Tag: Remote Learning

WVDE Floats Plan To Collect Student Data To Address Broadband Disparities

The West Virginia Department of Education wants to gather data on K-12 students across the state, hoping to pinpoint where digital and broadband access is lacking. The hope is to use the data to highlight specific students’ needs when they are learning from home.

As more students must study online in the ongoing pandemic, such access is crucial and impacts families who live in areas without connectivity. The WVDE wants to assist this effort to find gaps and fix them.

“The broadband issues across the state, in regard to education, became glaringly aware to us in March when we had to go to remote learning,” said Tim Conzett, senior administrator with the Office of Data Management and Information Systems Directory at the state Department of Education.

West Virginia Board of Education members Wednesday heard an update on broadband in the state including on the new Kids Connect Initiative that created more than 1,000 WiFi hotspots statewide for K-12 and higher education students.

Officials discussed how they hope to expand this service as well as broadband as a whole. New technology, like high-flying balloons and satellites, and new partnerships, such as with Facebook, are coming, according to the agency. But officials also noted expanding is expensive and that point is exacerbated due to West Virginia’s geography.

“Most of our schools are fairly well suited for equity when they’re in the school,” Conzett said. “But it’s when they’re out of the schools that is the problem.”

Conzett told board members of a new proposal on data collection for digital equity. The proposal would collect data on all K-12 students in West Virginia to identify technology needs in homes and could guide future internet expansion in the state.

“One of the things that this could do for us is to help plot areas where we can see an impact and help perhaps direct some of the deployment of broadband moving in the future,” Conzett said.

This data would be tied to individual students, he explained, and would highlight which homes need more support – whether that’s with a device like an iPad or for broadband needs.

“If we have that kind of information, we can help in counties that are not yet quite to a one-to-one device situation that they provide for their students,” he said.

The data, according to Conzett, would be placed as dots on a map that would show where there are the greatest broadband challenges.

“If I’ve got students that don’t have internet access at home, and they show as dots, and that’s basically all it’s going to be is a dot, then I can see clusters, and where those clusters are, I can perhaps then provide that information to a provider to say, ‘hey, look, you’ve got 50 within X mile radius,’” Conzett said. “So, as far as equity is concerned, it’s more about the inequity that a student is seeing from a home use or a home perspective.”

One board member asked if the data collection could compromise individuals’ privacy.

“That is a good question,” Conzett answered. “Part of that has to be in the language and the communication that we provide. As far as the collection is concerned, again, it’s not a matter of ‘Student A does and Student B doesn’t,’ it’s a matter of being able to help provide guidance to provide the services for those students.”

Under the Student Data Accessibility Transparency and Accountability Act of 2014, the proposal is required to have a 60 day public comment period.

Residents can submit comments on the proposal on the West Virginia Department of Education’s website.

From WiFi Hotspots To Video Classrooms: Tackling Virtual School In A Pandemic

Across West Virginia, families have been promised the option of virtual schooling in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. And many families are considering it for fall 2020. About 50,000 children so far in West Virginia have already signed up for virtual school, according to the West Virginia Department of Education.

All 55 of West Virginia’s counties must offer at least one virtual school option, as mandated by Gov. Jim Justice.

Counties can choose to offer West Virginia Virtual School from the West Virginia Department of Education, or a local option structured by that county, or some combination. And in some counties, students will have to stick with their virtual program for a set amount of time.

“Google Classroom allowed for us to be successful during the springtime, at least to get everybody on the same platform. So, we are going to use that for this coming school year,” said Jennifer Rowan, director of technology for Jefferson County Schools, in a Zoom meeting with about 500 student family members last week.

Rowan showed parents in Jefferson County how to use Google Classroom – one of the programs Jefferson County Schools uses for its virtual school called Jefferson Virtual Academy. The public meeting, held by the Jefferson County Board of Education, was aimed to help families, curious about virtual schooling, understand what it would be like.

Jefferson County uses Google Classroom to organize and deliver classes and assignments. Students can type out questions and comments with teachers and classmates in real time. It’s also where they submit work for teachers to grade.

The county also uses an online program called Microsoft Teams, which allows for video conference calls during virtual class. These will also be recorded and available to students if they aren’t able to join when class meets.

Rowan noted that in Jefferson County, lessons will be synced up as close as possible in both virtual and in-person classes. This is in the event school must go entirely virtual because of virus outbreaks.

“It has never been more important than now to adhere to those pacing guides,” Rowan said. “So that if we have to go into a quarantine period, [in-person students] are now at the same type of pace as the Virtual Academy students.”

The county is also committed to providing personal electronic devices, such as iPads, to every student who needs one.

But families in Jefferson County must choose now if they want to go virtual or attend in-person scenarios. The deadline to choose the virtual option is Aug. 19.

If a student in Jefferson County who signed up for in-person schooling decides they want to change to virtual school, they’ll have the option to switch at the end of the fall semester.

Jefferson County’s Virtual Academy is just one example of what virtual schooling might look like this fall in West Virginia. Each county will vary.

Regardless, if parents want their child in virtual school, they have that choice.

“We will have total optionality,” said Justice in a recent virtual press conference. “If you feel like your child should not be in the school, then we’re going to make that child’s education, along with all the children’s education that choose not to come to the schools, virtual, and we will absolutely deliver a quality education to them for the time period that they’ve decided not to come to the school.”

One way Justice is hoping to make virtual school easier for families who choose it is through a broadband expansion initiative called Kids Connect, which is expected to go live by Sept. 8.

According to the governor’s office, 40 percent of West Virginians have access to broadband, so the hotspots will be crucial if virtual school is to be successful.

Justice has committed $6 million to Kids Connect. It creates just a little more than 1,000 WiFi hotspots, spread out across the state in all 55 counties. The project was a collaboration of the governor’s office, the West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.

These hotspots will be available in parking lots of all K-12 schools, which totals to 688 sites. 32 higher education institutions will offer hotspots, 255 libraries, and 31 of West Virginia’s state parks.

Students will also have access to school buses that will drive them to these hotspots so they can complete their work.

Sarah Armstrong Tucker, who serves as chancellor of both the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the Community and Technical College System, recently spoke about the initiative at an informal, informational meeting with the House Education Committee in Charleston.

“I think it’s going to make a significant difference,” Tucker said. “If we have to go to a virtual environment, or even a partially virtual environment, our students will know where they can go so that they can connect to the internet.”

The hotspots will also be available to higher education students.

West Virginia’s Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch echoed Tucker at the education meeting but said it’s only the first step into a much larger broadband issue in West Virginia.

“I appreciate the 1,000 points of WiFi that we’re targeting,” Burch said. “I think it’s a great project, but it is a Band-Aid.”

Virtual school this fall will be available to all students in West Virginia, from kindergarten to 12th grade.

School is set to begin in West Virginia on Sept. 8.

W.Va. Teachers' Union Wants Public Schools To Start Online

A West Virginia teachers’ union is urging public schools to avoid face-to-face instruction when students return next month due to the coronavirus.

The West Virginia Education Association suggested the online-only start Thursday based on a survey of the union’s membership.

WVEA President Dale Lee said most of the respondents felt uncomfortable returning to classrooms under their individual county’s reopening plans. In addition, nearly all members were skeptical that students could effectively maintain social distancing and wear masks.

“Full distance learning will give time for counties to get a handle on the situation and to further iron out the details on how the next steps of the school re-entry will be handled in each location,” Lee said.

Gov. Jim Justice has pushed back the start of the school year to Sept. 8. He said recently that a final decision on the reopening would have to be made by Sept. 1.

Last month American Federation of Teachers’ state chapter president Fred Albert expressed doubt that face-to-face instruction could occur safely based on health trends.

The number of virus-related deaths in West Virginia has jumped 23% since last Friday, pushing the total for the pandemic to at least 153. Confirmed cases in West Virginia have tripled in the past seven weeks to more than 8,150.

Lee said two-thirds of WVEA educators consider themselves at risk due to health, age or caregiver concerns.

“We understood that every county and their individual schools are unique in each circumstance,” he said. ”But safety for the employees and the students should be foremost everywhere. One outbreak of the virus is one outbreak too many. And starting before we are truly prepared will simply force shutdowns and create additional anxiety and uncertainty.”

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal. The vast majority of people recover.

Group Demands W.Va. Governor, Education Leaders Start School Virtually This Fall

A coalition of teachers and public school advocates are asking for West Virginia schools to start remotely for the first 14 days with in-person instruction beginning only after 14 consecutive days of no new coronavirus cases in the state.

The Our Students First Coalition also wants state officials to allow students to return to in-person learning – on a county-by-county basis – if cases drop to zero in certain areas.

The group held a demonstration and press conference outside the West Virginia Education building in Charleston Wednesday to advocate for remote learning at the start of the 2020 school year.

“We hear over and over, [students] are safest in the school, but I disagree,” said Jenny Anderson, co-head of the Our Students First Coalition, as their protest was broadcast over Facebook Live. “They’re not safest in the school now. They could be. But not now.”

About a dozen members of the group stood together on the Capitol lawn, six feet apart, wearing masks and holding poster boards that represented desks in a classroom – giving a visual example of what classrooms might look like if the school year begins in person, as planned.

“There are going to be teachers that get sick and other school staff,” Anderson said. “It’s not fair to put the burden on the people that are not making the decisions.”

The coalition has more than 5,000 followers made up of members from the WV United Caucus, the Families Leading Change West Virginia group and others, according to Anderson. The group is also partnered with several groups, including local chapters of the American Federation of Teachers and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

Jay O’Neal also leads the coalition alongside Anderson. He is an educator in Kanawha County and pointed to safety concerns including ventilation. He said many schools in West Virginia are too old and not ready to accommodate in-person schooling without first updating ventilation systems.

“I teach at Westside Middle School. I teach in a building that’s 80 years old, [and] a lot of the windows don’t open,” O’Neal said. “The air conditioning just recycles air from the classroom. It doesn’t pull in any outside air … so we’re concerned.”

Other speakers chimed in, pleading for the state’s leaders to take more time to not only better equip classrooms and school buildings but also perfect remote learning in a state where broadband is not always reliable.

O’Neal said the coalition submitted more than 1,700 letters about these issues to Gov. Jim Justice and state education leaders who so far advocate for a hybrid of in-person and remote learning this fall.

The governor and state leaders, however, have said that should school need to go totally virtual this fall, they are prepared to accept that scenario.

“We absolutely will do everything in our power to not put our kids and our teachers or our service personnel into any situation that we feel is unsafe,” said Justice on Monday. “We may very well back up and say we can’t go to school now, [and] we’ve got to go 100 percent virtual … I’m telling you, this situation changes, not weekly or monthly; this situation changes almost hourly.”

Other demands by the Our Students First Coalition include training for parents and educators in virtual schooling, waiving the 180-instructional-days requirement for the 2020/2021 school year, and providing regular, free and widespread coronavirus testing for staff and students.

West Virginia’s public schools are slated to begin in-person instruction, with virtual options, as ordered by the governor, on Sept. 8.

Exit mobile version