The districts of Oakland and West Contra Costa counties report that absenteeism is greater and that officials are involved in the impact.
OAKLAND, Calif. – At the center of the pandemic, some school districts are locating that an alarming percentage of academics are absent from the virtual, with the worst absenteeism rates among homeless academics, foster youth, English students, black academics, and the best. school scholars.
Now some districts, like West Contra Costa and the Oakland Unified School District in the San Francisco Bay Area, are running to locate tactics to locate and rehire students and provide them with what they want to complete their courses.
“I’m involved with academics in grades nine through 12 and youth advocacy,” Gary Yee, a member of the Oakland Unified Board, said at a recent board meeting. He noted that only about 83% of the best academics in schools in general show for the categories and that the lowest rates are for other young people in high school-age foster care, with 6nine%. “I wonder if it is possible that we can be sure that we know who they are, why they are absent and if the reasons are beyond our reach. “
California is asking districts to track students’ daily participation in distance learning and describe methods of student success, but for now, there is no state knowledge to show how engaged students are this school year.
Even before COVID-19 forced schools to close and begin distance learning, Oakland and West Contra Costa had disorders with academics who lacked their classes.
On average, about 5% of academics were absent in Oakland and 6% of West Contra Costa academics before school closed in 2019-2020. Overall, online absenteeism rates are now about 7% in any of the districts. And in the Oakland Unified District, absenteeism rates on some teams are much higher, according to K-12 District data.
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Approximately 21, consistent with the percent of homeless scholars, are absent lately, compared to the 12 consistent with the penny at the same time last year. Absences of other young people in foster care are 15% to 10% last year.
This is 13% for newly arrived immigrants, up from 8% in 201 nine; while the absences of black academics are 10 consistent with penny, compared to 7 consistent with penny last year; and nine according to the penny of special education academics are absent, seven according to the penny.
West Contra Costa Superintendent Matthew Duffy said the district largely records absences among non-English-speaking students fluently, as English learners had the highest absenteeism rates last year.
The district is also involved in its homeless population possibly increasing due to the difficulty of families paying rent, and recorded about 1,000 absences of students without the required vaccinations.
Experts point to a number of reasons for increasing students’ absenteeism in distance learning, adding lack of access to technology, lack of supervision of an adult or safe workplaces at home, as well as language barriers and other difficulties.
Oakland and West Contra Costa track attendance in student participation in online courses, as well as paintings made online.
They have implemented absence tracking plans that come with calls, emails and letters to families, as well as other outreach activities and activities that accentuate longer absences.
Castlemont High in Oakland contacted 120 students, many from Guatemala, who registered or responded to a generational survey; they hired a translator who spoke Mam, the Mayan language spoken through many Guatemalans, and visited the student houses for which they had directions. , but no phone numbers.
These efforts helped enroll more academics and provide them with the generation they needed, said Preston Thomas, the district’s manager and systems.
Oakland Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said the district faces demanding situations to succeed scholars. “Although we’re not where we want to be yet,” he said, “there are many other people running in the district for scholars and families. . “
The two districts are network associations to provide “learning centers” at non-school sites such as the DeFremery Recreation Center in the city of West Oakland, where students with high needs can participate in distance learning in environments that meet state safety guidelines.
These do not reposition district instruction, but provide a secure position with Wi-Fi. Students can use Chromebooks issued by the District or distribute the city through the Oakland Undivided Crusade to join their categories and complete their work, with more academic, social, and emotional support studies.
Oakland Undivided is a city-wide crusade that has raised millions of dollars to provide devices and the Internet to all low-income academics in the city who want it.
“There are academics and families for whom distance education simply doesn’t work,” Johnson-Trammell said in a recent message to the community. << for these families, distance education has posed them intense and infrequently devastating difficulties. that we have an ethical legal responsibility to investigate all the features that must be had to provide in-person instruction in accordance with state educational rules and county public protection councils. "
A recent EdSource survey found that many parents are involved in continuing distance learning during the school year will result in a loss of learning for all students, especially those who are the most economically vulnerable.
The Oakland Unified School District has opened 3 centers with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation and extracurricular program organizations, such as Bay Area Community Resources.
“The call is beyond our capacity,” said Curtiss Sarikey, the district’s staff leader. He said more centers are expected to open over the next month for students due to low attendance or other problems.
A major school principal, he said, referred to 4 students who had suicidal tendencies and maintained contact with school staff but did not live with their parents. “It’s a constant breakup to hear what our students face,” Sarikey said at a recent board meeting, adding that academics want relationships with concerned adults who can help them resume their learning.
West Contra Costa Unified is in Contra Costa County to help identify organizations that want to host learning centers and find out if they want monetary support, Internet improvements, or other updates the district can provide, Duffy said.
“It’s slow, to be honest, because those organizations have their own safety plans and work situations,” he said, referring to Covid-19’s concerns.
Schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties can reopen for in-person teaching, in the state’s Covid-19 tracking system, as none are at the maximum restrictive level of purple and do not plan to open soon.
However, learning centers would possibly open earlier than districts because they are a form of childcare or extracurricular systems that are not controlled through the district. As distance learning continues, Oakland Unified is working with the nonprofit Oakland Public Education Fund to position around three hundred volunteer virtual tutors with academics wanting further support.
Both districts are also using state and federal money to help address Covid-19 challenges, adding lost learning, to expand the circle of family awareness, student and instructor training.
Oakland Unified School District will pay assignments to teachers who spend the most time as an “Equity Circle of Family Navigators,” who join with families on educational issues and coordinate with counselors and social staff to locate students who missing.
He has also created an online “Family Central” page with data on district programs, technology, loose meals, fitness care and upgrades. West Contra Costa has created an online ‘digital backpack’ page with family circle resources and offers a ‘parent time’ on Fridays, giving parents the ability to connect directly with their children’s teachers as well as education for teachers. parents to distance education.
Districts have also improved distribution and technology. In addition to collaborating with the city and nonprofit Oakland Public Education Fund to distribute loose Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hotspots to low-income academics as a component of the Oakland Undivided City campaign, Oakland Unified also provides teachers with assignments to provide
West Contra Costa purchased and distributed approximately 4,000 hotspots, Chromebooks, and devices for all students from kindergarten through the first year for distance education Districts with outdoor agencies to help homeless people and youth have also expanded the distribution of loose food for students in schools, and the Oakland Unified District is testing food delivery to some families.
The improved translation comes with Arabic and Mam translators in Oakland Unified, as well as a new generation of communication that translates messages to families as well as bilingual tutors in West Contra Costa Unified.
To motivate low-income 12th graders who may not graduate to pass “graduation milestones,” the Oakland Unified District plans to offer monetary “incentives” of up to $1,000 each.
But the director of studies, Sondra Aguilera, said that the main points of the proposal were still finalized.
Districts will also offer instructor education in distance education and racial justice. Oakland Unified adds more mentors for black and Latino academics and provides implicit prejudice education for staff. West Contra Costa will offer education, adding a series of speakers on the commitment and empowerment of the black family.
“When a child misses school, our prejudices can influence how we deal with this absence,” said Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, a national and state initiative that works with districts for student attendance. This is a challenge we deserve to help the child overcome it,’ or say, ‘Why doesn’t this child care about school’ and blame the family?We want to move on to a more positive approach to challenge – solution. “
Editor’s Note: As a special project, EdSource is following advances in the Oakland and West Contra Costa Unified School Districts to illustrate some of the demanding situations facing other California urban districts. West Contra Costa Unified includes Richmond, El Cerrito and several other East Bay communities This story gave the first impression on EdSource.