Education Week - March 24, 2021 - 4

EDWEEK EXPLAINS

Testing Students and Staff
For COVID-19, Explained

Nathan Klima for Education Week

School districts are increasingly reopening
schools for face-to-face instruction after a
year of virtual learning. But they are under
immense pressure to keep COVID-19 from
spreading in their buildings. That pressure
will continue in the fall, as most students
aren't likely to start receiving vaccines until
late 2021 or early 2022.
Many schools are using mitigation strategies such as universal masking, physical
distancing, and improved ventilation. Testing their own students and staff for the virus
is another strategy that's won broad support,
but relatively few districts so far have shouldered that role.
School-based testing for COVID-19 isn't
easy; it's heavy with technical considerations
and fraught with complex logistics and tradeoffs. With the help of experts, we help break
down the basics.
Are most school districts already doing
COVID-19 testing?

No, but the numbers are growing. In a nationally representative survey by the EdWeek
Research Center in late February, 32 percent of
district leaders-up from 17 percent in October-
reported that they're testing at least some staff
members for the virus, or will do so when they
return to in-person learning. Only 16 percent of
district leaders said they were testing students, an
increase from 7 percent in October.
COVID-19 testing is one of schools' least-chosen mitigation strategies, according to the survey.
More than 8 in 10 district leaders said they're
using tactics such as contact tracing, cleaning,
and masking.
Are schools running these programs
themselves, or having outside partners do it?

A January study by the RAND Corp., one of a
suite of reports on COVID-19 testing produced
by the Rockefeller Foundation, suggests that few
schools or districts take on the challenges of testing without partners to help them.
Many districts have had support and guidance
from their states because they participated in
state programs to pilot the Abbott BinaxNOW
rapid antigen tests distributed last year by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A few have operated programs on their own.
Others team up with local health departments
or labs to run their programs. Some outsource
the entire operation to universities or testing
companies.
Running a COVID-19 testing program is
undoubtedly a heavy lift, with scores of logistical
hurdles to clear. Many experts suggest districts
don't do it alone.
" We think the most sustainable and scalable
model is when schools and districts partner with
testing vendors and services that offer start-to-

Students are pool tested
for COVID-19 at McGlynn
Middle School in
Medford, Mass.

COVID-19 testing
is one of schools'
least-chosen
mitigation
strategies,
according to a
survey. More than
8 in 10 district
leaders said they're
using tactics such
as contact tracing,
cleaning, and
masking.

4 | EDUCATION WEEK | March 24, 2021 | www.edweek.org

finish approaches that offload most of the logistics
from schools, " said Dr. Laura J. Faherty, who led
the RAND study and is an assistant professor
of pediatrics at the Boston University School of
Medicine.
Organizations have designed a range of
resources for districts considering or planning
COVID-19 testing programs. The Rockefeller
Foundation created a playbook, and the district
leadership group Chiefs for Change assembled a
planning workbook, to help districts think through
the process. Rockefeller COVID-19 advisor Mara
Aspinall led a group that drew up a list of questions district officials can ask as they interview
test vendors. Johns Hopkins University's Center
for Health Security has curated a list of testing
services.
How do districts pay for COVID-19 testing
programs?

The most recent round of federal COVID-19
relief money, the American Rescue Plan, signed
March 11, includes $129 billion for K-12 schools,
which could be used for testing programs (as well
as a wide variety of other programs and services
for pandemic recovery). States can also draw
on other money provided in the law: $50 billion
devoted to stepping up COVID-19 testing generally, and $10 billion of that amount that's aimed
at helping districts set up screening programs to
detect the virus early.
Federal funding from last spring's CARES Act

has supported many districts' testing programs.
They've also used state funds, drawn on their
own operating budgets and local philanthropic
support, and partnered with organizations, such
as universities, that have carried part of the cost.
California was recently approved to use Medicaid
funds to pay for COVID-19 testing for low-income
students.
Many districts took advantage of free Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen tests distributed to states
by the federal government last year, too.
How much do testing programs cost?

It's tough to put a total price tag on districts'
programs, since they often include staff time, and
some costs might be carried by partners. But when
it comes to the cost of tests and analysis, prices
vary widely.
Benjamin Master, a co-author of the RAND
study of districts' testing programs, said some
schools have been paying as much as $120 per
test for molecular tests, such as the gold-standard
PCR, which must be processed in labs. Others
have found PCR prices as low as $20. Prices for
pooled testing-where multiple samples are
combined and processed together-can go as low
as $10, he said.
Rapid antigen tests, which can be processed
where they're administered, without a lab, are
available for as little as $5 per test, but that's a bulk
rate, Master said. Districts shopping on their own
for such tests could pay $20 or $30 each.

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Education Week - March 24, 2021

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