On April 20, 2022, Arlington County approved a $1.5 billion budget, including $563.9 million in ongoing budget contributions to APS, which Arlington identifies as a 7% increase over FY 2022.
It also includes a one-time funding amount of $20.5 million, $12.1 million of which APS had anticipated and included within its own proposed budget, and $8.4 million in addition to that budgeted amount. We advocated for an increased budget allocation to APS to increase teacher pay and reduce class sizes, and asked that any additional contributions be tied to funding specific budget items, including learning loss and tutoring.
A greater funding increase, tied to using those funds to actually help our students recover from the last years’ learning loss, was called for under these circumstances.
During the April 21 budget work session, APS reviewed slides showing estimated one-year costs of $875,000 for tutoring grades 3-12 students suffering from learning loss. During the work session, APS proposed serving only students in grades 9-12 at the cost of $385,000 (assuming a one year “per student” model) despite the documented need at elementary and middle school levels. APS’ own dashboard reflects that there are 2,375 students in elementary schools requiring intensive support from the mid-term DIBELS testing. There are 891 middle school students scoring below basic on the Reading Inventory tests. And there are 3,435 students in elementary or middle school scoring below basic on the winter math inventory tests.
Research indicates that effective high-dosage tutoring requires at least 50 hours per semester of tutoring, and can cost $3800 per student to implement. Assuming that only 2500 of those students scoring at the lowest levels on those standardized tests would participate in the tutoring program, and even excluding high school students entirely, an effective tutoring program would require approximately $9.5 million in funding.
As noted during the April 21 Budget Work Session, rather than using that additional $8.4 million to help students with learning loss recovery next year, APS has proposed using all of those funds to restore future budget year reserves. In other words, APS plans to use these additional funds to save for some future rainy day, which ignores that our students have just endured a typhoon over the last two years that resulted in dramatic learning loss.
Indeed, APS had an unprecedented $62 million in unspent closeout reserves from the FY 2021 school year. Those funds were available precisely because the schools were closed to our students. APS owes it to those students to use the savings from closed schools to help those students overcome the burden those closures created.
Arlington Parents for Education asks that APS use the $8.4 million in new funding from the County to fully fund an effective tutoring program for those students who suffered the most from the Covid-era school closures.
Give the County Board your feedback on the budget. Give the School Board your feedback on the budget. Thank the County Board for providing APS with additional one-time funds.
APS Considers Virtual 1-1 Tutoring Options for Next School Year
As in past years, APS is offering to tutor students in preparation for the annual Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment. Some parents report that their children do not qualify for summer school, but have been offered 10 hours of tutoring in advance of the SOLs. Why does it take the specter of state accountability to offer tutoring to students recovering from learning losses, as the US Department of Education and other experts have been advising for the last year?
However, APS is finally proposing tutoring beyond SOL preparation. At the last budget work session on April 21st, APS discussed an idea that APE has championed for the last year - 1-1 tutoring for students who need more than extra time on Lexia and Dreambox - which has been the disappointing default this year. As the recently revamped Student Progress dashboard indicates, learning loss is real and it is profound. (See our March 29th newsletter for tips on using the dashboard.) This attention to more instructional time is long overdue as American Rescue Plan funds, enacted in March 2021, required 20% of education funding to be used for learning loss. As Dr. Kanninen said at the work session, “Tutoring is a big piece of our opportunity gap in Arlington.”
What does APS propose? Chief Academic Officer Bridget Loft explained several options that they have explored, all of which are virtual models (see slides images below). APS has considered options for grades 3-12 at a potential cost of $875,000 (for a one-year model) or grades 9-12 at a potential cost of $385,000 (for a one-year model). Those are based on a “per student model” and assume 1 year of tutoring services. APS could also consider a 3-year contract to lower costs or a “per hour model” that would provide 30,000 hours of tutoring at a cost of $450,000. Tutoring would occur outside of the school day, preserving class time for instruction. It could be differentiated for English Learners and Students with Disabilities or provide support for students in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. APE urges that any tutoring options be targeted to those students with the greatest need and that APS ensures any contracted vendor is prepared to effectively support both students with disabilities and English Language learners.
At the work session, APS recommended the School Board add funds to next year’s budget to support tutoring for students only in grades 9-12. We urge APS to no longer ignore the glaring need at the elementary and middle school levels. In fact, we note that the student dashboard primarily focuses on elementary and middle school grades and so we urge APS to have a more public discussion of what factors encourage them to advise tutoring only for high school students and not for lower grades.
Additionally, recent US Department of Education guidance compensatory services reminded districts that students with disabilities “may be entitled to compensatory services if they did not receive appropriate evaluations or services during the COVID-19 pandemic.” (see below article for discussion of federal guidance regarding "compensatory services" and earlier guidance from the Virginia Department of Education regarding "recovery" services”) Fewer than 10% of students with Individual Education Plans (IEPs) received "recovery services" this past fall, despite the well-documented need among this population. Tutoring could target these unmet needs as well as meet APS’s legal responsibility to these students.
Email Engage to tell APS your thoughts on tutoring. Email the School Board your thoughts on tutoring. Email Engage to ask APS to expand tutoring options to Elementary Middle School students. Ask the School Board to support adding funds to next year’s budget to support tutoring services for students at all grade levels.
Department of Education Issues Guidance for Post-Pandemic Compensatory Services for Students with Disabilities
The US Department of Education issued guidance in February 2022 that students with disabilities (SWDs) who did not receive appropriate evaluations or services during the COVID-19 pandemic may be entitled to "compensatory services.” However, APS has not yet publicly recognized this guidance, and there is no budget item designated to comply with this federal guidance.
Currently, APS is offering a small number of SWDs "recovery services". In February, the Office of Special Education indicated that about 300 students had received recovery services in the fall of 2021. However, there are about 4200 students with IEPs who might otherwise be eligible for these services, suggesting that fewer than 10% of eligible students have received recovery services.
“Recovery services” is not a term defined in federal law, but rather created by VDOE in earlier guidance to “address a loss of services due to COVID-19”; recovery services are intended catch students up who had losses during the pandemic - especially for SWDs who could not engage in virtual or asynchronous learning. The APS webpage for recovery services states:
School members of the IEP Team should consider initiating an IEP Team meeting when either:
there is a lack of expected progress toward the annual goals and in the general curriculum, if appropriate;
the results of any reevaluation conducted, information about the child shared by the parent needs to be addressed;
and/or if the LEA anticipates that the child may need COVID-19 recovery services
In contrast, APS initiated IEP meetings for every SWD in August 2020 to adjust and/or reduce service hours in IEPs to make IEPs compatible with virtual learning and elementary school days reduced by 81 minutes per day. At the time, Arlington’s Special Education PTA (SEPTA) provided guidance to parents reminding them of their rights, but far too few parents understood they did not have to agree to a reduction in services. In other words, APS readily acted to reduce services and hours in IEPs in August 2020, but post-pandemic, it appears it is not making up for the associated losses from the reductions, much less initiating IEP meetings to add in "recovery services".
However, the Department’s February guidance reminds school systems to proactively address students who were denied federally-mandated FAPE (Free and Appropriate Public Education) during the pandemic. Further, the Department's recent resolution agreement with the nation's second largest school district demonstrates the appropriate remedy for these students - that is, establishing, implementing, and publicizing a plan for compensatory services. APS should initiate IEP meetings for these students who are behind - not relying on the parents to initiate the meetings - and writing compensatory services into their IEPs.
Let us know if your student was denied recovery services. Ask APS about Compensatory Services. Ask the School Board about Compensatory Services Forward to a friend or neighbor.
Parent Corner: Away for the Day
(Editor's Note: From time to time, we will offer a perspective written by an APS parent or teacher on a topic of concern or interest for APS. What follows has been only lightly edited for clarity.)
As the parent of teens, I’m increasingly concerned about the amount of time today’s tweens and teenagers spend on their phones. I’ve heard many friends talk about how much their kids’ phone time has increased since the pandemic. Many thought it would go back down once kids were back in school buildings full-time but, for most of the parents I talk to, this isn’t the case. Some of their kids are spending 6 or 7 hours a day on their phones.
Some of my friends (and I as well) put pretty strict phone time limits on our kids’ phones–2 hours per day and then they lose access to everything but the ability to call and text. However, APS allows kids at high schools to have access to and use their phones during the school day. Recently, APS’ staff- and parent-led School Health Advisory Board (SHAB) recommended that APS adopt an ‘Away for the Day’ policy for phones APS-wide. This policy means all phones must stay in backpacks/lockers for the duration of the school day. (See Appendix C here.) I’d like for APS to adopt this policy.
The policy recommendation comes as Fairfax County Public Schools appears poised to adopt more stringent standards for cell phone use at its middle and high schools. This comes as a result of Herndon High School’s ban of cell phone usage in classes two weeks ago, after finding cell phone usage ‘at an all time high’.
We all know the studies. The negative impact on kids’ brains and attention from too much screen time. The connection between social media and poor mental health, which was widely known pre-pandemic. We also know that the under-developed tween/teen brain makes impulse control extremely difficult–a liability that is tested to the extreme when there is a smartphone present.
School should be a place where kids are socializing in person, and working through conflict face to face. It’s too easy to disappear behind a phone to avoid socializing, especially for those kids who are already anxious and struggling socially from a year-plus of being out of school buildings.
We also know our kids are struggling and behind academically. The distraction of a phone–its mere presence drains cognitive capacity–is the last thing they need when they are trying to get caught up from dramatic learning loss and (hopefully) developing the study, organizational and attentional habits that can carry them successfully through college and into the working world. Smartphones make this more difficult.
US adolescent screen time use (outside of virtual school) doubled during the pandemic–from 3.8 hours per day to 7.7. Pre-pandemic, a majority of teens already reported feeling they spent too much time on their cellphones. It’s too tempting for adults with a phone in their pocket to avoid looking at it whenever possible. Imagine the difficulty for a teen. Creating a device policy that automatically removes the temptation for teens will benefit them and the wider school community.
It’s not fair to make teachers the phone police, so I do think it’s incumbent upon parents to make it easier for staff and kids by putting limits on their kids’ phones for access during the school day. It’s pretty easy through Apple settings, for example, to lock access to everything but texting and calling from 8:15-3 PM. I’d encourage parents to look into doing this. Parents can also help by emphasizing that they expect their child to follow an Away for the Day school phone policy. Away for the Day allows kids to focus on what they need from school–experiencing real human connection, developing social skills and good mental health and pursuing academic success.
Give the APS School Board your thoughts on personal device use during the school day.
Send Engage your feedback on personal device use.
Want to write your own Parent's Corner or From the Teacher's Lounge? Email us! Forward to a friend or neighbor.
4/28 School Board Recap
The April 28th School Board meeting began with a vote on the consent agenda where staff changes were approved and new policies for evaluations and electronic meetings (Electronic participation by the member on this basis shall be limited to two meetings or 25 percent of the meetings held per calendar year rounded up to the next whole number, whichever is greater) were accepted. Afterward, Dr. Durán’s presentation discussed administrative and extended day staff and how critical such staff are to APS, upcoming SOL testing and that APS still seeking people to serve on the Virtual Learning Program Task Force
Public comment included two speakers on the planetarium and 12 speakers (both for and against current plans) on the Career Center plans.
The Board went on to discuss the approval of the Career Center Site Plan. During that discussion, Board Member Kadera made a motion that was not seconded to postpone the vote on the site plan by one month to align with CIP approval. She also explained why she would be voting no on the site plan: to “better steward the use of public funds” and that APS needs a “clearer sense of the overall cost associated and what other capital projects would have to be deferred.” School Board Chair Kanninen responded supporting the site plan and chiding, "When you join the school board, you're not a candidate anymore. You aren't a commenter on social media or on ArlNow...when we take action that school communities hear as not supporting them, it's heartbreaking."
The School Board approved the Career Center site plan on a vote of 3-1 (Goldstein was absent), with Kadera voting against it. Read the full discussion here.
