More resources and trainings for teachers, school administrators, families and communities are on our Learning Goes On website. See Spanish-language version of this edition.

Many organizations have filed amicus (“friend of the court”) briefs in the lawsuits, with several briefs citing IDRA’s recent analysis, Cutting Public School Funds to Subsidize Private Schools. The analysis shows the Department’s new rule could cost 185 Texas school districts a total of more than $44 million – an additional $38.7 million more than they are required to use for private school services under the normal rules.

For more information see the amicus briefs by the Council of the Great City Schools in State of Michigan, et al. V. DeVos and the coalition of Texas-focused educational equity advocates in NAACP v. DeVos. At the time of writing, federal judges in Washington and California had issued preliminary injunctions blocking the Department of Education from enforcing its rule in several states.

Choice boards are instructional tools educators can use in any content area or grade level. Examples vary, but two popular types are Menu and Tic-Tac-Toe boards. These graphic organizers consist of different tasks, activities or projects students can choose to complete to demonstrate their understanding of the learning goal. Teachers typically include brief instructions and deadlines. If a board is project-based, teachers often will include a rubric to communicate the expectations of one or more projects on the board.

Choice boards are easy to implement in virtual learning settings. Teachers can easily create one on a Google Doc with embedded links and posted into their Google Classroom with the deadline and grading scale. Each problem or activity can build in opportunities for students to practice a certain skill or apply what they have learned in a more rigorous activity.

Teachers can purposefully design a choice board to chunk the unit or learning goal into each option. They also can organize their choice board to include non-negotiable tasks to ensure all students are evaluated on a particular skill or content application.

Use of choice boards encourages differentiated learning because the options can be designed for beginning to advanced learners and can include specific learning engagements for English learners and students with accommodations.

Most importantly, choice boards encourage student agency and autonomy in their learning experiences. Although intentionally designed by the educator, students still choose learning experiences based on their own interests. It is important to include varied tasks that excite students and render creative engagements with the content.

• Choice Boards, Menus, & Tic-Tac-Toe

• Interactive Tic-Tac-Toe Menu Choice Board Template in Google Slides, ShakeUpLearning.com

• Meeting the Challenges of Remote Learning, by Debra Shapiro, National Science Teacher Association

• Volume & Surface Area Choice Board 

IDRA is partnering with the University of Texas at Austin in the Voces of a Pandemic oral history project to preserve, document and share the unique experiences, struggles and activism of the Latino community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Voces of a Pandemic joins hands with several institutions and organizations, including IDRA, to ensure history hears the intimate stories and distinct voices of the Latino community in the midst of a global pandemic that disproportionately affects their communities. Families and individuals are sharing their stories through virtual interviews this fall and winter. Voces of a Pandemic will publish interviews and stories on the Voces Oral History website for public viewing.

IDRA’s Learning Goes On initiative to provide a resource for education during the COVID-19 crisis has provided space for students, families and educators to share their stories, concerns and innovations during this time. We have shared stories of youth serving as tech mentors, students conducting research, students creating STEM projects virtually, families presenting in bilingual webinars, and families facing the digital divide with IDRA’s donated storybooks for young children. Our role in the Voces of a Pandemic project provides a platform to inventory and safeguard Latino community voices.

The shift to virtual learning brought on by the pandemic hits families with limited resources particularly hard. At the same time, students miss out on chances to practice leadership when they are schooling from home.

In this webinar, meet teens and college students who have been helping families and their children navigate technology for school. They will share their ideas for how schools and communities can engage youth while also providing much-needed tech support in their family engagement work this year.

This webinar aims to mobilize the education community to complete the census. Due to COVID-19, the U.S. Census Bureau extended operations to October 31, 2020. But the Census Bureau suddenly announced it was rolling back operations to September 30, cutting a month of much-needed time to achieve a complete and accurate census.

In this webinar, we contextualize the 2020 Census and its timeline, discuss efforts over the past year, review completion data, and provide a toolkit for effective census outreach in the last month of operations.

See our Everyone Counts – 2020 Census webpage for resources.