The news this week was full of accounts of California parents creating new forms of home schooling to fill the gaps they fear will result from prolonged distance learning. They’re forming neighborhood “pandemic pods” — learning pods and micro-schools led by teachers and tutors. We speak with UC Berkeley Professor Janelle Scott, who is among education experts who credit parents’ ingenuity and energy, while predicting variability in quality and expressing concern they will further widen academic disparities with low-income students.
That won’t happen in Oakland, however, if Lakisha Young can help it. Her nonprofit, Oakland REACH, has created the City-Wide Virtual Hub. Its pilot summer program, providing family support, distance learning and enrichment activities for 180 Black and Latino students, may expand in size and scope, with tutoring, in the fall. She describes the goals and plan.
Also, John and Louis discuss the waiver school districts can seek potentially to send K-8 students back to school in districts where in-school instruction will be prohibited due to rising cases of the coronavirus.
For background to this podcast, check out the following from EdSource:
- California school districts brace for an online back-to-school season
- Parents must have a say in districts’ distance learning plans under new California law
- Getting to 100% student engagement in distance learning
- A California district’s plan to boost remote learning includes in-person ‘student support hubs’
- Information on Oakland Reach’s Virtual City-Wide Virtual Hub
- KQED interview with Lakisha Young