Schools on the Frontlines EdSource

Should students take standardized tests like the Smarter Balanced Assessments during the pandemic?  Equally importantly, how would they take them if some students are at home learning online — and some missing in action altogether? California’s State Board of Education has already decreed that students will take shorter, modified versions of the Smarter Balanced tests.  But does that even make sense?  Or will the yet-to-be-named Secretary of Education in the Biden administration give states another waiver to pass on administering these tests for the second year in a row?
This week, Carl Cohn talks with Scott Marion, executive director of the Center for Assessment, who talks about these crucial questions.  Tantalizingly, Marion suggests that the impact of the pandemic on academic assessments could result in long-term changes in how we view and administer tests — for the better.
Carl has fifty years of service as a counselor, teacher, district superintendent, State Board of Education member, and executive director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. He brings a deep understanding of the challenges school districts face as they regroup and now increasingly move to reopening. 
Interested in learning more about the Center for Assessment?  Check out their website: 

The National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment

This special podcast series is hosted by Carl Cohn and sponsored by EdSource and the Ball/Frost Group.

Against the backdrop of growing movement focused on eradicating racial inequities in California and beyond, Carl Cohn has a wide-ranging conversation with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond who says schools should “use education to counter hate.” With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic Thurmond has had to help guide the country’s largest public school system through what may be the greatest crisis in its history. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Thurmond remains focused on creating opportunity for all, a key part of which he says is ensuring internet and technology access for all students.
Carl has fifty years of service as a counselor, teacher, district superintendent, State Board of Education member, and executive director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. He brings a deep understanding of the challenges school districts face as they regroup and now increasingly move to reopening. 
Looking for resources related to coronavirus and the reopening of California’s schools?  Check out the following websites: 

California Department of Education Covid-19 resources
Stronger Together: A Guidebook for the Safe Reopening of California’s Public Schools

This is the final episode of a special podcast series hosted by Carl Cohn and sponsored by EdSource and the Ball/Frost Group.

In this week’s podcast, Carl Cohn speaks with Michael Feuer, dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development and professor of education policy at George Washington University. They discuss the upcoming presidential election and what it might mean for education. Feuer weighs in on the changes a new administration might bring.
While schools grapple with the short term challenges of the pandemic, Feuer argues that attention should also be given to long term solutions to the issues in the education system that the pandemic has exposed.
Cohn has fifty years of education service in diverse roles including as a counselor, teacher, district superintendent, State Board of Education member, and executive director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. He brings a deep understanding of the challenges school districts face as they regroup and reopen in the fall. 
This is the twelfth episode in a special series of podcasts hosted by Carl Cohn and sponsored by EdSource and the Ball/Frost Group.

In this week’s podcast, Carl Cohn and his guests address one of the most challenging — and hidden — aspects of the pandemic: the mental health needs of students, and their teachers. Carl speaks with Dr. Jeannine Topalian, president of the California Association of School Psychologists, and Dr. Loretta Whitson, executive director of the California Association of School Counselors. Between them, their organizations represent over 17,000 professionals dedicated to the mental wellbeing of the state’s students.
In California the ratio of students to counselors is 622 to 1, below the national average of 464 to 1 and far shy of the National Association of School Counselors recommendation of 250 to 1. Carl and the two leaders discuss this lack of mental health resources in our schools, and the additional challenges posed by the pandemic. Delivering services to students is no easy feat in a remote learning environment, but Dr. Topalian and Dr. Whitson explain how their members hope to get it done.
With fifty years of service as a counselor, teacher, district superintendent, State Board of Education member, and executive director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, Cohn brings a deep understanding of the challenges school districts face as they regroup and reopen in the fall. 
Looking for resources for addressing the mental health needs of students?  Check out the following websites: 

California Association of School Psychologists Covid-19 resources
California Association of School Counselors Covid-19 counseling resources
California Department of Health Care Services: Services for Children and Youth

This is the eleventh episode in a special series of podcasts hosted by Carl Cohn and sponsored by EdSource and the Ball/Frost Group.

This week Schools on the Frontlines host Carl Cohn turns his focus to one of California’s least populous counties, Mono County in the Eastern Sierras. There are only two small school districts in the county —  Mammoth Unified and Eastern Sierra Unified —  with a combined enrollment of about 1,600 students.  In the sprawling county, that is less than one student per square mile. Carl speaks with Mono County’s Superintendent of Schools Stacey Adler about the challenges of educating children in such a dispersed community.  Here’s one surprise: because of its geography and economy the county was already quite prepared to offer distance learning when the pandemic hit last spring 
With fifty years of service as a counselor, teacher, district superintendent, State Board of Education member, and executive director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, Cohn brings a deep understanding of the challenges school districts face as they regroup and reopen in the fall. 
Check out EdSource’s award-winning series on rural education here.
For more information about Mono County’s two school districts please see:

Mono County Office of Education homepage
Eastern Sierra Unified School District profile on Ed-Data
Mammoth Unified School District profile on Ed-Data


This is the tenth episode in a special series of podcasts hosted by Carl Cohn and sponsored by EdSource and the Ball/Frost Group.

This week Schools on the Frontlines host Carl Cohn shifts gears and talks with a school board member who is also attempting to combat child poverty. Jackie Thu-Huong Wong sits on the school board o Washington Unified, an 8300 student district in Yolo County east of Sacramento.  She is also vice president of advocacy and policy at GRACE, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting child poverty in California. 
Wong describes how the financial impact of the pandemic has landed disproportionately on the shoulders of poor families, and how her work with GRACE to advocate for those families has changed as a result. And Cohn asks Wong about the work being done in her district to ensure students, teachers, and families are prepared for the new frontier of distance learning.
With fifty years of service as a counselor, teacher, district superintendent, State Board of Education member, and executive director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, Cohn brings a deep understanding of the challenges school districts face as they regroup and reopen in the fall. 
For more information about Washington Unified School District, please see:

Washington Unified School District homepage
Washington Unified School District profile on Ed-Data

This is the ninth episode in a special series of podcasts hosted by Carl Cohn and sponsored by EdSource and the Ball/Frost Group.