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.