The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released guidance titled Preparing K-12 School Administrators for a Safe Return to School in Fall 2020. To view the guidelines click here or go to: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/prepare-safe-return.html

US Department of Education (USDE) Assistant Education Secretary Jim Blew has stated that states should not expect standardized testing waivers for the 2020-21 school year. According to Chalkbeat, waivers from state testing requirements that were available for school districts for 2019-20 due to school closures related to COVID-19 will not be approved by the USDE for 2020-21. On a related issue, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a nonprofit assessment provider, has now released state and federal policy recommendations to guide lawmakers and educators in providing accurate and helpful assessments when their students return to in-person instruction.  Recent recommendations by the NWEA, a nonprofit assessment provider, include suggestions to use two years of assessment data to measure student growth rather than a single year and to rethink how assessments should be administered and utilized. 

For more information from Education Dive, click here.

On Thursday, July 23, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its latest guidance titled Preparing a Safe Return to School. The document states that “Schools are an important part of the infrastructure of communities and play a critical role in supporting the whole child, not just their academic achievement. This guidance is intended to aid school administrators as they consider how to protect the health, safety, and wellbeing of students, teachers, other school staff, their families, and communities and prepare for educating students this fall.”

“The guidance described in this document is based on the best available evidence at this time. This guidance is meant to supplement—not replace—any state, local, territorial, or tribal health and safety laws, rules, and regulations with which schools must comply.”

To view the guidelines, click here or go to:https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/prepare-safe-return.html

New Rules under Title IX were released by the Department of Education on May 6, 2020, with a required implementation date of August 14, 2020.  As per the new rules, K-12 schools must implement significant changes regarding what they need to investigate under Title IX, how they must conduct those investigations, and who needs to be trained at the school districts prior to the pending implementation date.

To view the new rules on the USDE website, click here.

On Sunday, July 12th, US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos downplayed any danger in sending children back to school amid the COVID-19 pandemic while threatening to withhold federal funds from schools that do not resume in-person classes.  DeVos’s threat comes on the heels of President Trump averring that the CDC guidelines on re-opening schools are “very tough,” “expensive” and “impractical” and should be revised.
However, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield nixed the notion that the CDC would be revising guidelines on reopening schools, instead stating that the CDC would be providing additional reference documents that are not a revision of the guidelines. The additional documents will instead be a resource to parents/guardians, caregivers and schools on both how to “better monitor for symptoms” and how to use face masks.
For access from USA Today to a Q&A on federal funding, click here.