A year ago, Covid-19 changed our lives. Just about everything was done remotely from home. It was surreal. Remote teaching and learning has not been kind to many students, parents, and of course, teachers and administrators. The field of education, from early childhood to adult education, was hit hard by the pandemic, and it was transformed by it, too. In fact, many aspects of our lives have been transformed by it, whether we want to admit it or not. Forbes reports that as of late 2020, 70% of US workers did their jobs from home, potentially putting in place the permanent infrastructure for hybrid work and school. The odds are pretty good, at least for the foreseeable future, that this is the way forward.
What does this mean for our education stakeholders? Teachers were, and still are, overwhelmed, and some parents continue to be frustrated with the situation. What’s worse, Covid-19 made obvious what some already knew: The most vulnerable of students are the first to feel the effects of traumatic events in schools, in their neighborhoods, and in their homes. The Washington Post reports on hard evidence that shows students started off the year behind, and the gap was even greater for students of color whose families experience financial and housing instability, which exacerbates the digital divide.
And yet, there were some triumphs that we must not overlook. Teachers became innovators and pivoted quickly to help their students succeed in a challenging year, and some students, indeed, flourished. TheHechinger Report describes that some students with social and emotional issues adapted well, doing better with remote learning than with in-person school, which caused some students anxiety or distractions resulting in an environment that was not conducive to learning. The accommodations that some students needed were made easily in the comfort of their own homes, and this resulted in a more focused, thriving pupil. Of course, these cases are few and far between. Still, for some parents, it gave them a deeper involvement in their children’s day-to-day education, empowering them to be more in control, engaged and attentive to the educational needs of their children. And speaking from a personal immigrant experience, I might even go as far as to say that some families with limited or no tech skills likely gained some, or brushed up on their tech abilities out of the sheer necessity to help their children succeed with remote learning.
There is no sugarcoating it — We won’t really know the long-term, world-wide effects COVID-19 will have in all aspects of our lives anytime soon, but we can continue to be thoughtful, adaptive, creative, innovative, and fearless in how we reimagine the future to be, inside and outside of the classroom….there are triumphs there waiting to be celebrated.
– S.V. Rogel