The COVID Classroom: How Michigan Districts and Educators Responded to COVID-19

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

Due to COVID-19, policy and research conversations have surfaced several concerns with pandemic learning. Researchers expressed concerns about widening disparities in K-12 education, specifically for students with disabilities, experiencing homelessness, lacking access to internet or electronic devices, and from low socioeconomic status homes or districts (Kemper Patrick & Newsome, 2020; Hamilton, Kaufman, & Diliberti, 2020; Malkus, 2020). This paper seeks to answer four questions related to K- 12 education during the COVID-19 pandemic:

What plans did school districts put in place for finishing the 2019- 2020 school year after the suspension of face-to-face instruction?

How did educators respond to the transition to distance learning?

How might the suspension of face-to-face instruction due to the pandemic have differential impacts on groups of students?

Do districts’ responses to the suspension of face-to-face learning align with the concerns expressed by teachers’ and principals’ about their students and their abilities to learn and teach during the pandemic?

To answer these questions we collected data from a survey of 8,881 Michigan K-8 teachers and principals administered in May through June 2020 as well as from the Continuity of Learning (COL) plans for remainder of the 2019-2020 school year that all 813 Michigan school districts put in place to address continued instruction and student services. We merge these collected data with Michigan administrative and education data and U.S. Census data to assess heterogeneity in responses across districts by percent economically disadvantaged, percent underrepresented minority in school districts, average student achievement, and percent of households with broadband internet subscriptions.

Our main findings provide insights about how districts and educators initially planned to provide instruction during the pandemic, how they monitored student learning, and what services and supports they provided to students overall and for special populations. We find that:

School boards, district and school administrators, and teachers were active in drafting Continuity of Learning plans. Various support staff, parents, and students had less involvement.

Principals and teachers were concerned about the impact of the pandemic on both instruction and student well-being.

Educators were concerned about challenges associated with transitioning to remote instruction such as building and maintaining relationships and monitoring student engagement and attendance.

Taken together, we found congruencies and incongruencies between teachers’ and principals’ concerns and districts’ responses to including:

A quarter of districts included educator training about distance learning in their COL plans and nearly 75% of teachers wanted more virtual training resources

Access to technology and connectivity is important to districts and educators to allow students to fully engage in instruction

Districts intended for teachers to have frequent contact with and provide feedback to students even when school buildings were closed however teachers reported that monitoring student learning and engagement was a challenge.

This study highlights equity concerns about the impact of the pandemic and how educators can respond to students in districts with low average achievement, student socioeconomic status, and broadband access; the students who faced the greatest challenges and have the highest needs in transitioning to distance learning.

Group Authors

Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC)

Authors

• Melissa Lovitz, Tufts University
  Presenting Author

• Amy Cummings, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tara Kilbride, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meg Turner, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katharine Strunk, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author