COVID 19 & Back to School
COVID-19 & Back to School: Considerations
Return to School during acute contagion phase of COVID 19
Guidance from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
NASP has posted an entire section of resources for returning to school addressing physical and mental health needs and considerations including tiered instruction and IEP implementation. Below is a screen shot of the specific resources on the site:
NASP offers the following matrix relating to decisions regarding individual students: Returning to School Following COVID-19 Related School Closures: The COVID-19 School Adjustment Risk Matrix (C-SARM).
The latest issue( June 2020) of the NASP Communique includes an article entitled Returning to School after COVID-19: Strategies for Schools (https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/periodicals/communiqu%C3%A9-volume-48-number-8-(june-2020)/returning-to-school-after-covid-19-strategies-for-schools). The article stresses the importance of planning and preparedness activities before resuming face-to-face education and related services. The COVID 19 pandemic should be viewed through the lens of a crises event requiring effective crises response.
- The first step is developing an emergency operations plan (EOP) or crises plan. This document is also referenced in CDC documents. The recovery plan should address the areas of Academic, Physical, Fiscal and Psychological and Emotional Recovery. The article offers key questions to consider while planning.
- We need to reaffirm physical health and welfare and perceptions of safety and security. Unless staff and students feel safe by having their physical safety needs met, they will not be able to teach or learn. Again the article offers specific questions to explore and plan around.
- We need to evaluate psychological trauma risk by triaging the needs of staff and students. The COVID-19 School Adjustment Risk Matrix is a helpful model.
- During triage, we need to evaluate overall event variables specific to the Covid-19 pandemic (predictability, duration, consequences, intensity etc). The event characteristics of Covid are often connected to widespread or significant psychological trauma among many students and staff members in schools. Individual risk factors faced by student and staff are important (some will have been physically near ill or dying loved ones, previous trauma history, perception of aloneness, underdeveloped support systems and living in poverty). Students and staff will display individual warning signs and continue to demonstrate initial crises reactions such as shock, anger, difficulty concentrating, increased anxiety and emotional numbing.
- Triage discussions and planning should begin before school begins by district and school crises teams so that triage can begin immediately and hit the ground running. Early meetings to identify students and staff having various internal or external vulnerabilities and procedures for triage and follow-up identifies.High quality triage strategies need to be implemented.
- Crises intervention and responses to mental health needs strategies need to be implemented. It will be critical for districts to use a trauma-informed lens when planning. Unlike an acute traumatic stressor that has a discrete beginning and end, the ongoing and uncertain nature of the Covid 19 pandemic creates the potential for chronic stress.
Most of the steps above represent systemic Tier 1 supports. Additional tiered interventions should be developed.
- Universal interventions and support (Tier 1) Strategies for the prevention of psychological trauma, reaffirmation of physical health, enduring perceptions of safety and security and evaluation of psychological trauma risk should be implemented. Additionally, attention should be paid to reestablishing social supports. Information sharing and psychoeducation. School leaders should develop a fact sheet including all verified pertinent information about the crises (#s of locals who became ill or died, the steps that the district/school are taking addressing safety and included links to other web documents of interest to parents and teachers. Classroom meetings are a way to share factual information with students. It is critical that teachers are provided with the same factual information as well as instruction on how to structure their classes in the immediate days following the resumption of face to face schooling. As a Tier 1 crises intervention, caregiver trainings, designed to teach adults how to support students, give information about common and psychopathological reactions and provide strategies for managing crisis reactions.
- Selected/targeted interventions (Tier 2) – Strategies include:
i. Psychoeducational groups
ii. Group crisis intervention
iii. Individual crisis intervention
- Tertiary Interventions (Tier 3) – Strategies include:
i. Referral to community mental health intervention
ii. CBITS – The cognitive behavioral intervention for trauma in the schools. It is a school-based group and individual intervention and can be used with students 5th through 12th grade.
NASP has developed many documents to address changes that should be made to core instruction and small group interventions:
Considerations for Reading Intervention Upon the Return to School There will be two fundamental ways to which core instruction will need to be modified. First, we will need to teach skills at each grade level that were previously considered to be too foundational for that grade. The second way in which core instruction will need to be modified is to implement class-wide reading intervention immediately when school begins). Schools in the fall should consider implementing class-wide interventions before conducting universal screenings to increase accuracy and address skill deficits due to the extended school closures.
Interventions can be matched to student needs with the framework of the National Reading Panel (2000) by focusing on reading comprehension, fluency, phonics, or phonemic awareness. Practitioners should identify the most foundational skill in which the student struggles and target the intervention there. The sequence outlined below could be used as a diagnostic assessment process to target the intervention.
- Assess comprehension. Comprehension and vocabulary are treated together because they are difficult to separate in assessment and intervention. Most group administered reading tests (e.g., MAP-Reading or Star Reading) primarily measure comprehension. If a student scores low on comprehension, then we assess reading fluency.
- Reading fluency can be directly assessed with curriculum-based measures of reading. Middle and high school students could complete a group-administered measure such as the Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency. If a student scores well on reading fluency, but demonstrated a deficit in comprehension, then the intervention targets comprehension. If a student scores low on reading fluency, then we assess decoding.
- Decoding can be assessed with any measure of pseudoword reading (e.g., Nonsense Word Fluency, Word Attack, Pseudoword Fluency). If a student scores well on a measure of decoding, then fluency is the intervention target. A low score on decoding suggests the need to examine phonemic awareness.
- Phonemic awareness is assessed with measures of blending, segmenting, or manipulations such as First Sound Fluency, PRESS Phonemic Awareness Inventory, and the Phonological Awareness Screening Test, all of which are available for free. If the student scores well on phonemic awareness, then the intervention should target decoding. If the student does not score well on the phonemic awareness measure, then the intervention should target phonemic awareness.
Considerations for Math Intervention Upon the Return to School - The overarching message is that relying on initial screening assessments will produce unreliable and unusable data regarding actual individual student risk given the scale and scope of lost learning time for most students this school year. Further, it will result in inequitable identification (i.e., overidentification) of marginalized groups. Instead schools should be providing extensive universal academic interventions first to help close the gap for most learners and use those data to identify students who need more intensive, individualized supports. The academic series is available in the NASP COVID-19 Resource Center at www.nasponline.org/COVID-19.
Efficient and Effective Intervention Tactics Are Needed to Produce Learning Gains because universal screening results are expected to show many children at risk due to loss of instruction in the preceding year. Children who meet certain expected benchmark skill proficiencies and understandings at certain milestones are likely to experience success in future math instruction. One way to reduce mathematical risk is to build proficiency in essential math skills that can be readily identified at each grade level. Classwide math intervention is highly time efficient, requiring only about 15 minutes each day to implement. It can be used to supplement any core math curriculum. Spring Math Classwide Intervention (www.springmath.com) is a program for classwide intervention.
The article The Pandemic’s Impact on Special Education Evaluations and SLD Identification summarizes the issues created by the 6 month absence from face to face instruction.
Interim Guidance for Administrators of US K-12 Schools and Child Care Programs: Plan, Prepare, and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Updated April 10, 2020
How should schools prepare for, and respond to, COVID-19?
Schools should be prepared for COVID-19 outbreaks in their local communities and for individual exposure events to occur in their facilities, regardless of the level of community transmission, for example a case associated with recent travel to an area with sustained COVID-19 transmission. The following decision tree can be used to help schools determine which set of mitigation strategies may be most appropriate for their current situation.
The most important thing to do now is plan and prepare. Administrators should reinforce healthy practices among their students and staff. As the global outbreak evolves, schools should prepare for the possibility of community-level outbreaks. Schools need to be ready if COVID-19 does appear in their communities. Here are some strategies:
Review, update, and implement emergency operations plans (EOPs). This should be done in collaboration with local health departments and other relevant partners. Focus on the components, or annexes, of the plans that address infectious disease outbreaks. Ensure the plan includes strategies to reduce the spread of a wide variety of infectious diseases (e.g., seasonal influenza). This includes strategies for social distancing and school dismissal that may be used to stop or slow the spread of infectious disease. The plan should also include strategies for continuing education, meal programs, and other related services in the event of school dismissal. Ensure the plan emphasizes everyday preventive actions for students and staff. For example, emphasize actions such as staying home when sick; appropriately covering coughs and sneezes; cleaning frequently touched surfaces; and washing hands often. CDC has workplace resources such as posters with messages for staff about staying home when sick and how to avoid spreading germs at work.
Other health and education professional organizations may also have helpful resources your child care facility or school can use or share. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics provides information on germ prevention strategies and reducing the spread of illness in child care settings. Reference key resources while reviewing, updating, and implementing the EOP:
Develop information-sharing systems with partners.
· Information-sharing systems can be used for day-to-day reporting (on information such as changes in absenteeism) and disease surveillance efforts to detect and respond to an outbreak.
· Local health officials should be a key partner in information sharing.
Teach and reinforce healthy hygiene practices.
· Train staff on healthy hygiene practices so they can teach these to students.
· Ensure handwashing strategies include washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not available and hands are not visibly dirty, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
· CDC offers several free handwashing resources that include health promotion materials, information on proper handwashing technique, and tips for families to help children develop good handwashing habits.
· Ensure adequate supplies (e.g., soap, paper towels, hand sanitizer, tissue) to support healthy hygiene practices.
Intensify cleaning and disinfection efforts.
· Routinely clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that are frequently touched. This may include cleaning objects/surfaces not ordinarily cleaned daily (e.g., doorknobs, light switches, classroom sink handles, countertops). Clean with the cleaners typically used. Use all cleaning products according to the directions on the label. For disinfection most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective. A list of products that are EPA-approved for use against the virus that causes COVID-19 is available. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for all cleaning and disinfection products (e.g., concentration, application method and contact time, etc.).
· Provide EPA-registered disposable wipes to teachers and staff so that commonly used surfaces (e.g., keyboards, desks, remote controls) can be wiped down before use.
· Ensure adequate supplies to support cleaning and disinfection practices.
Monitor and plan for absenteeism.
· Review the usual absenteeism patterns at your school among both students and staff.
· Alert local health officials about large increases in student and staff absenteeism, particularly if absences appear due to respiratory illnesses (like the common cold or the “flu,” which have symptoms similar to COVID-19).
· Review attendance and sick leave policies. Encourage students and staff to stay home when sick, even without documentation from doctors. Use flexibility, when possible, to allow staff to stay home to care for sick family members.
· Discourage the use of perfect attendance awards and incentives.
· Identify critical job functions and positions, and plan for alternative coverage by cross-training staff.
· Determine what level of absenteeism will disrupt continuity of teaching and learning.
Assess group gatherings and events. Consider postponing non-critical gatherings and events.
· Ensure you have a clear understanding of all upcoming gatherings and large events for your school community (e.g., assemblies, field days, spirit nights, athletic events). Give special consideration to events that might put students, staff, or their families in close proximity to others from communities that may have identified cases of COVID-19.
· Consider whether any of these events should be canceled. Speak with local health officials to help determine the best approach.
Require sick students and staff to stay home. Establish procedures for students and staff who are sick at school.
· Establish procedures to ensure students and staff who become sick at school or arrive at school sick are sent home as soon as possible.
· Keep sick students and staff, particularly those with symptoms of respiratory illness, separate from well students and staff until they can leave. Plan to have areas where these individuals can be isolated from well students and staff until they can leave the school.
· Remember that schools are not expected to screen students or staff to identify cases of COVID-19. If a community (or more specifically, a school) has cases of COVID-19, local health officials will help identify those individuals and will follow up on next steps.
· Share resources with the school community to help families understand when to keep children home. This guidance, not specific to COVID-19, from the American Academy of Pediatrics can be helpful for families.
Create and test communications plans for use with the school community.
· Include strategies for sharing information with staff, students, and their families.
· Include information about steps being taken by the school or child care facility to prepare, and how additional information will be shared.
· Test communication capacity, and reiterate steps staff, students, and families can take to stay healthy and guidance that they should stay home if sick.
Review CDC’s guidance for businesses and employers.
· Review this CDC guidance to identify any additional strategies the school can use, given its role as an employer.
Guidance for child care programs and schools is organized into three categories based on the level of community transmission: 1) when there is no community transmission (preparedness phase), 2) when there is minimal to moderate community transmission, and 3) when there is substantial community transmission. Guidance is also provided for when a confirmed case has entered a school, regardless of the level of community transmission. All decisions about implementing school-based strategies (e.g., dismissals, event cancellations, other social distancing measures) should be made locally, in collaboration with local health officials who can help determine the level of transmission in the community. Information about level of transmission is available in CDC’s framework for mitigation.
When there is minimal to moderate community transmission
These additional strategies include:
Coordinate with local health officials. This should be a first step in making decisions about responses to the presence of COVID-19 in the community. Health officials can help a school determine which set of strategies might be most appropriate for their specific community’s situation.
Implement multiple social distancing strategies. Select strategies based on feasibility given the unique space and needs of the school. Not all strategies will be feasible for all schools. For example, limiting hall movement options can be particularly challenging in secondary schools. Administrators are encouraged to think creatively about all opportunities to increase the physical space between students and limit interactions in large group settings. Schools may consider strategies such as:
· Cancel field trips, assemblies, and other large gatherings. Cancel activities and events such as field trips, student assemblies, athletic events or practices, special performances, school-wide parent meetings, or spirit nights.
· Cancel or modify classes where students are likely to be in very close contact. For example, in physical education or choir classes, consider having teachers come to classrooms to prevent classes mixing with others in the gymnasium or music room).
· Increase the space between desks. Rearrange student desks to maximize the space between students. Turn desks to face in the same direction (rather than facing each other) to reduce transmission caused from virus-containing droplets (e.g., from talking, coughing, sneezing).
· Avoid mixing students in common areas. For example, allow students to eat lunch and breakfast in their classrooms rather than mixing in the cafeteria. If it is not possible to suspend use of common areas, try to limit the extent to which students mix with each other, and particularly with students from other classes (e.g., stagger lunch by class, segregate lunch and recess area by class, send a few students into the library to pick out books rather than going as a class, suspend the use of lockers). Restrict hallway use through homeroom stays or staggered release of classes. Try to avoid taking multiple classes to bathrooms at once (e.g., avoid having all classes use the bathroom right after lunch or recess). In child care or elementary school settings, consider staggering playground use rather than allowing multiple classes to play together, and limit other activities where multiple classes interact.
· Stagger arrival and/or dismissal times. These approaches can limit the amount of close contact between students in high-traffic situations and times.
· Reduce congestion in the health office. For example, use the health office for children with flu-like symptoms and a satellite location for first aid or medication distribution.
· Limit nonessential visitors. Limit the presence of volunteers for classroom activities, mystery readers, cafeteria support, and other activities.
· Limit cross-school transfer for special programs. For example, if students are brought from multiple schools for special programs (e.g., music, robotics, academic clubs), consider using distance learning to deliver the instruction or temporarily offering duplicate programs in the participating schools.
· Teach staff, students, and their families to maintain distance from each other in the school. Educate staff, students, and their families at the same time and explain why this is important.
Consider ways to accommodate the needs of children and families at risk for serious illness from COVID-
Consider if and how to honor requests of parents who may have concerns about their children attending school due to underlying medical conditions of their children or others in their home.
When there is substantial community transmission
In addition to all of the above, the following additional strategies should be followed:
· Continue to coordinate with local health officials. If local health officials have determined there is substantial transmission of COVID-19 within the community, they will provide guidance to administrators on the best course of action for child care programs or schools. These strategies are expected to extend across multiple programs, schools, or school districts within the community, as they are not necessarily tied to cases within schools or child care facilities.
· Consider extended school dismissals. In collaboration with local health officials, implement extended school dismissals (e.g., dismissals for longer than two weeks). This longer-term, and likely broader-reaching, dismissal strategy is intended to slow transmission rates of COVID-19 in the community. During extended school dismissals, also cancel extracurricular group activities, school-based afterschool programs, and large events (e.g., assemblies, spirit nights, field trips, and sporting events). Remember to implement strategies to ensure the continuity of education (e.g., distance learning) as well as meal programs and other essential services for students.
Appendix -
1. Returning to School Following COVID-19 Related School Closures: The COVID-19 School Adjustment Risk Matrix (C-SARM)
2. The June issue of the NASP Communique published an article: Returning to School after COVID-19: Strategies for Schools:
3. Considerations for Reading Intervention Upon the Return to School
4. Considerations for Math Intervention Upon the Return to School
5. The Pandemic’s Impact on Special Education Evaluations and SLD Identification