#CoveringCOVID19, a daily update from The Grade to help education journalists cover the COVID-19 crisis.
THE TOP FIVE
Five great education stories about how schools are responding to the COVID-19 crisis:
Voluntary? Remote? Districts grapple with summer school logistics, equity – Chalkbeat (above)
JCPS hasn’t heard from thousands of students since schools closed. A quarter speak little English. – Courier Journal
Cuomo taps Gates Foundation to ‘reimagine’ what schooling looks like in NY – Chalkbeat
Masked students return to school amid covid-19 crisis – The Washington Post
How Internet Inequity Persisted Through 4 Presidents and Left Schools Unprepared for the Pandemic – The 74 (below)
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NEEDED: UPDATES ON REMOTE LEARNING
While many news outlets seem eager to look ahead down the road — to summer school, or next fall — and others seem focused on human interest stories — graduations, student athletics — there’s still time and need for reporters to circle back and take another close look at how school systems are doing at providing instruction and support remotely.
Most outlets covered the initial rollouts, and some have followed up with stories about specific problem areas like services for special education students, student attendance, grading practices, English learners, and the digital divide. But it’s been a month or more since remote learning launched in most places, there is a ton more information than there was in those first scrambly weeks, and it’s time for an updated evaluation of what progress has been made and where things stand. How are remote learning programs doing NOW, compared to a month ago?
A few reporters, including KALW’s Lee Romney, have written about progress in places like San Francisco in the past few days. However, vulnerable kids can’t afford for districts or media outlets to write remote learning off, especially given the enormous amount of concern and expense that many places have gone through to provide equipment and access to kids who need it. There’s more to be written about online learning, especially given the likelihood that it will extend into the future for at least some kids. And it would be great to know about a few standout implementations, as well as however many catastrophic failures there may be out there. Either way, we want to know.
COVID-19 TIDBITS
It’s not just massive companies, elite private schools, and some charter schools that have applied for and received PPP loans. Journalism nonprofits like CALmatters and the Poynter Institute have applied and received funding, and disclosed. Others are still working on the disclosure part.
This thought-provoking piece Laura Waters (NJ Left Behind) highlights the ongoing 100K-kid digital divide in her state and compares state leadership that has 555 state districts competing against each other for edtech equipment to the White House’s lackluster effort to provide states with ventilators. Is that happening anywhere else?
We’re starting to get lots of valuable polling data on how parents and teachers feel about remote learning. For example, parents of school-age children have a wide range of concerns about how COVID-19 is impacting schooling, according to EdChoice’s Public Opinion Tracker. However, solid majorities of parents and teachers feel prepared for school closures and online learning. Other polls have revealed resistance to returning to in-person education too quickly, and opposition to starting the new school year earlier than usual.
Previous stories from The Grade: In the remote learning era, charters face a familiar array of challenges. Thrust into the COVID-19 story, and faced with the loss of a key staff member, the Seattle Times education team covered the story admirably, according to a new review. Under immense pressures from the demands of the COVID crisis and the struggles of the industry, education journalism’s future is increasingly unclear and may require a rescue package.
Education reporter Taylor Swaak is the second person I know of who’s going to be part of The 74’s COVID-19 vertical launching later this month. (The first is Texas-based Bekah McNeel.) Previously focused on NYC, Swaak says she will be covering DC schools.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexander Russo
Alexander Russo is founder and editor of The Grade, an award-winning effort to help improve media coverage of education issues. He’s also a Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship winner and a book author. You can reach him at @alexanderrusso.
Visit their website at: https://the-grade.org/
