Two weeks after she first announced that Harvard schools would close to avoid spreading COVID-19, Superintendent Linda Dwight emailed families to say Gov. Charlie Baker had extended the statewide closure from April 6 until at least May 4. That date continues the closure one week beyond the regular spring vacation week that begins Patriots Day, April 20.
Dwight acknowledged that, with some parents still working outside the home, others working at home, and some caring for sick family members, “the capacity for structured learning time and access and mastery of the curriculum varies per child and per family.”
The original plan for learning at home, Dwight wrote, was for teachers to focus on review and enrichment, as set forth in guidelines from the state commissioner of education. But now that they face a much longer closure, she said, schools will begin “a forward movement of the curriculum,” although at a slower pace than would be the case during regular school days.
In this second phase of distance learning, students will have to turn in required work, which will be graded as either complete or incomplete. Teachers will also introduce new concepts, rather than focusing only on review or extension of ones that were already introduced before the schools closed March 13.
