Remote learning plans established

Remote learning plans established Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago announced that both institutions have established remote learning plans to ensure instructional time continues while school buildings and campuses are closed due to the pandemic.

“We will not allow this crisis to be an obstacle to our students’ futures and their dreams,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “It was a Herculean effort to shift one’s curriculum to an entirely new mediumespecially in such a short amount of time – and it’s a testament to the passion and commitment of Chicago’s entire education community that they have been able to do just that. While our schools remain closed, thanks to our city’s countless faculty and staff, education in Chicago remains open.”

Schools will provide students with daily learning activities and offer both digital and non-digital learning options to promote equitable access to instructional materials, a press release said. Schools can create their own activities or augment enrichment activities provided by the district, which will be created every 2 weeks during the closure.

Teachers will provide weekly feedback to students on the assigned activities they complete and they will be directly available to their students for academic support, which may include digital learning and follow-up with students who lack digital access.

Schools will have the flexibility to determine how best to provide learning opportunities, and teachers will be expected to be available for 4 hours per school day. Potential activities include streaming live activities, including a mini-lesson, book reading, digital discussion or lecture, with a maximum of 2 hours of digital learning, the release said.

Schools will provide office hours via phone, virtual methods or e-mail during regular hours of the school day to answer any questions and support ongoing learning. The primary goal of the remote learning plan is to keep every student engaged and connected to his or her school through daily learning opportunities.

While students are expected to complete assignments and schools are able to grade work, grades cannot negatively impact any student’s academic standing and incomplete assignments will need to be made up following the remote learning period, the release said.

In order to expand access to remote learning, the district is undertaking an effort to deploy more than 100,000 devices to its highest-need students. CPS is working to put more devices in the hands of families by moving approximately 65,000 school-based devices into homes, allocating 37,000 devices that were recently purchased, and deploying additional devices acquired through potential philanthropic contributions. The district will prioritize schools with the greatest need based on a hardship index, percentage of students that qualify for free and reducedprice lunch, and percentage of students in temporary living situations.

Also, City Colleges of Chicago implemented remote learning and shifted classes for its more than 30,000 credit-earning students online. The community college system went from 10 percent of credit class sections being taught fully online to 92 percent of credit class sections being taught fully online as of today. City Colleges also shifted its student services from previously being almost entirely in-person to exclusively online. City Colleges students can access admissions, advising, the library, tutoring, financial aid, registrar, business office, veterans services, transfer services, wellness center, information technology help desk, disability access centers, and our Call Center, all online at www.ccc.edu/vss.

On April 13, City Colleges’ free adult education courses, including GED and English as a Second Language, will start to be offered via distance learning. City Colleges is also offering loaner laptops for adult education students, who can apply at https://apps. ccc.edu/LoanerLaptop/logi n. For more information, send an e-mail coron avirus@chicago.gov.