When schools were forced to go remote during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it shone a spotlight on inequities that had long plagued education.
For example, teachers serving schools with high levels of student poverty were far more likely to report that their students lacked appropriate remote-learning workspaces free of distractions during the pandemic, according to research from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Also during that period, teachers with a high share of students classified as English learners were more likely to report that their students regularly struggled to understand lessons, complete assignments and get help from an adult.
Those disparities are carrying over into the learning recovery process, according to the results of the School Pulse Panel. The federal data comes from a national survey of principals, which makes it unique, according to Allison Socol, vice president of P-12 policy, research and practice at the Education Trust. The nonprofit aims to promote equity in education.
“I think it’s really powerful to see what principals are telling us,” she says. “We’re seeing a very similar pattern [to other data sets], which is that the pandemic had a big impact on students, and that it shed a light on and exacerbated racial inequities that have existed for a long time.”
The results aren’t all that surprising: Schools serving more students experiencing poverty and more students who are racial minorities report that they already had more students behind grade level before COVID-19 struck. They also report that those numbers ballooned during the years following the initial pandemic-related lockdown.
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