社区黑料

This is our weekly briefing on how the pandemic is shaping schools and education policy, vetted, as always, by AEI Visiting Fellow John Bailey. Click here to see the full archive. Get this weekly roundup, as well as rolling daily updates, delivered straight to your inbox 鈥� sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter.

Schools Should Do Away With Mask Mandates By the End of the Year: .

• “It鈥檚 time to set firm dates for ending masking in schools. The risk of COVID-19 to kids is already very low. And with the expected arrival of vaccines for 5- to- 11-year-olds in early November, schools should be able to lift their mask mandates by the end of the year at the latest.”
• “Data from all over the world affirms that the risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 is extremely low for kids. In highly vaccinated New England, the hospitalization rate right now for kids under 17 is about 7 per 10 million. That is not a typo.”
• “Here are four things we should do to prioritize the health of children:”
  • “Mandate vaccines for all adults in schools, as Los Angeles and New York City have done.”
  • “Host at-school vaccination clinics for 5- to 11-year-olds in every school in the country.”
  • “Expand use of rapid antigen tests so we can end the unnecessary quarantining of kids.”
  • “Improve ventilation and filtration. This helps reduce the amount of virus anyone in a classroom will inhale, which lowers the likelihood of infection and likely lowers severity if infected. This is not hard or expensive. The stimulus money is there, and solutions such as installing portable air cleaners with HEPA filters are evidence-based and easy to implement. Size them right, and plug them in. That鈥檚 it.”

October 22, 2021 鈥� The Big Three

Pediatricians Declare a National Emergency in Child and Adolescent Mental Health: . Their recommendations include:

• 鈥淚ncrease federal funding dedicated to ensuring all families and children, from infancy through adolescence, can access evidence-based mental health screening, diagnosis and treatment to appropriately address their mental health needs, with particular emphasis on meeting the needs of under-resourced populations.鈥�
• 鈥淎ddress regulatory challenges and improve access to technology to assure continued availability of telemedicine to provide mental health care to all populations.鈥�
• 鈥淚ncrease implementation and sustainable funding of effective models of school-based mental health care, including clinical strategies and models for payment.鈥�
• 鈥淔ully fund comprehensive, community-based systems of care that connect families in need of behavioral health services and supports for their child with evidence-based interventions in their home, community or school.鈥�
• Related: U.S. Education Department released a new report, “.”

鈥楽till Not Equitable鈥�: How COVID-19 Closures and Differing Safety Policies Are Disrupting School for Many Children: A shows that hidden behind the large number of schools that are open for in-person learning are thousands of students at home because of quarantine rules.

• 1 in 5 parents said their kids have had to quarantine or miss school because of a possible COVID-19 exposure.
• 1 in 10 said their kids have missed school or quarantined because they got COVID-19.
• Nearly 3 in 5 parents said masking is required at their children鈥檚 schools, the only safety precaution that polled at over 50 percent.

Children COVID Vaccine Rollout Plan: to get kids ages 5 to 11 vaccinated, pending FDA eligibility. (More from 社区黑料)

• It secured enough vaccine supply to equip more than 25,000 pediatric and primary-care offices, school and community health clinics, as well as thousands of pharmacies.
• The Department of Health and Human Services will “conduct a national public education campaign to reach parents and guardians with accurate and culturally responsive information about the vaccine and the risks that COVID-19 poses to children.”
• “The administration 鈥� is providing full funding to states to support [school and community-based] vaccination operations and outreach 鈥� including setting up sites, procuring equipment and supplies to store and administer the vaccine, providing transportation to and from vaccination sites and communicating with the public, such as through in-person community engagement, call center support, public service announcements and translation services.”
• A tidbit from ABC News: “Vaccinators must now also juggle two different COVID vaccine formulas: a full dose for older adolescents and adults 鈥� and one-third of that dose one for younger children.To troubleshoot any ensuing confusion, , though [it is] still 鈥榩reliminary.鈥� Purple-capped vials will contain doses for adult and older adolescents, a chart offered to states said; orange-capped vials will contain doses for kids aged 5 to 11.”
• Related:

Federal Updates

Census: from 2019 to 2020.

• “The percentage of kids ages 3 and 4 enrolled in school fell from 54% in 2019 to 40% in 2020, the first time since 1996 that fewer than half of the children in this age group were enrolled.”
• College enrollment fell to the lowest level since 2007. Most of the decline took place in two-year colleges, which had their lowest enrollment levels in 20 years.

Child Tax Credit:

• “Our survey results show that some parents changed their employment because of the [child tax credit] payments. Even though the vast majority of parents said the new payments have not affected their employment (or the employment of someone else in their household), more than 10% of respondents reported that it did, with some reporting that it helped them work more and others reporting it helped them work less.”

Nation鈥檚 Report Card: . More via 社区黑料.

• “13-year-olds saw unprecedented declines in both reading and math between 2012 and 2020.”
• “NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr told reporters that 13-year-olds had never before seen declines on the assessment, and the results were so startling that she had her staff double-check the results.”
• “The data showed declines among the lowest-performing students, but not those at the top, , not smaller.鈥�
• “Scores have fallen for Black and Hispanic students since 2012 and remain flat for white children, .”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Released some dashboards and charts.

City & State News

Arkansas: “Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday that , instead of 6 feet, to determine who needs to quarantine after a student or employee tests positive for COVID-19.”

California: A state found that California if the state鈥檚 Department of Education “continues to disburse and monitor federal funds used by K-12 schools the way it is doing it now.”

• “The state auditor said that California鈥檚 education department needed more supervision over how school districts report spending and that the department is not monitoring enough of the recipients,鈥� .
• “An in the report cited Hayward Unified School District鈥檚 use of $4 million in stimulus money that did not have any supporting documents to verify the money went toward COVID-19-related expenses.”

Hawaii: “” offers families $1,000 microgrants for STEM learning kits, art materials and tutoring.

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia School District braces for a .

Tennessee: via The Tennessean.

West Virginia: West Virginia Education Association .

COVID-19 Research

FDA Approvals: The Food and Drug Administration Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster shots as well as mix-and-matching among different vaccine providers.

• The agency approved the use of a single booster dose of the Moderna that may be administered at least six months after completion of the primary series to individuals:
  • 65 years of age and older
  • 18 through 64 years of age at high risk of severe COVID-19
  • 18 through 64 years of age with frequent institutional or occupational exposure to COVID-19
• It also approved the use of a single booster dose of J&J at least two months after completion of the single-dose primary regimen to individuals 18 years of age and older.

Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Highly Protective for 12- to 18-Year-Olds: New ()

• The vaccine “was 93% effective in preventing hospitalizations among those aged 12 to 18.”

CDC Considering Test-to-Stay: The CDC “said it is a coronavirus 鈥榯est-to-stay鈥� program in schools instead of quarantine.” Via :

• “鈥業n Marietta, we have been tracking students who are testing positive through test-to-stay, and it’s 3%,鈥� Grant Rivera, superintendent of Marietta City Schools in Georgia, told CNN on Monday.”
• That 鈥渕eans we can keep 97% of them in class,” Rivera said. “That is a measure of success.”
• “In an email to CNN, CDC said it views test-to-stay as a ‘promising practice’ and said it’s ‘working with multiple jurisdictions implementing test-to-stay to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy.’ But it’s not clear when that test-to-stay guidance could be available.”

COVID-19 Testing in Schools Works: Science News asks, ? Long piece but worth the read.

Some Workers Want COVID-19 Recovery Accepted as Evidence of Immunity: Via . “Previous infection should be recognized as proof of protection and exempt employees from vaccine mandates, some workers say.”

SCOTUS and Vaccine Mandate: 鈥淭he U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to block a vaccine requirement imposed on Maine health care workers, the latest defeat for opponents of vaccine mandates,鈥� the More via .

• “Justice [Stephen] Breyer did not ask for a response to the workers鈥� application or refer it to the full Supreme Court. or if that court does not issue a decision by Oct. 29. That is the date on which the state has said it will start enforcing the requirement.”

UK Study: New finds that COVID-19 infections in children in England rose in September after schools reopened.

• “ found that prevalence in 13- to 17-year-olds was 2.55% between Sept 9 and 27, with prevalence in those aged 5 to 12 at 2.32%. Prevalence for every adult age group was estimated below 1%.”

COVID-19 Continues to Be a Leading Cause of Death: Via . Really powerful visualization by age:

The Unvaccinated May Not Be Who You Think: Great piece by

• “The unvaccinated, overall, don鈥檛 have much trust in institutions and authorities, and even those they trust, they trust less: 71% of the vaccinated trust hospitals and doctors 鈥榓 lot,鈥� for example, while only 39% of the unvaccinated do.”
• “It鈥檚 easy to say that all these people should have been more informed or sought advice from a medical provider, except that many have no health care provider. As of 2015, one-quarter of the population in the United States had no primary health care provider to turn to for trusted advice.”
• “It may well be that some of the unvaccinated are a bit like cats stuck in a tree. They鈥檝e made bad decisions earlier and now may be frozen, part in fear, and unable to admit their initial hesitancy wasn鈥檛 a good idea, so they may come back with a version of how they are just doing 鈥榤ore research.鈥欌��

Viewpoints

A Cautionary Tale From Kenya: Designing Educational Pandemic Recovery Programs to Minimize Unintended Consequences: .

• 鈥淭he bottom line: A small amount of supplemental remote instruction may not be enough to meaningfully improve student learning, and worse, it may cause unintended consequences, such as reducing the amount of time students devote to other educational activities.鈥�
• The authors offer for designing successful programs.

Why So Many Teachers Are Thinking of Quitting: The interviews seven educators.

VELA鈥檚 Fall 2021 Microgrant Application Is Open: “Everyday entrepreneurs are encouraged to for a microgrant of $2,500 or $10,000 to support innovative, nontraditional education programs.”

How SEL Extends K-12 Education鈥檚 Reach Into Students鈥� Lives and Expands Teachers鈥� Roles: Via

If Not Now, When?: , via Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce

Broadband Affordability Resources: Via

What Education鈥檚 Unequal, K-Shaped Recovery Really Looks Like: Via

Taking Stock With Teens:

• 87% of U.S. teenagers have iPhones
• Teens spend 32% of their daily video consumption on Netflix, followed by YouTube at 30%
• Snapchat is the favorite social media platform (35% share), followed by TikTok (30%) and Instagram (22%)
• Teens self-reported spending about $2,274 per year, implying total teen spending of about $63 billion

Honoring Gen. Colin Powell: Who .

• Tributes: ; ; .
• And here’s a with Arne Duncan and Colin Powell, moderated by Deborah Quazzo, managing partner, GSV Ventures.

鈥� And on a Reflective Note

Ted Lasso IRL: Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley: “I just think that kindness and lifting people up and respecting people you don’t know 鈥斅營 just think that’s a big part of our thing here is listening to people and learning about people because .鈥�

鈥淚 think what you鈥檒l discover is that we have so much more in common than not鈥�

鈥� Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers)

ICYMI @The74

Weekend Reads: In case you missed them, our top five stories of the week:

• Data: CDC COVID Youth Vaccination Figures Clash 鈥� Sometimes By Double-Digits 鈥� With Locally Reported Rates
• Vaccines: Amid U.S. Anti-Vaccine Movements, Puerto Rico Vaccinates 89% of Eligible Youth and 98% of School Staff
• Enrollment: Kids Left Schools Last Year Because of the Switch to Remote Classes; Early Numbers Suggest They May Not Be Coming Back Soon
• Podcast: Class Disrupted S3 E4: Standards and Curriculum Aren鈥檛 the Same 鈥� And That Matters
• Teaching: How to Build Culturally Affirming Schools, According to Over 100 Black Educators

Disclosure: John Bailey is an adviser to the Walton Family Foundation, which provides financial support to 社区黑料.

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