Michigan Gov. Whitmer orders 2-year-olds to wear masks

Published

7 months ago

April 17, 2021

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is issuing new coronavirus orders in her state, despite the backlash from her previous lockdown orders.

The new order is going into effect on April 26. It demands that children aged 2 to 4 years old wear face masks in social gatherings, according to a report in the Michigan Capitol Confidential.

A gathering is defined in the order as two or more people from different households.

“‘Gathering’ means any occurrence, either indoor or outdoor, where two or more persons from more than one household are present in a shared space,” the order reads.

The order targets child care and summer camps. The establishments will be required to mandate that young children be masked.

“A good faith effort is made to ensure that children aged 2 to 4 years wear a mask when participating in gatherings,” an official told the publication.

The order lists a few categories of those exempt from the mandate, including those fortunate enough to be under the age of two.

Read the full article here and order here.

Remote Learning Lowered Test Scores in Every State; Minority Students Hit the Worst

Published

11 hours ago

November 26, 2021

Staff Writer

A paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) shows remote learning has had a negative impact on students’ test scores in every state. Not only were students across the country affected, minority students were impacted the most.

According to the publication, remote learning led to declines in test scores for English and math, when compared to scores of students who went to schools with more in-person learning. “Our research shows that test score losses are significantly larger in districts with less in-person learning,” said Emily Oster, professor of economics at Brown University.

“This suggests, yes, that virtual learning was – and is – less effective than in-person learning, at least as measured by school-based testing” added Oster. “Passing rates in math declined by 14.2 percentage points on average; we estimate this decline was 10.1 percentage points smaller for districts fully in-person,” the study found.

The research combined “district-level schooling mode data from the 2020-21 school year,” “district-level test score data from 2015 to 2021” and “demographic data from the NCES,” according to the study.

Data was collected from students in third to eighth grades in 12 states: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Score declines showed variations by state, as well. Virginia “which had the most complete virtual learning time, along with Colorado, saw an almost 32% drop on math test scores in the 2020-21 school year when compared to the 2018-19 school year” reports Tampa Free Press.

Wyoming, however, “which had the most in-person learning, along with Florida, saw just a 2.3% drop in English, the study found.”

“Changes in English Language Arts (ELA) were smaller than math scores overall, but drops in scores were greater in districts with larger black and Hispanic populations and students eligible for free and reduced lunch prices” reports Tampa Free Press.

“Districts that have a larger share of black and Hispanic students and less in-person schooling also saw a greater decline in ELA test scores than those with more in-person schooling. “