Hard to believe it, but today — 20 school days since many of the nation’s school districts shut down for in-person learning — several of the biggest school systems in the nation have not yet even embarked on formal, district-wide instruction intended to serve their students.
As you may recall, many of the nation’s largest school systems shut down on or near Friday, March 13. That makes today the 20th school day since the shutdown took place.
Some, like Elk Grove, California, shut down even earlier.
Since the initial shutdown, many districts have launched voluntary, ad hoc enrichment and engagement programs, often voluntary and usually ungraded and without credit.
Several districts, like Los Angeles and New York City, have already begun attempting systemwide remote learning efforts, albeit with mixed results. LAUSD only recently came to terms with teachers over hours of instruction and live video.
However, several districts have yet to resume any version of system-wide instruction.
Chicago, the nation’s third-largest school system, won’t begin serving its kids until Monday. Philadelphia schools won’t begin formal remote instruction until the first week of May, according to press accounts.
A Sacramento-area school district shut down March 7 and isn’t scheduled to begin remote instruction until the 16th.
Even where remote learning has begun in earnest, it doesn’t compare to in-person instruction provided before the shutdown.
Denver teachers, who began work on Monday, are required to provide four hours of instructional materials per day, according to US News. Ditto for LAUSD teachers, who are not required to provide live video teaching. Miami-Dade teachers are required to be available for three hours a day.
To get a better sense of district relaunch dates, take a look at the data below, compiled from CRPE’s helpful database and news sources. In the coming days, The Grade will attempt to populate the rest of the table and add updates as they become available.
| District Name | Shutdown Date | Restart Date | Downtime(#of days) |
| NYC | 3/16 | 3/23 | |
| LAUSD | 3/16 | ||
| Chicago | 3/17 | 4/13 | |
| Dade | 3/16 | 3/17 | |
| Clark Cty | 3/18 | ||
| Broward | 3/16 | 3/30 | |
| Houston | |||
| Hillsborough | 3/16 | 3/30 | |
| Hawaii | 3/19 | 3/30 | |
| Orange | 3/17 | 3/30 | |
| Palm Beach | 3/16 | 4/15 | |
| Fairfax | 3/16 | 3/18 | |
| Philadelphia | 3/13 | First week of May | |
| Gwinnett | 3/16 | 3/16 | |
| Dallas | 316 | ||
| Wake | 3/16 | 4/13 | |
| Montgomery Cty | 3/19 | 3/30 | |
| Charlotte-Mecklenburg | 3/16 | 3/23 | |
| San Diego | 3/16 | 4/13 | |
| PG County | 3/16 | 4/14 | |
| Districts of Interest | |||
| Boston* | 3/17 | “Students will not receive any formal grades for supplemental online learning assignments and attendance will not be taken, although they noted that could change if the school closure extends beyond April 27.” | |
| DCPS* | 3/16 | 3/24 | |
| Elk Grove CA* | |||
| Atlanta | 3/16 | 3/16 | |
| Baltimore | 3/13 | 3/13 | |
| Milwaukee | 3/16 | ||
| Seattle | 3/13 | ||
Figures via CRPE’s District Responses database
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Grade
Launched in 2015, The Grade is a journalist-run effort to encourage high-quality coverage of K-12 education issues.
