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Schools Update: Lawmakers Incensed Over Data Showing Remote Learning Disparities In Pandemic's Early Months
By
Sophia Chang
Published Oct 17, 2020
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By
Sophia Chang
Published Oct 17, 2020
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This is our daily update following the reopening of NYC schools for Saturday, October 17th, 2020.
Here's the latest:
- NYC Schools Still Missing 77,000 Devices That Students Need For Learning
- Outdoor Learning For NYC Schools Hailed As Success, Officials Say
- Cuomo Issues Order To Withhold Funding From Schools Flouting COVID Restrictions
- Do you have a tip or story to share about schools reopening in NYC? Send us an email at [email protected] (we can keep you anonymous)
Newly released data showing that minority students had lower rates of remote learning engagement in the first months of the pandemic drew ire from lawmakers on Friday, who warned lack of improvement to remote learning will continue to punish Black and Hispanic students.
"Can we imagine all of the energy and the money that we wasted doing something that everybody told this mayor we should not and cannot do?" asked Public Advocate Jumaane Williams at a hearing examining schools reopening. "It is inconceivable that this is a decision that the mayor made."
But Mayor Bill de Blasio has insisted that a hybrid approach to schools reopening this fall -- combining in-person with remote learning -- was essential to New York’s 1.1 million students, most of whom are low-income.
The trends are similar to school attendance records from before COVID-19 hit the city, demonstrating how the pandemic exacerbated existing inequity, according to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Education Committee Chair Councilman Mark Treyger, who announced the findings in a press release Thursday.
“Schools where at least half the student population was Black and Hispanic were nearly eight times more likely to report low student engagement or poor attendance compared to schools with lower Black and Hispanic populations,” the release said. “Schools where 25% or more of the students were Black were nearly four times more likely to report low student engagement than schools with fewer Black students. Schools where 25% of more of the population was white showed high student engagement.”
Black and Hispanic New Yorkers were harder hit by the pandemic as well.
The remote learning attendance data on more than 1,200 city schools was released after the City Council issued a rare subpoena to the city Department of Education for the information last month, the release said. The data defined student engagement to be as simple as student emails to more robust participation in online classes and check-ins.
Johnson said in a statement the data shows how much more work needs to be done to improve the remote learning experience for all students. “We are still not seeing the full scope of the inequities that exist in remote learning because we don’t have specifics on what type of instruction these students received,” Johnson said.
The data “further paints a picture of a city perpetuating the divide between well-resourced and under-resourced communities,” Treyger said in the statement.
Treyger pointed out one reason for the low engagement might be the difficulties in distributing devices to students -- on Friday, DOE officials said that about 77,000 devices like tablets and laptops still need to be distributed to students, nearly a month after classes began.
The full data set of attendance is available online.
Tagged
COVID-19
coronavirus
schools reopening
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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