The presidential election is over, and it鈥檚 time to look ahead to a Biden-Harris administration. For education, two expected areas of focus will be student debt relief and expanded early learning. Both are critically important, along with reinvigorating the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 office for civil rights and the department鈥檚 historic role protecting the civil rights of students.
In addition to boosting K-12 funding targeting low-income children, I am also hopeful that the new administration takes the opportunity to rethink how states, districts, and schools hold themselves accountable for helping children learn. That鈥檚 especially important today.
On one level, the pandemic has revealed the best of America鈥攚ith millions of front-line workers risking their own lives to protect, heal, and feed us. On another level, much of America chose to open bars and restaurants rather than schools鈥攑utting the economic life of adults ahead of the academic needs of children. The consequences of this leadership failure will be with us for years unless we take immediate steps to address it.
We鈥檝e always recognized the inequities in our education system, but the pandemic has brought them into even sharper relief. Remote learning is a struggle for any student, let alone students in financially or emotionally unstable households. Needless to say, it鈥檚 impossible in homes without internet access or computers. Low-income parents are also more likely to have jobs that they can鈥檛 do from home and more likely to lose those jobs鈥攊f they haven鈥檛 lost them already.
Much of America chose to open bars and restaurants rather than schools鈥攑utting the economic life of adults ahead of the academic needs of children.
Given the above, how do we hold ourselves accountable鈥攏ot just in the near term but even beyond? How do we track not just student achievement but student wellness? How do we make sure students have both the academic skills they need and the social and emotional capacity to thrive and succeed?
Let鈥檚 start by asking what we know and what we don鈥檛 know. We know there has been learning loss, but we don鈥檛 know how much. Last spring, the Trump administration waived annual testing for good reason. It was unclear how to get it done without increased risk of infection. But to next spring seem premature, if not wrong-headed. We should be able to administer tests safely online, and with that information in hand, we can start to direct new federal resources where they鈥檙e needed most.
Thankfully, we have a president-elect who understands the importance of increased federal funding during a crisis of great magnitude. As Barack Obama鈥檚 vice president, Joe Biden worked with me in 2009 to distribute $100 billion in stimulus funds for education. Most of that money went straight to states and districts to help protect an estimated 325,000 teaching jobs. That again is an excellent use of taxpayer money.
To make in-person learning safer, districts could use federal relief funds to shrink class size and hire more teachers. We know that the youngest students have the hardest time with remote learning, and we also know from research that they make the most gains in smaller classes鈥攅specially if the reduction is really dramatic, say down from 20 or 25 to 15 students or less.
Some schools may not have the space to shrink class size, but many of the neediest schools, suffering declining attendance, will have the space. Let鈥檚 invest in smaller classes for the lower grades for at least a few years until students catch up. Districts could also put money into a massive tutoring program that is informed by assessment results.
In a world where remote learning is the new norm, closing the digital divide isn鈥檛 merely an aspiration, it鈥檚 a necessity. Making sure every single student is online with an appropriate device is critical. Chicago launched a program providing free internet to low-income parents as well as Chromebooks and computers. Every district should.
We also know that students rely on schools for much more than academics. Social and emotional supports are just as vital as classroom learning. With that in mind, let鈥檚 give schools the resources to check up on students, do home visits when it鈥檚 safe, and support parents who may be struggling with their children鈥檚 remote learning activities.
We should also be more creative in developing supplemental learning programs during afternoons, evenings, and weekends. Kids are starving for activities. They miss sports, arts, music, and after-school programs. Let鈥檚 expand these, whether in-person, remote, or a hybrid of the two.
Finally, let鈥檚 rethink school schedules to give as many students as possible the year-round connection with schools they need. The traditional school schedule made little sense before COVID and makes even less sense now. Between COVID slide in the spring, summer slide, and the current difficulties students and schools are facing, millions of children are falling behind. Every single day matters.
The outgoing administration isn鈥檛 big on truth and transparency, as its reaction to the election shows. But with Joe Biden headed to the White House, honest leadership is coming back, and we have an opportunity to go much deeper and broader in terms of what we are measuring and how we are serving children.
Our educational mission as a country remains what it has long been: extending opportunity to everyone through education. To do that, we must know where students are and take responsibility for ensuring they get what they need.
