According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, US. News, (11/13/2020) based on a report by USAFacts, using data shows a trend that:
- Children in households with higher incomes are more likely to receive online instruction.
- Additionally, 23% of households with children have had classes canceled this year due to the pandemic,
- Low-income, households were more likely to have classes cancelled.
- Sixty-five percent of households reported using online learning,
- Eleven percent of families said they hadn’t had any interaction with a teacher in the last week.
Learning environments vary from state to state:
- About 85% percent of households in the state of Washington are learning remotely.
- Children who live in rural areas have connectivity and internet issues.
- Forty-seven percent of Wyoming’s population live in rural areas (Source: Wyoming, Department of Health.)
- Nine percent of households with children in the state of Washington live in rural areas.
- About 14% of households with children use paper materials at home, and 8% reported sometimes, rarely or never having access to a computer for educational purposes.
- One in 4 students who have disabilities, are English Learners, or are students in foster care.
- Migrant students or homeless have been shut out of education for months. This adds up to 3 million students or the equivalent of the entire school-aged population of Florida. The reasons why so many students have been cut off from education includes the lack of access to the internet or technical devices, lack of support for English learners and students with disabilities.
The economic pressures have forced some students to get a job to support the families and others have been forced to assume the role of the primary caretakers. Many of these students will not return to school and will dropout. Once a student leaves school it is extremely difficult for them to return. One study, in a large urban district ,found that two-thirds of high school dropout never reenrolled.
In America, we talk of children who are at-risk. But the reality is that it is not the children who are at-risk. It isn’t even their families. It is our society that is at-risk.