Today’s Literacy Headlines

The nation’s pediatricians have come out with a strong statement in favor of bringing children back to the classroom this fall wherever and whenever they can do so safely. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidance “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.” The guidance says “schools are fundamental to child and adolescent development and well-being.” The AAP cites “mounting evidence” that transmission of the coronavirus by young children is uncommon, partly because they are less likely to contract it in the first place.

Samantha Honani’s son hasn’t completed a school assignment in months. After his high school on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona shut down in March, he finished about three weeks of distance learning via his family’s computer. Then, in April, he stopped hearing from his teachers. Caught up in the tumult of Covid-19 and the struggles of sharing one computer with subpar internet, academics faded to an afterthought. “There was a breakdown in communication in the school and the students,” said Honani, who works as a program manager for The Hopi Foundation. “There was no follow-up.” Federally run schools serving Native students were slow to shut and to offer distance learning. Millions in federal relief aid has yet to be disbursed.

In Chicago, as in cities across the country, summer school carries higher stakes this year. After the profound disruption to learning wrought by the coronavirus outbreak, summer instruction will give students a chance to catch up on school work — and credits — they missed this past spring. It will allow some students to get back on track for fall studies or to graduate. With an all-virtual format, it will be a summer learning season like no other. Leaders stressed the need for a more uniform approach across the district after a spring of remote learning in which schools had leeway to design their own plans — and saw mixed results. The district will use the same digital platforms and set requirements for all teachers providing instruction this summer.

School is out, summer is here, and many parents are looking for ways to keep children entertained during these long, hot months. Tackling a science project or exploring a science museum (virtually, of course) can help your child beat boredom and teach them some useful skills. If your kid loves hands-on projects, or if they just like making a mess, there is an array of free science experiment videos available online. Science museums all over the county are offering appealing virtual exhibits and activities around these topics. Your family can also check out science shows on YouTube or listen to a science podcast designed for younger listeners. We have rounded up a host of science resources to keep your child engaged and nurture their natural curiosity until school is back in session.

As schools and states develop plans for students to return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic, the AAP has updated interim guidance to reflect the growing understanding of the virus’ impact on children and adolescents.“COVID-19 Planning Considerations: Guidance for School Re-entry” stresses the fundamental role of schools in providing academic instruction, social and emotional skills, safety, nutrition, physical activity, and mental health therapy. Schools are critical to addressing racial and social inequity. School closure and virtual educational modalities have had a differential impact at both the individual and population level for diverse racial, ethnic, and vulnerable groups, according to the guidance. Evidence from spring 2020 school closures points to negative impacts on learning. “The AAP strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school,” according to the guidance. These coordinated interventions intend “to mitigate, not eliminate, risk” of SARS-CoV-2.

Being exposed to diverse writers is a significant catalyst for growth for students from elementary school through college, regardless of their background. Gonzaga University’s Jessica Maucione and Michelle H. Martin at the University of Washington have both seen the impact firsthand. The classroom is a place for discussion, Maucione said, and books like Toni Morrison’s “Home” help prompt conversations about race, culture and the experiences of others. Moreover, Maucione cites several studies that find links between fiction reading and the development of human empathy. It’s important for readers to see themselves in books they read, Martin said, but they also need to glimpse the lives of others in order to develop an understanding of difference. “All kids need mirrors, they need windows, they also need sliding glass doors …”

A local 10-year-old who has launched two fundraising projects over the past three years to supply school libraries across the state with books representing people of color has already raised $4,100 toward her efforts. Draya Gohagon, created a GoFundMe drive, Books that Represent All Kids, this month and to date has garnered $2,605 of the $1,500 goal. Draya’s mother, Michelle Gohagon, director of instructional technology and professional development at Middletown Public Schools, is white, and her father, Darrell Gohagon, who works at the state Department of Children and Families, is Black. Her parents have talked with Draya about recent events taking place across the country dealing with racism, Black Lives Matter and related protests.

In a recent op-ed in The 74, Emily Solari, professor of reading education at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and Human Development, argued that the coronavirus pandemic has potential to amplify a critical and widening nationwide gap in reading. According to Solari, the good news is that a robust, evidence-based practice exists that can inform how best to teach reading and support students. Unfortunately, too much of that practice is not making its way to teachers and students. In this Q&A, Solari discuss how she sees the pathway to increasing literacy skills in American students – and how now is a critically important time for it to happen.

As part of Colorado’s ongoing effort to get more students reading well, state evaluators recently vetted more than 20 reading curriculums used in kindergarten through third grade. In April, they approved eight of them. But Benchmark Advance, the primary curriculum used in most Denver elementary schools, wasn’t on the list because it didn’t earn a passing score. Two months later, after the curriculum’s publisher, Benchmark Education, made changes to the product and appealed the state’s decision, its score rose enough to make the list for kindergarten through second grade. With new rules requiring Colorado schools to use reading curriculum backed by science, the state’s list of approved curriculum is a big deal. Districts using programs on the list won’t have to make expensive, time-consuming changes in the midst of a coronavirus-fueled budget crisis. Districts that use curriculum that didn’t make the cut — and lots of districts fall into this category — could face penalties if they don’t switch. Benchmark Education was the only publisher to revise its core curriculum during Colorado’s review process and the only one to win such a substantial reversal.

American parents spend more time and money on their children than ever — and that was before the pandemic. Now, with remote school ending for the summer and a far-from-normal fall expected, parenting is becoming only more demanding. It’s not just that children need more supervision, with their usual activities closed. Unlike previous generations of parents, today’s feel pressured to use time with their children for active engagement and continual teaching. Now that pressure is compounded by fears about missing months of education, and about widening gaps between children whose parents can provide significant at-home enrichment and those whose parents cannot.

“My interest and fascination with “The Little Mermaid” was also due to its setting, which bridges two worlds, water and land, for a day in which they become one world. I was especially drawn to the undersea with all its oddities and spectacular creatures. I found that the more I researched, the more I realized how overwhelmingly full of energy and life the oceans are, and I knew it would be challenging to capture the awesomeness found there. My aim was for my art to reflect that overwhelming feeling I experience when exploring these new territories. My research also yielded fascinating details about the various African mythologies around water spirits, or Mami Wata. It was rewarding to have the opportunity for me to paint a mermaid of color, give her a strong voice, and best of all, to experience the joy of giving her a new friend.”

As a former Los Angeles middle school teacher, I know firsthand what statistics show: schools are failing to prepare the majority of African-American students for success. Our Black teenagers are in a learning crisis. Covid-19 is about to make it much worse. African-American students are more likely to be missing out on instruction during this pandemic, since they’re more likely to lack the connectivity needed for remote schooling than their White peers. If we are to increase literacy among African-American youth we need to reach them at a young age, engage them in material that reflects their background, have smaller classrooms and create spaces in which everyone feels safe. Reading is still the best route to liberation. As Frederick Douglass counseled, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Today in partnership with the Education Development Center (EDC), we’re publishing, “Building Systems in Tandem: Maine’s State and Local Initiatives to Improve Outcomes for Children,” by David Jacobson. Maine is using Jacobson’s First 10 framework to guide and structure its work to improve the quality and coordination of early education for young children and their families.

Four educators share their—and their students’—favorite books, including song picture books and ones focusing on SEL skills, as well as emphasizing the importance of ones that represent “a wide range of experiences.”

Distance learning proved a difficult experiment for many students, teachers and parents this year. Its urgent adoption underscored gaps in access and income. Now, school districts are scrambling to figure out how to adjust plans for the fall. We hear from viewers about their own school experiences, and NewsHour talks to Mark Bedell, superintendent of Missouri’s Kansas City Public Schools.

Throughout the pandemic, many child care centers have stayed open for the children of front-line workers — everyone from doctors to grocery store clerks. YMCA of the USA and New York City’s Department of Education have been caring for, collectively, tens of thousands of children since March, and both tell NPR they have no reports of coronavirus clusters or outbreaks. As school districts sweat over reopening plans, and with just over half of parents telling pollsters they’re comfortable with in-person school this fall, public health and policy experts say education leaders should be discussing and drawing on these real-world child care experiences.

Dr. Sonja Santelises joins ExtraOrdinary Districts in Extraordinary Times to discusses the Black Lives Matter protests and the decisions she faces as superintendent of Baltimore in planning for the return of students in the fall — from what equipment she is having to buy to what changes in the curriculum she will have to make. Although it is clear that many children lost valuable learning time in the spring, Santelises said that for some children remote learning worked very well. One teacher who teaches in one of the hottest of the nation’s coronavirus hotspots has consistently had 95 percent of her students logging into lessons and doing standards-based grade-level work. “She has the relationship, she has the content,” Santelises said. Similarly, Santelises said, the schools that were most successful in engaging students were the ones where relationships and culture had been built before the pandemic

Four teachers discuss specific titles, and common elements, in books that students find popular, including the importance of being able to see themselves in the characters.

The realities of COVID-19 spreading in our communities without a vaccine or herd immunity means that a return to full schools without restrictions is simply out of our reach for many months. We will likely see students returning to school in shifts to classrooms that have been specifically designed to protect students and teachers. Cafeterias, gymnasiums, and libraries may be off limits. Practices we once took for granted, such as community supply stores, learning in groups and soft seating may be on hold for now. All of these things will stretch our ability to redesign our spaces so that students can explore, discover, and connect in meaningful ways. As the number of things that remain out of our control grows (spacing of desks, movement in and between classes, scheduling), there are still a number space design considerations that we can control and which can allow our students to truly benefit from where they learn. Consider these five ways to craft your classroom in these unique moments when we need to balance the health and humanity of our spaces.

A long, long summer is stretching ahead of us — many summer camps and programs are closed, kids are restless and parents and caregivers are stretched thin. But story time is always a little moment of escape. So this year, we want to hear all about your very favorite books for the littlest readers, specifically picture books and very easy chapter books. Is it something you loved as a kid? Something the kids in your life demand at Every. Single. Bedtime? Something they love to read by themselves? Something you gift to every kid you know? Tell us about it! And, of course, there are always those weird books, the ones not necessarily written for kids but that you or a kid you know glommed onto, something that obsessed or transformed you.

My autistic second grader thrived during remote learning. In the past three months at home, he’s moved up several reading levels, improved his writing stamina and conquered fractions. In a virtual session in April, his doctor couldn’t believe he was the same child she’d been seeing in her office. “Do you have to send him back to school?” she asked. At home during the pandemic, I’ve been almost solely responsible for teaching my son. After the first 15-minute weekly meetup with his class, he wasn’t interested in engaging with anyone online again. Instead, I relied on the paper remote learning packets we picked up each week from school and often solicited advice from my next-door neighbor — a special-education teacher — across the fence about how to teach the material. Because of his visual processing disorder, my son has difficulty with reading online and can get distracted when completing work there. So we stuck to paper, which his special-education teacher supported. It worked because my son isn’t overstimulated the way he can be at a school, with hundreds of kids, loud bells, a smelly lunchroom, whistles on the playground and rules, so many rules.

“I can help the next in line,” says Azalea Arredondo, leaning forward on her elbows and craning her neck to make eye contact with the next customer. He’s busy chatting with the person in line behind him. Arredondo signals again, more urgently, “Next in line!” Arrendondo, the all-business “IRS agent,” is in first grade. Her shoulders barely clear the top of the desk, and a giant rainbow-colored bow bounces on top of her head as she swings her legs. Her customers are third-graders queuing up to pay their taxes in Jaguar Valley dollars (JVD), the currency of Jaguar Valley, a Minitropolis site inside Gloria Hicks Elementary School in Corpus Christi, Texas. It’s one of the newest chapters of a program started in 1996 as an attendance incentive at Sam Houston Elementary School in McAllen, Texas. More than two decades later, Minitropolises have boomed to more than 30 communities throughout Texas and Oklahoma, driven by partnerships with the International Bank of Commerce and other local businesses. During that time, their mission has grown from providing old-fashioned encouragement to show up at school to teaching cutting-edge social-emotional and project-based learning skills.

I broke the rules. Under normal circumstances I won’t consider a children’s book for this podcast unless that title is less than 20 years old. But since I made that rule in the first place, I guess I’m the one who gets to break it. And today’s book is, in its blood, a rule breaker. In the course of this episode I attempt to encapsulate all of Jacqueline Woodson’s major awards (this is a difficult thing to attempt, by the way), Kate and I honor Juneteenth, and we try desperately to figure out why this book never won any Caldecott love (to add to its Newbery Honor love).

Young children who are learning English require special consideration during virtual instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 1 in 6 children in kindergarten and 1st grade in the United States are learning English as a second (or third) language. As teachers grapple with the monumental task of providing remote instruction to English-language learners, it’s important that state and district leaders provide extensive support and clear guidelines for engaging their ELLs. As state and district leaders consider outreach through email, phone calls, and physical copies of instructional resources for providing equitable access to possible remote instruction when schools reopen, we offer the following evidence-informed suggestions for consideration.

f you’re a parent working from home with minimal or no help in the childcare department, this summer is likely going to be tough. Even getting an hour or two to focus on your work can seem like a dream when your kid is stuck inside and clamoring for attention. Michaeleen Doucleff is a reporter on NPR’s Science Desk, and she’s been feeling this stress big time. Up against a publishing deadline for a book she’s writing called Hunt, Gather, Parent about child-rearing traditions from other cultures, Doucleff was also fielding requests from her 4-year-old daughter, Rosy: “Draw me a narwhal!” “Read me a book!” “Bring me some milk!” Frustrated by Rosy’s interruptions, Doucleff decided she would retrain her daughter to occupy herself and demand less attention.