College administrators are proposing two scenarios for the 2020-21 school year, first, a hybrid model of modified residential on-campus living + online instruction + limited in-person instruction and secondly, continuing distance learning with no on-campus residency. With either model, students’ college experience is severely curtailed. Incoming UCLA freshmen, who are not able to acquire housing, which is traditionally guaranteed, are…
Tag: Distance Learning
Empty or Empty-less Nest Interrupted
In mid-March 2020, due to lockdowns (shelter-in-place orders) implemented often helter-skelter throughout the nation and around the globe, parents welcomed their college students who were sent home to their childhood bedrooms. Back home, living under the same roof simultaneously forced the transformation of the parent-adult children dynamic (when the child is no longer a child), and the remodeling of a…
Prosperity in doubt
As reported in a study by NORC (National Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago: Optimism for the future generation has also fallen. In the wake of the outbreak, only 42% believe that when their children are their age their standard of living will be better than their own, whereas 57% said the same in 2018. Historic Shift in…
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
Since mid-March 2020, students, parents and educators have been developing ways to ensure a continuity of learning for all students. However, in the uncertainty of the continuing pandemic, 65% of parents worry “whether their children will stay on track and be prepared for the next grade”, with 60% believing school closures will have a negative impact on their kid’s education,…
Phased Return to Educational Normalcy
Leaders in the California Department of Education are proposing to reopen schools in phases, by grade level with elementary school students and teachers returning to campuses first. Elementary school students constitute the greatest number of K-12 students and the greatest percentage of schools in California, so prioritizing their return to school will serve the most students and families. Though as…
Plan to be flexible
As civic leaders seek to revitalize economic activity yet not at the cost of public health, many families are uncertain how to plan for the next school year to ensure continuity in their children’s learning. Adding complexity, on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 Senator Lamar Alexander also stated: Schools should plan for COVID to last at least a year. It’ll likely…
COVID-19 impacts Fall 2020 academics
As K-12 school administrators debate different options about how to re-open school campus doors to students and teachers in the fall, they are deferring to doctors and public health officials for guidance. So, families must decide, based on the most accurate information regarding the coronavirus outbreak they can acquire, what degree of risk they are willing to take beyond what…
The Quandry of Reopening Schools in a Pandemic
As school officials brainstorm ways to reconvene students and teachers in the school building, while living in the midst of a pandemic, educators add “montioring students’ health” to their primary mission of helping students learn. As such, students will also add “decontamination ritual” with “do your homework” as their “get ready for school” checklist. In pre-pandemic days, the morning parent-student…
Obtaining Employment Amidst Great Unemployment
Recovery from the recent massive job losses around the globe will likely not be swift nor immediate. In the United States, 14.34 million more people are unemployed than the total jobs created over the last decade since The Great Financial Crisis of 2009. In other words, in eight weeks, all the jobs created during the last decade, plus 14 million…
Governor Newsom Proposes $1 Billion Cut to California Community Colleges
Last Thursday, May 14, California Governor Newsom announced 2020-21 budget revisions, including cuts to higher education, given the projected $54 billion loss of state revenues. Although he proposes a $376 million cut to the University of California (UC) system affecting 285,000 students and a $404 million cut affecting 500,000 California State University (CSU) students, the $1 Billion cut to California’s…
Learning to be self-directed
With school closures and the substitution of distance learning, every student is learning to be self-directed, rather than teacher-guided or parent-approved. Although parents worry their children are falling behind, maybe they’re actually catching up, trying to reconnect with their authentic selves, discover more about their interests and aptitudes, which unfortunately, students can lose, in the busy-ness of regular school work…
Distance, Yes. Learning, Maybe.
What I’m calling, “The Great Distance Learning Experiment of 2020” has commenced for nearly all of the 57 million K-12 students in the United States. In such an experimental phase, the continuity of instruction is muddled, and students, teachers and educators find themselves in uncharted waters. The old rules, like attendance policies, don’t apply, at least here in California. The…
“I feel a change coming on…”
University enrollment has annually grown, despite four digit percent increases in the costs of college over the last three decades, seemingly making an inelastic demand for college eduation. Yet, for the 2020-21 school year, for the first time, there may be a a shift in the supply/demand equation given the changes in the recruitment for the newest class of students,…
A Chance to Ask Why
Since K-12 and college students are “distance learning” for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year, and the majority of extracurricular activities have also been cancelled, students are sharing that they’re “bored, but don’t know what to do.” Additionally, some parents worry that their kids’ aren’t “productive with their time.” So, to take advantage of the additional time and be…
Ahead of the Curve: Week of April 27, 2020
Amidst the COVID-19 health crisis disrupting educational and instructional continuity, students, parents, and educators are asking and being asked questions about the current educational process, which is also spurring discussions about the value of education. The following is a selection of education-related news stories from the past few weeks, offering insights about the shifts in both K-12 and higher…