After the Tennessee Department of Education received tons of pushback from parents and teachers over a controversial survey suggesting adding summer school and/or extended school days to make up for days missed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the DOE just … changed the survey so the questions generating controversy weren’t there.
Yep. They just … changed it.
Here are some tweets explaining the changes from former TN DOE spokesperson Jennifer Johnson and some other individuals who noticed the differences:
The first picture was the survey last night. The next picture is the same question this morning. Now it’s gone all together. pic.twitter.com/A6F8U0ySaA
The State of Tennessee has a survey out about how to use one-time funds from the COVID-19 stimulus. Among the suggestions: somehow “making up” for the weeks/months lost in this school year by adding time to school days or adding days to coming school years.
Here’s teacher Mike Stein’s tweet with a link to the survey:
TN is conducting a survey on how to use one-time relief funds for education. If you live in TN–especially if you have any opinion at all about public education–please take a few minutes to complete this short survey. @TEA_teachers#tnedchat@TNEdReporthttps://t.co/QDq40t75xY
The results of a survey conducted by the Tennessee Education Association indicate that Tennessee’s teachers are focused on and concerned about their students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s more from a press release:
Tennessee educators are most worried about learning loss, student wellbeing and how to engage students during school closures due to the Covid-19 outbreak, according to a statewide survey published by the Tennessee Education
Association.
The survey of 319 educators across the state was conducted March 25-31 by TEA. The survey will be conducted again in coming weeks to reflect changes.
TEACHERS’ GREATEST CONCERNS:
When educators were asked “what is your greatest concern regarding the remainder the school year,” the overwhelming focus was on students. Half of all teachers cited learning loss and student wellbeing as their greatest concerns. Lost instructional
opportunities, difficult home environments, food security and the absence of social and academic engagement weigh heavily on the minds of teachers, according to the survey.
“I’ve worried so much about my kids regressing but everyone is in the same situation. Parents all have different home circumstances. For the ones working, it is hard to come home and homeschool. Some just have one computer per two-plus
kids in the home,” wrote one respondent. “We know the kids will possibly be behind but that’s ok. That’s my job!”
The impact of the disruption will remain long after the outbreak is controlled, and classes resume.
“Students will struggle when we return to school and they will struggle next year, especially in math classes, to make up for the large gap in knowledge created by this disruption,” wrote one respondent. “This must also be taken into account
when considering test scores as a factor for next year and how they impact high-stakes decisions for students as well as teachers.”
One in five teachers expressed uncertainty as their primary concern, as well as health and safety concerns for themselves and their families moving forward. One in 10 expressed professional or student accountability as the primary concern
during the closure period.
GRAPPLING WITH STUDENT ENGAGEMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN:
When asked “what plans does your district have regarding ongoing instruction,” more than half of educators said they were allowed to work from home to provide learning opportunities that would not count for student grades, while 36% said
their school system had no current mandate on activity.
“It is clear from this survey that teachers, parents and school systems are struggling to implement strategies to continue teaching and learning. With the timing of spring breaks and the statewide school shutdown, there wasn’t much of an
opportunity to plan and organize materials,” said TEA President Beth Brown. “This is going to be an ongoing process, and we ask administrators and school boards to understand that teachers want to engage their students and promote learning as much as they
do. We all will be working to find the most effective means of doing so with safety and health in mind.”
For educators who have district instruction plans, the means of communication vary. Approximately half of teachers use the phone, text, and text apps to communicate with students, one-third use email or online platforms, and one in seven
use social media. 40% of teachers use two or more means of communication. Most teachers report spotty participation among students, even those in honors or AP classes. Inequity among students in home support and internet access were major teacher concerns.
One major issue for TEA was the widespread reports of mandatory reporting to schools after the statewide closure order. The survey found that while initially there were orders to report, only a small percentage of responders indicated they
had to physically go to the school building as part of their duties.
“I am proud of our cafeteria workers and teachers who are making sure students are fed while schools are closed,” said Brown. “I am also glad to see that systems are prioritizing public health and the safety of our educators by not requiring personnel to come into a school building.”
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Former Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman notes that in light of the coronavirus pandemic, American schools are moving online and to homeschooling in a patchwork experiment that is “not likely to end well.” His article, in the Washington Post, follows a note from Donald Cohen about the inherent value of public schools. It also highlights what will be important challenges going forward.
As the coronavirus pandemic closes schools, in some cases until September, American children this month met their new English, math, science and homeroom teachers: their iPads and their parents. Classes are going online, if they exist at all. The United States is embarking on a massive, months-long virtual-pedagogy experiment, and it is not likely to end well. Years of research shows that online schooling is ineffective — and that students suffer significant learning losses when they have a long break from school. Now they’re getting both, in a hastily arranged mess. And the kids who suffer most from the “summer slide” are the low-income students, the ones already struggling to keep up.
First, research shows that even with great planning, a willing audience and lots of effort from teachers well-schooled in distance learning, results for K-12 students are lackluster. The author of one study of virtual charter schools (which have more online offerings and thus more to study than public institutions) noted that “challenges in maintaining student engagement are inherent in online instruction,” in part because of the limited student-teacher contact time. “Years of evidence [is] accumulating about how poorly these schools are performing,” the author of one multiparty report held in 2016. That report concluded, “Full-time virtual schools are not a good fit for many children.”
Finally, since states are losing standardized testing this spring, they’ll need to administer tests at the start of the next school year to see what students know after the crisis. Assessments should be informative and not used to measure or rate schools or teachers. Without this, it will be impossible to know the extent of the challenge and where resources should be deployed to deal with it.
Even as the coronavirus highlights the value of public schools to our communities, school systems are facing significant budget uncertainty. Chalkbeatreports on how schools in Memphis are looking ahead and what COVID-19 might mean in 2020-21 and beyond.
Before a global pandemic closed Memphis schools indefinitely, Shelby County Schools was already planning staff cuts in its central office and in schools.
As of Saturday, Superintendent Joris Ray’s administration was expecting to eliminate 139 central office positions and 115 teacher positions, according to budget documents Chalkbeat obtained. Anticipated teacher raises would be 1% after state funding cuts last week. Overall spending for the $1 billion budget would be down $11.5 million, or about 1%.
Now as the new coronavirus spreads, the proposed 2020-21 budget is constantly changing as federal, state, and local governments adjust their spending plans for education.
And county officials, who provide local funding for schools, are researching what it would cost to get virtual classrooms fully functioning while also calculating an expected decline in sales tax money as households spend less on businesses that had to close or cut back operations during the pandemic. State officials rely on sales tax money for schools and are anticipating a significant drop in revenue.
“This is going to force us to be disciplined about what we invest in,” said Michael Whaley, who leads the county commission’s education committee. He added poverty should not be the reason students do not have access to online learning. “That’s just not fair to those students. I think this lights a fire to figure out how to do this.”
Funding is down under a recently approved barebones emergency budget, including money for teacher raises and other initiatives. Gov. Bill Lee has not yet earmarked money for districts to purchase equipment to launch online classes, so only districts that already had enough laptops for every student are fully switching to digital learning.
While state funding for investments in public school decreased from Gov. Lee’s original proposal, the budget does include more than $40 million to fund vouchers.
The legislature is slated to reconvene in June and it’s possible they could address long-term budget concerns for school districts based on the impact of the COVID-19 shutdown.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Donald Cohen of In the Public Interest talks about how the COVID-19 outbreak underscores the value of our nation’s public schools.
The worst of the COVID-19 outbreak is likely yet to come. But it’s worth taking a moment to think about why it took so long to close the nation’s public schools.
School districts nationwide finally began to close brick and mortar schools at the end of the second week of March, a full week after many college and universities sent students home.
Students, teachers, and parents are now embarking on the largest experiment in online instruction this country has ever seen—and many important questions remain. Will there still be standardized testing? What about kids who don’t have reliable internet access? How will districts ensure data privacy for students and families?
Another question: why’d it take so long to begin the experiment?
It’s simple. Public schools are public goods. They provide basic educational, social, emotional, and even physical needs to not only students and families but also entire communities. Closing them has effects that ripple out beyond school doors. As Erica Green wrote in the New York Times, mass school closings could “upend entire cities.”
Just look at the numbers:
The nation’s public school system serves more than 50 million students, many of whom have parents who work and need childcare during the day.
The federal National School Lunch Program serves food to over 30 million kids annually. Many families rely on school to feed their children meals throughout the school year.
There are more than 3.1 million public school teachers, many of whom are already struggling to get by. Teachers, paraprofessionals, front office workers, bus drivers, janitors, and other school staff rely on public school jobs to make ends meet.
But perhaps most importantly, public schools provide kids with the opportunity to learn alongside their peers. Schools are where the community comes together to learn and grow regardless of skin color, income level, sexual orientation, or any other difference.
Only public institutions—not private markets—can make sure that these basic needs are available to everyone.
The next few days, weeks, and months are uncertain, but one thing’s for sure: we’ll be learning how much public schools really matter to all of us. Some—teachers, administrators, and school staff—already know how important they are.
Chicago Public Schools has already handed out more than 90,000 meal packages including three days’ worth of breakfast and lunch.
Teachers in Noblesville, Indiana, decorated their cars and drove through students’ neighborhoods to honk and wave.
(The Network for Public Education is compiling stories of how the public school community is serving the nation during the outbreak.)
Public schools matter because we all benefit from them regardless of whether we have a kid in school. Public schools matter because they’re public goods.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
The American Foundation for the Blind notes in a recent blog post that Tennessee U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander has suggested waiving IDEA requirements in light of COVID-19. Here’s more from their post:
During this national period of quarantine due to the novel coronavirus, many US schools have instituted distance learning programs that allow students to continue their education at home. This change should prevent students from losing important academic skills—for example, in reading and math—and ensure that they are prepared to advance to the following grade in the fall.
Last week, Senator Lamar Alexander stated that the Department of Education should consider allowing states to choose not to educate students with disabilities during the quarantine. Specifically, he proposed that the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) issue waivers to states that would allow them not to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for one year.
However, the IDEA does not permit them the authority to waive these requirements. Therefore, some Republican leaders in Congress are trying to get language in the upcoming COVID-19 relief package that would ask the Department of Education to send a report to Congress listing waivers they would like the authority to grant.
The American Foundation for the Blind strongly opposes any efforts to undermine the rights of students with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like their peers without disabilities, students with disabilities need to retain important academic skills, such as reading and math, so that they don’t fall behind and are ready to pick up their education where they left off. For students with visual impairments, access to academic subjects often requires the use of braille, assistive technology, and alternative teaching methods. In addition, there are specialized skills that students with visual impairments need to develop such as how to use their remaining vision efficiently, how to travel safely in the environment (orientation and mobility), and how to use specialized technology such as screen reading software that allow them to access the curriculum. Students with disabilities already face many barriers to education, such as low expectations and inaccessibility. Allowing states to choose not to educate these students during this time will only widen that gap and put students with disabilities at an even more significant disadvantage to achieving academic success and eventually entering the workforce.
Today, Governor Bill Lee announced he’s recommending schools in the state remain closed through at least April 24th in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Here’s a tweet from Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn:
Today, @GovBillLee announced an extension to school closures through April 24th. I know this is hard, but it is necessary. @TNedu will launch even more resources to help our schools and families. Like you, I feel it at work, and at home, but keeping our kids safe is Priority 1.
Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools announced today they will be closed through May 1st. This marks the latest date of closure so far announced by any Tennessee district. Hamilton County previously announced closure through April 13th.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Legislators today are advancing a bill that would grant the Commissioner of Education broad authority to waive various requirements related to public schools in light of the advancing Coronavirus (COVID-19). This includes waiving TNReady testing, the 180 day attendance requirement, and portfolio and value-added evaluation of teachers, among other items.
For the 2019-20 school year, other provisions of the proposal would:
Ensure that districts receive full state funding for the school year, even if students cannot be present;
Drop the requirement that high school students must pass a civics test to graduate;
Drop the requirement that 11th-graders take an exam to assess their readiness for college;
Require the state Board of Education to revise requirements so that no senior who is on track and eligible would be prevented from graduating on time because of school closings.
The move comes as districts across the state are announcing closures well into April. Currently, the latest announced closure is Hamilton County (April 13th).
As of this morning, the legislation was moved to the full House Education Committee.
Here’s a bill summary:
In order to eliminate as much stress as we can for students, parents and educators during these tough times, tomorrow we will be passing a bi-partisan effort to eliminate 2019-20 student testing and teacher evaluations. Please see the detailed release here for more information. pic.twitter.com/ympYj3pRLm
I appreciate working w/ @GovBillLee & Leg leaders to get this done. @tnedu drafted a federal waiver over the weekend and Leg takes up state waiver today. We all need to do our part to support teachers and must continue to put children first. @tosstn1975https://t.co/ndarAossaA
