Good morning #BPSChat

I took a research class in July. We spent some time talking about the misuse and limitations of surveys. I didn’t realize it'd be so immediately relevant. Or that @BostonSchools and @BostonGlobe would be offering public lessons all summer. 1/

BPS Results: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7203171-Family-Learning-Model-Selection-Form-Initial.html#document/p19

Globe p̵r̵e̵s̵s̵ ̵r̵e̵l̵e̵a̵s̵e̵ article: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/05/metro/boston-students-evenly-divided-remote-hybrid-learning-preferences-survey-finds/ 2/

First, it’s inappropriate to call this a survey (besides that we do too many surveys). It’s a program choice form, so it was filled out by families, not just students (bad headline). It’s also not asking about preferences for the fall, but actually what services families want 3/

to opt for, should those services be available later in the year. 4/

[Tangent:] The whole logic of this is an absolute disaster: Families were asked in August to select whether to participate in hybrid if and when it becomes available (no sooner than Oct-Nov,) without knowing the details of what either of those models would look like. 5/

Savvy families will note that they can opt for remote anytime, but BPS isn’t saying when remote students will be able to join hybrid, so picking remote right now only closes off your options for the future. 6/

This is important because Boston is basing the “high need” Group C on how many families choose remote. The more families choose hybrid (which they are incentivized to do, and defaulted into), the less availability for students with complex needs to receive increased services 7/

(BPS also isn't increasing staffing or resources for special programs, and are more likely to lose staff. It’s unclear to me how high need groups are being prioritized by *maybe* getting first access to a poorly designed and supported hybrid/in-person model. 8/

@BTU66, @BostonEdJustice, @CityLife_Clvu and @BostonSpedPac have a vision for better: safe in-person learning in safe spaces for the students who need it most. Rally with us Thursday!) 9/

https://www.facebook.com/events/2837289286503558

So to be clear, when BPS says it’s honoring family choice, that's prioritizing a hypothetical choice for all over the actual needs of the most marginalized. Is that equity? 10/

[Tangent over] Now, on to survey interpretation, because it’s also bad! The Globe can’t resist comparing this to the @BTU66 survey that showed an overwhelming preference for a remote start. This isn’t a “contrast” though, because they asked different questions: 11/

The BTU asked members what model they felt comfortable with starting the year based on safety and their experience with BPS. The parent choice form asks families to pick a program later in the fall, 12/

based on the assumption that conditions will be safe and that we are offering in-person, not whether people think that will be safe to begin with. 13/

(And for the record, the BTU survey echoed public opinion polls showing higher concerns about returning to school in-person among families disproportionately impacted by COVID. This was July. Marty Walsh told us to stop being political. 14/

We're now in September and BPS is still figuring out how to do a less-well-thought-out version of what we've been advocating for for months.) 15/

Finally, BPS has (after much criticism) improved on releasing disaggregated responses, and noting differences in choices and response rates.

But saying something isn’t the same as doing something about it. 16/

Looking at the response rate shows that BPS communication more successfully reaches families from more privileged backgrounds, who make up a smaller part of the district and whose responses are markedly different from the representative majority of BPS families. 17/

That itself is a revealing problem. Then drawing trends and basing planning on this over-representation of more privileged voices is pretty much inequity in action. (This is similar to @47Sasaki’s analysis of weighted neighborhood COVID rates.) 18/

BPS says on slide 11 that it is weighting projections based on race… I have no idea what that means. But it seems like it would take a lot of weight to deal with this imbalance. This doesn't look "evenly divided" to me. 19/

Actually finally, if BPS is released data, how about some public assessments of our buildings? Staff are expected to report in-person (for remote PD) starting on Sept. 14th, even though we’re not allowed in the buildings at all next week. 20/

There have been pictures of shiny floors (shout out to the custodians, we appreciate you), but where is the breakdown of building safety? That would seem important to me, if you're expecting to use all school buildings in the city at full staff capacity. 21/

It would also seem like an important detail for families choosing between remote and in-person to know the actual conditions of the building their student would be entering. 22/

Anyways, have a happy Labor Day everyone!

"You can't be a revolutionary, you can't want to change society if you don't love people, there's no point in it." -Myles Horton

All this prioritization of choice and preference is a frustrating distraction. For all this information about preferences, we lack details on planning safety, resources, and support for learning we need no matter what the school model.