmatize mental illness and therapy.

Others, including the Maryland Board of Nursing and Psychological Association, have expressed concern that 12 may be too young to make informed decisions about treatment, or that youth may be suicidal without the parents’ knowledge.

Providers can ultimately still choose to disclose treatment information to parents, unless they believe it would lead to harm or deter the minor from seeking care.

The law also requires health care providers to determine whether the minor is mature enough to understand consent before treatment begins, regardless of age. Psychiatric medication cannot be prescribed to those under 16 without parental consent. 

California, Illinois and West Virginia have similar laws allowing youth under 16 to access care without parental consent.

Colorado

All Colorado youth under 18 now have . No proof of insurance is needed.

The counseling, by licensed clinicians predominantly via telehealth, is also available for youth 18-21 receiving special education services.

The ‘I Matter’ program was made possible when state lawmakers allocated $9 million for the effort — the bill was signed into law in June. I Matter .

To access services, youth first complete an emotional health survey on . Funding for the temporary initiative expires in June 2022.

“I’ve already pulled a bill to make this an ongoing program,” . “I think this is something that we need ongoing in Colorado.

Colorado than 44 other states. 

California

All California middle and high school as a part of their curricula.

The state Department of Education will also develop plans to in more schools by January 2024.

And over the next two years, teachers, parents, counselors and students will develop new protocols for schools to address student mental health . The protocols will cover how schools will identify which students need support and how to approach external counselling referrals.

California also joined a host of other states reforming their approach to missing school for mental health needs — the state’s schools will now treat mental health-related as they would for physical health concerns.

The policy reforms signed this summer and fall by California Gov. Gavin Newsom were met with some criticism from conservative parents and politicians who were looking to see, “.”

New Jersey

Beginning next school year, New Jersey youth in 7th through 12th grade will have . 

If the screening reveals that a student may be experiencing depression, parents must be notified and provided further resources to support their child. 

Districts will apply for state funding to facilitate screenings and collect non-identifiable data that will then be shared with the state’s DOE and Department of Children and Families. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics that youth 12 and older be screened annually. 

Reflecting on rising suicide rates, , “these tragic losses didn’t need to — and never should have —happened. We must be more proactive so that we are not simply reacting to tragedies, but preventing them before they take place.”

New Jersey also revealed a central . welcome message acknowledges how common anxiety and stress are, and serves as a tool for youth and their families to access resources and behavioral care information.

“We ask that parents be aware of the signs — maybe it’s uncharacteristic changes in mood, or increased and prolonged patterns of fighting or lying, or maybe it’s not enjoying the activities that they once enjoyed. Don’t be afraid to ask your children what’s wrong, and normalize asking for help when they need it,” Department of Children and Families Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer .

The tumult caused when the pandemic forced classes to go online made the idea of education savings accounts much more acceptable than before, said Michelle Exstrom, program director at the National Conference of State Legislatures. As options such as homeschooling and learning pods gained popularity, parents and legislators “opened their eyes to different choices.”

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“Some states that have been working at this for a while made some headway” in 2021, said Exstrom. “It’s definitely a priority for Republican policymakers.”

“It was a happy convergence of factors,” said Patrick Wolf, a professor of education policy at the University of Arkansas. “There was an opportunity to press forward in states where they’ve fallen short” of passing legislation in the past.

Of the seven states that passed school choice bills for the first time this year — Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, , Arkansas and Ohio — five created education savings accounts, in which parents receive state money or tax credits to use for private school tuition, tutoring, counseling, transportation or other educational needs.

Tax-credit scholarships are the most common form of private school choice programs, operating in 21 states. With this year’s legislation, 10 states now have ESAs, eight funded by direct government appropriation and two funded by tax credits. “ESAs are the future of private school choice,” said Wolf. “It’s the model that provides the maximum amount of customization.”

Missouri lawmakers had tried to pass legislation allowing ESAs for 15 years. Even though the state is solidly Republican, with wide majorities in both the House and Senate, proposals never advanced, held back by objections about spending public money on private schools and the potential impact on the state’s rural areas.

But 2021 was different.

“This past year was difficult for everyone, but especially families with kids in school,” state Sen. Andrew Koenig after the bill passed. “Students were forced to stay home and learn through a computer screen, and their education suffered as a result. Parents and students deserve the opportunity to find the best educational opportunities for their children, regardless of their ability to afford those educational costs.”

Still, it wasn’t easy for state Rep. Phil Christofanelli to push HB349 across the finish line. While Republicans comprise 70 percent of the state House, 29 of those members voted against the bill. Ultimately, Christofanelli and backers agreed to chop the proposed $50 million program to $25 million and to limit participation to communities with populations of 30,000 and above. This excludes students in about 30 percent of the state’s most rural areas. The program could begin accepting applications in August 2022. Up to 4,000 students may be initially eligible to receive ESA vouchers.

Missouri donors can contribute to an Empowerment Scholarship Account in exchange for a tax deduction. Those funds will count as a direct tax credit for half of the donor’s state taxes owed, meaning residents who owe $10,000 could designate half of their tax bill for education by donating $5,000 to an ESA rather than paying the full amount to the state’s general coffers. The funds then can be allocated to students’ families, depending on a number of guidelines. Children with special needs will get top priority for these grants — each likely to total about $6,300, or half of the state’s per-pupil funding — followed by students from low-income families.

ESAs typically “start small and narrowly defined, and after people see the success of the program, they almost always become politically popular and expand. I would look at this as just a start,” Christofanelli told earlier this summer. The new law calls for the $25 million cap to expand up to $50 million at the rate of inflation.

Wolf pointed out that Milwaukee’s school choice program began in 1990 with a cap of 500 students. Now, close to 30,000 students in the city use tax credit scholarship vouchers. By making eligibility broad and funding limited, Missouri lawmakers have “mechanisms to create political pressure” to push for expansion, he added.

ESAs’ potential to drain students away from urban schools is a concern in cities where the student population is already shrinking. For instance, St. Louis public schools have seen a steady enrollment decline over the past decade, with the student population decreasing by 9 percent just since the beginning of the pandemic. The district now educates about 18,200 students, , and an additional 11,400 St. Louis students attend charter schools.

To address those concerns, Christofanelli said schools will not lose state financing for at least the program’s first five years, and even if students leave a public school, they will still count in daily attendance numbers — the measure by which the state determines school funding. Also, the program’s funds will come out of the state’s general budget, not school-specific funds.

Missouri School Boards’ Association Executive Director Melissa Randol criticized the program, saying in a statement, “this law further erodes opportunities to fund needed investments in Missouri’s outstanding public schools. Missouri is 49th in the country in average starting teachers’ salaries — we need to invest in Missouri’s high-quality teachers, rather than funnel money to institutions that have no accountability to taxpayers for how they spend taxpayers’ dollars or how they educate our children.”

Overall, 32 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have some form of private school choice, said Wolf. Existing legislation gave new states a blueprint for crafting laws that allow the use of public funds for private schools. “This is the constitutional way to provide a voucher,” Exstrom said.

Wolf said the latest wave of bills shows that ESAs are more popular than programs that offer direct government assistance for school choice. By including homeschooling and learning pods, ESAs offer parents “a lot more flexibility.”

Reformers have long argued that education choice should be for everyone. But when looking at the current geographic distribution of and private school scholarship-eligible students, it becomes clear that the target audience for these programs is largely kids in urban centers who are most likely to be attending “failing” public schools.

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Furthermore, despite years of school choice advocacy, students enrolled in private school choice programs represent only of the nation’s K-12 population and charter students make up only of public K-12 enrollment.

To build on the momentum of recent legislative efforts, education choice advocates should update their vision for school choice. It is time they move beyond seeing it as primarily an escape hatch that enables kids to leave underperforming neighborhood schools.

The strategy of focusing on providing school choice for certain populations of students was perhaps best articulated by Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jason Riley in a , where he said charter schools and voucher programs “don’t need to be scaled up.” Using the example of the extraordinarily successful Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter school network, he said, “we don’t need a KIPP in every neighborhood. I live in suburban New York City — we don’t need a KIPP up there, the public schools are just fine. We know where we need these schools.”

This belief limits the scope of choice programs as merely a remedy in areas where public schools are underperforming and suggests that the only way to advance education choice is to help kids get into a different school building.

Naturally, this pits schooling sectors against each other. It also leads families seeking an improved education for their child to believe that they will have meaningful choices only if they withdraw from their local district and enroll in a private or charter school — which can be a big ask for students and parents.

A better way forward for education reform is to give families control over their child’s education funds from the outset, whether they want to leave their current school or not.

Under this choice model, students would have access to some or all of the education dollars that the state already allocates to them for public school. Families could choose to spend these funds on not only private school tuition, but any number of other educational services and offerings.

A precedent for this kind of flexibility can be found in Idaho’s , where all students are given a when they reach seventh grade to be used to customize some of their education.

Students can draw down this one-time infusion of funding throughout middle and high school to pay for things like early college courses, Advanced Placement exam fees, professional certifications or online courses from outside providers.

For example, students could use some of their funds to enroll in an advanced language course offered at a neighboring district school, or for a software development bootcamp offered by a private provider—all while continuing to attend their local school for their other credits.

Though founded only in 2016, the program has proven remarkably popular and has been used by since it started.

Idaho’s Advanced Opportunities program can serve as a model for how to give families control over the education funds dedicated to their children without requiring that they withdraw from a particular school to unlock that money.

The school choice movement has empowered millions of families with education choices they otherwise would not have had. Now, the next step is to embrace education funding models that appeal to families that aren’t looking to leave their current school as much as they’re looking for a way to customize and have more control over their student’s education wherever they are at.

Christian Barnard is an education policy analyst at the Reason Foundation. Follow him on Twitter @CBarnard33.

State and National Leaders Call for Teacher Vaccine Mandates

• California became the or agree to weekly testing.
• for teachers and other school staff.
• says teachers should be required to be vaccinated.
• that the union’s leadership should consider implementing a vaccine mandate for teachers in schools.
• The National Education Association, America’s largest teachers union, will support policies that require teachers to either get vaccinated or submit to regular testing, .

August 13, 2021 — The Big Three

Pediatricians tell the FDA to speed up approvals: A urges the Food and Drug Administration to accelerate the approval process for COVID-19 vaccines for children.

• “In our view, the rise of the Delta variant changes the risk-benefit analysis for authorizing vaccines in children.”
• “The FDA should strongly consider authorizing these vaccines for children ages 5-11 years based on data from the initial enrolled cohort, which are already available, while continuing to follow safety data from the expanded cohort in the post-market setting. This approach would not slow down the time to authorization of these critically needed vaccines in the 5–11-year age group.”
• “Based on scientific data currently available on COVID-19 vaccines, as well as on 70 years of vaccinology knowledge in the pediatric population, the academy believes that clinical trials in these children can be safely conducted with a two-month safety follow-up for participants.”
• “Assuming that the two-month safety data does not raise any new safety concerns and that immunogenicity data are supportive of use, we believe that this is sufficient for authorization in this and any other age group. Waiting on a six-month follow-up will significantly hinder the ability to reduce the spread of the hyperinfectious COVID-19 Delta variant among this age group, since it would add four additional months before an authorization decision can be considered.”

What Parents Think About Vaccines: report from the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals some important data about vaccination.

• “Hispanic and Black parents are more likely than white parents to cite concerns that reflect access barriers to vaccination, including not being able to get the vaccine from a trusted place, believing they may have to pay an out-of-pocket cost or difficulty traveling to a vaccination site.”
• Parents support school mask mandates more than required vaccines.
• Only 4 in 10 parents of children ages 12-17 say their teen’s school provided information about COVID-19 vaccines for children or encouraged parents to get their children vaccinated.
• “Twice as many parents whose school encouraged vaccination report that their child is vaccinated compared to those whose schools did not (62 percent versus 30 percent).”

50 State Reopening Plans: The Center on Reinventing Public Education

• Its new includes the most pressing indicators that state and local leaders are facing in reopening schools this fall: state policies on masking, vaccines, full in-person instruction, virtual learning options and continuity of learning plans.

Federal Updates

White House:

• Politico reports that
• The Washington Post reports that the Biden administration is looking into whether it can . More from
• Fact Sheet: .
• Related: from a press briefing with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

City & State News

Arizona: A teacher is despite the governor’s ban.

Arkansas:

• “ that prevents schools and other governmental agencies from requiring masks,” the AP reports.
• as school year approaches.
• .
• New data on kids and COVID-19 led Gov. Asa Hutchinson to .

Florida:

• and move their kids to another school if they perceive any type of “COVID-19 harassment” against their child in connection to district rules on masking, testing and isolation due to exposure, under an emergency rule approved Friday.
• — op-ed by Carlee Simon, superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools

Illinois: .” Among the issues still being negotiated:

• Ventilation upgrades
• A COVID-19 testing plan for vaccinated and unvaccinated members of school communities
• Maintenance of criteria and health metrics based on COVID prevalence to pause in-person instruction
• Full-time contact tracers, nurses, social workers and counselors in every school building
• A comprehensive home visit program to engage students and families in every school

Kentucky:

New Jersey: Just 9 percent of Newark students met state math standards this spring, . Only 11 percent of students met expectations in reading.

COVID-19 Research

Children and COVID-19:

• 4.2 million total child COVID-19 cases reported, and children represented 14.3 percent of all cases.
• Among states reporting, children were 0.00-0.26 percent of all COVID-19 deaths, and seven states reported zero child deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Need to Stop Confusing the Public: .

• “The CDC is still mired in the fog of pandemic, with too little data, collected too slowly, leaving it chasing epidemic waves and trying to make sense of information from other countries. Epidemics spread exponentially, so delayed responses make problems much worse.”
• “The Provincetown study was certainly useful. It provided one more example of how well the vaccines worked in preventing severe disease or worse, but also of the need to take Delta seriously: to expand vaccine mandates, speed up formal approval of vaccines, work hard at increasing vaccinations and urge the use of masks for everyone, especially in crowded, poorly ventilated indoor spaces in areas where infections are high and vaccinations are low.”
• “The Epidemic Intelligence Service unit of the CDC has a core principle that needs to remain at the forefront of everything the administration does: A pandemic is a communications emergency as much as it is a medical crisis. Effective communication is much more than choosing the right words. It needs a wholesale approach starting with clarity of purpose, a realistic assessment of where things are, including factors outside the agency’s control, collection and presentation of detailed data when possible and an open acknowledgment of uncertainty and underlying reasoning when precautionary steps are being advised.”

The mRNA Vaccines Are Extraordinary, but Novavax Is Even Better: Persistent hype around mRNA vaccine technology is distracting us from other ways to end the pandemic, .

• “The Novavax vaccine also has a substantially lower rate of side effects than the authorized mRNA vaccines. Last week’s data showed that about 40 percent of people who receive Novavax report fatigue after the second dose, as compared with 65 percent for Moderna and more than 55 percent for Pfizer.”
• “Lower rates of adverse events are likely to be a bigger issue still for parents, when considering vaccination for their children.”

CDC Strengthens Its Recommendation for Pregnant Woman to Get Vaccinated: found no increased risk of miscarriage after COVID-19 vaccination during early pregnancy.

• “COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all people 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future,” .

We Studied 1 Million Students. This Is What We Learned About Masking: . has prompted a bit of debate

• “Although vaccination is the best way to prevent COVID-19, universal masking is a close second, and with masking in place, in-school learning is safe and more effective than remote instruction, regardless of community rates of infection.”
• “In conjunction with North Carolina, the ABC Science Collaborative collected data from more than 1 million students and staff members in the state’s schools from March to June 2021.”
• “We believe this low rate of transmission occurred because of the mask-on-mask school environment: Both the infected person and the close contact wore masks.”
• But: criticized the essay and study for failing to have a control group, casting doubts on the claims.

Made to Save: is a national education and grassroots campaign working to save lives by increasing access to the COVID-19 vaccines. It has to help schools with vaccinations, including support for events:

6 Ways Schools Can Promote COVID-19 Vaccination:

Viewpoints

Opening Schools Should Be Priority No. 1: .

• “Getting kids back in the classroom must be a societywide priority. We must turn the page on the last school year, when too many unions obstructed or slowed down school reopenings. America’s children cannot afford a repeat of that harmful episode, and it’s essential that teachers help lead the way.”
• “In other words: The time for excuses is over. After saying two weeks ago that the union would ‘try to open up schools,’ [American Federation of Teachers President Randi] Weingarten seemed to realize she misspoke — because trying isn’t good enough. Last week, she said she was ‘1,000 percent committed to getting teachers and kids back in school.’ That’s good, and now we need union leaders to follow through on it.”

How to Sell SEL: Parents and the Politics of Social-Emotional Learning: from the Fordham Institute:

• Parents overwhelmingly support teaching SEL-related skills in schools, but the term “social and emotional learning” is relatively unpopular.
• Differences of opinion often break along partisan lines, but interestingly, differences by parents’ race, class and religion are rarely as pronounced as differences by political affiliation.

The Kindergarten Exodus: , The New York Times reports.

How Should I Think About School & Child Care With Delta? .

…And on a Lighter Note

I Wish: That a side effect of the vaccine was the ability to

Timeline cleanser.

Happy Saturday…

— Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman)

ICYMI @The74

Weekend Reads: In case you missed them, our top five stories of the week:

• Pandemic Recovery: Trailblazing Leader Was Hired to Fix Colorado Springs Schools. Will Doubling Down on His Reforms Avert COVID Classroom Crisis? (Read more)
• Mask Debate: Biden Administration Defends Districts Defying Florida Mask Mandate Ban as Delta Variant Renews Reopening Fears (Read more)
• Space Camp: At Space Center Houston, ‘Awe and Wonder’ are Keeping Kids Connected to STEM Education After Pandemic Stifled Hands-On Learning (Read more)
• History Education: Genocide ‘In My Own Backyard’ — North Carolina Educators Ignored State’s Eugenics History Long Before Critical Race Theory Pushback (Read more)
• Summer Learning: In a Summer of Recovery for Students, Long-Running Programs Thrive While Some Face Teacher Shortages (Read more)

Disclosure: John Bailey is an adviser to the Walton Family Foundation, which provides financial support to .

COVID-19 Transmission Risk During School Bus Transportation: “Universal testing and contact tracing revealed no transmission linked to bus transportation” in a in the Journal of School Health.

• “An independent Virginia school monitored 1,154 students with asymptomatic PCR testing every 2 weeks initially and later every week from August 28, 2020-March 19, 2021, during highest community transmission.”
• “Fifteen buses served 462 students while operating at near capacity of 2 students in every seat, using a physical distancing minimum of 2.5 feet, universal masking and simple ventilation techniques.”
• “There were 39 infectious COVID-19 cases who were present on buses during the study period, which resulted in the quarantine of 52 students. Universal testing and contact tracing revealed no transmission linked to bus transportation.”

July 23, 2021 — The Big Three

Schools Can Reopen Safely for In-person Learning: A new — an organization led by former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden — reviews the body of scientific evidence and concludes that schools can reopen safely for in-person learning if using multiple protection measures.

• “Children also spread COVID-19 less than adults, and schools have not been major drivers of community transmission — especially when protection measures are in place. Studies of schools in Australia and Europe found that the few outbreaks that were associated with schools typically involved 10 cases or fewer.”
• “Schools must reopen and stay open to avoid the cascade of societal burdens caused by remote schooling, as well as further educational, economic, and social damage that closures cause,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of . “Keeping schools open is possible, but it is crucial that they implement a series of layered protections.”
• “Closing schools for in-person learning is deeply detrimental to the education and physical and mental health of children, as well as to the health and function of society.”
• “ using layered mitigation measures” including promoting vaccination; consistent and correct mask use; ventilation; physical distancing; screening testing and contact tracing to promptly identify cases, clusters and outbreaks; handwashing and respiratory etiquette; staying home when sick and getting tested; cleaning and disinfection.

American Academy of Pediatrics Recommends Masks in Schools for Everyone Over Age 2, Regardless of Vaccinations:

• The pediatricians’ group : A “significant proportion of the student population is not yet eligible for vaccination; masking protects those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 and reduces transmission; and potential difficulty in monitoring or enforcing mask policies for those who are not vaccinated.”
• This puts the academy at odds with the CDC, which advised that fully vaccinated students, teachers and staff don’t need to wear masks at school. .
• Additional :
  • “The AAP believes that, at this point in the pandemic, given what we know about low rates of in-school transmission when proper prevention measures are used, together with the availability of effective vaccines for those age 12 years and up, that the benefits of in-person school outweigh the risks in almost all circumstances.”
  • “Schools must continue to take a multi-pronged, layered approach to protect students, teachers and staff (i.e., vaccination, universal mask use, ventilation, testing, quarantining, and cleaning and disinfecting). Combining these layers of protection will make in-person learning safe and possible.”
• Related: Youth Vaccination Rates Plummet, Reigniting Debates Over Masks in School

UK Will Not Offer COVID-19 Vaccine to Children Unless They Are Vulnerable: Children in the UK will get a COVID-19 vaccine .

• • “Until more data become available, JCVI does not currently advise routine universal vaccination of children and young people less than 18 years of age.”
  • “The health benefits in this population are small, and the benefits to the wider population are highly uncertain. At this time, JCVI is of the view that the health benefits of universal vaccination in children and young people below the age of 18 years do not outweigh the potential risks.”
• “The decision has split scientists, many of whom had expected the Pfizer vaccine to be given the green light for over-12s,” .
• “There does seem to be a link with vaccines and myocarditis, but it’s very mild and very rare — but with COVID, there is a risk of long COVID,” .

City & State News

Alabama: Is sponsoring a to promote vaccines among young people. To participate, contestants must submit a TikTok video showing themselves getting vaccinated or include a creative message explaining, “This is why I got vaccinated.” All videos must tag @alcovidvaccine, #getvaccinatedAL and #ADPH.”

Arkansas: Researchers: Virus surge a ‘raging forest fire’ in Arkansas.

• A model by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health projected a daily average of 1,039 new cases over the next week. .
• “Dr. Jose Romero, the state’s health secretary, said he was concerned about the possibility of a “surge on top of this surge” when school begins this fall. “I expect to see this year significant outbreaks within the school system. … What’s already telling me that’s going to happen are the number of day care closures that have occurred because of outbreaks occurring, and camp exposures and closures occurring.”

Washington, D.C.: CityBridge launched , which is partnering with schools, tutoring providers, institutes of higher education and civic partners to expand the scope and impact of quality tutoring opportunities for D.C.’s students.

• “They aim to support 10,000 kindergarten through eighth-grade public school students with high-impact tutoring.”
• A lists available tutors, and a has information for schools and families.

Georgia: , which includes:

• $28.3 million to be used to offset cuts to the Quality Basic Education formula;
• $4.4 million for sanitation and cleaning of facilities;
• $1 million for additional Cobb Virtual Academy teachers to accommodate a growth in enrollment; and
• $25 million in technology purchases to assist in classroom instruction

North Carolina: Gov. Roy Cooper said .

Rhode Island: at the end of July.

Tennessee: The state education department announced .

Wisconsin: which includes:

• $48 million for air-temperature controls
• $7 million to build outdoor classrooms
• $13.6 million for mental health support
• $9.4 million for social and emotional learning
• $2 million for exercise stations and ropes courses

Federal Updates

Child Tax Credit:

• The Department of Treasury estimates that $15 billion was distributed last week to tens of millions of working families with 60 million children.
• The 86 percent of families using direct deposit will receive their child payment July 15, and the 15th of every month for the rest of 2021.
• The American Rescue Plan is providing the largest-ever child tax credit — increasing from $2,000 to $3,000 for each child between the ages of 6 and 17, and to $3,600 for each child under the age of 6.
• The White House launched — a one-stop shop in English and Spanish for user-friendly information, including a step-by-step guide to using the non-filer portal in multiple languages.
• “But an estimated 4 million to 8 million eligible children are at risk of missing out, because their parents or guardians do not need to file taxes or are not filing taxes — and because they might not even know the complicated, obscure-sounding and scarcely advertised policy exists.”

COVID-19 Research

Children and COVID-19: State-Level Data Report:

• As of July 8, over 4.06 million children have tested positive for COVID-19.
• Children made up between 6 and 19.9 percent of total state tests, and between 4.9 and 34.9 percent of children tested tested positive.
• Children were 1.3 to 3.6 percent of total reported hospitalizations, and between 0.1 and 1.9 percent of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization.
• Children were 0 to 0.25 percent of all COVID-19 deaths.

Well-Being Gap Between Remote, In-Person High School Learning: New

• “ to 6,576 high-schoolers enrolled at Orange County public schools in Florida.”
• “High school students taking remote classes had lower social, emotional and academic well-being survey scores compared with high-schoolers who attended in person during the pandemic.”
• “The was consistent across gender, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status — and even small effects are noteworthy when they impact millions of individuals.”
• “On a 100-point scale, in-person students were rated higher than remote students on levels of social well-being (77.2 versus 74.8), emotional well-being (57.4 versus 55.7) and academic well-being (78.4 versus 77.3).”
• More from �鶹��Ʒ: High Schoolers Who Took Remote Classes During Pandemic Experienced a “Thriving Gap,” According to Duckworth-Led Study

Viewpoints

Teacher Survey: From EdChoice/Morning Consult: Read the , and with 251 pages of data

• Teachers continue to be more likely to think the vaccine should be mandatory for themselves than for students.
• Three-fourths of teachers have already been vaccinated. Teachers are also more likely than school parents to already have their children vaccinated.
• Nearly all teachers are comfortable returning to school in person right now.

As Schools Recover, We Must Sustain Innovations that Have Proven Successful During COVID-19:

• “Parental ingenuity, combined with the creativity of our educators, businesses and community leaders, led to new instructional settings like learning pods. While some philanthropic support extended those innovations to a broad swath of children, we often saw that these effective learning models were not available to those with fewer financial resources.”
• “Our priority as leaders must be getting the innovations which have proven effective during the pandemic extended to all students and families. Educators will need our support in rebuilding trust with parents as well as centering equity in their policies and practices after a year of both school closures and anti-racism reckoning.”

Steps to Protect Student Privacy & Support Equity in the New School Year:

Technology Can Be a Powerful Force for Educational Equity If We Want It to Be: “Technology can be a powerful tool for fostering student ownership of learning, differentiating and personalizing instruction, and making teaching and learning more accessible,” .

Catholic Virtual Partners with U.S. Dioceses to Create Online Academies for 2021-22:

New Virtual Offering: Environmental advocate and author Suzy Amis Cameron, and noted with their online learning platform, .

Social-Emotional Learning Toolkit for State and District Leaders: The Council of Chief State School Officers, Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, and American Institutes for Research .

• The council also partnered with the Healthy Schools Campaign and the National Center for School Mental Health to support student and staff well-being and connection.

…And on a Reflective Note

Be Curious, Not Judgmental: Via the philosopher in this clip.

• “You know, Rupert, guys have underestimated me my entire life. And for years, I never understood why. It used to really bother me.”
• “But then one day, I was driving my little boy to school and I saw this quote by Walt Whitman, and it was painted on the wall there. It said, “Be curious, not judgmental.” I like that.”
• “So I get back in my car and I’m driving to work, and all of a sudden it hits me. All them fellas that used to belittle me, not a single one of them were curious.”
• “You know, they thought they had everything all figured out. So they judged everything, and they judged everyone.”
• “And I realized that their underestimating me… who I was had nothing to do with it. ‘Cause if they were curious, they would’ve asked questions.”

ICYMI @The74

Weekend Reads: In case you missed them, our top five stories of the week:

• Leadership: Twitter Breaks, Meditative Walks, Security Guards: How School Leaders are Responding to an Unsettling Season of Public Outrage
• Mental Health: Fearing a ‘Second Pandemic’ of Student Trauma, School Leaders Are Doubling Down on Mental Health First Aid Training
• COVID Recovery:
• Higher Education: DeBaun: Virtual Advising Can Combat COVID Melt and Ensure HS Students Make it to College. 3 Steps Schools Can Take
• Student Health: Youth Vaccination Rates Plummet, Reigniting Debates Over Masks in School

Disclosure: John Bailey is an adviser to the Walton Family Foundation, which provides financial support to .

Disparities in Learning by Region and Race:

• “Reduced access to in-person learning is associated with poorer learning outcomes and adverse mental health and behavioral effects in children.”
• “Disparities in full-time in-person learning by race/ethnicity existed across school levels and by geographic region and state. These disparities underscore the importance of prioritizing equitable access to this learning mode for the 2021-22 school year.”
• Massive differences in different parts of the country. More students (including students of color) were in-person in the South than in the West and Northeast.
• .
• Really good .

July 9, 2021 — The Big Three

COVID-19 and Schools — The Evidence for Reopening Safely: Via

• “A growing body of evidence suggests that schools can be opened safely. But that hasn’t quelled debate over whether they should be open and, if so, what steps should be taken to limit the spread of the virus.”
• “Equity also became a flashpoint in the debate. Researchers argued that remote learning would widen disparities between white students and students of color in many countries.”
• “One of the largest studies on COVID-19 in schools in the United States looked at more than 90,000 pupils and teachers in North Carolina over nine weeks last autumn. Given the rate of transmission in the community, ‘we would have expected to see about 900 cases’ in the schools, says Daniel Benjamin, a pediatrician at Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina, and co-lead author on the study. But when the researchers conducted contact tracing to identify school-related transmissions, they identified only 32 cases.”
• “The bulk of the literature on transmission in schools … suggests that kids aren’t driving viral spread. Investigations in Germany, France, Ireland, Australia, Singapore and the United States show no, or very low, secondary attack rates within school settings.”

Vaccine Mandates at Colleges: A Washington Post report shows the percentage of two- and four-year colleges and universities that are

• “More than 500 colleges and universities plan to require coronavirus vaccination for at least some of their students and employees, according to data as of Tuesday from .”

Texas state test results reveal dramatic drop in the number of students on grade level: .

• “, and the number of students who met reading expectations dropped by 9 percentage points compared to 2019, the last time the test was administered.”
• “In districts with more than three-quarters in-person instruction, the number of students meeting math expectations only dropped by 9 percentage points and those who met reading expectations by 1 percentage point. Students of color and lower-income students saw greater gaps as well, although those gaps were smaller than the one between remote and in-person instruction.”
• “, from 50 percent of students meeting their grade level in 2019 to only 35 percent this year.”
• “This is probably this year as a result of COVID than in normal years,” Education Commissioner Mike Morath said. “It is important to remember that these are not numbers. These are children.”

Federal Updates

Infrastructure deal: .

• A Punchbowl News survey of senior Capitol Hill staffers finds that , and the American Families Plan and the full American Jobs Plan will be left by the wayside.
• “The White House’s long sought-after bipartisan infrastructure deal could ,” Politico reports.

Education Department:

• for South Dakota, Texas, Massachusetts, Utah, Arkansas, Rhode Island and Washington D.C.
• Is inviting states to complete the application for their share of the second disbursement of
• • Katy Neas, deputy assistant secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
  • Toby Merrill, deputy general counsel, Office of the General Counsel
  • Hayley Matz Meadvin, senior adviser, Office of the Secretary
  • Chris Soto, senior adviser, Office of the Secretary
  • Antoinette Flores, senior adviser for American Rescue Plan implementation, Office of Postsecondary Education
  • Deven Comen, chief of staff, Office of Communications and Outreach
  • Abel McDaniels, special assistant, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

Emergency Connectivity Fund: The Federal Communications Commission officially opened the application window for schools and libraries to file Education Superhighway

National Center for Education Statistics: Total K-12 enrollment in 2020-21 compared with the previous school year. More via �鶹��Ʒ.

City & State News

Illinois: for reopening schools. The union is asking for:

• 80 percent of students 12 and older to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October and 80 percent of younger students within 60 days after FDA emergency use authorization for their age group.
• Ventilation system upgrades at school buildings.
• A 10 percent increase in special education teachers, bilingual teachers, English language program teachers, teacher assistants and arts educators by Jan. 27 to support community recovery.
• The union also wants members who are medically unable to return in-person to fill positions at the district’s new remote-learning Virtual Academy for students with qualifying health conditions.

Florida: was up between July and September by 5,644 – a 98 percent increase – while the flexible virtual program saw course requests increase by 231,128, or 57 percent, from the same time in 2019.

Maryland: , writes Margery Smelkinson, an immunology and infectious-disease scientist.

Michigan: Health department which mostly points to CDC guidance.

New Jersey: “Nearly 80 percent of third-graders and almost 90 percent of fourth-graders would ‘not meet the passing score’ on the state math exams, according to a district analysis that was not made public,” .

COVID-19 Research

Delta Variant:

• In Los Angeles County, the pace of Delta’s spread has
• In the UK, due to Delta cases at the end of June — the highest number since children returned to school in March. That number jumped

Damage to Children’s Education — and Their Health — Could Last a Lifetime: Via . Long, but worth reading the whole piece.

Masks Can Prevent COVID-19 Transmission in Schools: (and an ): “Proper masking is the most effective mitigation strategy to prevent secondary transmission in schools when COVID-19 is circulating and when vaccination is unavailable, or there is insufficient uptake.”

Doctors Are Puzzled by Heart Inflammation in the Young and Vaccinated: Via

• “These events are, so far, not matching the most terrifying versions of the condition, which have been observed with coronavirus infections.”
• “Rather, compared with more typical cases of myocarditis, the ones linked to the vaccines, on average, involve briefer symptoms and speedier recoveries, even with less invasive treatments. Still, the incidents are showing up in the few days that follow each vaccine’s second dose at higher-than-expected rates, especially in boys and young men, and no one is yet sure why.”
• “All of these factors make the risk of this complication tough to quantify, and several researchers have criticized the CDC’s recent evaluation. But most of the experts I spoke with said that the calculations still come out strongly in favor of vaccination, in part because of another set of disconcerting ambiguities, this time on the side of the virus.”

What Parents With Unvaccinated Kids Need to Know About the Delta Variant This Summer: Via

Vaccinating Teens: , CNN reports.

• “It takes five weeks to be fully vaccinated with Pfizer’s vaccine, the only one authorized for adolescents ages 12 to 17. That means, for example, Atlanta students need to get their first shot by July 1 to be fully immunized by the first day of school on Aug. 5.”

Viewpoints

How COVID-19 is Inspiring Education Reform: Via

• “Big shocks have sometimes changed schooling for the better. The Second World War midwifed the Butler Act in Britain, which increased years of compulsory schooling and abolished the fees still charged by many state schools. After Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans, officials there embarked on sweeping school reforms. Nine years later graduation rates had increased by 9-13 percentage points.”
• “Struggling learners would benefit enormously if expanded tutoring schemes become core parts of education systems. A long-running tutoring programme at Match Charter Public School in Boston provides one model. Before the pandemic it offered all children in four grades daily tutoring in maths. It operates a longer school day than is common in its neighbourhood, so Match manages to slot these sessions into students’ timetables without them having to give up anything else.”

Make Telemedicine Services for Children Permanent: Kelly Wolfe, a former educator and advocacy leader for children’s health in Minnesota and vice president of strategic partnerships and regulatory compliance at PresenceLearning, writes at �鶹��Ʒ: During COVID, states let students get speech therapy, mental health counseling and other services online. Make those changes permanent.

Survey of Black Parents:

• Black parents remain less likely than white and Hispanic parents to vaccinate themselves or their children.
• Roughly half of Black parents believe it will be safe to send children back to school for in-person classes by September. But 31 percent said it will take longer.
• and .

How the Pandemic Helped Fuel the Private School Choice Movement: Via :

• “Six states had enacted new programs by July 1, and a bill to create a new program in Missouri awaited Gov. Mike Parson’s signature. Governors also approved expansions of 14 existing voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs by loosening eligibility restrictions or expanding their budgets.”
• “Among the biggest moves in states’ 2021 legislative sessions: West Virginia created the most-expansive education savings account program in the country, making most of the state’s students eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program, which will provide up to $4,600 in state funds per student. New Hampshire’s budget includes a new educational savings account program available to families with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line.”

The Pandemic Will Worsen Illiteracy. Another Outcome Is Possible:

Some Students Thrived Learning From Home — They Deserve a Permanent Model: Via

��#�ճܰ��԰ճ��ʲ�����ʰ�����𳦳�: The Walton Family Foundation and COVID Collaborative launched a that includes unique perspectives from parents, practitioners and thought leaders on what they believe the future of learning looks like.

• The project includes Common, Drew Furedi, Eddie Koen, Elmo, Emily Oster, Jessica Hamilton, Kaya Henderson, Maria Hinojosa, Mikala Streeter, Nekima Levy Armstrong, Shalinee Sharma, Sharon McMahon, Tim Shriver, Tom Frieden, Viridiana Carrizales, Zahir Mbengue and Ze Min Xiao.

…And on a Lighter Note

This Dad:

ICYMI @The74

Weekend Reads: In case you missed them, our top five stories of the week:

• Critical Race Theory: Chaos Theory — Amid Pandemic Recovery Efforts, School Leaders Fear Critical Race Furor Will ‘Paralyze’ Teachers
• Student Health: Spread of Delta Variant Marks ‘Most Dangerous’ Time in Pandemic for Kids, May Force Schools to Re-Up Safety Measures, Experts Say
• Looking Ahead: 12 Big Challenges From Last School Year That Could Now Define the Fall of 2021 — From Learning Loss to Restoring Trust, Closing Achievement Gaps & More
• Pandemic Recovery: Analysis: Most Students in Urban Districts Will Have Summer Learning Options, But Schools’ Plans May Miss the Mark
• Federal Data: Almost All Schools Offered In-Person Learning by Spring, But Attendance Varied Widely By Race

Disclosure: John Bailey is an adviser to the Walton Family Foundation, which provides financial support to .

Choudhury, currently the district’s Associate Superintendent of Strategy, Talent, and Innovation, built a popular school integration plan, and was also involved in creating a similar one in Dallas ISD. 

Choudhury, 37, a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Bangladesh, is an outspoken proponent of integration, known for frank discussion on issues of race and poverty.

 He is also the primary architect of the tiered poverty measurement system now used by Texas to target state funding to the highest need schools in the state. 

“One of the things that really caught my attention was that he thinks big and thinks small,” said Maryland State Board of Education president Clarence Crawford of Choudhury. “He thinks big, because he thinks of big bold fresh ideas. He thinks small, because he’s able to turn those ideas into results.”

Board members and the outgoing state superintendent told Choudhury they looked forward to seeing how he would build on progress the state had recently made.

While there was indeed a lot to be proud of in the state, Choudhury said, “That doesn’t mean there aren’t gaps…we are only as strong as our most struggling student.”

He told the board that he looked forward to working with them to make Maryland a state that “demands equity, celebrates innovation, and values accountability.”

Choudhury will be charged with implementing a landmark school funding initiative, the , passed in February by the Maryland General Assembly. Democrats control the legislature, and the Blueprint gained enough support to override Republican Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of the big-spending bill. 

The Maryland State Board of Education is an appointed body of 13 plus one student and one teacher member, and voted unanimously on the appointment. The board conducted a “quiet” search, drawing 55 applicants from across the country, said Crawford, and Choudhury stood out.

This will be Choudhury’s first political position, though working across a partisan spectrum has long been part of his job. Texas’s 2019 school funding bill, House Bill 3, drew heavy bi-partisan support, largely because of elements developed by Choudhury and his colleagues in Dallas and San Antonio. 

At the same time, some of his reform-minded strategies have at times inflamed teachers unions, and won allies among conservatives.

In San Antonio, Choudhury oversaw partnerships between the public school district and nonprofits, charter management organizations, and higher education institutions. The partnerships were controversial at times, but lucrative for the district, bringing into the district an additional $800 per student.

Choudhury has also prioritized creating “guardrails” in enrollment, staffing, and innovations to ensure that schools do not bend to pressure from wealthy or privileged parents. 

The choice-driven integration initiatives in Dallas and San Antonio created open enrollment schools using Montessori, dual language, and other popular curricular models to attract middle class families into schools where 50 percent of students qualified for free and reduced lunch, with many coming from the poorest neighborhoods in the city. A carefully monitored lottery ensured that the high-demand schools didn’t have a “back door” for local VIPs. 

Board members welcomed Choudhury and his wife, Aniss Khani, with jokes about Texas and Maryland, food recommendations, and basketball jabs, sharing their excitement to get to work with the new superintendent.

“All the board members have come up with about 10 things we’d like you to do,” Crawford joked, “We’ll give you a week.” 

FROM THE 74’S ARCHIVE: We’ve reported extensively on Choudhury’s work over the past several years, including his desegregation efforts in our special 2018 series: “78207: America’s Most Radical School Integration Experiment.” Here’s some of our recent coverage of San Antonio schools: 

• Profile — The Architect: Meet Mohammed Choudhury, the Texas innovation officer rethinking school integration
• �鶹��Ʒ Interview: Inside Choudhury’s ‘diverse by design’ strategy to integrate schools and bolster student performance (Watch the full interview)
• Diverse Schools By Design: San Antonio’s ambitious plan to expand school options — and horizons
• Pandemic Recovery: New plan will give top San Antonio educators $100,000 to fight COVID learning loss at poorest schools
• Special Report: 78207: America’s most radical school integration experiment

Across the nation, states and districts have big plans for summer school this year, with schools aiming to that many educators and experts have feared could have damaging consequences for students long beyond the pandemic.

In , for example, officials are partnering with TNTP, formerly The New Teacher Project, to offer schools an acceleration handbook to guide summer instruction, while aims to provide parents access to free, online resources geared toward engaging children during the summer. States like and are also hoping to kick off robust acceleration and remediation efforts during the summer, though officials are openly worrying whether teachers will opt to sign up to teach in summer programs after the most grueling school year in memory.

Texas, in a move that could revitalize the educator pipeline in the state even as schools reopen from the pandemic and create goals to tackle learning loss this summer, announced it would launch an incentive pay program designed to reward teachers serving in low-performing and high-need schools. With the goal of supporting states as they prop up summer learning plans, nonprofit advocacy and research organizations, like and , are increasingly reviewing states’ summer plans and offering recommendations and best practices to guide and assess summer programs.

But according to the , 92 percent of teachers say teaching is more stressful now than prior to the pandemic – with most saying it has only grown more challenging during the pandemic. Also, 88 percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The significant bump in teacher vaccination rates coincides with updated federal guidance green lighting -year-olds and stating that vaccinated adults could go in many places.

Beyond issues of teacher burnout and summer planning, here are nine other updates from across the country about how states and school systems are confronting the challenges posed by the coronavirus emergency — and working to preserve student learning amid the pandemic:

CALIFORNIA – Lawmakers Split on Future of Virtual Learning

State educators and policymakers are divided over . This decision will affect the new state budget and potentially how the state defines public education for years to come. Currently, the waiver that has allowed for distance learning in the state is set to expire on June 30, fueling legislators’ urgency on considering the issue. While some officials push for a hybrid model, others are concerned given emerging research showing that disadvantaged students fell behind their peers during distance learning.

NEVADA – Lawmakers Consider Permanent Virtual Learning Options

Nevada education officials are considering whether or not to even after the spread of the coronavirus pandemic no longer necessitates it. Clark County School District, the largest district in the state and the fifth largest in the nation, will offer remote and in-person learning options at all school sites in addition to expanding its 100% virtual Nevada Learning Academy. A bill being considered in the state legislature would expand such offerings across all districts in the state, compelling districts to make a plan for virtual education and to ensure students have access to technology.

PENNSYLVANIA – Bill Would Allow Parents to Hold Students Back This Year

Senate Bill 664, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, would make . Currently, grade promotion decisions are made by the school and teacher in consultation with parents. Corman stated that parents are likely to have the best understanding of their children’s level of learning loss and should be empowered to make decisions for their children. If passed, the bill would only apply for the 2021-22 school year.

NATIONAL — Remote Learning Isn’t Going Away. Will It Create Separate (and Unequal) School Systems?

Even as the majority of U.S. public schools reopen their doors to allow students back into classrooms, the American education system appears to have accepted that virtual schools and online instruction are here to stay, albeit in various capacities and forms. Education Week reporters and have extensively explored the topic and, in their coverage, have depicted the rapid rise of virtual learning systems at the onset of the pandemic and their unstable and halting growth as the pandemic begins to subside. Even if 1 in 5 students were to consider or participate in virtual schooling next school year, that would create “a whole new parallel track for schools,” which could present , said Heather Schwartz, a RAND Corp. researcher focused on studying remote learning options. This concern, combined with a growing belief that COVID-19 learning disruption could , are also prompting some states and districts to move to , rather than expand them, as the pandemic subsides.

MICHIGAN – Districts Navigate a Difficult Assessment Season

Some Michigan school districts are , with local officials stating the need for data to understand where teaching and learning suffered and how gaps can be addressed next school year. While typically required to test in grades 3, 8, and 11, Michigan students have the ability to opt out of testing, as the federal government waived the state’s 95% participation requirement.

– Governor Hopes for a ‘Normal’ School Year, Downplays Masks

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently commented during a visit to a school in Jacksonville that his administration would like to see a “normal school year” starting this fall. He also commented that but neglected to mention whether the Florida Public Department of Education would limit districts’ abilities to enforce mask mandates. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends children wear masks in public, where social distancing is not possible.

NORTH CAROLINA – Proposal Would Provide $1,000 to Families for Learning Recovery Options

The North Carolina General Assembly is considering House Bill 934, which would as schools emerge from the pandemic. The bill would create the Student Success Program and offer eligible families $1,000 per student, with a maximum of $3,000 per household that could be spent on summer learning or after school programs. If passed, the funding would be made available by August of this year.

SOUTH CAROLINA – Partnership to Focus on Alleviating Teacher Shortage

With the , the University of South Carolina and the Center for Teaching Quality, a non-profit, established the Carolina Collaborative for Alternative Preparation (CarolinaCAP). The program allows those who have graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education to begin working in a classroom as they earn finalize teaching credentials and licensure. Due to the pandemic, CarolinaCAP launched fully online, but representatives of the two organizations said there are plans for a potential hybrid model moving forward.

COLORADO – Officials Propose Plan for Early Childhood Agency, Expanded Programming

A bill being considered in Colorado would establish a by 2023. Using funds from a new nicotine tax recently approved by voters, the expansion of pre-K in the state would aim to tackle flagging literacy rates, help address early achievement gaps between student groups, and create foundations for improved mental health and community resources for students at earlier ages. Expansion of pre-K programming in Colorado represents a major campaign promise for Gov. Jared Polis, who announced the proposed legislation alongside a number of prominent early childhood advocates.