Human Rights Watch estimates there are 1.5 billion kindergarten through high school age children no longer in school. That number includes 56.4 million kids in the United States. Children have been forced to abandon a key part of their education by the global response to the COVID pandemic.
Months after the decisions were made by governments worldwide to shutter schools a few courageous educators now are speaking out about the devastating harm that has been done to the educational progress of students. Some are even second guessing continuing school closures.
Never before have American students endured such prolonged school closures. This is uncharted territory with no guarantees for restoring learning outcomes. The patchwork of virtual learning solutions to deliver education to students has been haphazard at best and almost nonexistent at worse.
Those offended by the term "haphazard" should do research on the myriad of plans that were cobbled together by various districts. Some used Zoom video conferencing for an hour a week. Others emailed lessons to children. Many just gave assignments to parents to "teach" kids math and reading.
On that last point, "home schooling" became a catch all term for assigning parents the duties of a teacher. Parents, many of whom were working from home, suddenly took on the extra burden of classroom educator. Parents get an A+ for effort, but they endured extraordinary pressure.
Former Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, who helps run City Fund, an education non-profit, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post that should be required reading for all parents. His assessment of the impact on students is an indictment of slapdash virtual learning.
"Classes are going online, if they exist at all. The United States is embarking on a massive, months-long-virtual-pedagogy experiment, and it is not likely to end well. Years of research shows that online schooling is ineffective--and that students suffer significant learning losses when they have a long break from school."
Precious few schools had ever used virtual learning technology pre-pandemic. Teachers were left to their own devices to use existing tools. Many designed creative solutions under adverse circumstances. However, teachers know here is no substitute for classroom learning.
Virtual learning only can work if all students have equal access to computers, Ipads or similar devices. A Pew Research Report issued in March exposed the obstacles to online education. Researchers found that 25% of lower income households do not even have access to a computer.
In the same report, Pew discovered that 15% of U.S. households with school-age children have no high-speed Internet connection. The numbers, of course, are higher for African-American (25%) and Hispanic (17%) households. The data underscores the impediments to virtual learning.
Huffman, recognizing these limitations, provided this sobering assessment on what parents and teachers could expect from the current "virtual education" experiment:
"Our teachers are trying their best, but their hands are often tied by bureaucracy, limited student access to technology, the lack of lead time to prepare for this situation and the limited effectiveness of delivering school remotely. Results will range from lackluster to catastrophic, with the largest burden falling on the poorest kids."
Huffman recommends eliminating some of the summer vacation and testing students at the start of the next school year to ascertain their readiness for the upcoming semester. Without some barometer of children's educational progress, teachers and children will not be prepared for the next school term.
A Brookings Institute Study found children typically lose between one and two months progress after a 10-week break. Now consider that most kids will have had been out of school for 24 weeks or longer when they return his fall. Teachers will spend more time re-teaching kids just to catch up.
Some states, such as Washington, have already made the decision to not open classes this fall. Others are leaning heavily in that direction. There appears to be few educators willing to stand up and take issue with state governments over what is best for our children.
The question no one dares to ask is this: Is closing schools for such a long period the right decision for kids? Even to raise the issue is to risk being condemned as a science denier or a miscreant who doesn't care about every life. But parents and children deserve a reasoned answer to the question.
Most scientists would argue schools should remain closed. Nicholas Christakis, a social scientist and physician at Yale University, recognizes the questions around closing schools are difficult, but he offers data that shutting down educational facilities can play a role in reducing the spread of a virus.
Christakis, citing a paper in Nature in 2006, says school closures for a "moderately transmissible pathogen reduces the cumulative infection rate by about 25% and delays the peak of the epidemic (in that region) by about two weeks." The paper used modeling to reach its conclusions.
Christakis favors proactive school closures, instead of waiting until infected children show up at school. "It's not just about keeping kids safe, it's keeping the whole community safe." Closing schools "effectively requires parents to stay at home," he added, which reduces social contacts.
Education experts don't discount the scientists' view but are worried about students. Dr. William Bennett, former Secretary of Education under President Reagan, and Seith Leibsohn, a fellow the Claremont Institute, are lobbying for the nation to prioritize children's schooling.
"It was perhaps understandable that at the beginning of the outbreak, with predictions of millions of dead, that we quickly and immediately put a pause on our nation's schools. But as evidence becomes clearer that children were far more affected by other and worse problems, the schools should be opened," the two pointed out in an article they co-authored. Indeed, data supports their argument.
In decision-making about closures, experts agree a key consideration should be the susceptibility of children to the virus. In the case of COVID 19, the most recent data suggests children have been among the least vulnerable. Initially, some scientists feared children would be hardest hit.
As of May 23, there have been 43,614 cases reported nationwide for those 24-years old and younger. The total number of confirmed cases is 1,271,490, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC data does not provide a breakdown of data for those 18-years-old and below.
The number of deaths in the same age group (24 and below) is 174 nationwide. There is no comparable data for an-apples-to-apples comparison, but the number of ordinary influenza deaths among children is 144 this season, according to the CDC. Total COVID fatalities stand at 96,202.
Proactive school closures appear now to be on the government's radar as one of the first steps in halting a pandemic. If that is the new normal, then school administrators have a responsibility to be prepared with the latest technology and teaching methods to make virtual education effective.
If educators oppose online learning, then plans should be developed on how schools can reconfigure current classrooms and other facilities to maintain a safe environment for kids and teachers. Grocery stores and pharmacies offer insructive models on how to operate safely even in a pandemic.
Closing schools for extended periods of time without a plan on how to maintain the learning process is an unconscionable dereliction of duty to kids. Expect school districts to complain their hands are tied because of funding. Then it is their responsibility to create plans and apply for funds.
Every American will chime in that children are our future. Indeed, they are. Then it is our responsibility to protest against treating their education during a pandemic as nonessential to save lives. What about the children's lives and futures? Don't we owe them more than this?
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