Educational Resources During COVID-19 

 CLAIRE ZOU

 Sociology and International Studies

 Class of 2021 

“Once school started back up online via Zoom, how did your kids get instruction and materials for class?”

“They didn’t. That’s the thing; they didn’t get anything.”

I paused my brisk notetaking to look up at Joseph, the graduate student leading the interview, and we exchanged raised eyebrows and concerned frowns. The exasperation coming from Lynn (a pseudonym), the study participant, was palpable as she recounted her children’s experience with remote learning amidst COVID-19. With some more probing, Joseph and I learned that the district that operates the schools that Lynn’s children attend, had implemented a less-than-functional response to the pandemic, throwing students into virtual classrooms without adequate access to computers and internet. Even with their own laptops, Lynn’s children barely received formal instruction, yet their teachers still hand-delivered certificates promoting them to the next grade level, much to Lynn’s frustration. Weeks after Joseph and I did this interview, I still find myself reflecting on Lynn and her children’s situation because it epitomizes the dire consequences of COVID-19 on our country’s most vulnerable students.

Our interview with Lynn was part of a larger research study assessing the efficacy of the Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) program. CMTO’s primary objective is to help housing voucher recipients move into Opportunity Areas (OAs), or neighborhoods that promote high rates of upward income mobility. A key mechanism of OAs is their quality public schools. For housing voucher recipients who have successfully moved to one of these neighborhoods, their children’s new schools might be better equipped to transition to remote learning than their previous schools. A successful transition, in turn, mitigates repercussions of the extended out-of-school time induced by the pandemic. Their under-resourced counterparts, however, will likely face what researchers have coined the “COVID Slide,” wherein students are projected to lose 30 percent and more than 50 percent of achievement gains in reading and math, respectively. *

This brings me back to Lynn’s children, who do not attend school in an OA and have already lost significant instructional time as a result of COVID-19. Their story highlights the longstanding inequalities in educational opportunity that are being further exacerbated by the pandemic’s added challenges. For all the children in this study and beyond who do not live in OAs, what happens if their schools cannot provide enough computers this upcoming fall? What happens if their teachers are still under-prepared to manage a Zoom class of 30 students? What happens if their proficiency in math and reading falls too far behind and has an irreparable domino effect?

While it is always encouraging to read a CMTO success story, I do not let myself overlook the ones of families that are still seeking opportunity (or, put more frankly, equity). Stories like Lynn’s reaffirm for me that advocating for progressive and intersectional policies is more urgent than ever, especially as our country reckons with its exacerbated inequities in the midst of COVID-19. As an aspiring teacher and education policy researcher, I root myself in these stories as a reminder that the work is never over.

* Halley Potter, “Expanding Access to Summer Learning in Response to COVID-19,” The Century Foundation, May 12, 2020.https://tcf.org/content/report/expanding-access-summer-learning-response-covid-19/

Read more Student Experience Blogs here.