3.9 C
New York
Saturday, March 23, 2024

My Kids Struggle With Remote Learning. Here's What Could Help

As a New York mom of two kids who attend public schools, the past 12 months of remote schooling has been anything but smooth. Whether I’m procuring a picture book for my 7-year-old so he'll better understand Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy or explaining how to group polynomial algebraic expressions to my 9th grader for his online math homework, I'm doing a tricky balancing act. “You have no idea how to do algebra,” he said to me, with his teenage sneer, on more than one occasion. Guilty as charged.

“There’s got to be a better way,” I kept telling myself. I’m a parent of color, and both of my children receive special education services, like 7.1 million students nationwide. In New York City, there are well over 200,000 students who receive at least one special education service as mandated by their Individualized Education Program (IEP). When it comes to speech or occupational therapy services, I have done research on resources online and spoken to other parents about how remote schooling has changed almost every aspect of navigating special education services and assessments, while continuing to be an advocate for my children.

There is no question that I have been fortunate, since both of my kids were enrolled in public schools that had responsive teachers focused on social and emotional learning. Along the way, I’ve worked to communicate with my sons’ teachers about how they can help with learning, for example by giving lots of advance notice when it comes to deadlines for class projects. Home is a place to get school work done, but now I am more flexible with spacing out their work assignments with a healthy dose of unstructured free time and/or outdoor time, so that we are all less stressed out. Websites like Khan Academy are essential, especially if you are math-challenged, like me. Many parents and teachers recommend having plenty of writing paper and school supplies on hand. Having a good mix of literature, social studies, science, and other books, as well as the school course readings printed out whenever possible, are all key to learning at home.

However, without structural changes on a national level, remote schooling will continue to leave too many kids behind. First, to state the obvious, all kids need access to reliable high-speed internet and devices at home, accessible in their communities, and at their schools. This was a pre-pandemic issue that will take time, money, and infrastructure to fix. Another priority must be live instruction for kids. The reality is that remote instruction is here to stay. The 2021–22 school year may see hybrid or even fully remote learning options.

Most experts state that K–12 students learn best when they receive individualized instruction from teachers who they know. With so many students attending school remote-only or physically arriving in school but only “seeing” their teachers on a screen, the impact on kids of color, special education kids, and low-income and other populations cannot be understated. It’s certainly not business as usual, especially for the country’s most vulnerable kids. That’s why flexibility and tailored instruction is key.

Address the Covid Achievement Gap

“Assessment is important to determine the needs of students. However, if school districts don't have a plan for addressing the needs of students that are identified, this will be a waste of time,” says Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education and coauthor of Common Schooling: Conversations About the Tough Questions and Complex Issues Confronting K-12 Education in the United States Today.

“For too long, we have allowed assessment to take priority over ensuring access to quality instruction. We should be more focused on getting students engaged in learning and monitoring performance over time,” Noguera said in an email.

It’s clear the pandemic has brought the digital divide issue to the forefront. Even one year into the pandemic, there are still countless stories of low-income kids and kids of color who are not showing up regularly for their Google Classroom or Zoom calls. Again, tech equity is a factor, but there’s also a world of other socio-economic challenges that prevent students from attending their virtual classes.

Special Education Kids Need Individualized Attention

Nicole Schlechter, an Illinois-based mom of four and special education advocate, says that when schools first closed in the spring of 2020, many special education students did not have access to any special education services for months. “It typically takes a special education student double the time to catch up.” Now most school districts have started providing speech therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, and other services online. Remote learning may not work for some special education students. Case in point, physical therapy is simply not transferable to remote learning. There are concerns that other remote special education therapies are less effective, Schlecter says.

“We are seeing a huge increase in behavioral concerns, ADHD prescriptions, and other concerns,” Schlechter says.

It’s important that a child with special education not be rushed into an IEP that doesn’t also work for the child’s family. For example, if the parent of a special-education elementary-aged student has to work, and the school is remote only, the parent should ask if the school district can do anything to address that family’s scheduling needs. Flexibility is key. In my particular situation, I’m in frequent communication with my sons’ speech therapists, especially if I need to cancel due to scheduling conflicts. Both of my sons do not enjoy live video calls, but audio and chat-enabled Zoom or Google sessions can be an option during remote speech or occupational therapy.

As school districts work out how many asynchronous versus synchronous educational hours are effective for different student populations, Zoom fatigue is a real challenge. Clearly, few expect that kids are going to benefit from passively sitting through lectures or online assessments six hours a day every day, with a few more thrown in for homework.

“Sitting still for long periods of time is not good for children.  Developmentally, children need to be in the company of their peers and they need to have the experience of learning by doing and learning through play,” says Noguera.

Social and Emotional Learning Are Key

When, it comes to social and emotional learning for educators, parents, and kids, Dr. Marc Brackett, founder and director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center of Yale University, says it’s not a question of whether or not to include social and emotional learning in classroom learning—it’s an imperative.

"A stressed-out teacher is a stressed-out classroom," Brackett says. Additionally, Brackett notes, even during non-pandemic times, educators may not intuitively know how to connect with kids on an emotional level or be aware of implicit bias, particularly if it is a white educator teaching a student of color.

To help educators get the tools they need, Brackett and his team developed a program meant to bridge that gap. “Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty & Stress” is a free 10-hour self-paced program meant for educators. Another Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence resource is the Mood Meter for adults, teens, and middle-school students.

Brackett chose his career as a psychologist because of traumatic childhood experiences. In his latest book, Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive, he discusses how as a child he experienced abuse, was relentlessly bullied by peers, and did not get the emotional support he needed from his parents. Those challenging experiences informed his career path, but in that same time period, he benefited from emotional support and encouragement from teachers.

Limit Screen Time, Maximize Learning

Some educators think remote schooling has exposed already existing concerns that have been an issue for decades. Matt Miles, a teacher in Virginia and coauthor of Screen Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How Technology Overuse Is Making Our Kids Dumber, thinks that while remote schooling feels like new and unchartered territory, the fact is many low-income kids of color have already been participating in remote learning for years. Miles references peer-reviewed research that shows worse outcomes for students of color.

“Schools all over the country in majority-minority communities have been adopting digital-based education platforms in charter schools and some public schools for well over a decade," Miles says, noting participating online schools are everywhere, including New York, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, and California.

That one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for every K–12 student, according to Miles, but it puts children of color and special needs kids at an extreme disadvantage. Some of these remote schooling curriculums are still refining best practices, like age-based educational screen limits.

"All-remote learning platforms should have balance," he says. But more importantly, children need more than information provided to them. They need guidance and warmth from an adult. They need to know that others care for them. They need socialization. They need physical activity. "Our neediest students need these things more than the average student,” Miles says.

"Connecting with kids on a personal level, and meeting them where they are, is far more important than focusing on online assessments," says Miles’ coauthor, Joe Clement. “My advice is until the kids know that you’re on their side, little learning can be done. Finding some way to make a connection with students is the most important job."

Related Articles

Latest Articles