{"id":15543,"date":"2020-06-12T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.elearninginside.com\/?p=15543"},"modified":"2020-06-12T11:05:47","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:05:47","slug":"what-will-back-to-school-look-like-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.elearninginside.com\/what-will-back-to-school-look-like-this-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"What Will \u2018Back To School\u2019 Look Like this Fall?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer is providing temporary relief from educating amid a pandemic<\/a>. But this fall, communities are going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. They need to determine how to get students back to school and learning. Districts across the U.S. are currently deciding how best to do that.<\/p>\n

Three strategies have emerged. The first involves reopening schools and observing social distancing and other COVID-19 safety measures. The second involves continuing the remote learning that districts began this spring. The third is a combination of both. None of them are ideal.<\/p>\n

Back to School This Fall Will No Longer Be About Maintaining Instructional Continuity<\/h1>\n

It goes without saying that the measures adopted to continue teaching K-12 classes this spring<\/a> were a response to a pandemic, and not a long-term solution. Many have grown incredibly frustrated<\/a> with online learning over the past months and, when learners go back to school this fall, want to avoid it at all costs.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another reason to come up with an alternative to the alternative. It\u2019s had a negative impact on student learning. While dedicated and experienced online educators can elicit similar or better learning gains<\/a> compared to in-person teachers, that\u2019s not what happened this spring. Instead, the vast body of American K-12 educators, many of whom had never taught online, had to onboard almost over night.<\/p>\n

Researchers from Brown University estimate<\/a> that, on average, students going back to school this fall will return with 63% to 68% of the learning gains that they would have logged in a normal year. When it comes to math, that figure is all the way down to 37% to 50%.<\/p>\n

(The researchers underscore that this is a projection and it\u2019s also not the case across the board. They believe that the top third of a given class might actually have made more gains over lock down than they would have under normal circumstances.)<\/p>\n

Regardless, going back to school this fall will not be \u2018getting back to normal.\u2019<\/p>\n

Opening Schools With Masks, Hand Sanitizer, and Social Distancing<\/h2>\n

This week, multiple state officials announced plans to partially or fully reopen schools this fall. Perhaps the most ambitious of these plans was put forward in Florida. On Thursday, Governor Ron DeSantis and Commissioner Richard Corcoran laid out steps and funding for a full return to in-class learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want schools fully open in the fall because there is no better way to educate our kids than have that great teacher in front of that child,\u201d Corcoran said. \u201cWe also know that they are not at a low risk, they are at an extremely low risk, not only of contracting (COVID-19), but even spreading it. And so we\u2019re saying, \u2018Open up the schools. Let\u2019s get the best educational environment. Let\u2019s keep everybody safe in our educational community and now attack like no other state has before the achievement gap.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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ICYMI: Arguing that Florida\u2019s economy depends upon it, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday unveiled a plan that expects K-12 schools to reopen in August at \u201cfull capacity.\u201d https:\/\/t.co\/kN8Mna7MXQ<\/a><\/p>\n

— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) June 12, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n