Reinventing School

Given the COVID19 pandemic and the related blow to the economy, the warning flags are out about potential budget cuts ahead. While top industries get massive financial help from politicians, education lacks equivalent lobbyist firepower. Damage is already visible – via Reuters: U.S. schools lay off hundreds of thousands, setting up lasting harm to kids. Donna Cooper does not foresee the school closings forced in the Great Depression, but instead “an erosion of educational quality, significantly larger class sizes, no enrichment opportunities -- no advanced-learning opportunities.”

In the U.S., much of education is funded by state and especially local governments. They cannot legally run deficits, so lost revenues quickly create cuts. That is less of a problem in Canada, say Maya and Noah, primary school students near Toronto, where the bulk of the education budget is federally funded.

But Cooper’s workshops with top graduating high school students say they highly value learning activities outside the classroom, like the band and science fairs, things most vulnerable to the budget knife. But it doesn’t have to be that way. She and Andreas Schleicher note that governments in many countries increase education spending during downturns as a critical investment in the future that could actually curtail future downturns.

Also discussed: How schools can overcome academic deficits created by social or racial disparities. Ontario, Canada, for example, targets under-performing schools with top teachers and student guides, notes Schleicher. One result: New immigrant students perform the same as other students within three or four years.

But the U.S. has accepted a high level of inequality. And these disparities grow given the way education is typically financed in the U.S., notes Dr. Lisa D. Cook.

Says Schleicher. “We can deal with the consequences of inequality …. pay out unemployment insurance … prisons and so on.” Or we can repair the sources of inequality. “And education is one of the most fundamental sources of inequality.”

Other parts of the discussion took on bullying and the responsibility students have for their own education. While governments may need to do more for education, kids do not always take advantage of existing opportunities, notes Nik, a U.K. student. “Some kids who are from a poor background in China and India are doing better than the top 10% in more developed countries.”

What’s clear is that “no country in the world has been successful in the long run without having a very solid education system,” says Schleicher.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, who is also a regular commentator on MSNBC, says no one right now is certain when or how schools will open. But everyone should brace for a second wave of COVID-19 spread that is likely to be worse than the first wave. The virus will set the schedule. The virus could return stronger before the school year, but more likely a bit later, and it’s likely the fall semester will be cut short, either by design or by big surge in infections. “If we don't have a surge over the summer, we are guaranteed to have one in the fall,” says Emanuel. The question is “when,” not “if.” The reason: a false sense of security developing as states reopen without many serious spikes up -- so far -- in the virus. Emanuel adds it might make sense to simply plan on shutting schools down at Thanksgiving since it will likely be necessary anyway.

Another key challenge will likely be the intensity of a second surge, Emanuel notes. The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-20 had four surges. The first was not the worst, the second surge was, “and the fourth was worse than the third.” Bottom line: This could go on a long time.

Given so many unknowns, what would be a practical reopening plan for K-12? Randi Weingarten notes that American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO has prepared a pamphlet, available online, as a start. “Safely Reopening America’s Schools and Communities.” The short version:

1. Keep physical distancing until new cases drop for at least two weeks.
2. Test, trace and isolate new cases.
3. Use the public health tools that prevent the virus’ spread.
4. Involve workers, unions, parents and communities.
5. Invest in recovery -- interventions need more public investment.

Weingarten’s group also is consulting with several European countries with school openings underway, to gain from their experience.

As for technology, online classes can fill an immediate gap. But in Baltimore City Public Schools, for instance, a single Chromebook was often being shared by four families, noted Sonja Brookins Santelises. Elsewhere, there were stories of parents and kids in school parking lots to get the WiFi access they lacked at home, even stories of parents selling kids school-issued Chromebooks.

Meanwhile, Santelises’ district is still looking for kids who are  MIA, “melting down over distance learning.” At the same time, some formerly chronically absent kids got Chromebooks and are attending to work “more now than ever. ”

Lyric Lee Taylor, who was set to enter high school in the fall, worries COVID-19 could ruin her freshman year. “That's a big deal …. If you lose a whole semester … then when you are a senior and ready to go to college, you won't have that high school experience that other kids had.”

Asked if that would matter when she was 40, she replied: “I think that would.” She added that students need foundational experiences to build new experience. “You need the education … to have a better life, to work with your head better and be young adults, and then go to college…” You need those experiences in life to get to a certain place…”

More generally, the participants detailed many of the risks the virus poses to students, their families and schools, as well as strategies and tactics for managing those risks.