Infectious Respiratory Disease

Demographics and Rationale

Dorothy I. Height Elementary is a public school in Washington D.C. The school has a relative diverse student body. The most recent demographics of the student body are as follows: 51% Black, 36% Hispanic/Latino, 9% White, 3% Asian, and 1% multiple races. Furthermore, with regard to the socio-economic profile of our students, 54% of students are “At Risk”, that is, these are students “who qualify for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), have been identified as homeless during the academic year, who are under the care of Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA or Foster Care)” ¹

The scope and sequence of the 4^th-Grade ELA curriculum includes: Early America, My Story (students explore how heritage and identity are formed and shaped through writing), Revolution and Independence, Rocks and Minerals, and Heroic Adventures. As for the social studies curriculum, the curriculum covers early American history beginning with early Native American history, European colonization, and ends with the American Revolution and Independence.  With regard to the science curriculum, the 4^th-grade scope and sequence includes the following topics: organism, structures, and behaviors, - using energy transformations, communicating using wave energy, and changes over time to Earth’s surface and strategies.

Significantly, none of the curricula includes specific instruction about the COVID-19 pandemic, nor the history of previous pandemics. This is arguably a significant gap in the current curriculum as students at Dorothy I. Height, like all students across the globe, have recently experienced a global pandemic with immense consequences.  Therefore, it is important to provide students with both a historical as well as a scientific analysis by which they can build knowledge and understanding of such historical moments. This knowledge is consequential for students because it not only gives them an educational foundation by which to understand their own formative experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic, but this knowledge can also instill in them the agency and fortitude to confront, navigate, and overcome similar challenges that undoubtably lie ahead in the future.

In summary, this curriculum is necessary for students in DCPS because there is a tangible anxiety among students concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. This anxiety is exhibited in continued questions from students concerning the potential on-going dangers of the COVID-19 virus, as well as other viruses, and continued questions regarding the necessity and efficacy of medical interventions such as vaccines, social distancing, and mask wearing. It is a lack of academic context that perpetuates this un-easy concern in students as our greatest fears often lie in the unknown. Ultimately, the content of the curriculum, i.e., the historical context as well as the scientific analysis of respiratory infectious diseases, will provide a foundation of knowledge on which students can establish agency to persevere through similar challenges as well as the foundational knowledge necessary to look towards new innovations and new technologies for future pandemics.