Weekly Updates

Week of 6/21: In Just Six Weeks

Written by Dennis Roche | Jun 20, 2021 4:50:00 PM
In addition to observations from across the US, we note the impending school start dates for 2021/22 that are coming up in early August.

 

As we transition to the 2021/22 school year Burbio will continue to measure in-person learning plans and will be adding additional measurement in relation to virtual learning, ongoing health precautions, increases in classroom time, and the economic impact of school re-openings across retail spending and employment. 

 

Burbio School Opening Tracker- Including State Averages

 

% US K-12 students attending "virtual-only" schools = 2.1% (no change from last week)
% US K-12 students attending "traditional" in-person/every day" schools = 69.7% (+ 0.1%)
% US K-12 students attending "hybrid" schools = 28.2% (-0.1%)

The above percentages are set to Sunday, June 20th. Our data is presented as "students attending schools that offer this learning plan" - most districts also offer virtual even when providing in-person. For above 2.1% of US K-12 students are currently attending schools that offer virtual-only plans, 69.7% offering traditional, etc.

 

1) This week from across the country:
2) Even as some US schools are finishing up the 2020/21 school year, school is close to starting for 2021/22 in large parts of the US. In addition to our School Opening Tracker Burbio tracks 80,000+ school calendars (start dates, end dates, testing dates, vacations, and more) representing roughly 90% of US K-12 students. Below is the distribution of school start dates for the 2021/2022 school year by percentage of US K-12 students. Note that over 10% of US K-12 students - or 5MM+ students - are scheduled to start school by the week of August 2nd. The volume of students starting by that date will give an early indication as to what 2021/22 will look like.

School start dates vary widely by regions and even within states. Below are three states, Tennessee, Michigan, and New York, with percentage of students starting by week. Back-to-School is a significant economic event, and start dates, which differ by community, will create concentrated periods of economic activity around consumer spending, employment and mobility not seen since the Fall of 2019.





3) This week multiple states dropped mask mandates while some other states and at least one large district kept them in place. State by state guidelines are summarized on our State Mask Policy Tracker .