One of the greatest upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 was the sudden shutdown of elementary, middle, and high schools to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Kids, families and teachers were pushed into unchartered territory: 100% virtual learning, aka online school.
Although virtual schools had already been educating hundreds of thousands of students, and blended learning (the combination of face-to-face and online instruction) is on the rise, this wholesale transition to remote learning was unprecedented. Educators, parents and students were forced to find ways to cope with the disruption.
Some schools succeeded better than others. Brian Greenberg, CEO of the nonprofit educational organization Silicon Schools, explained to Education Next, “Two factors working together — school culture and experience with technology — were strong predictors of which schools succeeded with virtual learning and which ones got stuck.”
"Back to school" will look different, depending on where you live
Virtual Learning: Expectations vs. Reality
How is the transition to virtual learning working for children? The results are mixed. Before the abrupt pivot to K12 remote learning, the small amount of research that was done indicated that online learning was less effective.
There are several factors that can determine the success of virtual learning:
Access to technology
Many disadvantaged students don’t even have the means to study online. In 2019, the Associated Press found that 17% of U.S. students do not have access to computers at home and 18% do not have home access to broadband internet. The Economic Policy Institute calls this a “widespread digital divide based on family income.” This divide is likely to widen as schools transition to online learning in the fall.
Educator's response
On the positive side, parents gave high marks to the pandemic response of their local schools, and teachers have reported that some of their students are doing better in remote learning situations.
Attitude for change
Finally, perhaps this experiment in virtual education can show us the way to transform education into something new, different, and better. As Amelia Kibbie earlier wrote on Mom.com, “What if, during this pandemic, we find something BETTER than normal? As an educator and mom, I can't stop thinking what if we stop obsessing about kids 'falling behind' and instead think about how the institution of school itself could 'fall forward'?"
