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Friend,
Many schools are back in session across the U.S., and with a combination of in-person and remote learning opportunities, many parents and guardians are wondering how the pandemic is affecting their child’s long-term developmental skills.
EPI's Emma García and Elaine Weiss just published a timely report that explores the direct relationship between school disruptions, such as those faced with COVID-19, and student performance, equity, and U.S. education policy.
EPI's report examines how students’ learning and development and teachers’ instruction could be dramatically affected by remote learning, which was forced upon our schools by the pandemic last spring.
The shutdown of schools, compounded by the associated public health and economic crises, poses major challenges to our students and their teachers—and will almost certainly exacerbate existing economic and racial inequities that shape educational disparities.
Emma García, one of the report authors, said:
“Our public education system was not built, nor prepared, to cope with a situation like this....[T]he interruption and disruptions have certainly affected children’s learning, along with their progress on other developmental skills. We also know that, given the various ways in which the crisis has widened existing socioeconomic disparities and how these disparities affect learning and educational outcomes, educational inequities are growing.”
Not only have tens of millions of children lacked daily access to their teachers and the basic support and community provided by our schools, they have lost out on group activities, team sports, and recreational options such as pools and playgrounds.
Check out Emma García and Elaine Weiss’s new report here:
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The challenges felt by millions of students tend to be far greater for low-income students, students of color, and students in rural areas, EPI's research found.
Not only do lower-income families tend to have less access to Internet, creating a “digital divide,” their families are more likely to experience compounded stresses—such as job loss, the loss of health care, the lack of paid sick leave, the lack of child care, and the need to work on site in jobs that put them at increased health risks.
All these factors combine to make it much harder for lower-income families to attend to children’s needs, creating yet another obstacle to overcome inequality that has existed for far too long in the United States.
The pandemic has exacerbated well-documented opportunity gaps that put low-income students at a disadvantage relative to their better-off peers. And, reduced learning time has likely impeded student learning and also affected the development of the whole child.
Report co-author Elaine Weiss adds:
“Our education system is facing unprecedented challenges. The ultimate consequences of the pandemic for K–12 education in the United States will be a function of the quality, intensity, and comprehensiveness of our response to counter the pandemic’s negative lasting effects.”
As the report finds, the required fixes to our education system include, “increasing both the amount and quality of learning time—through extended schedules, summer enrichment and after-school activities, more personalized instruction, and staffing strategies that reduce class sizes and staff schools with sufficient and highly credentialed educators.”
As we navigate the incredible challenges created by the coronavirus―a massive economic recession, the cross-currents of generations of systemic racism, and the ramifications of chronic inequality―we need EPI's critical research now more than ever before. Can you chip in $5 or more today to power EPI's research that plays such a valuable role as our communities seek to navigate these unprecedented times?
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Thank you for all you do to fight for an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few.
Eve Tahmincioglu
Director of Communications, Economic Policy Institute
P.S. Tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET EPI is holding a virtual discussion on how the Coronavirus pandemic poses major challenges to U.S. students and teachers, with opening remarks from Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Click here to register for this free event.
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