The end of ESSER. Smartphones. Chronic absenteeism. We believe you’ll agree that these will be some of the biggest challenges of the new school year and that they are many years in the making, all emerging in the early days of COVID disruptions.
Yes, the long-awaited ESSER spending deadline is finally upon us. Is your district prepared? Or will you have to make drastic changes to labor and other investments? You’re probably in pretty good shape if you’ve followed certain recommendations.
“When the federal government gave out all these relief funds and said you have until 2024 to spend them, I think a lot of districts assumed this was the new spending level that would continue on and made spending choices as if all these commitments were recurring,” says Marguerite Roza, research professor and director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University.
So what comes next? And what guidance should leaders follow as they formulate post-ESSER spending plans, craft smartphone policies and try to keep kids in schools? Read on, there are solutions below.
Doing budgeting differently
Traditionally, districts start each budget cycle by taking last year’s spending plan and deciding what needs to change. Frankly, that’s an outdated approach, argues Roza.
Districts often don’t know what strategies worked. They’re rolling over budgets before test scores and other valuable data come in.
Districts also need to be honest about what works and what doesn’t. If you brought on an edtech tool and you didn’t see improvement, you should reconsider its value, and vice versa. It could be possible that technology is improving academics, and your labor tactics need rethinking.
“Take Title I for instance,” says Roza. “Districts tend to use their Title I on the same thing year after year, regardless of whether it’s working.”
Because it is tied to labor, leaders feel inclined to protect those investments, she adds. If edtech tools are a significant driver of academic improvement, then leaders should be honest with themselves and sustain the initiatives that are producing results, even if it’s a difficult decision for the community.
“I think we need to take a more critical eye to this budgeting process,” she says. “That’s going to be Edunomics Lab’s big push in the next couple of years. We’ve really got to do budgeting differently than we’ve done. It’s part of what’s getting us in trouble.”
So, you’ve been preparing for this deadline for months. Now what’s next? The inevitable conditions ahead will require stronger financial leadership from administrators. For some, that means accepting strategies that result in a shrinking workforce.
“There are better and worse ways to do that, and my advice is to be intentional instead of defaulting to using attrition or seniority-based layoffs,” Roza says.
Leaders who are hiring are in luck, she adds. There are more applicants than openings, allowing you to be picky and choose the highest-quality candidate.
This is also a time for leaders to think differently about pay and use data to better understand which positions need filling. Leaders should be targeting pay to staff in high needs schools and areas that are difficult to fill vacancies, including special education, math and science. Special programs could also use a new approach.
“We’re finding that while costs are rising, some of these programs aren’t delivering real value for students,” says Roza. “Rule of thumb: doing a better job at teaching reading to all students works to raise outcomes for students with disabilities.”
Overall, financial success post-ESSER requires leveraging limited resources to find ways to drive progress for students, Roza concludes. It’ll require a fresh set of communication skills to drive your workforce forward.
Are your students seen and heard?
Chronic absenteeism is one problem that superintendents and their teams are not planning to tackle on their own. More leaders are now reaching out to their communities to co-design more effective ways to keep kids in school after the disruptions of the COVID years, says former superintendent Baron Davis, who is now a senior advisor to the nonprofit Digital Promise.
“If you’re sitting around the table designing solutions to a challenge and the people who are closest to the issue are not there, then stop,” Davis advises. “Stop doing things to and for people and start doing it with them. Design the solutions with them.”
Digital Promise is currently working with 16 school districts and their communities to investigate the causes of chronic absenteeism and strategize solutions that meet the needs of each system.
“So often, families give feedback and they don’t hear anything back,” says Kimberly Smith, head of the Digital Promise’s Center for Inclusive Innovation. “You have to clearly demonstrate to families and community members that their participation is going to result in a level of co-creation.”
Inclusive innovation relies on gathering contextual expertise and understanding lived experiences. District officials should take a fact-finding approach rather than a punitive approach to attendance–this will help educators better “understand a day in the life of a chronically absent student,” Davis advises.
This student-voice-driven approach will reveal the main barriers to regular attendance. School officials can sometimes take the default position that absenteeism is the fault of the family or community.
And while the climate at home can be a cause, educators must ask themselves, “How much is related to students not feeling seen or heard at school? Students not having engaging curriculum? Students not feeling support in a particular classroom,” Davis queries.
Smartphones become scarcer
“It is OK to say ‘no’ to cell phones and to social media,” is a key piece of advice Superintendent Shari Camhi gives to families at moving-up ceremonies in New York’s Baldwin Union Free School District
Students are not allowed to bring smartphones to class in the Long Island district though high schoolers can access their devices during lunch, when they are allowed to leave campus.
Camhi relies on parents’ help to enforce the rule and shield kids from the harmful effects of social media.
“What needs to be the most popular word in the English language for parents at this point in life? ‘No,’” she contends. “We are wrapping our arms around our kids. We are trying to protect them. We love them, and we want them to grow up to be healthy young people.”
In an NBC New York poll conducted over the summer, an overwhelming majority of principals said students’ smartphones are causing distraction and fatigue, increasing anxiety, depression and isolation, and worsening interpersonal conflicts and bullying. School leaders also reported that female students are suffering more than boys.
In recent months, some of the nation’s largest districts—including Los Angeles USD—blocked smartphones. LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho also has his sights set on social media.
“It is time to formulate a legal strategy that contemplates, but is not restricted to, litigation against social media entities that use algorithms designed to directly appeal and eventually develop, an unhealthy addiction with mental and physical deleterious consequences for our youth,” Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said in a statement. “When coupled with social media, phones are a harmful vehicle that negatively impacts young people.”
A handful of states took similar steps. In July, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin directed the state’s school divisions to ban smartphones.
“This essential action will promote a healthier and more focused educational environment where every child is free to learn,” Youngkin said in announcing his decision. “It also kicks off the robust conversations among parents, students, teachers, and school and community leaders necessary to design and implement these policies and procedures at the local level.”
