The debate surrounding reopening schools this fall seems to intensify daily. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, and government officials are struggling to weigh questions of safety against the realities of remote learning. It’s a difficult issue with no easy or universal answers.
In March, as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, Texas schools scrambled to switch to at-home learning, whether online or by other means. While some families were able to adapt pretty efficiently, others were less able to make the transition. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) collected information from schools on the effectiveness of at-home learning, and the results are enlightening, though sobering.
Texas schools were required to report student engagement (completing assignments) and the ability of teachers to contact them. Nearly 620,000 students (11.3% of the total) had notable difficulties. Of those, 7.2% were reported as having basically no engagement and 1.8% had no contact. Only 88.7% of students were fully engaged in online/at-home learning, while another 2.3% were not engaged initially but ultimately began completing assignments.
