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School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

bostonherald.com

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Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#81

Post by hnburnsy »

irrational wrote: post #8

In my school district they still haven't figured out how to proceed. The problem is there are a lot of low income families that they know don't have internet access or a computer. They can give those kids a chromebook, but that isn't very helpful with no internet access. Legally (and morally) they can't move ahead with online school if a big chunk of the students are left out. On the other hand, I was talking yesterd…

Guidance from the Federal Department of Education...

>To be clear: ensuring compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), † Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act should not prevent any school from offering educational programs through distance instruction.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/frontpage/faq/rr/...

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#82

Post by ghaff »

Digory wrote: post #28
Dumblydorr wrote: post #2

Will this help us to see the massive expenditures we make to move people to a classroom when they could easily see it via computer screen? Especially if we then ask students to just look at the chromebooks they are given by the school, seems wildly inefficient to continue the butt in seat model, especially with older students.

We won't know until we see standardized testing for this cohort. Which won't be until next year. I suspect kids of wealthy, educated parents will actually excel. Those parents will learn that they could can actually do better than schools on the pure academics. Unfortunately, I suspect kids of poorer parents will really slow down. But, yes, I think we're about to unbundle a lot of education.

I don't know about unbundling. But it wouldn't be a surprise if at least relatively motivated students being individually homeschooled for a while--even given remote work challenges--by wealthy, educated parents did pretty well. (Whether or not on standardized tests is perhaps less certain.) Whereas kids in less good home environments aren't likely to.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#83

Post by tootie »

testfoobar wrote: post #70

Serious question: will schools and universities reopen in the fall? A large university with dormitories is kind of like a cruise ship on land: everyone eats, sleeps, plays and works together. Elementary and High schools are somewhat better in that kids go their own homes at night. But they still eat, play and study together. Hallways of high schools between classes see lots of cross-campus shoulder-to-shoulder traffi…

I have a feeling governments are going to relax restrictions given the enormous economic costs we're absorbing right now. It may be medically advisable to keep this up for like 18 months, but there's a cost to plunging the world into a global depression that could outweigh the cost of treating a rampant virus. At some point we're going to have to declare the curve to be sufficiently flattened and ride it out until a vaccine can be deployed.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#84

Post by tigeba »

I have two kids in elementary school. Our school district issues Chromebooks for all students in the district and have been doing this for several years. We are fortunate to have Google Fiber in the city and have a fairly high percentage of households with broadband. I believe the district already worked with families prior to the outbreak to provide hotspots.

The students will resume class on Tuesday, but they did a quick systems check today and it went a lot better than I would have expected. The teachers and school district have worked very hard to pull this off quickly.

For students that receive free and reduced food, the district has set up delivery locations at various spots in the city so kids will still have access while the physical schools are closed.

I don't know how they will handle some of the special classes like physical education or music yet, that will be interesting to see.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#85

Post by bb611 »

mlyle wrote: post #75
bb611 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) is a federally recognized civil right, states and districts can't opt out of it. Unfortunately it takes lawsuits to resolve these kinds of disparities, but there is no legal basis to proceed without making appropriate accommodations for students in low income families.

The Department of Education disagrees. Look, let's do what we can to cure disparities --- special education, access, etc, but we should still be providing services to as many kids as possible. My kids in a private school are getting high quality services and distance education right now; we shouldn't deny it to most kids in public education because a few might be left behind.

I don't know how you understood my comment to mean that we should be withdrawing education from students who are able to access it. Remedy in these situations typically looks like making up lost educational hours and paying for internet access for students who are unable to afford it.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#86

Post by TeMPOraL »

andrepd wrote: post #78
testfoobar wrote: post #70

Serious question: will schools and universities reopen in the fall? A large university with dormitories is kind of like a cruise ship on land: everyone eats, sleeps, plays and works together. Elementary and High schools are somewhat better in that kids go their own homes at night. But they still eat, play and study together. Hallways of high schools between classes see lots of cross-campus shoulder-to-shoulder traffi…

That depends entirely on how long it takes for the pandemic to cease. If, like some studies show, the virus gets stopped by the warmer weather, it could be in May that we return to normalcy.

> If, like some studies show, the virus gets stopped by the warmer weather

Looks at the map of infections, focusing on areas near the equator... No, I wouldn't count on it.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#87

Post by Digory »

ghaff wrote: post #82
Digory wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We won't know until we see standardized testing for this cohort. Which won't be until next year. I suspect kids of wealthy, educated parents will actually excel. Those parents will learn that they could can actually do better than schools on the pure academics. Unfortunately, I suspect kids of poorer parents will really slow down. But, yes, I think we're about to unbundle a lot of education.

I don't know about unbundling. But it wouldn't be a surprise if at least relatively motivated students being individually homeschooled for a while--even given remote work challenges--by wealthy, educated parents did pretty well. (Whether or not on standardized tests is perhaps less certain.) Whereas kids in less good home environments aren't likely to.

Schools are providing bundles of tools: computers, textbooks, teaching, videos, testing, classrooms, group work, childcare, 'nutrition services,' libraries, etc.

The crisis takes away the classrooms and exposes the tools to parents. And for some people the classroom made little difference, or held them back.

By fall, I think you'll have people asking whether school boards shouldn't just offer the tools. Let people pick and choose their own arrangement of teaching, video, testing and groupwork. (This would let wealthier parents recover some of the amount spent on unproductive childcare, and put it into learning and socialization.)

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#88

Post by mlyle »

bb611 wrote: post #85
mlyle wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Department of Education disagrees. Look, let's do what we can to cure disparities --- special education, access, etc, but we should still be providing services to as many kids as possible. My kids in a private school are getting high quality services and distance education right now; we shouldn't deny it to most kids in public education because a few might be left behind.

I don't know how you understood my comment to mean that we should be withdrawing education from students who are able to access it. Remedy in these situations typically looks like making up lost educational hours and paying for internet access for students who are unable to afford it.

There are districts that are actually withdrawing education and providing only enrichment instead of distance learning because of this exact rationale. I thought your comment was in support of these actions. (Indeed, one sibling of your comment is in this position).

Let's do what we can immediately, and then try and make it as fair as we can next.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#89

Post by skapadia »

tootie wrote: post #83
testfoobar wrote: post #70

Serious question: will schools and universities reopen in the fall? A large university with dormitories is kind of like a cruise ship on land: everyone eats, sleeps, plays and works together. Elementary and High schools are somewhat better in that kids go their own homes at night. But they still eat, play and study together. Hallways of high schools between classes see lots of cross-campus shoulder-to-shoulder traffi…

I have a feeling governments are going to relax restrictions given the enormous economic costs we're absorbing right now. It may be medically advisable to keep this up for like 18 months, but there's a cost to plunging the world into a global depression that could outweigh the cost of treating a rampant virus. At some point we're going to have to declare the curve to be sufficiently flattened and ride it out until a…

The cost to plunging the world into a global depression is far worse than this virus will ever be.

Re: School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

#90

Post by Gibbon1 »

skapadia wrote: post #89
tootie wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a feeling governments are going to relax restrictions given the enormous economic costs we're absorbing right now. It may be medically advisable to keep this up for like 18 months, but there's a cost to plunging the world into a global depression that could outweigh the cost of treating a rampant virus. At some point we're going to have to declare the curve to be sufficiently flattened and ride it out until a…

The cost to plunging the world into a global depression is far worse than this virus will ever be.

conclusory statement.

You got to ask, are our homes burning, our factories being bombed. Our skilled workers going to die?

Answer is no.

Only danger we face if we bring the hammer down and squash this is it'll upset the delicacy balanced system extracting passive rents from working class people.

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