Colleen Hervey, President of Ninth District PTA, co-hosted a tele-town hall discussion on May 7 alongside California State Assembly Member Tasha Boerner Horvath, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, a local educator, and a youth psychiatrist. The four offered participants their expertise on the state’s education system, provided guidance on how to further the learning process in the midst of a pandemic, and answered questions from listeners.

Assembly Member Boerner Horvath is a home-grown PTA leader — not only is she a former Reflections Program chair and VP of programs at her children’s school, but she was also the featured speaker at the Ninth District’s Annual Meeting Founders Day Breakfast.

To listen to a recording of the Town Hall or download a copy, please click here. You can also see a list of upcoming town halls at this link.

This tele-meeting was part of a weekly series intended to provide Californians with a forum to express their concerns and learn about the virus, as well as any resources and services available.

May 1 announcement from the California Department of Education:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that his Closing the Digital Divide Task Force is asking the leaders of major internet service providers to provide free guest access to all of California’s students. Executives from these companies will be asked to speak to their commitment to the state’s most vulnerable students and families at the next task force meeting on Monday, May 4 at 4 p.m., which will be streamed live online.

Superintendent Thurmond created the task force, co-chaired by Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino), to help close the technological gaps that put millions of students—including those living in remote, rural areas and students living in poverty—at a further academic disadvantage. Executives from all major service providers, including AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, have been invited to the meeting, which will be livestreamed on the CDE Facebook page.

“California has already come together and stepped up in a big way to provide donations of hotspots, laptops, and other devices to help students access distance learning. But without reliable internet access, too many students are missing out on a high-quality and meaningful education and the ability to connect to their teachers,” said Thurmond. “Going forward, we need to focus on efforts to improve internet access in order to close opportunity and achievement gaps for all California’s students—not just during this public health crisis, but once and for all.”

The Closing the Digital Divide Task Force is working to help facilitate donations, create more publicity, and cast a bigger spotlight on those who can help. Additional task force members include Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), Assemblymember Autumn Burke (D-Inglewood), Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), and Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa).

During its first meeting on April 20, the task force heard from cross-sector partners about ways they are working together to strengthen distance learning efforts and close technology gaps for millions of students. The task force also received an update on the CDE’s partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission to distribute a total of $30 million to support internet connectivity as well as updates from Google and Amazon about their donations of thousands of devices and hotspots for students. Thurmond and task force members will continue to meet and use the information and feedback gathered to create a formal plan for closing the digital divide, including timelines, budgetary considerations, and necessary legislative action steps.

The CDE has also partnered with the Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation (CDE Foundation), the private nonprofit partner of the CDE since 2011, to create the California Bridging the Digital Divide Fund. The fund is a joint effort of the Governor’s Office, State Board of Education, CDE, and CDE Foundation. Individual donations may be made at the CBDD Fund page, and corporate and institutional donors may contact Mary Nicely at mnicely@cde.ca.gov.

To read this press release on the CDE website, click here.

California State PTA is excited to announce the launch of its new online Resource Library. It is our hope that it can function as a no-cost tool to support the learning needs of all children and families as we navigate a new learning environment.

This powerful new tool offers PTA members, families and educators a wealth of vetted resources to support learning, including activities that children can do at home while schools are physically closed. Additionally, parents can access articles and videos that can inform and empower them as they advocate for a full curriculum and educational equity.

The materials found in the PTA Resource Library cover a broad range of subject matter areas, including many specifically aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), whose implementation California State PTA has long supported. This is particularly relevant today, on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

“California State PTA is proud to offer this important tool as a resource for our members, especially at this challenging time when distance learning is the new normal,” said Celia Jaffe, President of California State PTA. “Having access to such a library can benefit parents, children and educators by offering resources and activities that support learning across the full curriculum, including STEM/STEAM, the arts and more.”

The Resource Library can be found at http://www.capta.org/resource-library, and is accessible to the public. Users can search the contents by keyword and sort results by age, topic or type.

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About California State PTA: California State PTA connects families, schools and communities. We are part of the foundation of our public-education system and a trusted messenger to millions of members, parents, families, educators and allied agencies throughout the state. PTA is the nation’s largest volunteer-led child-advocacy association working to drive improvements in the education, health and well-being of all children and families. For more information: www.capta.org.

This article originally appeared on Ed100’s blog and was written by Carol Kocivar, California State PTA’s current legislative advocate and former president.

Digitally Fenced Out

Schools now depend on technology to deliver lessons and connect students. Unfortunately, millions of students lack good internet connections and devices at home. Effectively, they are fenced out of the digital campus.

The digital divide is not new. Low income families, students of color and students living in rural areas have lacked home access to online learning for years. Covid-19 has brought this issue suddenly to the point of crisis. The old solutions, like telling kids to go to the library, aren’t good enough now.

Even prior to Covid-19, unequal access to online learning at home was already in discussion, often described as the homework gap. This conversation is now urgent. The big question is how quickly both the state and the federal government will take action.

Federal Advocacy

The federal E-Rate program, begun in 1996, provides discounted internet access for eligible schools and libraries.
In response to the pandemic the FCC has waived some E-Rate rules and now allows donations from service providers, such as Wi-Fi hotspots or free service upgrades to hospitals, schools and libraries.

Education Advocates are seeking more:

• More than 7,500 education leaders are urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take the next step: expand E-Rate to include home internet access.
• The National Education Association is calling on Congress to Increase funding for the E-Rate program by at least $2 billion.
• A group of US Senators led by Ed Markey (D-MA) is urging the FCC to provide one-time E-Rate discounts for schools seeking to loan Wi-Fi hotspots to students while physical classes are on hold.
• The homework gap is a priority issue for the National PTA, which has consistently advocated for more federal resources to close it. Noting that between 7 million and 12 million students in America have no internet access at home and only one out of four school districts indicate they currently offer loaner hotspots, the PTA in a letter to Congress wrote that “reports have surfaced of schools and entire school districts citing the issue of equity in their decisions to provide no online learning to any students because not all students are connected.”

All of these efforts hinge on whether Congress (and the President) will approve a fourth stimulus package to address the growing education costs of COVID-19. Education advocates peg those total needs at $200 billion.

California Advocates Appeal for Donations

In California, an estimated 1.2 million students — about 20 percent — lack internet access at home. Only about a third of California households in rural areas are subscribed to internet service, compared with 78 percent in urban areas, according to an EdSource analysis of data from the California Public Utilities Commission. Education Trust West, a nonprofit organization, has estimated local variations in access in Mapping the Digital Divide, a report for state and district leaders.

School districts are stretching to do what they can, but neither school districts nor the state have budgeted to pay for internet service and devices at this kind of scale. Students are missing school.

To meet the challenge of this pandemic, schools need donations.

California is stepping up. Companies, business leaders and philanthropists are making commitments to provide tablets or laptops for over 70,000 students and connectivity for hundreds of thousands of households.

Google is giving the state 100,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots and will donate 4,000 Chromebooks. Apple is donating 9,000 iPads and working with 800 districts across the state, offering free coaching to teachers help them transition to remote learning. Many other companies are donating to school districts. Some internet providers are offering free and low rate programs during this crisis. The

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has committed $30 million for hotspots and internet service for student households. Rural, small, and medium-sized districts will be prioritized.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has created a Task Force to help facilitate donations, create more publicity, and cast a bigger spotlight on those who can help.

Donations are being collected through the CDE Foundation, which has created the California Bridging the Digital Divide Fund for the purpose.

California State PTA is working with the California Emerging Technology Fund to help parents find low cost internet service and computers.

April 13 announcement from the California Department of Education:

The U.S. Department of Education has granted preliminary approval to California’s request for flexibility in using federal funds to ease the immediate impacts of COVID-19 school closures.

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond submitted the request for waivers, authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, on Friday, April 10, 2020. The waivers were approved today.

The waivers loosen restrictions on how and when federal education funds can be spent. They remove a cap on technology purchases, ease limits on the amount of unspent federal funds that can be carried over from one federal fiscal year to the next, and relax rules about the use of money for teacher professional development.

“With this much needed flexibility, the state can shift resources to such pressing needs as training our workforce on distance learning and building up our technology infrastructure,” said Superintendent Tony Thurmond. “In this time of crisis, the ability to quickly direct resources to needs is critically important.”

Board President Darling-Hammond thanked the U.S. Department of Education for helping California’s efforts to improve online learning during this unprecedented time of crisis. “We are pleased that the federal government responded so quickly to our requests,” said Darling-Hammond. “In this time of great uncertainty, being assured that we can repurpose this money to address urgent concerns is a great relief.”

Specifically, California received preliminary waivers from:

• Section 1127(b) of Title I, Part A of the ESEA so that your State educational agency (SEA) may waive, more than once every three years, if necessary, the 15 percent carryover limitation in ESEA section 1127(a) for fiscal year (FY) 2019 Title I, Part A funds.
• Section 421(b) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) to extend the period of availability of FY 2018 funds for programs in which your SEA participates under its approved consolidated State plan until September 30, 2021.
• Section 4106(d) of Title IV, Part A of the ESEA related to local educational agency (LEA) needs assessments for the 2019-2020 school year.
• Section 4106(e)(2)(C), (D), and (E) of Title IV, Part A of the ESEA with respect to content-area spending requirements for FYs 2018 and 2019 Title IV, Part A funds.
• Section 4109(b) of Title IV, Part A of the ESEA with respect to the spending limitation for technology infrastructure for FYs 2018 and 2019 Title IV, Part A funds.
• Section 8101(42) of the ESEA, which defines “professional development,” for activities funded for the 2019-2020 school year.

In compliance with federal regulations, the state is accepting public comment on the waiver application through May 1. Please send comments via email to ESSA@cde.ca.gov or by mail to the California Department of Education, Government Affairs Division, 1430 N Street, Suite 5602, Sacramento, CA 95814-5901.

To view this press release on the CDE website, click here.

April 1 article from the Association of California School Administrators:

As school districts consider adopting new grading schemes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning, the University of California and California State University are committing to hold harmless students entering their universities.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and State Board of Education President Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond plan to release additional guidance on grading for K-12 Local Educational Agencies. In the meantime, they have emphasized that high school seniors will continue to graduate if they are already on track, and higher education institutions will provide flexibility to prevent students from being disadvantaged this year and in the future.

University of California 
Today, the UC Office of the President announced measures to relax undergraduate admissions requirements to “mitigate some of the extraordinary challenges students and their families face.” These measures include:

• Suspending the letter grade requirement for A-G courses completed in winter/spring/summer 2020 for all students, including UC’s most-recently admitted freshmen.
• Suspending the standardized test requirement for students applying for fall 2021 freshman admission.
• Providing that there will be no rescission of student admissions offers that result from students or schools missing official final transcript deadlines, and student retention of admission status through the first day of class until official documents are received by campuses.

To see the full University of California press release, click here.

California State University 
The CSU released its amended admissions policies and practices today, providing an overview of key changes based on student grade levels.

For incoming college freshmen:

• Accepting transcripts for incoming freshmen through the fall 2020 term, and will accept unofficial or self-reported data due to extend school closures.
• Assessing and initially placing students in first-year english/math based on multiple measures:  high school college courses completed, GPAs and test scores (SBAC, ACT, SAT) that students have submitted thus far.

For high school juniors:

• CSU “recommends” all students enroll in a yearlong, senior-year English course and a mathematics/quantitative reasoning course.
• CSU is still determining the appropriate path forward for edibility criteria for fall 2021 applicants regarding the indefinite suspension of the ACT/SAT examinations.

For students in grades 8-10:

• Accepting “credit” or “pass” to satisfy A-G requirements completed during winter, spring, or summer 2020 terms.  All prior coursework must be graded and a grade C- or better for the course to satisfy A-G requirements.
• Grades of credit/pass or no credit/non-passing will not be included in the calculation of high school GPA.

As noted above, the California Department of Education is anticipated to release additional guidance on district grading policies later tonight.

April 1 announcement from the California Department of Education:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California State Board of Education (SBE) have issued new guidance on graduation requirements and grading for seniors. The guidance is based on feedback from local education agencies, and was produced in collaboration and alignment with higher education institutions.

“We are thinking of our seniors and the impact that the current COVID-19 public health emergency and subsequent physical closure of schools has had on them, and we hope that this guidance will help relieve some stress and anxiety,” said Thurmond. “We are doing everything we can to support all our schools and students, and will continue to address seniors’ needs going forward.”

“All seniors who are on track for graduation should be able to graduate,” said State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond. “This new guidance further illustrates how students can and should be held harmless in grading, and how their work can be acknowledged.”

The guidance addresses A-G requirements and provides admissions updates for higher education for both current seniors and juniors.

For example, colleges have agreed to accept credit/no-credit or pass/fail grading where districts have decided to use it for A-G courses and other courses without impact on grade point averages. California is also extending flexibility on a wide range of issues, including testing requirements, timing of transcripts, and considerations about financial aid.

The CDE continues working with the University of California, California State University, community college system, and private and non-profit universities on solutions to many ongoing college admissions challenges.

Please find the grades and graduation guidance document as well as more school information and resources regarding coronavirus on the CDE’s COVID-19 web page.

To see this press release on the CDE website, click here.