Learnings from NJ’s Public Charter Schools During COVID-19

May 19, 2020

Featuring leaders from:

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Agenda● Opening Remarks from Senator Teresa Ruiz & Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt

● NJPCSA: Charter Response Survey Results

● Uncommon Schools: Supporting middle school readers and writers virtually

● KIPP NJ: Supporting students and families with SEL resources during COVID-19

● Unity Charter School: Best practices for serving students with disabilities virtually

● iLearn Schools: Staying connected with teachers during iContinue Learning

NOTE: Chat has been disabled; please type in all questions in the Q/A box to be reviewed by panelists

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Senator Teresa Ruiz

● District 29: Newark● Senate President Pro Tempore● Senate 2008-present ● Committees: ➢ Education, Chair➢ Budget and Appropriations➢ Higher Education

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Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt

● District 6: Voorhees● Deputy Speaker● Assembly 2006-present ● Committees: ➢ Education, Chair➢ Financial Institutions and Insurance, Vice-Chair

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NJPCSA is a membership organization and the statewide advocacy voice for NJ’s 88 public charter schools and the 54,587 students that they serve.

Visit www.njcharters.org to learn more.

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NJPCSA Charter Response Survey

● Conducted April 22 to May 7

● 28 questions: distance learning, school meal distribution, and other challenges due to COVID-19

● Response Rate: 52 schools representing 36,157 (66%) of all public charter school students

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Public charter schools pivoted quickly to provide virtual instruction but technology costs remain a top concern

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• 83% of public charter schools had a virtual/online learning program up and running by March 17, the day school buildings were closed by Governor Murphy

• 67% of public charter schools had a 1:1 device program already in place prior to the pandemic; of the 67%, only 51% were 1:1 for all grade levels.

• $2.6 million spent on technology to provide access to families; 16,432devices, 6,259 hot spots distributed

• Schools are concerned that some devices may not be returnedor will need to be replaced in the fall

Public charter schools provided school meals directly or partnered with local districts to provide meals to families but some families are not accessing meals

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• Public charter schools are distributing approximately 46,000 meals per week to students and families.

• 44% of public charter schools are doing direct deliveries to families in need

• 42% of public charter schools have partnered with district schools to provide meals: Newark, Camden, Paterson, Jersey City, Hoboken, New Brunswick, Perth Amboy, Teaneck

• However, many schools report that the percentage of families accessing free meals on a regular basis is lower than expected

Attendance rates are high and public charter schools have prioritized connecting with students to ensure all children continue to learn

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• Public charter school average daily attendance rate: 91%• Charters are making sure they have ‘line of sight’ on their kids

✓ HOLA (Hoboken): “We have set up a student tracker and each student has a regular one on one with their teachers. For students who are struggling or have special needs, there are more one-on-ones scheduled.”

✓ Discovery CS (Newark): “We call every child each day, held parent orientations, have zoom office hours.”

✓ Philip’s Academy (Newark): “All 516 students have received wellness calls, our nurse conducts outreach, our admin team makes home visits, teachers report attendance daily and after 3 missed sessions an admin conducts outreach. We have a tracker to capture families impacted by COVID and a resource center (Nurse, Dean of Culture, Social Workers, Admin Team, Operations) is available to attend to customized needs and scenarios.”

94% of public charter schools are providing synchronous, real-time instruction to students at least several times per week

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Public charter schools continue to hold students to high expectations but have developed supports and flexibilities for those most impacted by COVID-19

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• 27% of public charters have moved to a Pass/Fail grading system; 73% continue to use number/letter grades with modifications

✓ Hatikvah (E. Brunswick): “We shifted to pass/fail in specials for students with IEPs who were struggling with the workload; for K-5, we decreased the number of standards we are assessing on the report cards in special subjects since they were not all observable in specials; for 6-8, we continued with the same grading.”

✓ Jersey City Global: “We are using the same methods we previously used; however we have provided teachers with flexibility in the grading systems, particularly as we have has many families that have suffered losses with COVID-19. Additionally our special area classes have moved to Pass/Fail.”

✓ Paul Robeson (Trenton): “Wide latitude of flexibility and understanding of individual situations but regular grading scale applies to assignments with extensive opportunities for make up work and no penalty for late assignments.”

Public charter teacher and staff roles and schedules have been ‘flexed’ in order to meet the needs of families during COVID-19

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• Foundation (Trenton): “Teachers actual teaching time has decreased, while checking work and office hours have increased.”

• Cresthaven (Plainfield): “Mandatory daily check-ins with students with disabilities and English learners.”

• Learning Community (Jersey City): “We provide tutoring throughout the day and early evening. We use our teacher interns from NJCU during the school day and faculty works after school until about 5:00 pm. We've fine-tuned this process even assigning interns to work with specific students that are struggling daily for one-hour sessions. This practice is making a huge difference and preventing students from failing.”

• College Achieve (Asbury Park): “Teachers work alternate schedules to provide night instruction for those students who are not able to login during the day.”

Severe challenges remain for all public schools in New Jersey

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• No matter how great your virtual learning program is, it is not a replacement for face-to-face in-building instruction

• Potential funding cuts (Districts and charters face looming budget cuts)• Schools need time to plan (Decisions for 2020-21 need to be made NOW)• Technology access remains fluid week-to-week (Delays in shipping laptops, devices are

more than 5 years old, weak wifi connections, parents have internet access one week and they don’t the next)

• Staffing (More flexibility is needed around certification and hiring)• Teachers have been doing the heavy lifting and need a break (“Our biggest challenge has

been helping our teachers and staff manage the responsibilities of distance learning and finding some work-life balance.”)

NJ’s Public Charter Schools:Uncommon, KIPP, Unity, iLearn

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Best Practices for Schools

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• Uncommon Schools (Steve Chiger): Supporting middle school

readers and writers virtually

• KIPP NJ (Sheyla Riaz): Supporting students and families with SEL

resources during COVID-19

• Unity Charter School (Connie Sanchez, Ashley Serafim): Best

practices for serving students with disabilities virtually

• iLearn Schools (Yanivis Hage): Staying connected with teachers

during iContinue Learning

Uncommon Schools in 2020

54schools

20,000+students

2,550staff members

6cities

Uncommon

Schools starts and

operates

outstanding

urban public

schools that close

the achievement

gap

and prepare

students from low-

income

communities

to graduate from

college.

https://uncommonschools.org/remotelearning 16

Camden• 2 Elementary Schools

• 1 Middle School

Rochester• 3 Elementary Schools

• 2 Middle Schools

• 1 High School

Newark• 6 Elementary Schools

• 6 Middle Schools

• 2 High Schools

Troy• 1 Elementary School

• 1 Middle School

• 1 High School

Boston• 3 Middle Schools

• 1 High School

New York City• 8 Elementary Schools

• 12 Middle Schools

• 4 High Schools

This year, we are 54 Uncommon schools in 6 cities.

https://uncommonschools.org/remotelearning 17

Uncommon’s Response to Remote Learning

15,000 K-8 instruction

workbooks distributed to

students and families

3,000 Chromebooks

distributed to MS and

HS students for online

learning

35,000 phone calls

to families, checking on

wellness, academics,

tech needs

Over 100 trainings to

leaders and staff to

prepare for remote and

online learning

160 ES and MS

instructional videos to kick

off online learning

8,000 HS lessons conducted online

https://uncommonschools.org/remotelearning 18

MS Literacy – Design Principles:

• something that is relatively easy to use and feels like class – teacher interactions, systems

• something that parents can manage

https://uncommonschools.org/remotelearning19

MS Literacy – Design Principles:

• something that’s as device agnostic as possible, not making limited computer access a non-

starter – (phones, TV, printers); USI is using asynchronous instruction for K-8, with synchronous

instruction for 9-12

• something that’s inclusive in terms of presenters, texts, and how we approach material

• something that’s sensitive to the fact that we are guests in our students’ homes

https://uncommonschools.org/remotelearning20

MS Literacy – Design Principles:

• something that reminds kids of the nurturing power of stories, and of reading and

writing;

• something that makes time for personal response to the curriculum and creative

writing, & isn’t just “lesson of the day”

https://uncommonschools.org/remotelearning21

MS Literacy – Design Principles:

• something that anticipates and tries to account for student struggles (in addition

to the resources we create with our special education team)

• something both rigorous and reasonable, given the limits of our first foray into

distance learning

https://uncommonschools.org/remotelearning22

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Mission: One day our nation will know Newark

and Camden, New Jersey, as cities of world-class

public education.

https://kippnj.org/coronavirusupdates/ 23

As of today in Newark (week

9 of remote learning) we

have distributed:

o + 3,000 chromebooks

o 38 hotspots

o 29,823 meals

March 16 - We transitioned to

remote/virtual learning

Two weeks into remote

learning stats:

https://kippnj.org/coronavirusupdates/ 24

Supporting students and families with social

and emotional learning (SEL) resources during

COVID-19

Tier 1: Think Maslow and start with basic needs

• Weekly check-ins to identify needs

• Access to weekly grocery distribution (+

deliveries)

• Linkage to community resources (housing,

employment, health)

https://kippnj.org/coronavirusupdates/ 25

Supporting students and families with social and

emotional learning (SEL) resources during COVID-19

Tier 1 & 2: Social and Emotional Supports

• Assessing wellness and building resilience through

guided check-in questions (The Circle of Courage –

www.starr.org)

• Creating Wellness Google Classrooms and adding SEL

content to existing classrooms (ie. mood meters,

breathing exercises, brain breaks, emotion focused

stories)

• Providing education to key stakeholders

(parents/guardians and school staff) on how to best

support students through the pandemic via virtual

professional development, town halls, electronic linkage

to community resources, etc.

Belonging: Who have you

connected with today? Tell me

about that!

Mastery: What are your

strengths today/this week?

What went well?

Independence: What did you

have control over today? What

choices are in your power to

make?

Generosity: We are all doing

our part by staying home,

washing our hands and

showing kindness to those

around us. How did you

contribute to that today? How

did it feel to do that?

https://kippnj.org/coronavirusupdates/ 26

Supporting students and families with social

and emotional learning (SEL) resources during

COVID-19

Tier 3: Counseling & Community Linkage

• Virtual counseling groups (type of groups

offered include grief, mood management,

anxiety regulation, self care & mindfulness)

• Virtual individual counseling sessions

• Parenting sessions

• Community linkage and referrals (community

providers are continuing their work through

telehealth)

• Crisis response and triage

https://kippnj.org/coronavirusupdates/ 27

Grade Levels: K-8

Total Enrollment:

236

Special Education

Enrollment: 20.34%

Response to Virtual School

Setting the stage - Parent Education/Phone Calls

Regular communication – Team Meetings/ILT/Whole Staff

No one Slips through

Educating the parents

Best Practices for Serving Students with Disabilities Virtually

One- on- One Assistants

Complete Modifications– Mailed assignments

Best Practices for Serving Students with Disabilities Virtually

IEP

• Meetings held virtually

• Google Meet

Related Services

• Speech, OT, PT

• Counseling

Team

• Weekly meeting

• Share best practices

Best Practices for Serving Students with Disabilities Virtually

• Enrichment activities promote critical

thinking and problem-solving skills,

improve student’s ability to

concentrate, and make learning more

meaningful, valuable, and rewarding

• Flexible Fridays – Meeting with

teacher’s 1 on 1

• Extended time

Best Practices for Serving Students with Disabilities Virtually

Live Classes

Flipped Class Model - Pre-

recorded lessons

Collaboration and

ModificationsSocial Hour

https://ilearnschools.org/covid-19-preparedness-plan/

The mission of iLearn Schools is to provide a

high-quality STEAM-based education in a

digital learning environment to empower

students to meet and surpass grade level

standards and succeed in college and careers.

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https://ilearnschools.org/covid-19-preparedness-plan/35

iContinue LearningiEnroll

iCare

https://ilearnschools.org/covid-19-preparedness-plan/36

iContinue Supporting Teachers- Resources

https://ilearnschools.org/covid-19-preparedness-plan/37

iContinue Learning

iContinue Supporting Teachers: Professional Development & Faculty Meetings

Virtual Professional

Development Virtual Faculty

Meetings

https://ilearnschools.org/covid-19-preparedness-plan/38

iContinue Learning

iContinue Supporting Teachers- Instructional Support

Weekly Virtual PLCS iContinue MentoringInstructional Coaching

Sessions

https://ilearnschools.org/covid-19-preparedness-plan/39

iContinue Learning

Contacts:

NJPCSA: Harry Lee <hlee@njcharters.org> Uncommon Schools: Steve Chiger <schiger@uncommonschools.org>KIPP NJ: Sheyla Riaz <sriaz@kippnj.org>Unity CS: Connie Sanchez <connie.sanchez@unitycharterschool.orgiLearn Schools: Yanivis Hage <yhage@ilearnschools.org>

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