The coronavirus has caused an unexpected and unprecedented upheaval in our schools.

Without exception, the health and safety of our students, teachers, and their families is the number one priority. We applaud and appreciate districts’ extraordinary efforts to deliver meals to students, tend to their social emotional needs, and provide some level of learning continuity remotely. There is more to do.

With stronger guidance from the state, additional focus must be placed on moving student learning forward.

Some districts are still scrambling to supply students with the devices and internet connectivity they need to work from home. Progress is being made on that front thanks to fast-moving superintendents and responsible companies like Comcast which is providing free internet access to low-income families. Yet, gaps beyond technology remain that must be urgently addressed. The state has a role to play here to ensure every student can learn remotely.

There is wide variation in district strategies for remote learning. Some districts are teaching new content while others are only engaged in enrichment activities around content previously taught.  School work is optional in some districts and required in others. Some districts are grading student work, some are only doing pass/fail, still others are not grading at all. Some students have regular opportunities to interact with teachers and support staff, others have much more limited access.

This patchwork of district strategies is enabled by a lack of clear and decisive guidance and direction from the state. National groups evaluating the response of state education leaders give Massachusetts low marks, putting us in the bottom 10 states with respect to the ambition and comprehensiveness of state guidance to school districts, despite access to talent and resources that beats much of the nation.

While we believe the state is further developing its response strategy, the need for aggressive action is made more urgent by the likelihood that school will be closed beyond May and perhaps even intermittently into the fall. Failure to design and implement a comprehensive plan that moves student learning forward for ALL students will result in widespread learning loss and widening racial and socio-economic achievement gaps.

We recognize there are barriers to moving forward related to asking a system designed to provide learning in the classroom on a traditional academic schedule to move online and enable learning even while family schedules are in flux. Barriers that inhibit the flexibility needed for adaptation, like some aspects of collective bargaining agreements, need to be identified and removed.

Massachusetts is rich in educational and technological expertise both in the public and private sectors. MBAE is calling on our state education leaders to leverage all of these resources to lead the nation in delivering high quality remote learning.

We are truly grateful to teachers across the state who are on the front lines, adapting to the new reality in real time. Now it is up to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and district leaders to create the roadmap that will provide the support they need to deliver results for their students. MBAE stands ready to support these efforts and our schools to moving learning forward.