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LIVE NOW: @WBUREdify senior education editor @kathmcnerney is speaking with school presidents about how coronavirus is affecting education and families in the Boston area. #WBURTownHall https://wbur.fm/2zN2OfE
A lack of long-term vision is gonna lead to increasing gaps in education, Thabiti Brown, head of @codmanacademy, says. We need to address
structural barriers like housing and food insecurity.
"Do we have the moral will to green-light those investments?"
structural barriers like housing and food insecurity.
"Do we have the moral will to green-light those investments?"
Key investments as schools consider reopening, according to Thabiti Brown:
Meeting tech needs: Chromebooks and Internet access
Making school supplies available at home
Making sure students have basic needs
Professional development for teachers
Meeting tech needs: Chromebooks and Internet access Making school supplies available at home Making sure students have basic needs Professional development for teachers
"Accessibility is terrible" in Massachusetts, Margaret McKenna, president emerita of @lesley_u, says.
"Equality doesn't equal equity ... We have to start a lot earlier and we have to treat individual kids' needs."
"Equality doesn't equal equity ... We have to start a lot earlier and we have to treat individual kids' needs."
Margaret McKenna notes a few good things have come out of the pandemic:
Respect for teachers: "It's a miracle that teachers perform every day, and I hope people have recognized it."
Awareness of the disparities: "Who has access to the Internet? Who can work from home?"
Respect for teachers: "It's a miracle that teachers perform every day, and I hope people have recognized it." Awareness of the disparities: "Who has access to the Internet? Who can work from home?"
"We've marked those dollars @codmanacademy to ... make sure that we are getting our students the supports that they need. We can't invest those dollars now," Thabiti Brown says.
Tune in for more on the financial effects of the pandemic on education: http://wbur.fm/2zN2OfE
Tune in for more on the financial effects of the pandemic on education: http://wbur.fm/2zN2OfE
What are the opportunities to address all students in the wake of the pandemic?
"We need to make positive change to guide the lives of our young people," Brown says. At Codman, that is about growing students to be strong ... and frankly, to be social justice warriors."
"We need to make positive change to guide the lives of our young people," Brown says. At Codman, that is about growing students to be strong ... and frankly, to be social justice warriors."
With some MCAS tests canceled now, would policies change?
"I think testing can be useful so you can ... remedy what's missing," McKenna says. "I think they've gotten totally out of hand ... There's too much teaching to the test."
"I think testing can be useful so you can ... remedy what's missing," McKenna says. "I think they've gotten totally out of hand ... There's too much teaching to the test."
Looking towards the fall—Â
"We have to prepare our young people to be happy and healthy, safe, well-fed, [and] well-clothed," Brown says.
"We're addressing those a priori needs that have to be met in order for students to begin to approach the teaching and learning they need."
"We have to prepare our young people to be happy and healthy, safe, well-fed, [and] well-clothed," Brown says.
"We're addressing those a priori needs that have to be met in order for students to begin to approach the teaching and learning they need."
"We're trying to integrate learning into jobs," McKenna says. "We're going to connect it to project-based service work."
"I think short of a vaccine … we’re going to see a mixed opening in the fall and likely for the full school year," Brown says.
Students and staff who are particularly vulnerable to the virus will perhaps never come into school, he says.
Students and staff who are particularly vulnerable to the virus will perhaps never come into school, he says.
