There are 13,000 school districts in the U.S. Here is how some are faring.
There are 13,000 school districts in the U.S. Here is how some are faring.
Grading Education in the Pandemic
ByKate TaylorJan. 25, 2021
Education in the Pandemic
Education in the Pandemic
Public schools have struggled mightily during the pandemic. But with13,000 districtsacross America, it’s hard to get a complete picture.
My colleagues and I set out to look at how the year has gone in seven very different districts. Here is what we found →
Education in the Pandemic
Districts got little guidance from the federal government on when and how to open schools safely.
And because local leaders rarely have public health expertise, politics and cultural attitudes often played a bigger role in their decisions than science.
Education in the Pandemic
To see how it worked in one place, I went to Rhode Island, where the Democratic governor, Gina Raimondo, pushed strongly for schools to reopen.
Providence is one of the few big cities wheremost students are in classrooms.
Education in the Pandemic
Rachel Santos, 15, told me she couldn’t stay focused during remote learning. Her mother, Ramona Santos Torres, said she was very grateful for the option to send her back to school.
Where the students came back
Education in the Pandemic
Jenny Medina spent a week in Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest district. It has been all remote since March, and some students could be falling permanently behind.
Struggling with ‘no human contact’
Education in the Pandemic
Elissa Elder-Aga told Jenny that reading aloud to her kindergarten students is usually her favorite classroom activity. But she can’t keep her students’ attention on Zoom — just one example of what is lost when school is reduced to a computer screen.
Education in the Pandemic
Dan Levin visited a district in Georgia where classrooms are open and masks are not required.
One mother, Dana Vansword, said she thought it was ridiculous that her daughter had to sit away from her teammates at a softball tournament.
Education in the Pandemic
“It’s just silly rules that they have come up with,” she said.
There have been at least 70 clusters of infections linked to the district’s schools.
A district vowed to stay open, until its staffing ran out
Education in the Pandemic
Every approach to teaching in the pandemic has come with challenges. And there are growing indications that school might not be back to normal in some places even next fall.
A Wisconsin school board voted to keep classrooms closed.Parents revolted.
When students are absent, this teacher comes to students.
Grades rebounded when a district required in-person classes. But so did the virus.
Like many districts, Edison, N.J., is struggling to make hybrid instruction work.