Link copied.New law would help students who fell behind academically during pandemic
California may make it easier for parents to request that their children be held back a grade level next school year or have letter grades earned this school year changed to a “pass” or “don’t pass” score, which some colleges will be required to accept if Assembly Bill 104 becomes law.
The bill was introduced today by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, as a way to ensure that students aren’t punished for falling behind academically during the pandemic.
“The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated educational inequities in California’s school system at an unprecedented scale,” said Gonzalez in her author’s statement. “Mounting evidence indicates that our most vulnerable students lack the necessary academic, social emotional, and technological supports needed to be successful in distance learning, leaving them to fall behind and underperform.”
It remains unclear when California’s K-12 campuses will reopen for in-person instruction, but one Bay Area school district has committed to continuing distance learning in the fall and beyond at least as an option.
West Contra Costa Unified officials last week presented their early plans for a permanent district-wide, K-12 “virtual learning academy” for the 2021-2022 school year and beyond. They also introduced two additional in-person programs for high school students: a visual and performing arts academy and a career technical academy. The school board unanimously approved the concepts for all three academies, directing administrators to start work on models for each.
Photo courtesy of Immigrants Rising
Student leaders and educators from California high schools discuss how to better support undocumented students at an event in 2019.
Photo courtesy of Immigrants Rising
Student leaders and educators from California high schools discuss how to better support undocumented students at an event in 2019.
January 21, 2021
Hazel Piñon, an immigrant who moved to the Bay Area from the Philippines as a child, was 20 when she found out she may have qualified for a visa as a teenager that would have given her a path to permanent U.S. residency. By the time she found out, it was too late to apply.
As the pandemic continues to spread in a seemingly uncontrolled fashion, California’s leading teachers’ unions have affirmed their opposition to school openings without significantly more safety precautions, further complicating hopes for bringing more students back to school for in-person instruction.
Currently, almost all students attend schools in counties in the state’s Tier One “purple” list. That means schools are prohibited from providing in-person instruction unless they were already doing so before the county went on the purple list, are providing instruction to small groups of students with special needs, or through special waivers for K-6 students.
However, the California Teachers Association on Wednesday sent a letter to lawmakers saying that even those schools in purple counties that are already offering in-person instruction should not be allowed to do so. “CTA continues to believe that schools in communities at Purple Tier levels of transmission and ris
Teaching online is challenging enough. Teaching online with an all-new curriculum and academic standards is even harder.
Without updated teaching materials, many school districts across the state have struggled to fully implement the state’s Next Generation Science Standards that California adopted for K-12 students seven years ago. This fall, some teachers finally have the materials they need but now they must master the new curriculum while learning how to adapt to a virtual classroom environment.
That’s the case in West Contra Costa Unified, which includes Richmond and serves 32,000 students in California’s East Bay. Since 2018, the district has been reviewing and piloting new science materials for all students, and this fall is phasing in an online curriculum called Amplify Science to be used in every middle school during distance learning and after students return in-person.