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U.S. News & World Report
Setting up distance learning for the 55 million students who were forced out of school by the coronavirus pandemic is a challenge, but it's even more of a challenge for educators to figure out how to best educate the 7 million students with disabilities. And those students, who are less likely to be able to access online education, are also at much greater risk of falling behind.
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Chalkbeat
Teacher phone calls. "Daily meaningful interactions." Check-in forms. Morning notes in Google Classroom. Taking "attendance" in America's schools has never been more complicated. With school buildings closed nationwide, what once was a straightforward endeavor has become something of an anything-goes attempt to track whether students are engaged. The stakes are high. Most students are poised to go without months of traditional instruction, and the learning losses could be significant — especially for those who don't engage at all as schools attempt to teach remotely.
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eSchool News
During an emergency situation, there is nothing more important than response time. A single minute can be the difference between help arriving on time versus too late. In fact, the average school shooting lasts 12.5 minutes, while the average police response time is 18 minutes. There is no time to waste when something goes awry, especially in a school. Anyone who has worked in the education field can tell you that there is no such thing as a typical school day — whether it's a burst pipe, student fight, an intruder or an allergic reaction, no two days are ever the same and they rarely go according to plan. In these situations, teachers and staff should have a way to summon help quickly and easily, and a great tool for this is a panic button.
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District Administration Magazine
The concept of a "brain-friendly school" is one that supports different learning styles and abilities, promotes active involvement, incorporates multimedia, recognizes the impact of environmental factors such as noise and lighting, builds connections to the world outside the classroom, and encourages community accessibility and involvement. It's the kind of environment teachers and students will appreciate all the more after returning to school after long coronavirus closure — and one that may more closely rival the potential choice of seating options students have gotten used to at home.
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The Hechinger Report
Eventually we will flatten the curve, create a vaccine for Covid-19 and re-open school buildings that have been shuttered for months. But schools won't look the same. In particular, students may not see some of their most beloved teachers when they come back to school next year. A study of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina offers powerful insights into what we might see on the other side of our social distancing efforts. One of the most important, and potentially devastating, effects of our current extended period of homeschooling is a likely flood of early retirements.
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Education DIVE
For years, incorporating technology into blended learning environments has been a luxury for the districts that can afford it and an aspiration for those that don't have the resources for device rollouts. But with coronavirus-related closures going through April and extending through the end of the school year for some states, 1:1 devices have suddenly become the preferred avenue for instruction.
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EdSurge
Chrissy Romano Arrabito teaches second grade at an elementary school in Hackensack, N.J., a community that has been devastated by COVID-19 in recent weeks. The school is located just a few miles outside New York City, the epicenter of the crisis in the U.S., in Bergen County, where nearly 11,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed.
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Champions is an opportunity to exceed every parent’s expectations of what before and after school can be. Our programs immerse K–6 students in an inquiry-based, whole-child learning environment that supports academic and social-emotional learning. Support your teachers’ goals outside the school day without costing your district’s budget. Learn more
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Entrepreneur
One of the first lessons from the coronavirus, even at this early stage of the pandemic, is that you can never plan for everything. The follow-up lesson, however, should give us all some hope. We can at least be more resilient when major, unexpected disruptions occur, as they inevitably will.
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The Lead Change Group (commentary)
Paul B. Thornton, a guest contributor for The Lead Change Group, writes: "Throughout my career, I have spent a lot of time studying and teaching leadership. It's a fascinating subject! The coronavirus has given me a chance to observe many leaders dealing with this invisible enemy."
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By: Sheilamary Koch (commentary)
 As days of social distancing turn into weeks, it's not a bad thing if overdoses of the news, scrolling through social media posts and funny cat videos feel increasingly hollow. Upheaval surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many to adapt, create new routines and be resilient. And although much remains outside our control these days, each day gives us opportunities to observe silver linings and forge new beginnings for our lives and world from this point forward.
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Education Week
New White House guidelines on "reopening the country" as it grapples with the coronavirus pandemic didn't increase confidence among education groups that schools would reopen any time soon. And it didn't answer questions about how schools will have to change their practices to keep students safe after they welcome them back to their buildings.
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Education Week
The Trump administration violated federal rules when it rolled back heavily debated nutrition standards for school meals programs in 2018, a federal court ruled. The U.S. District Court in Maryland vacated the rule changes and sided with plaintiffs, children's health advocacy groups that had argued the U.S. Department of Agriculture violated the Administrative Procedures Act, which agencies must follow in changing federal regulations.
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Education DIVE
The $2 trillion CARES Act gives Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos thirty days to propose provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that should be waived by Congress. Special education advocates have expressed concern, if not outright alarm, that waivers could gut important civil rights protections for students with disabilities. School districts, however, are worried about being held accountable for providing hands-on services during the pandemic that would be impossible without putting the health and safety of their staff at risk.
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StateScoop
Top Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee wrote in a letter that Congress' next emergency relief bill in response the COVID-19 pandemic should include funding for cybersecurity assistance to state and local governments, especially as people continue working from home for an open-ended period.
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THE Journal
Nearly 90 companies and education technology organizations have joined a growing volunteer effort to help families and teachers affected by school closures.
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We Are Teachers
Google Meet is an amazing resource you can use for online learning. If you already use Google Classroom, teaching online with Google Meet should be pretty seamless. We've created this "Google Meet for Teachers" guide to help you get online quickly to meet with your students and further build those relationships.
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EdTech Magazine
District leaders have a lot to think about when it comes to implementing and navigating remote learning during school closures. But they must not forget about how crucial it is to have cybersecurity measures in place before rolling out their e-learning plans. Schools are already increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Since 2016, there have been more than 800 cybersecurity-related incidents affecting U.S. K–12 public schools and districts, according to the K–12 Cyber Incident Map.
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eSchool News
The global COVID-19 pandemic that has forced schools to shut down physical operations and move to online learning has, understandably, caused a fair amount of anxiety and emotional distress for students. In merely one or two weeks, teachers have moved their instructional plans online, quickly adapting lessons and identifying ways to connect with students through virtual meet-ups. Parents are often next to their children, helping them adjust to online learning and figure out how to complete assignments and schedule learning time and "time off" throughout the day.
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The Hechinger Report
Northshore School District, in an upper-middle-class suburb of Seattle, was among the first in Washington state — and in the country — to close due to the coronavirus. Less than a week after the March 5 closure, one Northshore parent, Amy Amirault, noticed a shift in the tone of other parents on social media. "We're in this together" quickly turned to finger-pointing at "those kids," one of whom was her eldest son.
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School shut down? Looking to expand your teachers' professional learning? IRIS can help. Supported by the U.S. Department of Education, we offer free online PD, covering behavior management, differentiated instruction, accommodations for students with disabilities and more, to increase your teachers' knowledge of evidence-based
practices:
https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/pd-hours/
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eSchool News
The coronavirus outbreak has closed physical schools and pushed learning online, causing teachers to develop remote and online learning plans in as little as a couple days — but not all teachers feel prepared to meet this sudden and potentially lengthy challenge. ClassTag surveyed more than 1,200 U.S. teachers in mid-March to collect and share best practices, ideas and common approaches to remote learning. More than half of those surveyed teach in public schools (66 percent) and more than half are elementary school teachers (60%).
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THE Journal
Amazon Web Services Education has launched a set of free resources intended to help teachers and faculty in K-20 with their transitions to remote teaching and learning. In developing the roster of offerings, the "Educator Mobilization Initiative" looked to the results of a global survey among educators as well as its own education ambassadors who serve as evangelists for Amazon technologies.
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eSchool News
It's no secret that creating accessible digital and inclusive learning experiences can be a challenge. This is especially true if your institution is suddenly transitioning to remote instruction for the first time in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
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We Are Teachers (commentary)
Kelly Treleaven, a contributor for We Are Teachers, writes: "The reality of distance teaching during quarantine has settled in a little. And with it, I'm realizing just how much I miss about teaching in a physical classroom. Nine things in particular. I am sure you can identify with at least a few!"
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Edutopia
The extended school closure has teachers searching for ways to support their students. As more teachers move toward creating and distributing assignments digitally, an important question arises: How can we best support students with learning differences during times of remote instruction?
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District Administration Magazine
While school music classes rely deeply on students being able to play their instruments together — in-person — that doesn't mean instruction has shut down during the shift to online learning. "We're teaching in very much the same ways that somebody walking into a band or choir room back in 1910 would recognize," says Peter Perry, instrumental music director at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland. "That's not necessarily a bad thing because there are proven teaching concepts and traditions, which makes it difficult to add technology."
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EdScoop
While printed books aren't going away, today's kids are wired to think digital first. Combined with a growing number of ways for teachers, students and authors to interact online, digital reading is allowing students to connect with content on a deeper level.
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MiddleWeb (commentary)
Valentina Gonzalez, a contributor for MiddleWeb, writes: "This time of year is often associated with spring cleaning. At home, we might pick a room or area and begin the process of cleaning it out. We think about what's needed. What we use. What's not been used and what we can do away with. If you are like me, spring cleaning means picking up an item like a dress or blouse and looking at it. I think ... did I use this recently? Does it still fit? If not, I toss it in the pile for donations."
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eSchool News
If you've been paying attention to education news lately, you've probably noticed that the conversation around technology in the classroom is shifting. When edtech first burst onto the scene almost three decades ago, access to more technology — devices, broadband — was everything. Educators, policymakers and parents all wanted to know how to get as many devices into the hands of students as soon as possible. How students leveraged technology to support learning would not become a primary focus for many years to come.
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Edutopia
There is growing awareness that early science experiences are fundamental to children's science learning, interests, and identities. Reflecting that fact, the Covid-19 school closings have resulted in a tidal wave of digital science resources aimed at preschool, kindergarten and first-grade teachers.
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Frontiers via Science Daily
Children have a never-ending curiosity about the world around them and frequently question how and why it works the way it does. Researchers have previously demonstrated that children are interested in causal information, but had not yet linked this to a real-world activity, such as reading. A new study finds that children prefer causally-rich storybooks, suggesting that such content may be more engaging and could help to increase children's interest in reading.
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Education DIVE
As of April 16, half the states in the country have closed schools for the rest of the year. Regions' issues vary, from lack of online connection to lack of financial resources. States with schools closed through the end of the year also face the challenge of easing seniors toward their diplomas without the pomp and circumstance graduating classes typically enjoy.
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Education Week
Everything has come to a screeching halt. Our preschool, normally alive with children belting out their morning circle time songs, has become eerily quiet. The end-of-the-day fogging to disinfect the building has left a dull film that now covers the brightly colored toys. Students' artwork and a few of our teachers' materials are still scattered around, giving the impression that we were coming back the next day. We couldn't have been more wrong.
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NPR
As of Thursday afternoon, 26 states, representing about half of the nation's public school students, have recommended or ordered their schools to remain closed for the rest of the academic year, according to a tally by Education Week. The closures affect about 25 million of the nation's 50.8 million public school students. Louisiana joined the list Wednesday, when Gov. John Bel Edwards announced he would extend the closure of his state's schools.
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NPR
When schools closed in Fall Creek, Wis., because of the coronavirus, the district staff got an unusual message. Don't worry for now about assignments or quizzes, Superintendent Joe Sanfelippo told them. Instead, "I want you to call people. And I want you to ask them two questions: How are you doing? And do you need anything?" The district had also ordered Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hot spots to help connect families in this small, rural community. But the hotspots were delayed, and many families live in areas with poor signal strength.
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NAESP
Dr. Earl Franks and Danny Carlson (NAESP) discuss with Jeremy Anderson and Jennifer Thomsen (Education Commission of the States) the latest COVID-19 updates regarding state policy responses, executive actions to COVID-19 in public schools, and the implications of COVID-19 on future state education budgets.
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NAESP
This is proving to be a challenging time in education and most of us have more questions than answers. NAESP and AASA are here to help. Please join us each Tuesday, with moderators Eric Cardwell and Dr. Gail Pletnick, along with representatives from NAESP and AASA when we go Live at 5 ET to help get your questions answered. If we don't know, we will find someone who does!
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