K-12 Disparity Gap Widens

Research from the the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) confirms what Intertwine has been hearing from K-12 educators nationwide: Middle school students suffered greater learning losses during the pandemic compared to students in lower grades and will take longer to close the gap.

Key takeaways from a recent EdSource post about NWEA's findings include:

•. Elementary school students had greater learning recovery during the 2021-2022 school year

compared to students in upper grades.

•. NWEA anticipates that elementary students will fully recover from pandemic learning loss in

3+ years v. 5+ years for students in higher grades.

• Teachers are facing a wider range of student abilities than prior to Covid, making their jobs

exponentially harder.

• Achievement disparities of Black, Latino, and American Indian students have deepened since

the pandemic began.

Read the full story from EdSource here.

"COVID slide" hitting lower-income and ELL students especially hard

Research from the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) confirms what Intertwine Research has been hearing from K-12 educators across the nation -- lower income and ELL students experienced greater learning losses compared to their counterparts.

Hopefully, efforts to address the COVID slide will help to mitigate the long-term impact for all learners, but especially for this most vulnerable population.

Teaching in a Post Covid-19 World

In the spring of 2020, education faced a tremendous shift due to the sudden closure of most school buildings as a result of COVID-19. This abrupt move to remote instruction revealed many challenges and opportunities in K-12 education. Intertwine Research conducted a series of virtual focus groups with K-12 teachers from across the nation to learn about their remote teaching experiences this spring as well as their greatest needs and concerns as they head into the new school year. Below are highlights from the new research report, “Teaching in a Post COVID-19 World.”

1. What really happened during the shift to remote instruction this spring?

Instruction was retooled overnight in some districts and came to a full stop in others. Teachers in more affluent districts began remote instruction with only a couple of days' notice, while teachers in many rural and low-income areas were forced to halt instruction completely while districts grappled with access and equity issues. The student achievement gap likely widened due to this disparity. Students from low income areas were twice as likely to receive no instruction after school closures compared to those from higher income areas.

Teachers felt that their greatest challenge this spring was students' lack of motivation – especially in the higher grade levels. Distance from the classroom contributed to waning motivation, but an even greater factor was that grades and assessments were no longer required for the majority of students.

2. What did teachers learn about remote instruction this spring?

Many teachers saw that students can thrive with online learning and effectively use it to learn from home. A New Jersey teacher said, “I am the most impressed with how quickly my third graders took to technology this spring. Instead of using worksheets this fall, I’ll say take out your Chromebook and do this Seesaw or Google Class activity. I think the kids will enjoy that more anyway.”

Teachers viewed highly interactive programs like Seesaw and Nearpod, and personalized intervention programs like iReady, IXL, Imagine Learning, and Achieve3000 as the most helpful and effective for remote learning this spring.

Teachers had mixed success with live video instruction. Less than half were allowed to use it for instruction due to concerns about access. Some teachers chose to eventually discontinue live sessions due to lack of attendance or behavioral issues, i.e., students not paying attention, jumping on beds, etc.

3. What are teachers greatest fears and concerns for fall?

Teachers are extremely concerned that early spikes in COVID-19 infections this fall could force them back into remote teaching before they’ve had a chance to get to know and bond with their incoming students.

"The idea of starting the year virtually is terrifying and will be hard to recover from. If you do not get that initial time to know them, it will be very difficult to establish community and build relationships online.” - New York high school teacher

Teachers are also very concerned about the depth of learning loss and the even wider than usual range of learning abilities they will face with new students this fall. They suspect that students who were behind before the school closures will be even further behind. They are especially concerned about students with behavioral struggles, learning disabilities and special needs.

Teachers feel a tremendous amount of pressure to quickly diagnose learning gaps and bring students up to speed early this fall. Many fear their students will be over 6 months behind. A Florida elementary school teacher said, “We are going to see the usual summer drop on top of the loss from these past two months, so I am almost panicking for the beginning of next year because these kids are plummeting.”

4. What will teachers do differently this fall?

Now that teachers have seen how students can thrive with online learning, they want to build on that early this fall. Many plan to emphasize technology from day one, modeling in class what students will likely need to do remotely if schools are forced to again close.

Teachers also feel they will need to establish connections with their new students very quickly in anticipation of having far less face-to-face contact with them if schools close fully or partially.

Teachers in low-income areas will need to find ways to provide actual instruction from a distance, something many were not able to do this spring.

5. What do teachers need to better prepare for this fall?

While many teachers received training on using various programs this past spring, they would like more professional development on how to provide effective remote instruction – especially in areas like math.

They would also like training on how to identify and address learning gaps from a distance early on, as well as strategies for remote remediation.

Many teachers would like to learn new ways to keep remote instruction fun and engaging for students (and parents) and establish a sense of community and support from afar. Finally, several are interested in best practices to optimize live and screencast instruction.

Silver linings

Fortunately, there were some upsides to being forced into emergency remote instruction this spring. Many teachers were heartened by the fact that their students were able to adapt so well to online learning and were allowed to become more independent learners. They were also buoyed by the genuine support and appreciation they received from students and parents. They hope these feelings of goodwill extend into the new school year, because they feel that the critical triad of the teacher-student-parent alliance will be tested once again.

Download the white paper with full results and supporting research data here.

https://www.intertwineinsights.com/posts