MCGRAW HILL New Survey Indicates Social and Emotional Learning is Key in Post-Pandemic Education
We surveyed educators, administrators, and parents to better understand their opinions about the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL), the effects of COVID-19 on children’s wellbeing, and how schools can support kids as they return for the 2021-22 school year. Here’s what we learned.
Read the report.
STATE NEWS Teachers and students stage walkout in protest of vaccine mandates Thousands of parents, students and teachers walked out of school and onto the California State Capitol lawn in Sacramento, all in protest of the state vaccine mandate. A crowd of about 2,000 from all across the state converged on the capitol Monday afternoon. Localized protests were also held, including in at Redlands USD's headquarters and in San Bernardino USD. Newport-Mesa USD parent Lindsay Murad, who participated in a rally, said: “As a parent, I want to continue to have the right to decide what’s in the best interest of my children, for their health. I don’t see the necessity of this vaccine as a part of their health, so I want to continue to advocate for choice for myself and for other families." She added: “We’re not opposed to the vaccine. I’m very thankful that there’s an opportunity for people to take it if they want. I just want to continue to have the choice to make my own informed decisions of whether or not it’s the best for myself and for my children, and to maintain that for everybody else as well.”
CBS Sacramento
Los Angeles Times
Redlands Daily Facts
The Tribune
NATIONAL NEWS U.S. senators line up major boost in school funding Federal spending for disadvantaged students would double and support for special education programs would also increase significantly in a new U.S. Senate appropriations bill proposed for fiscal 2022. The bill, unveiled by Senate Democrats on Monday, would increase total discretionary aid to the Education Department to $98.4bn, a $24.9bn increase from the current fiscal year. It also boosts spending on school-based mental health professionals, rural education, and improving states’ academic assessments. Among its provisions, Title I aid for disadvantaged students would rise to $33.1bn, an increase of $16.6bn; IDEA grants to states would rise to $15.5bn, an increase of about $2.6bn; $820m would be provided to boost the number of mental-health professionals in schools; and state grants to improve the quality of their academic assessments would get $58.8m, an increase of $50m. "Our focus needs to be on ensuring our country can come back better from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and head of the subcommittee that deals with annual education spending, in a statement announcing the legislation.
Education Week
DISTRICTS SFUSD voters to decide fate of three school board members San Francisco USD parents and other residents frustrated by the district's Board of Education will get a chance to recall three of its members. A special municipal election will be held February 15th to decide the future of Board President Gabriela Lopez, Vice President Faauuga Moliga and Commissioner Alison Collins. Organizers launched the recall effort as San Francisco families expressed anger and frustration that public schools remained closed for much of last school year even as other districts and private schools reopened in the Bay Area. Critics of the board said even as distance learning devastated many families, commissioners spent significant time and energy on renaming 44 schools, a decision later reversed, and ending the merit-based admission to academically elite Lowell High School.
Modesto Bee
San Francisco Chronicle
Napa Valley names new English-Spanish academy The name of Napa Valley USD's future English-Spanish middle school will call to mind unity, both of two languages and different student bodies. Unidos Middle School has won the unanimous approval of the district board, as the name of its future grade 6-8 dual-language academy, which will open in August 2022 on the current campus of River Middle School in north Napa. Students entering the new dual-immersion academy will include children from the district’s two elementary-level English-Spanish programs – NVLA at 2700 Kilburn Ave. in Napa’s Westwood neighborhood, which teaches kindergarten to sixth grade, and Pueblo Vista Magnet School, a K-5 academy at 1600 Barbara Road in Napa.
Napa Valley Register
Sutter County teen arrested after school shooting threat on social media Deputies arrested a teenager following a social media post stating that a shooting would happen at a Northern California middle school on Monday. The Sutter County Sheriff’s Office in a news release said it received a tip Saturday about an Instagram and Facebook post regarding “a possible shooting that was going to occur at Live Oak Middle School” on Monday. Sheriff’s and probation officials began investigating the threat, and also added patrol staff Monday morning at Live Oak Middle School and Live Oak High School. The 13-year-old will be booked into juvenile hall “on numerous charges including terrorist threats,” according to the Sherriff's Office.
Sacramento Bee
FINANCE School district boundaries and affordable housing access fuel funding disparities School districts that lack affordable housing serve significantly more affluent populations compared with districts that have concentrated low-income housing, leading to inequities in educational funding, according to a report by nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners. The drawing of district boundaries and location of accessible housing have led to a per-pupil funding disparity that averages $6,355 and affects 12.8m students. When families do not have equal access to housing, they can’t have equal access to public school districts, the Bellwether report said. That’s because lower-priced housing means lower property taxes and therefore less ability to raise local revenue for schools. “As we think about what we need to do moving forward, it’s not just an education solution alone,” said Alex Spurrier, co-author of the report and a senior analyst at Bellwether Education Partners, an education think tank. States, he said, should consider multiple policy levers to address “what is a very thorny challenge.”
K-12 Dive
The 74
CLASSROOM AFS survey: Pandemic took toll on student learning and grades The latest American Family Survey, conducted jointly by the Deseret News and Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, found that more than half of respondents whose children did not attend school in person chose not to return to the classroom when they had the option. Parents surveyed said their children’s grades and learning suffered during the pandemic’s aftermath with nearly 20% of parents revealing that their children’s grades worsened and nearly one-third reporting declines in learning. Separately, the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. predicted more significant learning losses for Black, Hispanic and low-income students. Access to technology is a significant factor as well as access to a quiet space to participate in remote learning with minimal distractions, access to high-speed internet and parental academic supervision.
US News and World Report
EARLY EDUCATION Working families struggling to find child care As Congress continues to debate a spending package that would expand child care and provide universal pre-K, parents across the U.S. are struggling to find ways to pay for the child care they now need. According to a new poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 34% of families with young children are facing serious problems finding child care when adults need to work, while 44% of households with children under age 18 have been facing serious financial problems. That figure jumps to 63% for Black families and 59% for Latino households. Some 36% of adults in households with children said they experienced serious problems meeting both their work and family responsibilities in the past few months.
NPR
OTHER Teachers of the Year honored at White House ceremony Dr. Jill Biden hosted the 2020 and 2021 State and National Teachers of the Year at the White House on Monday, in a months-long delayed event to celebrate their talents and commitment to education. The Council of Chief State School Officers State honors Teachers of the Year in all 50 states, with one selected to be National Teacher of the Year, which means taking on a year-long advocacy role, speaking at events across the country to share wisdom and inspire others to join the profession. The 2020 winner was Tabatha Rosproy, a preschool teacher in Kansas who established an early childhood program inside a retirement community and nursing home, while Juliana Urtubey received the 2021 honor, who works as a special education teacher for elementary students in Las Vegas. "With all of my heart and on behalf of millions of American families, thank you for being the heroes we needed," Dr. Biden said. "Never, ever underestimate the power of what you do every day."
Napa Valley Register
Fox 29
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