Month: May 2021

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (3TV / CBS 5) – After a Scottsdale Unified School District board meeting was abruptly interrupted last Tuesday due to opposition from several parents to wearing masks, the meeting resumed on Monday, but this time virtually.

But before the reunion even began, dozens of Scottsdale parents gathered outside Coronado High School in Scottsdale. Their mission? They want more transparency. “I’m angry and I’m done,” one SUSD mom said at the rally.

These words sum up what participants think about Critical Race Theory being in Scottsdale schools.

“This is already happening in the classroom,” says Robin Snyder, parent of SUSD. “Our kids were online in the kitchen, and I was listening to a bit of indoctrination and different views from teachers that were definitely irrelevant.”

At last Friday’s press conference, Scottsdale’s Unified Superintendent Dr Scott Menzel said the school district had not adopted critical race theory into the curriculum. This led some participants to wonder what others say they have been through.

“I don’t think it’s implemented,” said Kathy Petsas, parent of SUSD. “It’s hard for me to figure that out. And I think the truth may be somewhere in between.”

Petsas had two of his children graduating from Scottsdale Unified Schools. Another is currently in second year. For her, instead of focusing on critical race theory or masks, the focus should be on celebrating what these kids have been up to this year.

“It’s graduation time, it’s time to recognize student achievement,” Petsas said. “And that’s really where every parent, every member of the community needs to focus.”

But for parents like Robin Snyder, it’s hard not to think about the big picture when it comes to critical breed theory.

“The implication that one group is victim and the other group is oppressive, I think is a bit too much for a child to load,” Snyder said. “We want to see the district succeed and we want to see our children succeed.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Some Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) students can continue to learn virtually next school year if they choose. In addition, some students will change buildings next year.

---

What would you like to know

• The Board of Education approved the virtual learning option next year for students in grades 6 to 12
• Pathfinder School of Innovation will be made possible through expansion of Jefferson County High School
• The Board of Education also approved the transfer of the Grace James Academy of Excellence to Roosevelt-Perry Elementary School.
• Current Roosevelt-Perry students encouraged to attend Wheatley Elementary School next year, as the district builds a new elementary school for this merger

---

At an Education Council meeting on Tuesday night, members voted to make a full year of virtual learning available to all students in grades 6 to 12 in the district. This is called the Pathfinder School of Innovation. JCPS will make this possible by expanding the Jefferson County High School, which currently offers students aged 16 and over the opportunity to graduate through online courses.

These options will be available from the next school year. Students who choose this route will not be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports.

The Board of Education has also approved the move of the Grace James Academy of Excellence to the current Roosevelt-Perry Elementary School building at the start of the next school year. The girls’ school, with a focus on STEAM subjects and the Afrocentric curriculum, opened last August. Superintendent Dr Marty Pollio said this gives Grace James Academy of Excellence the ability to grow if the district decides to expand to high school students in the future.

“Having recently spoken to people, they were very happy to know that Grace James Academy was coming to this facility, so hopefully it will combine children, education and community, bringing the community with us,” La said. Chairman of the Board, Diane Porter.

Current Roosevelt-Perry students are encouraged to attend Wheatley Elementary School next year, but have the option of attending another school if they wish. The two schools were already to merge. JCPS said the district is expected to innovate on the new school for this merger in the coming months.

13 Massachusetts school districts – including the four largest in the state – plan to offer some form of virtual school during the next school year, according to the Department of Preschool and Secondary Education (DESE).

School administrators from Attleboro, Boston, Brockton, Chelsea, Falmouth, Lowell, Natick, Peabody, Pittsfield, Quabbin Regional School District, Springfield, Westfield and Worcester submitted proposals to DESE before Thursday’s deadline. DESE will review and comment on each proposal.

Boston 25 last week reported that Boston Public Schools were exploring the possibility of starting a full-time virtual school. The district emailed parents on April 26 to gauge the level of interest in a full-time virtual school option “to understand demand for planning purposes.” The email contained a link to a survey.

“BPS is just starting to explore this option and will provide more information once we look at the answers. This is the first step to understanding the level of interest in our community, ”said a spokesperson for BPS in an email to Boston 25 News.

“If BPS adopts a virtual school model, that would be an option for families. The district will not be completely remote and will offer in-person learning to students next year, ”the spokesperson said.

The district told parents that the experience of a virtual school would be similar to attending a physical school building, with a virtual classroom, BPS teachers, a principal and “rigorous instruction.” Students would be provided with computers and Internet access, according to the email.

DESE sent schools a memo on April 2, guiding them on what a virtual school should look like and what would be required.

“It is important to note that nationally, the performance of virtual schools is decidedly mixed… districts should carefully assess the extent to which a full-time district-run virtual school would lead to good educational outcomes for students.” , indicates the memo.

Jolanda Pressey said her 12-year-old daughter has done very well with distance learning at Mildred Avenue K-8 School in Mattapan. Pressey said she would consider keeping her daughter in a virtual school full time this fall.

“I’m half and half on it. I’m still trying to figure it out, to make sure it’s really safe, because the kids still aren’t vaccinated, so it’s a bit difficult, ”Pressey said.

Boston Teachers Union president Jessica Tang said last week that she was backing the proposal and working with the district on the finer details.

“I think they’re trying to get a feel for how many families might be interested in this,” Tang said. “We have heard from parents who have said that their students have actually done very well from a distance. They still have concerns about the drop due to the lack of accessibility of vaccines for students under 16. “

Dr John Sargent, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Tufts Children’s Hospital, said some students may thrive in distance learning. But he admits that national data on the long-term effects of virtual learning “is not great.”

“Maybe your child is being bullied. Maybe they are shy and school is a stressful experience for them and they are still learning very well. You want to make sure they thrive in whatever ways you care about, ”Dr. Sargent said.

Cox Media Group

Amid a nationwide campaign to get students back to school, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said his state’s school districts would not be allowed to offer virtual learning next year, even for parents who want this option.

At the same time, more and more districts are reporting that they intend to offer virtual school options to meet the demand of families. According to a February survey by the EdWeek Research Center, 68% of districts plan to offer “a much wider range of distance learning options.”

While the full-time virtual school has not been ideal for the majority of families and students – and there are plenty of memes showing people’s dissatisfaction with distance learning that they have lived – a significant number say it has been a blessing to them. In many cases, they do not intend to return to school in person full time. There is plenty of evidence for this in skyrocketing enrollments at online schools, from ASU Prep Digital to Florida Virtual School and from Stride, Inc. to MyTechHigh.

It is as it should be.

Our current school system was never designed to optimize learning for all students. Training takes place at fixed intervals and progress is primarily based on time spent at headquarters, not fluency. Students can skate while missing large chunks of knowledge. The choppy remote and hybrid offerings that districts launched in response to the pandemic typically doubled down on this system and were often clunky at best.

Combating the bad online experiences of 2020-2021 and launching a robust virtual school as part of a larger strategy to escape today’s unique system can be hugely positive, but only if districts take a thoughtful approach. Such an approach would involve identifying the desired end state and taking into account the experience of students and teachers before choosing providers of technologies and study programs.

Start at the end

The first step in any virtual school launch process is not to start posting tenders for technology platforms, study programs, or hardware.

Rather, he should start by identifying the right founding team to build the virtual school, and then ask that group to come together to identify the problem the virtual school is trying to solve or the goals it should achieve for the students, students. families and the district and the wider community. .

In other words, it should start with the end in mind. Part of this puzzle is figuring out which students the virtual school will serve.

During this workflow, the team should not be content with superficial understandings of who the school will serve that is content with static demographic descriptions. Instead, the team needs to understand the circumstances in which these students are sitting and why they would prefer a full-time virtual school to a school in person.

It means understanding what progress looks like for families. What are they trying to escape? What has gone wrong for them in the past? What more do they hope for? Why do they prefer distance education? What is their home life and schedule like? Are there certain activities they do that make traditional school hours and interactions a no-start? What kind of academic progress have students made historically?

Understanding the context will help the district team understand the kind of experiences that a virtual school should provide for individuals to enable students to progress. What works in one case may not work in all cases.

For example, for some students, asynchronous learning, in which they have considerable independence and flexibility in when to learn, can be an essential part of a successful virtual school. For many others, the opposite will be true. How schools perceive cohorts and community can vary widely, as can how they perceive the programs, teaching and learning experiences, and services and courses that schools should offer.

Student and teacher experience

One thing every district should stress is that students who learn virtually must have an adult in person who can supervise the learning. This adult can make responsible decisions about how to supervise, but the adult must be available and on site. Districts should view teaching as a team sport, in which teachers work together and with parents and guardians to create a network of supports for students to create a more solid experience.

Part of the reason is that research on online learning suggests that in-person interactions are important to the success of most students. Students in full-time virtual schools generally need an involved parent, and students taking an online course do much better when there is a mentor on-site. Districts need not necessarily prevent students whose parents cannot be involved from learning virtually, but they should ensure that there is an alternative arrangement, whether through learning modules and micro -schools, cooperatives or the use of other tutors.

It is possible that for schools that adopt a synchronous experience, the adult at home may not need to be so present. It is likely, however, that even then, an adult will need to be on call to make sure the students are able to problem solve and keep an eye on the students in case the distance teacher needs to. help.

This means that full-time virtual schools will not be suitable for all students. It’s not only OK, it’s a good thing. What is essential is to build something that has a clear philosophy and a meaning for who it serves. If districts are to support students in different settings, then they should consider standing up or offering access to different virtual school programs. It is preferable to a single operation.

Team teaching can also help districts set up programs that, unlike many traditional school experiences, encompass personalization, active learning, and mastery or skill-based learning. This is essential to create an optimal learning experience in which students are engaged and make academic progress. And unlike districts that have had teachers tasked with teaching children in person and remotely simultaneously during the pandemic, virtual students should have a dedicated group of teachers they can rely on.

Technology, program and operations

With a clear idea of ​​why a district is launching a virtual school, who it seeks to serve, and what experiences it needs to offer to do so, the district is now ready to understand the technology, program, and operations.

There are a variety of ways to go.

For districts that need to move quickly, they can partner with long-established virtual school providers like Stride, Inc. or Connections Academy. While these vendors’ systems have been designed to meet the time attendance requirements in place in states, they have significant experience in running a full-time virtual school operations – which is not the case. not a simple task – and helping a district get started and run. These providers also have the expertise to ensure that students have the right technological equipment, Internet access, and educational materials at home.

One of the first online pioneers, Florida Virtual School can also help a district quickly set up a virtual school by meeting all of its curriculum needs and providing operational expertise.

There are also newer or more innovative ways to meet technological and curriculum needs. New Hampshire’s Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS) offers students different avenues to learn and demonstrate mastery of its courses. ASU Prep Digital, which is led by Julie Young, the founder of Florida Virtual School, offers options that redefine what online learning looks like, with courses, like its BioBeyond offering, that provide robust simulations, as well as university course credits.

Districts can also work with micro-school providers like My Tech High and Prenda Learning who offer a range of curriculum choices, access to experiential learning, and systems to facilitate home learning.

There is also a huge range of curriculum offerings such as Districts can take a DIY approach to creating a virtual school and take advantage of offerings from many of the options above, as well as offerings ranging from Khan Academy to Zearn and live online. Outschool classes. Partnering with a consultant, like Education Elements (where I’m a board member) or Transcend Education can help a district get up to speed. Districts can also combine existing digital curriculum options with tools like NearPod to enable teachers to quickly create digital and interactive lessons where personalization is important.

The current range of traditional learning management systems make it easier for schools to track student progress, but there are also more robust offerings like MasteryTrack now available or alternative transcription options like Mastery Transcript Consortium so that districts can move beyond a siege-based model that is entirely inappropriate for a full-time virtual environment.

Districts that take a DIY approach will also need to consider the technological needs of students and ensure that they provide all the students they will need to be successful. This doesn’t mean that a district will need to provide connectivity, say, to all students, just that districts need to have a clear idea of ​​what requirements are in place to be successful and how they will deliver them. It will be important to sweat the details and take care of the logistics.

Planning and launch

States are wrong to ban districts from continuing to offer their own virtual schools in the fall. Some students want and will thrive in these options, even after seeing in-person schooling return as a safe option.

But districts will be wrong for thinking that it’s easy to launch an effective full-time virtual school on the fly. To do this successfully, they need to anchor their work in a larger approach to ensure that there are a plurality of options so that all students can find the right solution. And they should see their plans not as concrete, fixed documents, but as the start of a planning process that they will continue to revise as they get started and learn from the facts on the ground. .

Michael Horn is editor-in-chief of Education Next, co-founder and distinguished member of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, and a senior strategist at Guild Education.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida – With the end of the school year approaching and some local districts removing distance learning options spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic, parents face tough decisions.

Full-time Florida Virtual School registrations opened Monday.

According to FLVS, a survey showed that 65% of parents expect online education to be part of their child’s future for the next school year.

FLVS offers flexible full-time and part-time options for K-12 years.

According to a press release, FLVS students have access to over 190 courses all of which are free to Florida residents and taught by state-certified teachers using a curriculum developed specifically for the online learning environment. .

“This past school year has exposed many families to e-learning for the first time, and although there have been challenges, some parents have noticed that an e-learning environment is what their children do. needed to thrive, ”said Robin Winder, senior director of education for Florida Virtual School. “On the other hand, FLVS Flex is perfect for those who want to continue with certain online courses, while still enrolled in their zone school, or who are homeschooled; or for students who want to take advantage of the ‘been to move forward, as they can start at any time. “

Click here for more information.