Parents are exhausted by managing their child’s classwork in addition to taking care of their other responsibilities, such as work demands, says Naomi Tyler, director of the IRIS Center, a technical assistance center funded by the Office of Special Education Programs. But, she adds, “The data is clear: When there’s collaboration between school and home, the outcomes for students are so much better.”

Bridging the gap between home and school has always been important, but it’s even more critical now as students are unable or unwilling to return to school buildings for in-person learning. Parents of multiple children, younger children, and children with disabilities may have greater struggles assisting with distance learning.

To help parents and caregivers focus on the efforts that impact learning, Wichita (Kan.) Public Schools is offering a Parent University program in collaboration with Common Sense Media. This support consists of live and recorded webinars on various topics, such as guidance on tracking students’ assignments and classroom progress. Guides were also distributed to help families understand the remote learning policies, daily schedules, and even suggested activities for break times.

“We needed to offer a variety of supports to families and caregivers to help remove some of the barriers and prepare a foundation for the new learning experiences,” says Heath Peine, the district’s executive director of student support services.

IRIS also developed parent-friendly resources and tips for parents about best approaches for at-home learning. Districts can share resources with parents and incorporate these recommendations into their own practices. “Parents have to be engaged,” Tyler says. “They are the most important influence.”

Here are a few ways schools and districts can support parents at this time, according to several IRIS modules posted on its website:

1. Encourage simple strategies. IRIS’s tips to parents include setting up a learning space for their children, establishing a routine and discussing behavior expectations. Schools can help with these missions by providing parents and students with synchronous learning schedules, as well as reviewing the school’s online behavior expectations for students.

2. Hold virtual training sessions. Whether your district is using a new or tried-and-true distance learning platform, offer an optional training session for parents on how to navigate the websites. Your district may also have new protocols for reporting absences or illnesses, which can also be reviewed at these sessions. Remember to also share critical information about school operations in written form to parents.

3. Offer small-group information sessions. A large schoolwide meeting with parents is a good way to share overall plans and schedules but consider also holding smaller group virtual meetings that provide topic-specific information. For example, separate meetings could be held for elementary, middle and high school parents, or parents whose children have an IEP.

4. Give tips on social and emotional well-being. There’s no doubt that everyone—educators, parents, and children—is feeling anxious, worried, and stressed at this time. That’s why it’s important for schools and parents to collaborate on caring for students’ social, emotional and physical health. Wichita Public Schools is maintaining a behavior hotline for parents to talk with a behavior specialist regarding any support they need at home.

Schools should also consider providing opportunities for students to safely meet in person or virtually for assemblies to celebrate school spirit, extracurricular and club activities, or for sports and exercise groups. School leaders can also provide strategies to parents about responding to their children’s emotions and provide helpful tips, such as the importance of healthy eating and sleeping routines.

5. Be prepared to respond to different needs. All students may be learning virtually but that doesn’t mean all families will have the same experience. School leaders should understand that each family is unique and to not prejudge individual circumstances. Be open to questions, suggestions and requests for ongoing supports and collaboration. Additionally, help parents find support networks so they can connect with others facing similar challenges.

Kara Arundel covers special education for , a 91¿´Æ¬ sister publication.

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The design of each pod or cohort also should be carefully constructed to ensure equity, build continuity and provide individualized supports and services for students with disabilities, educators say.

“Inclusion is as important now as it’s always been,” says Erin Maguire, the director of student support services for Essex Westford (Vt.) School District. Her district, which has about 600 students with IEPs, is planning a hybrid instructional model. The model divides all students into two groups, with each group altering attendance at schools two full days a week and learning remotely three days a week. Parents also have an option for their child to receive virtual-only instruction.

Guidance from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention advocates for the creation of cohorts of students who would only have contact with each other during the school day. If a positive case is identified in the cohort, then that cohort would remain at home to self-isolate for 14 days. “This helps prevent a disruption to the rest of the school and community by limiting the exposure,” the CDC wrote in guidance released July 23.

The CDC does not recommend a size for cohorts and said no scientific study has been published on the optimal maximum or minimum cohort size for reducing COVID-19 transmission for school-aged children in the U.S. Several state education department guidelines for reopening schools also have not provided a recommended maximum number of students per cohort but instead advised schools to keep cohorts small and stable and to follow social distancing measures.

Maguire, who also serves as president of the Council of 91¿´Æ¬istrators of Special Education, offers several recommendations for school staff as they create instructional cohorts:

–ÌýDo make each cohort inclusive. Students with disabilities should be in the educational placement aligned with their IEPs. This means administrators must know the educational placement of each student with disabilities before assigning the student to a cohort. A cohort that only has students with IEPs should be avoided unless the more restrictive placement is appropriate according to the student’s IEP, Maguire says.

–ÌýDo provide individualized services. A student with disabilities who is in a general education cohort still must receive the individualized therapies outlined in her IEP. In the Essex Westford School District, administrators are planning for push-in and pull-out services for students with disabilities, Maguire says.

– Do try to pair students with familiar staff, friends. Essex Westford officials are trying to loop students with familiar staff and friends where possible. The established connections will help students and staff ease into a new school year that, because of the coronavirus outbreak, is already stressful. “We’re placing extra importance on relationships,” Maguire says.

– Do explain to parents, staff and students the whys and hows. In a letter to families posted on the district’s website at the end of July, Essex Westford updated the school community on its back-to-school plans, including the process the district used to develop and plan for its hybrid learning approach. The letter told families it was still working on details of students’ schedules and would have that information soon.

– Don’t assume plans won’t change. As Maguire plots the logistics of providing supports to students with disabilities both in-person and online when the school year begins, she has learned to become more flexible and accepting of when those plans need altering. For example, the first day of school recently got delayed a week and the recommended space for social distancing in schools may change from six to three feet, which may alter the cohort groupings. “I’m a planner but I’ve had to learn to be open and ready for changes,” Maguire says.

Kara Arundel covers special education for , a 91¿´Æ¬ sister publication.

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That analysis has become more difficult because of the novel coronavirus, which caused extended school closures in the spring and will likely disrupt full-time in-person instruction for at least the first half of SY 2020-21. Although some schools were able to offer robust online instruction, many were challenged by a lack of preparation for remote learning, student access to devices and Wi-Fi, and student and parent participation.

“For some kids, [the learning loss] will be minimal but for others, it could be around 25 percent,” says Stacy Skalski, director of professional policy and practice at the National Association of School Psychologists.

Because of the potential five- or six-month gap in learning for some students, it will be very difficult for educators to rule out a lack of appropriate instruction as a causal factor in learning disabilities, according to NASP. The result may be the under-identification and overidentification of students with specific learning disabilities, Skalski says.

In an effort to prevent the misclassification of students with SLD, NASP has recommended that educators restructure the process for analyzing if a student is at risk for SLD by first establishing or reestablishing core instruction and evidence-based interventions before considering whether a lack of appropriate instruction contributes to a student’s low achievement.

The North Carolina State Board of Education implemented a new policy this month for SLD eligibility that focuses on using response to intervention as major component of a comprehensive evaluation. The state’s emphasis on core instruction and interventions—rather than a severe discrepancy approach—has been in development for years but some say will be even more important now as schools work to evaluate students for SLD during the pandemic.

Here are other considerations to make when referring and evaluating students for SLD eligibility during this time:

• Partner with parents. Because most students learned from their homes this spring, parents have become an essential source of information about the status of their child’s learning. The information parents supply about their child’s strengths and needs will be very valuable, says Meghan Whittaker, director of policy and advocacy for the National Center for Learning Disabilities. “That’s the way forward, to bring parents to the table early and often.”

• Use multiple sources of data. The North Carolina State Board of Education highlighted the need to use multiple sources data in determining special education eligibility in its Lighting Our Way Forward guidebook for reopening schools. The guidebook said IEP teams should consider the instruction provided to the student prior to school closures and the student’s response documented at the time of referral; the instruction provided during school closures and the student’s response; and the child’s performance on all the required screenings and evaluations for the suspected disabilities. Additionally, NASP recommends schools review students’ academic growth both before and after extended school closures and the summer break.

• Look at other exclusionary factors. The IDEA requires schools to determine that a learning disability that is not a result of “visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disabilities, of emotional disturbance, of environmental, cultural, economic disadvantage, or limited English proficiency.” 34 CFR 300.309(a)(3). NCLD has recommended districts provide staff training in cultural competency as well as reviewing policies and practices in order to prevent personal and institutional biases. Schools should be careful not to focus on numerical targets in order to avoid disproportionality. Each student’s situation must be reviewed and considered on an individual basis.

• Follow child find mandate. The IDEA requires schools to respond when there is a suspicion that a child has a disability. Even if schools use an RTI framework to provide classwide instruction and interventions, those practices cannot create unreasonable delays in identifying students with SLD. Schools also cannot request an extension for an SLD evaluation in order to implement RTI. Schools will likely be under time pressures to both ramp up instruction and interventions and meet their child find responsibilities. However, schools and parents can agree on extending evaluation timelines.

• Consider assessments carefully. To process a backlog of evaluations, school systems may need to conduct some parts of a student’s assessment virtually if the evaluation cannot be conducted face-to-face. The American Psychological Association recommends focusing on full-scale scores rather than subscales in virtual settings in order prevent slight data problems from skewing test results. “Our norms don’t allow for us to have a six-month gap where students weren’t in school,” Skalski says.

Kara Arundel covers special education for , a 91¿´Æ¬ sister publication. Links to documents mentioned above are available to subscribers. 

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In fact, mask-wearing can muffle sounds, making hearing higher-pitched voices difficult, and prevents the ability to read facial expressions. Masks can also be physically uncomfortable for people who wear hearing aids or cochlear implants, said the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Widespread mask use is essential for protecting the health of the public, ASHA said. There are, however, steps people with and without hearing loss can take to reduce communication challenges.

“It’s important for teachers and other school staff to be aware that children with hearing, speech, language  and social communication disorders may miss out on certain messages when masks are used,” says Brooke Hatfield, ASHA’s associate director of Clinical Issues in Speech-Language Pathology. “ASHA wants to raise awareness about this with teachers and other school professionals to help children achieve success in the classroom in this challenging communication environment.”

Consider these best practices from ASHA to improve communication while wearing a mask in the classroom:

1. Consider clear panel masks or face shields. Most disposable masks cover the face from above the nose to the bottom of the chin. There are, however, masks on the market that have a clear, light plastic covering the mouth. Face shields, worn like a headband across the forehead, hold a clear plastic sheet that covers the entire face and bends toward the ears but doesn’t touch the skin.
2. Get students’ attention before speaking. Making eye contact with students will be essential as a teacher begins an important lesson or wants to give instructions. Class sizes will likely be reduced to ensure social distancing so it may not take too long for a teacher to make sure all student attention is on him. Still, advise teachers that it may be most helpful to provide both written and verbal instructions.
3. Face students directly but maintain social distancing. Remind teachers to avoid speaking, or at least providing critical instructions and lessons, with their backs toward students or while walking around the room. Teachers are also being asked to socially distance from students, so they need to stand in a spot where every student can see their face.
4. Talk a bit louder but don’t shout. Masks muffle sounds so teachers will need to speak a bit louder, especially if they are in a larger classroom for social distancing purposes. Speaking slower also will help improve communication. Remind teachers to avoid shouting as it can be jarring for students.
5. Use body language. Masks block the ability to read facial expressions. For example, students will not be able to see a teacher smile if she is wearing a mask. Teachers can consider ways to communicate approval through body language, such as a thumbs up, an OK gesture with their fingers, or by holding a sign with a smiley face.
6. Check for understanding. Teachers can ask students to indicate that they understood directions. Teachers should also encourage students to raise their hands if they need clarification.
7. Personalize communication. At the beginning of the school year, teachers should try to understand each student’s communication preference and how she can make communication easier for each student. For example, some students may always need both verbal and written instructions. Likewise, each teacher may have communication preferences. Remember that this is a unique situation, and everyone is learning how to navigate wearing masks in classrooms.
8. Suggest comfortable masks for students with hearing aids or cochlear implants. Common face masks that hug the face with loops behind the ears can be uncomfortable for people who wear hearing aids or who have cochlear implants. Teachers may suggest face shields, masks that tie behind the head, masks with four-string ties, or other face coverings that don’t interfere with hearing devices.

Kara Arundel covers special education for LRP Publications.

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Because of the trauma, stress and anxiety students have experienced—such as the loss of a family member, food insecurity and inability to be with friends due to social distancing requirements—schools may see behavior regression in some students, Strobach says. “It’s not that the student is giving you a hard time, it’s that the student is having a hard time. The goal … should be to identify kids who need support and get them that support.”

Many education stakeholders are rethinking traditional school discipline practices as a result of the pandemic. In fact, several advocacy groups have asked schools to refrain from expelling or suspending students during this time, saying exclusionary punishments aren’t effective and disproportionately impact students of color and students with disabilities.

In April, 42 advocacy organizations in California wrote to the governor and state superintendent asking that districts stop expelling students during extended school closures. In New York, the Solutions Not Suspensions Coalition asked the state education department to declare a moratorium on suspensions and to provide students with enhanced social and emotional behavioral supports during the pandemic.

“Our schools are facing incredible challenges but also have a unique opportunity in this moment to reimagine our education systems and confront long-standing inequities head-on,” says Angela McNair Turner, a staff attorney with the Public Counsel, which helped write the letter in California.

John Matthews, founder of the Community Safety Institute, also recommends schools focus on prevention and mitigation of school safety threats by providing interventions to students who are known to be struggling emotionally and behaviorally. “There are so many stressors right now,” Matthews says. “Going back to school will be a totally different situation than in the past. We need to be acutely aware of our students’ emotional needs.”

Prioritizing trauma-informed discipline practices doesn’t mean that schools need to throw away their rules of conduct or eliminate nonexclusionary consequences for violations. Schools must continue to provide a safe and supportive learning environment free from discrimination, taunting, harassment and bullying, including cyberbullying, says Jaime Fernand, a school attorney with Barton Gilman LLP in New York. “Schools are required to promptly investigate and respond in an appropriate manner to end such harassment.”

Here are several steps schools can take to reduce challenging behaviors and create safe school environments:

• Teach behavior expectations. Many schools typically teach behavior expectations at the beginning of the school year. Those lessons will be crucial this year as some students may be learning in virtual settings while others will be school buildings. For those students attending classes in school, they also will need to be taught social distancing expectations and the consequences for violations.
• Increase social and emotional supports. The first few weeks of the new school year should include an infusion of social and emotional supports, advises Strobach. Extra attention should be provided to students who have struggled with behaviors in the past. Students with ongoing behavior challenges will need additional supports when the new school year begins, according to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
• Know discipline provisions for students with disabilities. School staff should know the rules governing discipline for students with disabilities. The suspension of a student with a disability for more than 10 consecutive school days is a change in placement. 34 CFR 300.536. Within 10 school days of any decision to change the student’s placement because of a violation of a code of student conduct, the district must conduct a manifestation determination review to determine if the student’s misconduct is a result of the student’s disability. The IDEA also requires that IEP teams consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports and other strategies to address the behaviors of a student whose challenges impedes her learning. 34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(i).
• Evaluate the circumstances of infractions. Fernand recommends administrators evaluate the circumstances that a student may be going through before determining what consequences will be delivered for violating code of conduct rules. Depending on the violation, schools can consider having students write a reflective essay to try to understand and change their behavior, she says. “Other restorative justice techniques to consider with a remote or hybrid setting could be having students send messages to classmates, or community service, such as writing letters to health care workers.”
• Partner with community, national agencies. Schools and districts may consider collaborating with outside agencies to support student mental and social well-being and to develop positive and safe school climates, Matthews said. “Sometimes schools have difficulty taking it all on themselves,” he says. Additionally, there are several resources about creating positive school climates and options for nonexclusionary discipline practices. For example, NASP has a new Framework for Effective School Discipline that provides effective practices and policy recommendations.
• Model a calm, nonjudgmental approach. School staff can help create a positive and welcoming environment—online or in person—by modeling expected behaviors. Teachers also should be encouraged to productively and confidentially discuss strategies to support students with challenging behaviors, recommends NCTSN.

Kara Arundel covers special education for , a 91¿´Æ¬ sister publication.

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Students with disabilities, students with food insecurities, students without access to devices or Wi-Fi, and students at risk of abuse are the populations of students who likely struggled the most during extended school closures this spring, testified witnesses at a hearing on reopening schools hosted by the House Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee.

As schools prepare to begin the upcoming school year, lawmakers and witnesses discussed the challenges and potential solutions of serving vulnerable populations in school buildings.

Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told subcommittee members that in the spring the district was able to distribute 15,000 hot spots, laptops, and tablets to households with no access to virtual learning. But as Hinojosa prepares for the SY 2020-21, there are many more resources his district needs, including providing internet access for more students and providing services to students with disabilities.

“That’s one of our biggest concerns,” he said. “We have a lot of robust plans for our traditional students, but our students with special needs, by definition have an individual plan … Many of the parents are now carrying the burden of doing that at home when trained professionals are the ones who do it, but we also need to be concerned about their safety.”

Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn told subcommittee members that state leadership has supported the safe reopening of schools by providing resources, such as professional development for teachers, personal protective equipment, and toolkits to support in-person learning. Tennessee also funded a grant to pay existing and aspiring teachers to become dually certified to teach special education. An additional grant funds the expansion of special education strategies to serve students with disabilities in remote settings, Schwinn said.

“School reopening must include clear plans for ensuring that all students have access to a quality education, regardless of the delivery format,” she said.

The lawmakers and witnesses acknowledged that safely opening school buildings to students and staff is extremely complex, especially in areas where there are increasing cases of COVID-19. There was wide consensus that school systems need to collaborate with local and state health experts on their reopening plans.

“We totally agree and honor and respect that we have to have students in the classroom learning with the teacher but we need to do it in a way that doesn’t risk lives,” said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev.

Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., said every student should be afforded the option of in-person learning. “Sadly, learning loss isn’t the only challenge students face due to school closures,” he said. “This pandemic and subsequent school closures have drastically reduced interactions between vulnerable children and trusted adults while exacerbating conditions that contribute to child abuse and neglect such as financial strain and social isolation,” Allen said. “School closures diminish educators’ abilities to serve these vulnerable students.”

Sean O’Leary, vice chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases at the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the AAP urges schools to prioritize in-person learning for students. He said there’s already evidence of the negative impacts on children — including depression, anxiety, suicidality, and increases in obesity rates — because of the extended school closures in the spring. However, schools should only reopen when it is safe to do so, he said.

“This guidance does not mean we recommend that all schools open five days a week for the start of the school year,” O’Leary said. “A one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate under the current environment.”

Kara Arundel covers special education for LRP Publications.

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Wealthier schools in suburban and rural settings with fewer minority students saw more gun-related suicides and shootings that targeted staff and students, which led to higher fatalities per incident during that same time period, according to the report.

The majority of school shootings result from disputes or grievances, such as conflicts between students or staff, or between gangs, the GAO found. The next most common type of shooting at school is accidental. The office focused its research on 318 school shootings that occurred between 2009-19 and resulted in 166 fatalities. Additionally, GAO staff did not find empirical research in the last 10 years that directly examines the link between approaches to school discipline—whether exclusionary or nonexclusionary—and school shootings specifically. The GAO has previously that exclusionary discipline, such as suspensions and expulsions, disproportionately affects boys, Black students, and students with disabilities.

“It is difficult to isolate the effect of any one variable in a school shooting, such as the role of school discipline, because multiple and complex factors affect an individual’s propensity toward violence, shootings have many types of shooters and many possible causes, and researchers have so few comparable cases to study,” the report states.

The GAO pointed to research that promotes the use of nonexclusionary approaches, such as positive behavior supports, trauma-informed practices, social and emotional learning, and restorative justice, to address problematic behavior. Those nonexclusionary practices do not eliminate the need for suspensions and expulsions, but may help reduce districts’ reliance on them, the GAO wrote.

Indeed, schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports provide effective schoolwide school violence prevention practices as well as evidence-based interventions that are responsive to student needs, said Jessica Dirsmith, a clinical assistant professor at Duquense University in Pittsburgh. “Grounded in decades of research, and shown to impact a number of important student-level and systems-level outcomes, including creating and maintaining safe and supportive schools, these practices aim to create safe environments by promoting positive change in student behavior,” Dirsmith says.

Kelly Vaillancourt Strobach, director of policy and advocacy for the National Association of School Psychologists, says the GAO report supports the position that exclusionary discipline approaches are not effective at preventing school violence.

“We’re not saying never to suspend a student,” Strobach explains. “We’re saying it shouldn’t be the first step.”

The GAO report does not offer any recommendations but does thoroughly examine school shooting data by type, location, time of day, school year, and relationship of the shooter to the school community. No uniform definition of “school shooting” exists, so GAO researchers developed one: “Any time a gun is fired on school grounds, on a bus, during a school event, during school hours, or right before or after school.”

What the data shows about discipline and school shootings

Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-Va., and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., requested the report and asked the GAO to examine the relationship between school shootings and student discipline. In a statement, Scott said the report is the first government-mandated collection of data on school shootings.

In addition to analyzing data on school shootings and school characteristics from 2009-19, researchers conducted a literature review to identify empirical research from 2009 to 2019 that examined discipline approaches in school and their impact on school gun violence, school violence, or school safety. The GAO also interviewed selected researchers about the challenges and limitations of conducting research on school discipline and school shootings.

After the report’s release, Nadler and Scott said the findings show the Trump administration was unfounded in rescinding Obama-era guidance issued in 2014 to address racial disparities in school discipline practices. The Federal Commission on School Safety, created after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., recommended rescinding the Rethink Discipline guidance reported in Dear Colleague Letter, 8 GASLD 20 (OCR/DOJ 2014), saying the guidance may have contributed to making schools less safe.

The Federal Commission on School Safety also promoted the use of positive behavior supports, positive school climates, and student access to mental health services. Earlier this year, the federal government created to provide schools and districts recommendations and resources for creating safe and supportive learning environments.

Takeaways from GAO report

The GAO report found that school shootings most commonly result from disputes or grievances, such as conflicts between students or staff, or between gangs. The next most common type of shootings at school is the accidental shooting.

The research focused on 318 school shooting incidents from 2009-19. Here are key takeaways from the research, organized by topic:

• Region. School shootings occurred nationwide in every state except West Virginia and Wyoming. Half of all school shootings over the past 10 years occurred in the South and the greatest number of school shootings occurred in Florida (24), Texas (24), and Georgia (23).
• School level. Most school shootings occurred in high schools, where incidents were most often related to disputes and grievances, school-targeted shootings, and suicides. In middle schools, accidental shootings and shootings related to disputes and grievances were the most prevalent. In elementary schools, most shootings were accidental.
• Location. Most (61 percent) of school shootings occurred outside the school building. When shootings occurred outside a school building, disputes and grievances were the most prevalent reasons. When shootings occurred inside school buildings, they were most commonly accidental. Shootings that occurred inside a school building were, on average, three times deadlier per incident than shootings that occurred outside the school building.
• Shooter. Half of the school shootings were committed by a student or former student. The other half were committed by individuals with no relationship to the school or whose relationship was unknown. With school shootings that were accidental, a suicide, or school-targeted, the shooter was more often a student or former student. However, when the shooting was the result of a dispute or grievance, the shooter was a non-student in most cases.

Kara Arundel covers special education for LRP Publications, publisher of 91¿´Æ¬. 

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The 5-4 decision in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, 120 LRP 19694 (U.S. 06/30/20), determined that a Montana provision that prohibited families from using tax credit scholarships at any school controlled by a “church, sect, or denomination” discriminated against religious schools and the families whose children attended or hope to attend them in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The Free Exercise Clause “protects religious observers against unequal treatment” and against “laws that impose special disabilities on the basis of religious status,” according to the Supreme Court’s opinion.

The decision, which some say could increase opportunities for public funding for private schools, reverses the Montana Supreme Court ruling in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, 119 LRP 44339 (Mont. 12/12/18), and remands the case for further proceedings.

In writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts opined, “A school, concerned about government involvement with its religious activities, might reasonably decide for itself not to participate in a government program. But we doubt that the school’s liberty is enhanced by eliminating any option to participate in the first place.”

Roberts also wrote, “A State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.” Roberts was joined by the High Court’s four other conservative justices in the decision.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of four liberal justices writing dissenting opinions, called the ruling “perverse.” She wrote that because the state scholarship program no longer exists, the Supreme Court should have never granted certiorari. Additionally, the defense of the Free Exercise Clause is misplaced, she wrote, because the U.S. Constitution does not require Montana to create or maintain a tuition tax subsidy.

“Without any need or power to do so, the Court appears to require a State to reinstate a tax-credit program that the Constitution did not demand in the first place,” Sotomayor wrote.

‘Historic victory’

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a proponent of educational choice, called the High Court’s decision a “historic victory for America’s students.”

“Each and every student needs the freedom to find their education fit, and today the Highest Court in the Land has protected that right by ensuring that families can use taxpayer funds to choose schools that match their values and educational goals, including faith-based schools,” DeVos said in a statement.

Also in a statement, President Trump said that his administration believes school choice is a civil rights issue, and that “no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing school.”

The decision, however, disappointed several education-related organizations and disability advocacy groups, some of which had filed amicus briefs to the Court last year, saying school vouchers and tax credit programs allow public funds to be used at private schools that do not have to implement the IDEA and its key provisions, including access to the general curriculum, instructional supports and accommodations.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the decision “will hurt both the 90 percent of students who attend neighborhood public schools by siphoning off needed funds and, in the long term, those who attend religious schools by curtailing their freedom with the accountability that comes with tax dollars.”

Kara Arundel covers special education for , a 91¿´Æ¬ sister publication. Documents mentioned above are available to subscribers. 

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Being mindful about the academic and social needs of students with disabilities in inclusive settings can help students be more engaged with learning, says Paula Kluth, a consultant who works with teachers and families on inclusive practices. It can also benefit all students by creating a supportive and connected school community.

“As this year moves on and we see more evolving, I think it will be critical to put belonging at the center of all we do,” Kluth says.

Prioritizing inclusive practices has been a challenge for school systems as they abruptly switched to remote learning this spring due to the coronavirus outbreak. Some students’ learning plans were disrupted significantly because they could not access remote learning programs, needed more supports than could be provided, or could not access certain therapies. Additionally, because of social distancing, many children lost out on social time with friends.

“Kids on the autism spectrum, for instance, are struggling mightily with changes in schedules, a lack of familiar activities and people, and support,” Kluth says.

Consider implementing these practices to create inclusive communities:

1. Make curriculum considerations for all students. Every student needs accessible and appropriately challenging lessons. It is vital that all learners are considered in curriculum and instructional decisions and that students with disabilities have access to the general curriculum, Kluth says. Some students with disabilities may need modifications—supported by teachers, therapists, and paraprofessionals—to access the curriculum. If that support or modification is delayed, a teacher can suggest the student watch a related video to build her understanding of the topic until the modified lesson is available, for example.
2. Use a universal design for learning framework. UDL practices provide a flexible learning environment that can benefit a variety of learners by providing multiple ways to access learning and demonstrate knowledge. “The extended school closures have helped educators understand that the universal design of instruction is powerful; so much about how we teach has now changed,” Kluth says. “Teachers are mastering tools they may not have known about previously and they are seeing that changing things up is often necessary for student success.”
3. Involve families. Let parents know inclusive practices are a priority in your district. Ask parents about their child’s needs and talk about strategies to support their child’s participation in the classroom. Have therapists and counselors available for virtual consultations if parents would like to take advantage of those services, Kluth says. “Connections with families will continue to be the key to success,” she said.
4. Match students with supportive peers. If you are planning in-person classes but need to limit the number of students in the classroom, try to make sure all students have at least one or two supportive peers in their class, Kluth says. Try assigning work that keeps them linked. For example, you might have students complete some assignments in pairs or groups or ask them to comment on one another’s work on FlipGrid.

91¿´Æ¬istrators and teachers can also help create a sense of community and connection outside of the school day, Kluth adds, by encouraging service learning projects, literature circles, and other opportunities to safely be with peers.

Kara Arundel covers special education for , a 91¿´Æ¬ sister publication.

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Jordan Elyse McCutcheon, originally from West Virginia, says teaching has been more difficult since social distancing measures were implemented to help prevent the spread of the virus. The children and school staff must submit to twice-daily temperature checks, teachers sanitize their classrooms multiple times a day, and everyone must wear a mask.

As schools in the United States make plans to reopen this summer and fall, the experiences and advice shared by their counterparts around the world may provide valuable lessons for what to do—and what not to do—while trying to resume in-person learning during a public health crisis.

“It’s really hard to keep masks on 5- and 6-year-olds,” says McCutcheon, adding that it’s even difficult for her to wear the mask and speak all day.

Still, the safety measures enacted have help prevent an outbreak at her school. “It’s way extra work but I think it’s the best way to stay safe,” says McCutcheon, who has taught in Seoul for five years and previously worked as a teacher in Chile.

The school where McCutcheon teaches, in the Haebangchon district of Seoul, closed to students for only two weeks this spring as one school year ended and another began. During the second week of closure, teachers went back to the building to design and decorate classrooms and hallways with social distancing signage. McCutcheon says the teachers also created clear standing partitions to place between children at their shared desks. Those partitions fall down dozens of times a day, she adds, distracting everyone from the lesson being taught.

The school did not alter the curriculum in response to the virus and is under much pressure to keep children on track academically, she says. As such, she documents each student’s progress through twice weekly reports to parents. Her classroom typically has 12 students and two teachers, but because some nearby schools have closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks, she now has 20 students in her class.

One of the biggest changes is that the school no longer allows children to play outside or play with toys in the classroom, McCutcheon explains. Recess used to include yoga time or playtime on mats. That has been replaced with independent drawing or movies.

Teachers in the U.S. will need patience as schools reopen, McCutcheon says. They must realize that it will be difficult for students and staff to wear masks all day and to keep distant from each other.

Being optimistic and enjoying light-hearted moments helps, McCutcheon notes. This week, two of her students kissed while wearing their masks. It was cute and, for a brief moment, the joyful display of affection made McCutcheon smile. Then she told the friends to separate.

Kara Arundel covers special education for , a 91¿´Æ¬ sister publication.

The post Lessons from South Korea on social distancing in schools appeared first on District 91¿´Æ¬istration.