Midterm Project
The Struggles the Pandemic has Brought Along for K-12 Schooling
Schooling for kindergarten through grade 12 education is struggling to find common footing across school districts. Many policies that schools are implementing are on a case by case basis across districts. The lack of uniform policies across districts has led to a lot of confusion on how to conduct schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those affected by the confusion about schooling include teachers and faculty, students, and parents of students. Across states many have adopted a completely online schooling presence or a version of hybrid learning where students attend class part-time and receive the rest of their schooling online. In particular, parents and teachers are concerned that students are not receiving the education they would be receiving if attending school full-time; however, concerns over the infectiousness of COVID-19 seem to outweigh the concerns of proper schooling in most cases. In order to better weigh-in and understand the issues K-12 schools are facing, I conducted three interviews with one teacher, one student, and one parent of a student. The three interviewees I chose are as follows; Ms. Lynn, a 7th grade math teacher from Washington State; my cousin Kim from New Jersey, a parent of a sophomore in high school; and Nevaeh from New Jersey, a sophomore in high school and daughter to my cousin Kim. For my interviews I focused on how the curriculum in school is being conducted, socialization, student organization and morale, the resources provided to students, and the inequalities lower income students are facing.
Depending on where a teacher is teaching, the teaching guidelines differ immensely. In Washington State, Ms. Lynn states that students are currently not being graded for assignments. The initiative not to grade students is meant to relieve the technological struggles and financial stress brought along by the pandemic on both the students and parents. Students are still expected to complete assignments but are not graded on them. In Washington State, schooling is all online currently. In New Jersey, according to Kim and Nevaeh, students at the high-school level and are expected to submit assignments by the end of the week for a grade. New Jersey high schools have also adopted hybrid program, in which students will attend school twice a week for several hours. In the hybrid program, not all students attend school at once; students are split into two cohorts where only half of students will be in the building at any given time. The differences between states and districts seems vary depending on government mandates and infection rates of COVID among student from the information I gathered through research and interviews.
Socialization is a big factor in schooling. According to Doug Larkin, an associate professor of Teaching and Learning at Monte Claire University, schools have a responsibility at sustaining culture, maintaining cultural traditions, and providing developmental opportunities outside of standard teaching curriculum. The school may have dances, holiday parties, sporting, theater, and academic events for their students to participate and socialize in (Larkin, 2020). Since the pandemic began, many of these socialization events have been modified or canceled. The socialization provided by schools is big factor in development for my cousin Nevaeh. During our conversation, she talked about she was meeting new friends as freshman in high school and forming deep connections, and since the COVID-19 pandemic those connections have been lost. Nevaeh is also a volleyball player and has not been allowed to continue her sporting due to the cancelation of all indoor sports in New Jersey. The hybrid program has done little to alleviate socialization problems either. Nevaeh mentions that, “barely anyone talks to each other” in terms of student interactions when at school. The isolation due to the pandemic may be playing into the stifled interactions between students. Nevaeh while upset says that her academic performance and morale have stayed up during these times; however, my cousin him tells a slightly different story.
The main concerns from Kim is how Nevaeh is mentally fairing and if she is staying on-top of her work. The result is a mixed bag in the opinion of my cousin Kim. She mentions how Nevaeh is easily distracted by her home surroundings and her struggles with her science subject. Kim thinks that if Nevaeh was is school full-time, she would be fairing a lot better in terms of academic outcome. Kim also mentions that she feels partial responsible for Nevaeh’s success in academics during COVID, more so then when she was at school full-time. According to Kim, “there is certain level of added stress when you have a teenager, now top the pandemic on top that with a teenager, and she’s staying up late, and not doing her assignments like she use to, and you can understand my frustration”. Kim thinks Nevaeh’s morale has been getting better, but has mentioned that she tends to sleep in and stay up later then she would if she was in school full-time.
While looking into how individuals are faring during the pandemic it is important that people take note of how less fortunate students are faring. In Washington state, schooling districts have been working towards providing under-privileged students with proper food and technological resources. According to Ms. Lynn, students who were provided lunches can pick up food that will last the student several days. Additional, students without computers are being provided laptops from the school to work with from home. Students without access to internet are allowed to sit in the parking lot of the school during the day to complete online assignments. Sitting in the parking lot of the school, especially when parents have work, is less than ideal for most students and the district and state schooling officials are working with internet providers to provide internet for less fortunate students. Students from New Jersey are also being supplied with food and laptops for students in need of these resources. Even though resources were being provided to students in need, Ms. Lynn mentioned a drop in responsiveness among her students from lower income families and increased stress on the lower-income students’ part.
Ms. Lynn who noticed a sharp decline in academic performance from some students that come from families with poor income backgrounds. She thinks that the school may have provided a certain level of structure that is no longer present in the homes. The resources being provided to students such as laptops and school lunches certainly helps, but many students are still struggling academically. Andrew Bacher-Hicks et al., a group of educational professors, theorize that parents from higher income backgrounds are able to spend more time with their children and helping them learn during the pandemic as opposed to low-income families. The groups theory comes from increased search results online for parental schooling resources and research indicating lower engagement rates with remote learning among low-income students (Bacher-Hicks, Goodman, & Mulhern, 2020). If Bacher-Hicks et al. theory is correct, then schools may need to do a better job at moderating learning outcomes for students in the remote learning environment. One way to fix this may be to include mandatory tutoring and extra online sessions to help students remain up to date and engaged. While it may not be ideal for the students involved, the extra-teaching and learning curriculum may provide better academic outcomes for low-income students.
The general tone of most conversations I had was hopeful. All speakers felt that their school were making good decisions for their students. Most parties felt involved in school making decisions and felt like they had some amount of say, if only a little, over schooling changes or decisions. While situations are not ideal for those involved in K-12 education, the people I interviewed seemed happy with the administrative decisions and allocations of resources to students. The most concerning aspects of these interviews revolved around the lack of socialization aspects provided to students and lower incomes struggling academically in remote learning. The socialization is hard to remedy since COVID-19 still possess a threat to the public health. Making more optional outdoor events may help to ease students back into socializing. For low-income students, parental guidance in the household seems to be not as well-adjusted compared to students from higher-income backgrounds Making mandatory tutoring and other extra online learning opportunities may help, but it may not be a one to one replacement for what can be provided to lower-income students in person. COVID-19 has been a very challenging experience for all parties involved in K-12 education. Personally, my main concern is the children receiving the proper education to be successful in life. Hopefully, whatever effects COVID-19 may have are minimal and people will be able to move past this uncertain time period we are living in.
*Ms. Lynn is a pseudonym for the teacher who did the interview, since I did not have full permission to use her name in this research article *
References
Bacher-Hicks, A., Goodman, J., & Mulhern, C. (2020, July 15). What Google Search Data Reveals About Learning During the Pandemic. Retrieved from Education Next: https://www.educationnext.org/google-search-data-reveals-about-learning-pandemic/
Larkin, D. (2020, March 14). The Public Purposes of Schooling in the Age of Coronavirus. Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/@douglarkin01/the-public-purposes-of-schooling-in-the-age-of-coronavirus-a1bb5a202e0b
