How can we proactively address the inevitable and unfair gaps caused by school closures?
President Donald Trumps announcement to extend nationwide social distancing guidelines until at least April 30 prompted Arizona to join Kansas, Oklahoma, Virginia, New Mexico, and Vermont in shutting down schools for the remainder of the school year. California and New York are leaning in a similar direction, and almost every state has closed schools at least until the end of April. Over 55 million students in the United States are currently out of school. The prospect of nationwide school closures is no longer a matter of if, but when.
In the weeks since school closures commenced, the glaring inequities that have always existed in our educational system have been highlighted to the less familiar. Questions of access and equity have underlined the unprecedented nationwide shift to distance learning: how do we make sure students do not go hungry? How do we bridge the digital divide that impacts countless low income and rural communities? How do we effectively serve students with special learning needs whose needs were a struggle to meet even in a brick and mortar environment? How do we train millions of teachers overnight to use tech tools they were often reluctant to use before this crisis? Even if school systems miraculously fulfilled all these prerequisites to equitable distance learning, the how behind supporting student learning at home for students without enough family support in the process adds an almost insurmountable layer of complexity. Not to mention figuring out how to support students through all of the trauma, suffering, and fear that comes with working through the worlds largest health crisis in 100 years.
Without downplaying the superhuman efforts of so many education systems across the country to do everything in their power to provide learning opportunities for their students, we are in a context where mandating learning is simply not going to happen. This means that students who need meaningful learning opportunities the most will will likely lose between two and three months of education this school year. There is undoubtedly an unequal cost to school closures. But acknowledging these inequities comes with an important responsibility: doing something about it.
Some might argue that the impact of schools closing is overblown. After all, even if all schools decided to shut down today, over 70% of the school year has been completed. The case for doing nothing falls apart when we start to dig into the the reality of what even two to three months of lost time means to specific groups of students. For instance, with what we know about how much childrens brains develop before age 5, two to three months means a lot for the nations students enrolled in shuttered prekindergarten programs. For college-bound high school seniors, especially first generation college students, missing out on college advising, completing college prerequisites, and all of the other nitty-gritty aspects of smoothing the transition to post-secondary education means a ton. Especially when it literally still pays to go to college. And think about what losing two to three months of school means for students who struggle socially who were just starting to feel accepted and students who struggle academically who were just starting to hit their stride. Considering this impact, the idea of doing the same thing we have always done as we ramp up for a new school year is unfathomable.
If doing nothing is not an option, what should school systems do to recover lost educational opportunities when they reopen after the coronavirus pandemic? There are at least 3 areas schools can consider to make the best out of an unprecedented situation by proactively addressing the inevitable and inequitable gaps caused by school closures.
High-quality summer school can be a powerful solution to avoiding what education advocate Dale Chu refers to as the coronavirus cliff. A six week summer school program targeted towards the students most likely to struggle the most from missed learning opportunities has an estimated price tag of over $8 billion. This is probably a stimulus-worthy investment, because it can provide an invaluable return to structure and support for students and families at a time when the nation will hopefully be rebounding from the current economic standstill. Smaller class sizes and clear, focused, learning goals might allow some students to not just make up for lost time, but possibly pick up ground given the glaring gaps existing in education prior to this pandemic. With there being mixed data around the value of extending the length of school days, with some evidence suggesting that longer school days increase performance for struggling learners and other studies suggesting more mixed results, summer school might be the most feasible way to close gaps more quickly.
The Achievement Gap starts early. This is why kindergarten readiness matters. Up until third grade, students typically learn to read. after third grade, they read to learn. This means fourth grade readiness matters as well. To avoid the minefield ninth graders walk into across the country, where students fail ninth grade than any other grade, high school readiness must also be prioritized. With about half of first-year college students needing remedial education in math, English, or both, the transition from high school to college needs to be a focus as well. School systems looking to recover lost educational opportunities should prioritize these important transitions however they can. This could look like innovative partnerships with higher education institutions to address remediation challenges. Dedicated support for transition grades can be delivered during Saturday or after-school programs. For many school systems, the default expectation is that students grow at least 1 grade level during each academic year. Education leaders may want to consider how systems can be shifted to change this expectation to 1.5 grade levels per year over a two year time period for students in these transition grades who are far off the target.
A silver lining to this is that we can no longer deny the impact of families on student learning. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the prototype of an involved parent was a family member who volunteered for the school carnival or organized the bake sale. Now, we have to accept that for our families with the capacity to do so, education leaders can and must see that true student learning cannot happen their authentic involvement on the academic side.
We have also seen the vastness of the digital divide as leaders scramble to provide students with devices and connectivity to access learning in the distance learning context. Technology-assisted learning is not the be-all, end-all in education. But leaders should not overlook a powerful outcome of this unprecedented time: teachers across the country have had no choice but to develop at least a basic understanding of how to use a wide variety of educational technology products and services. Post-pandemic, educators should see how using these resources strategically can be another resource to recover lost learning opportunities due to school closures.
School systems who struggle are used to saying theres always next year when it comes to implementing strategies to improve. But this years version of theres always next year must recognize that a this year spent tackling a global pandemic that completely stopped the economy and shut down schools for months requires an even more intense focus. Doing nothing is not an option. Doing the same thing we always do misses the point. Education leaders must be intentional about addressing the unique challenges posed by the unequal costs of school closures.
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