Harvard Business School paper: "Who Closed the Schools?"

Anonymous
Abstract:
"This paper examines the differences in characteristics between US public schools that opted for virtual instruction because of Covid-19, and schools that did not. Much of the variation can be explained by measures of the degree to which districts favored teachers over students before the pandemic: Districts that chose virtual instruction exhibited a far greater willingness to prioritize teacher interests over those of students and the interests of teachers with seniority over younger and/or higher-performing teachers. We provide evidence that this prioritization is associated with significant costs in terms of student test results and graduation rates."
https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/21-127rev6-14-21_e440c304-7e2e-4042-abae-d0ba2c561a31.pdf

True in your experience, or no? Somewhat different than earlier arguments that it was all red state versus blue state.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Abstract:
"This paper examines the differences in characteristics between US public schools that opted for virtual instruction because of Covid-19, and schools that did not. Much of the variation can be explained by measures of the degree to which districts favored teachers over students before the pandemic: Districts that chose virtual instruction exhibited a far greater willingness to prioritize teacher interests over those of students and the interests of teachers with seniority over younger and/or higher-performing teachers. We provide evidence that this prioritization is associated with significant costs in terms of student test results and graduation rates."
https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/21-127rev6-14-21_e440c304-7e2e-4042-abae-d0ba2c561a31.pdf

True in your experience, or no? Somewhat different than earlier arguments that it was all red state versus blue state.


Why is Harvard Business School doing this paper?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Abstract:
"This paper examines the differences in characteristics between US public schools that opted for virtual instruction because of Covid-19, and schools that did not. Much of the variation can be explained by measures of the degree to which districts favored teachers over students before the pandemic: Districts that chose virtual instruction exhibited a far greater willingness to prioritize teacher interests over those of students and the interests of teachers with seniority over younger and/or higher-performing teachers. We provide evidence that this prioritization is associated with significant costs in terms of student test results and graduation rates."
https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/21-127rev6-14-21_e440c304-7e2e-4042-abae-d0ba2c561a31.pdf

True in your experience, or no? Somewhat different than earlier arguments that it was all red state versus blue state.


Why is Harvard Business School doing this paper?


Why would they not?
Anonymous
My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


Are you in Fairfax? Because I'm OP and I am and this sounds like Fairfax.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


Are you in Fairfax? Because I'm OP and I am and this sounds like Fairfax.



It sounds like a lot of school districts in this country. Led by bumbling idiots who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


This sounds just like my district. Endless meetings & handwringing, coupled with a complete inability to make decisions.
Anonymous
This is a great way to look at it:

One approach to understanding school policy is to recognize it as weighing the sometimes-conflicting interests of its three main constituents: teachers, students and their families, and taxpayers. Along many dimensions, the interests of students and teachers are aligned. For instance, both benefit from small class sizes and higher pay that helps attract high-quality teachers. Along other dimensions, such as the length of the school day or reliance on seniority over teacher skill, student and teacher interests diverge. The pandemic unquestionably brought their interests into sharp conflict, as the costs of virtual instruction fell disproportionately on students, whereas the health risks from live instruction fell disproportionately on teachers.
Anonymous
Here's the nut of it:

"Which schools chose to favor teacher interests over those of their students? The answer turns out to be quite simple: it was those schools that had demonstrated a willingness to do so in the past. Schools that chose virtual instruction during the 2020-2021 school year were schools that, prior to the pandemic, had a history of favoring teachers over students. During the 2018-2019 year, students at schools that would later opt for online instruction had school days that were 18 minutes (4 percent) shorter. Their teachers spent 30 fewer minutes at school each day and 1.5 fewer non-teaching days at school each year. Taken together, these numbers mean that at the schools that chose to be online the average teacher works 100 fewer hours per year than the average teacher in the schools that chose to educate their students in person. For the K-12 student in an online school, this difference in hours cumulates to over a half-year less instruction by the time they graduate relative to their peer at an in-person school."
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


Are you in Fairfax? Because I'm OP and I am and this sounds like Fairfax.



It sounds like a lot of school districts in this country. Led by bumbling idiots who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.



I believe you meant to write “lead by bumbling idiot PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.”

That description fits the Fairfax and Loudoun school boards perfectly.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


Are you in Fairfax? Because I'm OP and I am and this sounds like Fairfax.



It sounds like a lot of school districts in this country. Led by bumbling idiots who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.


Yes they were far more concerned about human life than providing free daycare!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


Are you in Fairfax? Because I'm OP and I am and this sounds like Fairfax.



It sounds like a lot of school districts in this country. Led by bumbling idiots who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.



I believe you meant to write “lead by bumbling idiot PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.”

That description fits the Fairfax and Loudoun school boards perfectly.


I know only 6t00k or so Americans died of this. I mean we topped the charts for deathrate and it would've been double that if we'd opened school yet at least some parents would've gotten their free daycare!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


Are you in Fairfax? Because I'm OP and I am and this sounds like Fairfax.



It sounds like a lot of school districts in this country. Led by bumbling idiots who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.


Yes they were far more concerned about human life than providing free daycare!


Oh come on. It's July of 2021. We know better than this at this point. I'm going to start reporting this posts as misleading.

Also *whispers* it's OK for schools to serve a childcare function and for parents to point out that families built their lives around that expectation. Caregiving matters.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


Are you in Fairfax? Because I'm OP and I am and this sounds like Fairfax.



It sounds like a lot of school districts in this country. Led by bumbling idiots who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.



I believe you meant to write “lead by bumbling idiot PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.”

That description fits the Fairfax and Loudoun school boards perfectly.


I know only 6t00k or so Americans died of this. I mean we topped the charts for deathrate and it would've been double that if we'd opened school yet at least some parents would've gotten their free daycare!


Double? Cite? Or did you just pull this out of your nether regions?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My district doesn't give a hoot about teachers but they couldn't get their s&%t together to open until this past March. Districts love to let the teacher's unions take the fall for not reopening but in reality, this past year has shown us what's behind the curtain with the higher-ups in certain school districts.


Are you in Fairfax? Because I'm OP and I am and this sounds like Fairfax.



It sounds like a lot of school districts in this country. Led by bumbling idiots who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.



I believe you meant to write “lead by bumbling idiot PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS who are more concerned about renaming schools and other BS.”

That description fits the Fairfax and Loudoun school boards perfectly.


I know only 6t00k or so Americans died of this. I mean we topped the charts for deathrate and it would've been double that if we'd opened school yet at least some parents would've gotten their free daycare!


Double? Cite? Or did you just pull this out of your nether regions?


There would be no cite for this. There was a study done in Texas that showed that because open schools led to greater mobility for adults, it was correlated with an increase in spread, but I don't believe it correlated with double the deaths. As far as I know that and one study out of Germany were the only ones that showed an increase. On the other side there was an extensive contact tracing study out of the Netherlands that showed no spread going from schools to families and out into the community (which doesn't preclude spread in the community because parents had flexibility while kids were in school, as in Texas).
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w28753/w28753.pdf
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