Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Erick M. | Delivered October 14, 2020

Overview: COVID-19 Policies at Private Schools in Washington, D.C.

Goals

Create a spreadsheet to compare COVID-19 policies in private schools in the Washington, D.C. area (including school name, size by grade, student:teacher ratio, COVID-19 testing protocols, what remote or in-learning policies have been implemented by grade, and any relevant authorities utilized in policy development) to help inform the policies of Lowell School.

Early Findings

Background: Private Schools in Washington, D.C.According to PrivateSchoolReview.com, there are 106 notable private schools (34 high schools, 69 elementary schools, and 68 preschools) in Washington, D.C.
The average student:teacher ratio at the private schools in Washington, D.C. is 9:1.
Individual schools have widely announced at least some details pertaining to their reopening strategies for the school year in light of COVID-19. Among those with a public strategy is Edmund Burke School.
Edmund Burke SchoolDetails pertaining to Edmund Burke School and its reopening plans have been entered into this spreadsheet. 
Edmund Burke School is transitioning to a hybrid learning model in November from its current online-only model. Students can choose to continue with remote learning. 
The COVID-19 Task Force at Edmund Burke is led by co-chairs Dawn Chism and Nick Keenan; their references for policy-making are not known. 
 No mention of COVID-19 testing for students is made in Edmund Burke's guidelines. 
Summary of Early Findings in Relation to GoalsThe first hour of research involved outlining the project to determine if the requested information is available. A suitable list of private schools in Washington D.C. was located and utilized as the source for identifying relevant schools. 

Some schools are in the process of determining how they will be reopening and not all requested information is available for each school. We can continue with research to collect all available relevant data, which will be entered into this spreadsheet. 

Based on Lowell School's status as a Pre-K through 8 school, we recommend the following next steps as options for collecting either a range of data for all private schools in D.C. or focusing on peer schools that are in the Pre-K through 8 range: