NYCDOE – Academic Policy FAQs (but no real answers)
When the DoE puts out information, I jump on it. Teachers, principals, programmers – we don’t know what the DoE policies will be for September. We want to know their intentions. We need it for planning. Actually, many of us want the DoE to just get it over with and switch us to fully remote. We know they will eventually. But for now we want their interim answers and guidelines.
And so when I found an official NYC Department of Education “Academic Policies for Return to School 2020: Frequently Asked Questions” document in my inbox, I dropped what I was doing and began reading. Carefully. Deeply. Looking, but perplexed. Where were the answers? They asked some wrong questions. But mostly they did not give meaningful answers. Let’s look together.
Proudly publishing questions without answers falls in the same category . They are all equivalent to advertising that someone famous read your book, or watched your movie, without bothering to mention if they said anything about it.
New York City Department of Education – Academic Policy FAQs for Return to School 2020
First, here’s the document: academic-policy-faqs-for-return-to-school-2020
Let’s take a “deep dive” into it. Only, don’t expect to gain much knowledge.
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- Must schools meet the unit of study requirements for 2020-21?
It takes them two paragraphs to say “yes” and “3 hours per week or equivalent” without defining the equivalent. - How do high schools award course credits in 2020-21?
They take two lines to say “by passing the course” - Can schools offer fully remote courses?
Yes, if the teacher is fully remote, the student is fully remote, or if the principal has determined that remote is best for that course. So “the principal has determined” is a little interesting. But what comes next is mind blowing. They spend a paragraph, 4 bullet points, and one more paragraph implicitly comparing remote courses against fully in-person courses (which of course we are not offering). The dishonesty is palpable. I will say more in a separate post. - Can schools offer fully asynchronous courses?
Nope, there must be some live time. Principal sets how much. - What are the expectations for science labs?
High quality. Principal decides how much hands on and how much virtual. - What are the expectations for meeting physical education requirements?
Compare your course against what you normally offer, and certify that the time and quality are in the same ballpark. - What are the expectations for meeting art requirements?
Compare your course against what you normally offer, and certify that the time and quality are in the same ballpark. - What are the expectations for meeting pEnglish as a New Language requirements?
Compare your ENL and Bilingual courses against what you normally offer, and certify that the time and quality are in the same ballpark. - How will the remote learning programming models be reflected in STARS? We’ll get back to you.
- Which grading policies will apply for the 2020-21 school year?? We’ll get back to you.
- How will schools make promotion decisions in 2020-21? Holistically. We’ll get back to you with actual guidance.
- Will graduation requirements remain the same in 2020-21?? Yes.
- Must schools meet the unit of study requirements for 2020-21?
JD2718 
This is getting uglier with every passing day. We don’t even have a school calendar yet. It’s time to get moving on Remote Learning so that we can actually plan. Anything else requires Herculean work that we know the DOE can’t pull off.
If the doe is not putting forth a Herculean effort, why should we?
With this virus, things are ‘fluid’.
Truth be told, you can’t plan for this year.
Go enjoy the sunshine and stop thinking of what school will be like. Spoiler: it will suck.
Sound advice!