|
|
|
The views expressed on this page are
solely
those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of County
News Online
|
|
Tartila / Shutterstock
EdSurge
‘Life Is in Chaos’: How 13,000 High School Students Are Weathering the Pandemic
By Emily Tate
Sep 15, 2020
The pandemic has created enormous challenges for the 56 million K-12
students in the United States, but the heaviest burden has fallen on
underserved minorities and learners whose family members have never
attended college.
That is the clearest takeaway from survey results published this month
by the ACT Center for Equity in Learning, an arm of the nonprofit best
known for its college entrance exam.
The survey, administered from March 26 to April 1—a few weeks into the
pandemic, when many parts of the country were under shelter-in-place
orders and nearly all students had been sent home from school—captured
the experiences and struggles of 13,000 high school students who had
been registered to take the ACT exam in April or June.
Much has changed since late March. When the survey was sent, the U.S.
had under 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. It now has more than 6.5
million. And students, at the time they answered these questions, may
have expected to return to school in person later in the semester, or
at the very least this fall. But many of those hopes have been dashed.
Still, the survey offers a snapshot of what life and learning were like
during the early days of the pandemic for students from a range of
backgrounds. And it illustrates how race and class have played a role
in how students have weathered this strange year.
Students Miss Their Teachers
If anything from the survey results surprised Raeal Moore, a principal
research scientist at ACT and an author of the report, it was that
students who were stuck at home wished they “had somebody there in
person to help them navigate the learning experience,” she says.
“Especially since we surveyed them in March. I almost thought students
would be relieved or happy to be doing remote work at home, on their
own.”
But student after student left comments expressing how much they missed
getting real-time feedback from teachers and interacting with their
classmates. Here’s what a few of them said:
“It’s a little harder to learn the material because the teachers are not actually present, and it’s all through the internet.”
“I feel like I’m not learning as efficiently and effectively at home
rather than school. It is very hard to learn new topics at home without
the instruction of a teacher right in front of you. I prefer learning
at school than at home.”
“It is much harder to learn online especially when many teachers are
not actually teaching, they are just dropping new materials. I am a
person who needs physical interaction to be able to comprehend and
learn well.”
Students Need to Be Motivated
What’s often missing in online environments are the regular nudges
teachers provide in a classroom setting. Otherwise, Moore says,
“students may not have the motivation to be self-directed and do the
material that has been assigned to them.” This is one of the themes
that emerged in the survey.
Here’s how some of the student respondents put it:
“I feel more engaged and motivated in school than at home. It is harder to learn new topics at home.”
“Online classes do not take into account the attention span of
teenagers and it is sometimes difficult to communicate with teachers
outside of class or do online work when the internet cuts out.”
“It was better in school because it was easier to ask questions. Also, the school environment improved focus.”
“I can't concentrate as well as in school because it's a new
environment that I am learning in and some assignments are confusing
since I am using technology for everything.”
Online Learning Access Is Not Equal
For most schools, remote learning meant virtual learning. That means
students need access to reliable internet and a device with which to
make use of the internet.
In the ACT survey, 35 percent of students described the quality of
their home internet connection as “great.” The majority (52 percent)
said it was merely “OK.” Another 14 percent said their home connection
was unpredictable or terrible.
The demographic breakdown of students who reported “unpredictable” or
“terrible” home internet connections illustrates that the issue was
worse for students in rural areas than those in urban or suburban
areas, and that it was slightly worse for students of color and those
who would be considered a first-generation college student (a
distinction the ACT uses since it presumes these survey respondents to
be “college-bound.”)
Percentage of Students Reporting that their Internet Connection was Unpredictable or Terrible
Most students surveyed said they had access to multiple devices at
home, but 13 percent said they had access to just one. Of those in this
group, 19 percent said that their sole device was a smartphone. That
means that 2 percent of the students surveyed had only a smartphone to
log into virtual class meetings and complete online homework during the
spring, since their school buildings and libraries were closed.
Percentage of Students with Access to Only one Device at Home
Access to devices varied greatly among students of different races and
family education statuses. Students who would be the first in their
families to go to college were twice as likely (22 percent) to have
only one device at home than students whose families have gone to
college (11 percent). And while only 10 percent of white students and
12 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander students had just one device at
home, that rate was 23 percent for African-American students and 17
percent for Hispanic students.
The ACT Center for Equity in Learning completed a second survey of
students in June, to see how much progress had been made in these
areas. The results will be published in the coming months.
Michelle Croft, another principal research scientist at ACT and
co-author of the report, says she hopes to see an improvement in
students’ internet and device access the next time around.
“We’ve seen a lot of effort to get kids technology [this summer],”
Croft says. “A lot of districts were trying to plan for this fall. I
hope what they end up providing is more engaging and more beneficial
for students, but I think we’re just going to have to wait and see.”
Stressors at Home Affect School
The pandemic has impacted students’ lives well beyond the classroom.
Ten percent of those surveyed said they had lost their jobs due to
COVID-19. Another 10 percent said their work hours had been reduced. In
families that rely on teenage children to contribute to the household
income, such changes can be financially devastating.
The ACT also asked students if they or their families needed some kind
of help—whether meeting their basic needs, like getting shelter, food
and clothing; going to places like the grocery store or doctor;
learning content at school; or accessing technology or the internet.
Forty-seven percent of first-generation students, 42 percent of
African-American students and 44 percent of Hispanic students said yes
to needing assistance in at least one of those areas. That’s compared
to 25 percent of white students and 29 percent of students who are not
considered first-generation.
Percentage of Students who Said they Needed Some Type of Help
Noting these disparities, Moore says that “everybody has challenges in
the pandemic, but there is this compounding nature of challenges for
underserved students.”
First-generation students and learners of color were also more likely
to report having caregiver duties at home. And first-generation
students were more than twice as likely as their non-first-generation
peers (43 percent to 18 percent) to have families whose employment was
impacted by the pandemic. With regard to both caregiving duties and
family employment disruption, Hispanic students were most severely
impacted.
Percentage of Students who Reported Having Caregiver Duties at Home
Some students elaborated on how these challenges have affected them.
“It's really hard to do everything at home, and one of my teachers
thinks that just because we are supposed to be in school for 8 hours in
a day, he thinks he needs to send me that much work since I'm just
sitting at home.”
“My mom and I might need to move because of how her hours got cut down and I lost my job.”
“My only struggle has been with my younger siblings at this time. They
are in kindergarten and first grade so they need a teacher. My stepdad
works each day and does not get home until around 4, I prefer to have
my work finished by then but I usually have to teach the kids from when
I wake up to around one.”
The Pandemic’s Toll on Mental Health
Any one of these changes—employment, caregiving, disruption to school,
health concerns—can impact a person’s mental health. Combined, the
reality is that many students—and many Americans in general—are
struggling with anxiety, stress and depression during this period.
As one student put it in the comments, “I feel like life is in chaos at
the moment. I am worried and anxious about how this will end.”
This is one of Moore’s biggest concerns for students—and one she thinks should be better addressed by schools this fall.
“I hope there’s an improvement or focus this school year on mental
health and social-emotional wellbeing for students at this time,” she
says.
Supporting students’ social-emotional health is one of the five
policies recommended by the authors in the report. The others are:
resolving inequities in technology access, scaling up and improving
online education instruction, considering the whole student—from their
academic to their social-emotional and physical needs, and addressing
food insecurity.
“They are all related,” Croft says of the policy recommendations. “In
order to do this well, you have to improve the quality of online
instruction, but you also have to make sure students have access to it.
Mental health and access to food—those are just another barrier to
students being able to participate in education.”
ACT Center for Equity in Learning Charts
Percentage of students who reported having caregiver duties at home.
Percentage of students who said they needed some type of help.
Percentage of students with access to only one device at home.
Percentage of students in the survey reporting that their internet connection was "unpredictable" or "terrible."
View these charts at EdSurge
|
|
|
|
