School is Back in Session - 2021 Ed.

Classes across the country have resumed, but how have things been going the first couple weeks?

Sep 12, 2021

On Sept. 13, 2019, Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison for her role in the infamous college admissions scandal — what simpler times we lived in.

Welcome back to the start of another school year!

IN FOCUS

Colleges and Universities

K-12 Education Tries More In-Person Instruction

Majority of K-12 Parents Satisfied With Child's Education Gallup
At least 1,000 schools in 35 states have closed for in-person learning since the start of the school year USA Today
Pennsylvania Group Sees Hybrid Learning as Future of K-12 Government Technology

Rural Schools Need Help

The Tragedy of America’s Rural Schools NY Times
For more than a century, policymakers have mishandled rural schools Washington Post
Incentives offered to get more teachers in rural schools WBRC Alabama

CHART OF THE WEEK

The debate on instructional setting continues between remote-only, hybrid, or in-person learning. Data has shown that children, particularly in earlier grade levels, significantly benefit from in-person instruction. Recent studies have also shed light on the affect instructional method has on enrollment.

Source: “The Revealed Preferences for School Reopening: Evidence From Public-School Disenrollment.” August 2021.

Findings of the study:

Offering remote-only instead of in-person instruction reduced enrollment by 1.1 percentage points (i.e., a 42 percent increase in disenrollment from -2.6 to -3.7 percent).
Disenrollment effects of remote instruction are concentrated in kindergarten and, to a lesser extent, elementary schools.
The authors found no consistent evidence that remote instruction influenced middle or high-school enrollment or that hybrid instruction had an impact.

Why this matters:

Young students with in-person learning achieve better outcomes.
The drop in enrollment, coupled with declining educational achievement, could set some children’s education back years.
Other studies have found areas with high poverty rates and remote-only instruction had worse outcomes, likely exacerbating educational inequalities.

This isn’t just a problem for the U.S. A study of the Netherlands — with a short lockdown, equitable school funding, and leading rates of broadband access — found students made little or no progress while learning remote.

INTERESTING READS

We’re Burying Our Kids in Debt (Just Not the Way You Think) NY Times Opinion

The Issue: Dr. Eleni Schirmer discusses interest on school district debt and economic disparities.
Key Statement:
“As long as bond markets finance so many of our country’s public schools, dreams of education equality will remain thwarted. The bloodless logic of credit and debt markets ensures that those with the least pay the most.”

A school district opted out of a free meals program, saying students could ‘become spoiled’ Washington Post

The Issue: A school board member, said the free program made it easy for families to “become spoiled” and an administrator said there could be a “slow addiction” to the service.
Key Statement:
“The importance people place on “work and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps,” she [Ioana Marinescu] said, fuels concerns that are often exaggerated.”

Dee, Thomas; Huffaker, E; Phillips, C; Sagara E. “The Revealed Preferences for School Reopening: Evidence From Public-School Disenrollment.” National Bureau of Economic Research. August 2021. <https://www.nber.org/papers/w29156>

Any opinions expressed herein are those of the author and the author alone.

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