Students feeling left behind as schools try to educate kids online — with little guidance

Illinois school closures during the coronavirus crisis have forced educators and students to make major changes to their teaching and learning methods.

Without specific guidance from the state or the same resources across districts and even schools within the same city, the adjustment has been anything but uniform.

The focus for school leaders has been addressing the lack of internet or computer access for many low-income and under-resourced families. State education officials have tried to address equity concerns by saying assignments during the closures should not negatively affect a student’s grade.

Problems go beyond digital divide

Yet even when those issues are addressed, it’s been a struggle for many students who don’t have the same teacher or classmate support they’d get in a classroom.

At Chicago Public Schools, a district with 350,000 students at more than 640 schools, officials initially said it wouldn’t be possible to develop a comprehensive remote learning plan for the entire district. A set of online enrichment resources the district made available has been accessed 11,000 times in the past week, a CPS official said. But lots of families and teachers have had to scramble to come up with their own plans.

This week, in recognition the closures will last far longer than initially thought, CPS said it’s on the verge of buying more computers for students to use at home and is set to release new guidelines to heavily ramp up e-learning.

2 schools, 2 different approaches for twins

Alraynita Coleman, of South Shore, is the mother of 16-year-old twins, including one at Lane Tech High School and the other at De La Salle Institute, a private Catholic school in Bronzeville.

Coleman said her daughter, Allegra, has had optional assignments, but she completes them anyway because “she doesn’t want any surprises” when she goes back to school.

Coleman’s son, Alexandré, meanwhile, has been given a more rigorous workload with mandatory attendance requiring students check in on a regular basis on the Google Classroom website, required online assignments and even pop quizzes.

“It’s challenging without the teacher because I can’t go to them and ask questions and talk to them about something I’m confused about,” Alexandré said. “It’s just all a little bit different.”

Mike Feinberg, a social studies teacher to sixth graders at Walt Disney Magnet Elementary School in Buena Park, said many of his students have stayed engaged with the homework he’s uploading to Google Classroom. This week, he got several questions about an assignment, so he uploaded a video of himself clarifying the instructions.

Classroom energy lacking

But Feinberg said he recognizes that many families don’t have access to computers or online resources, so he’s staying in touch with those kids separately.

Feinberg said he misses the energy of his classrooms and having the face-to-face instruction time with his students. His biggest frustration is that some of his lesson plans about the U.S. census have been thrown off.

“We have a lot of immigrant families at Disney, and so they’re obviously very concerned about filling out the census,” Feinberg said. “And I was going to have a census night where community outreach people were going to come in and talk to them about the census, and then we were going to fill it out online.

“All of that is now, I don’t even want to say on pause, because it’s probably just not going to happen now.”

‘This break is taking away from our education’

Enija Carter, a junior at the Perspectives Leadership Academy charter school in Chatham, said she’s staying on top of her homework since she’ll get extra credit. But that doesn’t mean things have been as productive as usual.

“I’m more of a visual learner,” said Enija, who lives in Auburn Gresham. “So I have to take notes. I have to see you do it first, then I’ll do it.”

Perspectives Leadership Academy has materials set up in Google Classroom, but it’s not as valuable as regular instruction or even the same topics students would have been studying, Enija said. She’s frustrated she didn’t get to take exams that she studied for and that an important essay she wrote didn’t get graded.

That’s why Enija said she doesn’t feel she’s getting nearly the same help she does while physically at school, even though she appreciates that her teachers have kept in touch with students through email.

“I don’t know if the answer is right or wrong,” she said. “I feel like I am losing out because I think this break is taking away from our education. I think all students are feeling a little left behind.”