Virtual Learning - Done Right - Makes K-12 Equitable
There's a real big difference between simply sitting in an online classroom and actually learning in a structured virtual environment. Turns out that can be a big advantage for students of color
Angela Williams | Guest Contributor
School can be online - but, that doesn’t always mean it's virtual learning. When done properly, high-quality virtual learning can not only increase achievement and decrease gaps, but it also holds the keys to eliminating chronic inequity in our K-12 education system.
As a result of the pandemic, most schools were forced to rapidly transition from in-person learning to holding classes online. Not all of them, however, created the virtual learning infrastructure necessary to ensure their students could succeed. Without this infrastructure, many students, families, teachers, and administrators struggled. The common interpretation of this struggle is that virtual learning just doesn’t work.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Not only does evidence show that virtual learning can be extremely successful, but it can help the most underserved students succeed. For many Black and Brown students, in fact, virtual learning not only offered them the opportunity to learn from home during the early days of the pandemic, but it actually offered them a temporary escape from racism, bullying and microaggressions they face daily in their brick-and-mortar classrooms. This explains the sudden bump in so-called "home schooling," especially among Black families. As the Los Angeles Times' Laura Newberry reported in January …
Who is choosing to home-school right now is just as fascinating as the why. Overall, the proportion of American families home-schooling at least one child grew from 5.4 percent in spring 2020 to 11.1 percent in fall 2021, according to a U.S. Census Bureau analysis. Meanwhile, the number of Black families choosing to home-school increased five-fold during that time, from 3.3 percent to 16.1 percent. [O]ne partial explanation is that because of distance learning, Black parents for the first time got a front-row seat to the biased treatment that pervades so many classrooms and the education system overall.
For non-White or Black, Brown, Indigenous and other children "of color," schoolhouse doors often serve as little more than entryways into the school to prison pipeline. While Black students represent only 16 percent of the student population, they comprise 31 percent of school arrests. Black students are 3 times more likely to be suspended than White students, even when they have exhibited the same behavior. And students that are suspended or expelled for discretionary behavior are three times more likely to be involved with the juvenile justice system the next year. A 10 percent increase in a school’s discipline gap can instigate an increase of 17 percent in their achievement gap between Black and White students. For Black, Brown and Indigenous students, schools work harder at widening the discipline gap than they do at closing the achievement gap.
Non-White children also suffer the gaps caused by the digital divide. According to Pew Research …
…[Households] with lower incomes were most likely to say that their child had to do their schoolwork on a cellphone (37 percent). About a quarter said their child was unable to complete their schoolwork because they did not have computer access at home (25 percent), or that they had to use public Wi-Fi because they did not have a reliable internet connection at home (23 percent).
A Center survey conducted in April 2020 found that, at that time …
... 59 percent of parents with lower incomes who had children engaged in remote learning said their children would likely face at least one of the obstacles asked about in the 2021 survey.
Without dedication to providing all students the resources they need to succeed, far too many young people can overcome the digital divide that stands between them and a high school diploma. And without protection from unfair treatment in the classroom, Black, Brown and Indigenous children are forced to fight the brutal onslaught of the school-to-prison pipeline.
Yet, virtual learning proves it doesn’t have to be that way.
In addition, virtual learning significantly reduces incidents of bullying that children are forced - by law - to endure on a day to day basis, since they have no choice but to attend school. As reported by Child Trends …
Recent data from the Cyberbullying Research Center show that, in 2021, 23 percent of 13- to 17-year-old students reported experiencing bullying and 7 percent reported bullying others. These rates represent a significant decrease from 2019, when 51 percent reported experiencing bullying and 12 percent reported bullying others. Additionally, by studying trends in Google search data, a team of Boston University researchers found that searches for bullying and cyberbullying dropped approximately 30 to 40 percent in Spring 2020—the time of the transition to remote learning.
While the possibilities for more online learning opportunities are exciting in and of themselves, students of color deserve more than just environments that protect them from racism. They deserve high-quality education and the resources they need to succeed. When done properly, this looks very different from what we’ve seen in traditional classrooms.
In many traditional classrooms, for example, students are forced to sit in one spot and “learn” for seven hours per day. In online environments that are poorly constructed, students are similarly expected to sit in front of a computer screen for the same amount of time. In successful virtual learning environments, however, students spend far less time in an online classroom and far more time learning on a flexible schedule more suited to their needs and the goals of instruction. As a We Are Teachers analysis notes ….
A virtual learning schedule is not the same as a traditional school schedule.
We Are Teachers' editorial director Hannah Hudson further explains that …
[T]he National Board of Professional Teaching Standards ... say that elementary students should have 1-2 hours a day of online instruction, middle school students 2-3 hours, and high school students 3-4 hours.
When virtual learning is done right, students can finish assignments on their own time and still have opportunities to interact in online classrooms while receiving support from teachers and staff. Very few schools restructured their schedules to properly accommodate virtual learning out of stubborn loyalty to outdated methods ... and students suffered as a result.
In traditional classrooms and poorly constructed online classrooms, students without computers and internet access are left to fend for themselves or given very little guidance and support on how to use them. In successful virtual learning environments, students are not only provided access to the technology they need, but they also receive guidance in how to use it and assistance when issues arise. Stride Learning Solutions, for example, provides tech support online, by telephone, and through chat twelve hours per day.
These types of virtual classroom basics also enable student to access resources and opportunities that extend far beyond the classroom. Think about that: Students who would otherwise be left without technology are also robbed of vital skills they need to participate in society and the workforce. As they learn virtually with technology, they are also learning virtually about technology. Students in virtual learning environments acquired skills in hardware use, software, apps, and websites that help them better access information, ideas, social networks, skills, opportunities only found online. Education through virtual learning allows students without access and experience to enter the twenty-first century in a way that is impossible without the use of technology. It also allows them to enter as a whole person, not just a product of a system.
While virtual learning was blamed for the declines in mental health and student performance seen during the pandemic, virtual learning done properly actually helped many students, especially BIPOC students, succeed in ways that in-person schooling couldn’t. Families understood that: which is the reason why an October 2020 National Parents Union poll discovered 45 percent of parents would want permanent virtual learning and 22 percent wanted a permanent "hybrid" approach. Why? From safety and protection from bullying to needing the space and flexibility to focus on actual learning, parents have understood that structured virtual learning offers a chance at possibilities once considered inaccessible.
During the pandemic, we had the opportunity to provide all of our students with these benefits. And although that opportunity passed, we can still build successful virtual learning environments for students across the country. We must be prepared for new waves and strains of infectious disease to emerge in the future. If they do, we should be prepared to immediately equip students with the best virtual learning environments possible. Students of color, especially those in economically vulnerable communities who must deal with everything from high poverty to violent crime, should be afforded every opportunity to advance when and where they can. That doesn't happen when options are limited or closed down simply because education systems are wedded to the antiquated 'one-size-fits-all’ approach.
Students from marginalized communities who are prevented from succeeding in traditional schools should be provided with virtual learning options to ensure they can stay on track to graduate. Schools in environments where snow days interrupt the class schedule should be able to enjoy virtual learning from home. Students with disabilities, illnesses, and overburdened schedules outside of school should be offered the resources and opportunities to succeed on their own time and at their own pace.
Widespread and sub-standard emergency remote instruction is the reason most students struggled during the onset of pandemic. By contrast, quality virtual learning is why many succeeded who otherwise would not have. By letting go of the idea that any online class is virtual learning, we can embrace truly successful models of virtual learning and begin the work of bringing them to our students. In doing so we can do much more than get by during a pandemic. We can tear down the school to prison pipeline, build up the skills and mental health of our children, and provide safe and supportive learning environments for every student.
ANGELA WILLIAMS is the Senior Director of External Affairs at Stride, Inc. & a former Colorado State Senator