Crisis response interferes with districts’ ability to meet learning needs: report

An update of a study of how 100 U.S. school districts are coping with the pandemic, including nine large districts in California, concluded that “school districts are too often consumed by crisis response and the logistical challenges of reopening to develop new strategies for teaching and learning.”

“Districts are going it alone — procuring equipment and setting up plans to keep children safe in buildings, only to have those plans derailed by rising case counts in their communities,” it said.

In the latest report, by the Center for the Reinvention of Public Education, based at the University of Washington-Bothell, 80 out of 100 districts say they plan to measure student learning, and nearly two-thirds specify strategies like tutoring or small-group instruction for students who fall behind. But 59 districts didn’t specify what assessment system they’ll use or what data they will make available to parents and the public, and only 16 said they would use a universal or standardized diagnostic, which can be useful to determine learning needs across schools.

The authors wrote that especially in big districts, large numbers of students remain disengaged from learning or going without crucial support services. Relying on returning to in-person instruction won’t solve this problem, they said. “At every stage, school districts’ response to the pandemic has been thrown off course by the mistaken assumption that things will soon return to normal,” they concluded.

California districts included in the study include Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, Fresno, Oakland, Santa Ana, Sacramento City and Stockton unified districts. The full report and database can be found here.