assessment

The COVID Learning Loss and Catching Up

/ Dave Eberwein / 4 Comments

“COVID Learning Loss”

“Pandemic Delay”

“Student Learning Gaps”

I see and hear these catch phrases all the time. Just Google ‘COVID Learning Loss’ and you’ll see what I mean. Here’s a sampling of some articles that point out how learning has been affected during the pandemic:

Pandemic learning loss is real and kids need help to catch up, education experts say

Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic

The pandemic has had devastating impacts on learning. What will it take to help students catch up?

As Superintendent, I hear about the COVID effects:

“How are you going to have students catch-up?

“Many students are further behind now than they would have been if the pandemic never happened.“

“What will you prioritize to make up the difference?”

“How will you accelerate learning so that they are up-to-date?”

I understand the concern being expressed. I do.

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Is Remote Learning the Future of Public Education?

/ Dave Eberwein / 2 Comments

I love it when we have these types of conversations — the debates about what ‘works’ and what ‘doesn’t work’. It’s these types of dialogue that help us move forward in our thinking and plans to make education even better. This one discussion about remote learning is particularly interesting during the COVID-19 pandemic — and gaining in some frequency — as we have found some system success along with some real challenges.

  • Is remote learning the future for public education?
  • Has the pandemic showed us a better way to teach and learn?
  • Have we seen the utopian light?

As with most topics in education, one often hears opposing arguments — and there’s certainly no exception with remote learning. There are some pretty strong opinions being generated:

“Remote learning is fantastic. My child is able to focus on their own schedule and terms without the distractions at school.”

“Remote learning is terrible. There is no meaningful social interaction with their peers or teachers. Motivation is difficult and they can’t stay focused on their computers”.

Each opinion is sometimes accompanied by articles or media posts supporting the perspective

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The Importance of Sleep – Some New Research

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

As we head into the doldrums of the long, dark days of January I thought I’d write about the importance of sleep. We know that sleep is important and that we could all likely use more of it. However, here are some points that are worth noting again. An article from Nov 2019 lists the Top 10 Reasons for getting a good night’s sleep:

  1. Sleep keeps your heart healthy
  2. Sleep may help prevent some cancers
  3. Sleep reduces stress
  4. Sleep reduces inflamation
  5. Sleep makes you more alert
  6. Sleep improves your memory
  7. Sleep may help you lose weight
  8. Napping makes you smarter (THIS one I really like!)
  9. Sleep may help you reduce your risk of depression
  10. Sleep helps your body repair itself

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