School reopening ‘tipping point’ in Miami

An ERS Mini-Blog

As districts prepare for school reopening this fall, they must determine which students will attend school in-person and which students will attend school virtually.

Rather than mandating which students return, some districts are giving families the final say by allowing parents and guardians to opt in or out of in-person or remote learning. This approach provides families with the flexibility to do what’s best for themselves, but it leaves open the possibility that too few families will opt for virtual schooling, making physical distancing requirements difficult to meet.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools has offered one solution to this problem worth consideration by other school districts. If fewer than 75 percent of students opt into in-school, MDCPS will open school normally to fully in-person instruction. If more than 75 percent of students opt for in-person school, then a tipping point of sorts will be triggered and the district will open school with a hybrid model where students will spend two to three days per week in physical school.

You can explore Miami-Dade’s full reopening plan here.