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By Sheilamary Koch (commentary)
 Today's colossal interruption in class as usual has inspired teachers around the country to boldly speak out about changes they want to see in education. They're urging drastic measures to solve problems magnified during this time of COVID-19-related closures — before things get swept under the rug again.
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U.S. News & World Report
When schools reopen this fall — if they reopen this fall — students and teachers will not be returning to the classroom learning environments they left behind in March, when school districts across the country shuttered for more than 55 million children. Some of the most obvious differences will be the increased sanitization of classrooms and buses, teachers and children wearing masks and other personal protective gear, frequent temperature checks and hand-washing and new rules that allow for as much social distancing as possible.
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The Hechinger Report
Schools are commonly advised to hire one counselor for every 250 students. The figure has been recommended and publicized by the American School Counselor Association since 1965. And it's been frequently used by education lobbyists and advocates to demand more money for schools at state legislatures and in Congress for decades. Some states have the 250 number written into their laws.
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Axios
Many public schools that are closed by the coronavirus pandemic are still providing lunches to low-income students who would otherwise go hungry. Some are serving entire families and other community members, acting more like soup kitchens than school cafeterias. Why it matters: About half of all U.S. public schoolchildren rely on free or reduced-price meals, a figure that is expected to rise as more parents become unemployed. How it works: Free school lunches are partially subsidized by kids paying full freight, thus putting added pressure on local budgets at a time of falling tax revenue.
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eSchool News
During the COVID-19 impact, many aspects of student life have come to a grinding halt. To help address an acute shortage of accredited teachers, even under these extraordinary circumstances, Alliant University's California School of Education has been forming partnerships to appropriately provide alternative approaches for teacher candidates to meet clinical practice, field experience, and performance assessment requirements. In collaboration with these partners, our instructors and leaders have been working to develop tools and best practices to not just meet but exceed requirements.
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The 74
Faced with a grim economy and uncertainty about what school might look like in the fall, several district officials say they are pausing or dramatically scaling back their hiring of new teachers for the upcoming school year. "We will definitely slow down hiring and limit it to essential positions," says Kim Holland, the director of recruitment and retention for Spokane Public Schools in Washington. The 31,000-student district typically hires between 125 and 175 teachers, she said. The school board has declared a financial emergency and is considering layoffs.
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Chalkbeat
Belinda Mckinney-Childrey has spent more than 30 years as a teacher. Before the pandemic, she thought she was about three years from retirement. Coronavirus has her wondering whether to fast-track that decision. She has high blood pressure, a health condition that could put her at a higher risk for severe illness if she were to contract the coronavirus. A few weeks shy of her 62nd birthday, she's close to the age group that the federal government has also warned is at higher risk.
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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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EdSurge
Even amid the uncertainty of what the school year will look like in the fall, teachers are itching to get back to some semblance of normalcy. Greeting students at the door each morning, chatting with them about their weekend, providing in-person feedback on projects and facilitating student-led conversations are among the many joys we miss during this pandemic.
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District Administration Magazine
Students experiencing homelessness often rely on school meals as a primary source of their daily nutrition. But some struggle — particularly during unanticipated school closures related to the novel coronavirus pandemic — to find regular meals. Local educational agencies should develop plans to help students experiencing homelessness cover food and other expenses related to their participation in school and extracurricular activities.
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The 74
When schools reopen in the fall, they will look very different than the schools children left in the spring. There will likely be masks, temperature checks and extra space between desks. Nearly 1 out of 5 teachers may not be able to return to school buildings. And looming over schools will be the potential for additional closures forcing students back to remote learning.
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Promoted By
Move This World
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Forbes
In these moments of uncertainty, this should not be a time for failure of imagination but rather a period where leadership can mobilize to embrace a new way of thinking and develop new standards and ideals for envisioning what the workplace of the future will look like. It is of the utmost importance that corporate leadership possess the tools needed to not only transform workforce culture but provide a functional design that offers organizations the ability to hone new skills while becoming more accomplished strategic thinkers and more effective long-range planners.
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Entrepreneur
Most of us are willing to put in some planning before we take a trip. You might purchase a plane ticket, make a hotel reservation, and have some sense of your itinerary. That doesn't mean there's no room for spontaneity; it just means you won't be stranded in a foreign city with no place to sleep. Planning is just as vital when it comes to having a critical conversation with another person. Yet, strangely, very few people put in the time or effort to prepare before they jump into important conversations.
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Inc.
If you aren't hearing about any problems from your employees or direct reports, it probably doesn't mean everyone is happy and everything is firing on all cylinders. In fact, it may actually indicate a need to rethink your leadership style. The good news is, for all the possible reasons behind this lack of direct communication or transparency, there are equally as many ways to improve your reputation and leadership standing. Here are a few reasons why your employees are afraid to open up to you.
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By Terri Williams (commentary)
 If you're older than 40 or so, there's a tendency to think of millennials in terms of popular stereotypes: avocado toast-eating youngsters job-hopping at the drop of a hat. However, some millennials have been working for almost two decades — and many of these individuals are managers. A new report by Zapier reveals that 62% of millennials manage at least one direct report. For years, we've been studying how millennial employees are changing the workforce. But now, the more appropriate question is: how are millennial managers shaping the workforce?
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NPR
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican of Louisiana and also a medical doctor, is thinking a lot about what it will take for schools to reopen. Cassidy sits on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will hear from public health officials this week about how to safely reopen U.S. businesses and schools. Cassidy has proposed "aggressive" testing and contact tracing as part of any reopening. He says the U.S. has enough testing if it's targeted appropriately.
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EdScoop
House Democrats unveiled a new COVID-19 relief package that includes $90 billion in flexible funding for schools and colleges to help support education during the pandemic and facilitate distance learning. The previous round of relief funding, passed by Congress in March, made $31 billion available K-12 and higher education institutions to support a variety of learning needs and student resources, including mental health support and internet service.
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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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Education Week
School technology leaders appreciate the rising cybersecurity threats in K-12 education, but many still are not taking all the steps necessary to better protect their schools, concludes a new annual report on ed-tech leadership. The report, by the Consortium for School Networking, points that only 18% of respondents said their school or district has a full-time employee dedicated to cybersecurity; and fewer than 20% marked any items on a list of cybersecurity threats as "high-risk" from their perspective.
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The Hechinger Report
Earlier this school year, the first graders at the Hampton Street School were about to take a coding class, something they've been doing since kindergarten. "Coding gives us another way to solve our problems," Diane Nodell, the library media specialist, reminded them. "Are you ready to learn the basics?" The children were. They opened their iPads and within minutes were following arrows around the grid on their tablets, producing different colors with each set of directions. As they worked Nodell assured them that the assignment was helping their brains. "You're going to grow neurons," she said.
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District Administration Magazine
Screen time, social media, video games and various other online and digital activities are pretty much the only way students can maintain social lives under stay-at-home orders. Parents and educators should therefore not worry too much about how many hours students over the age of 5 spend on a screen.
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District Administration Magazine
While virtual reality takes students (and teachers) to many places around the world they would otherwise never go, finding where to find the right network support to maintain these virtual experiences can take time. At Round Rock ISD, educators first needed to find out if their IT infrastructure could support it before adopting VR technology four years ago.
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Tech & Learning
Google Classroom can do a lot and you have just found your way to the place that will help you make sure you're getting everything you can out of the teaching service. You may already be using Google Classroom as a teacher and want to know how to get even more out of the system. There are plenty of features that Google doesn't advertise that you may not yet know about. Read on to learn all the best Google Classroom tips and tricks.
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eSchool News
There's no question that digital transformation is dramatically shifting the education landscape. In the Consortium for School Networking's 2019 survey, 55% of respondents say they have implemented 1:1 programs in their schools. This is a significant increase from the 2014 survey which showed that only 23% of schools had implemented a 1:1 program. Yet we know that digital transformation is about more than just the technology that powers it.
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Tech & Learning
Most school districts have transitioned to online learning due to the covid-19 pandemic. But the quality of education varies widely from one district to another. Well-funded districts likely already had a substantial online learning presence, and at least some staff and educators who had experience in remote teaching. In contrast, districts with more limited funding may struggle to develop and implement an effective online platform. Further, many students in these less well-off districts may have their own difficulties, due to lack of access to broadband internet, a computer or a quiet place at home to do their lessons.
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Axios
Coronavirus pandemic-forced school closures — from kindergarten to college — will transform how teachers teach and students learn. The big picture: Our long-held views of schools and the roles of teachers, students and parents will never be the same. That could be a good thing if we seize this opportunity to make changes that actually result in better outcomes for students and better resources for teachers. Most parents in a new survey by the National Parents Union said schools should use this time as an opportunity to make changes to education.
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We Are Teachers
We all miss our students, and most of them miss us too! To help bridge the distance learning gap, many teachers are sending out Flat Teacher versions of themselves, based on the ever-popular book Flat Stanley. The Flat Stanley Project was created to encourage schoolchildren to write letters and document their adventures with the Flat Stanley cutout. Many teachers are using this same concept and sending out Adventure sheets to their students as well. Whether you use your Bitmoji or print a photo of yourself, your students will appreciate having you close by.
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Education World (commentary)
Steve Haberlin, a contributor for Education World, writes: "If you're a teacher, you know that teaching can be a highly demanding, stressful job. Unlike other professions, there is little if any downtime. You must constantly be on and present when teaching children or teenagers. Take your eye of the ball for a moment, and the opportunity for learning is gone (and students behave badly. Like sharks in water, I think they can smell the blood)."
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We Are Teachers
Many teachers lack the tools and support to adequately meet the needs of emergent bilinguals, and that's become even more of a challenge with distance learning. Newcomer students already face a host of barriers. Now that we've moved instruction mostly online, we have to get more creative in continuing these students' education.
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MiddleWeb (commentary)
Elizabeth Stein, a contributor for MiddleWeb, writes: "Did you ever stop to really think about parents as your co-teaching partners? It's far from a new idea. See this Educational Leadership article from ASCD that dates back to March 2015 as an example. We are all living the reality of not just being 'Two Teachers in the Room.' Rather, we are all teachers beyond the room — reaching into many rooms. The meaning of this reality is tremendously variant as we all experience the COVID-19 pandemic in very personal ways."
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eSchool News
For a relatively new buzzword, grit certainly has a lot of supporters. It is grit, and not necessarily IQ or talent, that can predict students' academic success. And as educators seek to understand students from a motivational and psychological point of view, grit pays an important role. "Grit is passion, perseverance for very long-term goals, stamina," says Angela Duckworth in her now-famous 2013 TED Talk.
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We Are Teachers
In the world of distance learning, how do we assess our students fairly? Many schools have changed their grading policies or moved to pass/fail for their subjects. But, if you are opting to give online assessments, what is the best way to approach these tests? The key lies in determining the material you are assessing, how you would like to present the quiz or test, how the students can showcase their knowledge and how you're going to grade it.
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Education Next (commentary)
Joel Rose, a contributor for Education Next, writes: "Imagine a 6th-grade math teacher with high hopes for her students. Let's call her Ms. Rodriguez. She wants her students to find joy in the beauty and complexity of math, make connections to the world around them, and master the skills and content they'll need to succeed in middle and high school, college and beyond. She believes that each one is capable of rigorous study and is committed to doing all she can to prepare them."
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Language Magazine
This spring, our personal and professional lives were complicated by the unknown. We learned about flexibility and new routines. Some of us still feel overwhelmed. In spite of these realities, it is time to think about strategies for post-pandemic advocacy for languages and language programs. When the pandemic fades, priorities will be transformed. With students falling behind in the core subjects, language learning is likely to be scrutinized and will be vulnerable. Even mainstay language study in the U.S.'s default second language — namely Spanish — is likely to suffer.
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Education Week
Less time teaching, dramatically reduced exposure to new learning material for students living in poverty, and lots of Zoom lessons. That's the emerging picture of public K-12 education in America under the coronavirus, according to a new nationally representative survey of the nation's educators from the Education Week Research Center.
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The Associated Press
Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. kids are obese, according to the latest national data. The news is disappointing, given that programs across the country have for years been trying to reduce childhood obesity, one expert said. "We really were expecting and hoping to see the trends decrease," said Dr. Tannaz Moin, a UCLA obesity researcher. Obesity — which means not merely overweight, but seriously overweight — is one of the nation's leading public health problems. Adult obesity also has been trending upward, but childhood obesity is especially worrisome because it can put kids on track for problems like diabetes and heart disease, she said.
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EdSource
School closures were intended to keep students safe during the pandemic, but for many, it's ushered in a different set of dangers: anxiety, depression and other serious mental health conditions. School counselors, psychologists and social workers have been trying to help students virtually since campuses closed, listening to their struggles and offering advice on how to navigate the complex difficulties they're facing. But what students need most right now — in-person support — is impossible to deliver, they said.
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District Administration Magazine
For Meriden Public Schools in Connecticut, distance learning began on March 13. Going to this new environment required us to create a distance learning plan, design memorandums of understanding with our union partners, create work assignments, establish food distribution sites and communicate with all stakeholders. While students in grades 6-12 had school-issued devices, we distributed over 3,500 Chromebooks to our K-5 students.
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NAESP
Due to the ongoing threat of exposure to COVID-19, NAESP has made the difficult decision to cancel the NAESP Pre-K–8 Principals Conference activities scheduled to take place July 11-14 at the Louisville Convention Center. As previously communicated, we have closely monitored news reports and guidance issued by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as information provided by Louisville Tourism. Our primary concern has been, and will always be, the well-being of our members, staff, and other participants.
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NAESP
One Billion Meals. That's the number of meals at school that kids in need have missed due to school closures. Join No Kid Hungry and the National Summer Learning Association to learn about the innovative ways schools are connecting kids with food and how to help your district continue this critical work throughout the summer.
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