The deadline is nearly here: Washington schools have two business days to figure out how they intend to teach the state’s roughly 1.1 million students remotely.
School districts are hurrying to get something – anything – prepared to satisfy state education department’s recent instructions to begin remote instruction by Monday.
State education leaders set this deadline just days ago. And the mandate to begin instruction wasn’t much more than that: State officials are leaving it up to districts to decide how to keep students learning. Some will inevitably learn online – many already are, such as students in the White River School District. But schools are expected to find creative alternatives for children without access to a computer, as well as those in special education and those learning English. And unlike other years, there won’t be state standardized tests to track student progress.
The decision to require some version of school was a reversal by education officials who first asked educators to hold off on remote learning unless they could provide it equitably. That spurred a big question: Is school in, or out?