Name: Connecticut has provided laptops to every student in need during the pandemic, but thousands are still not showing up for online classes
Brand: courant.com
SKU: courant-com-123
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Connecticut has provided laptops to every student in need during the pandemic, but thousands are still not showing up for online classes

preview

AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantDec 02, 2020 at 5:24 pmConnecticut is the first state in the nation to provide a laptop to every student in need during the pandemic, state officials announced Wednesday.But while the distribution of about 142,000 laptops marks a “major milestone in the fight to close the K-12 digital divide in Connecticut,” officials and educators remain concerned about thousands of students who are still not regularly logging on for online classes.AdvertisementAt the beginning of the pandemic, the state Department of Education collected information from every school district detailing the number of students in need of a laptop or home internet connection. In March, the former Partnership for Connecticut spent $24 million to provide 60,000 laptops to high school students in need.But over the summer, need for devices and connectivity increased. In July, Gov. Ned Lamont used $43.5 million in federal funding to purchase 82,000 laptops and 44,000 at-home internet connections for Connecticut students through the Everybody Learns Initiative, as well as public Wi-Fi hot spots.Advertisement“No state in the country spent more per capita on education out of the CARES Act [funds] than the state of Connecticut,” Lamont said at a news conference at Manchester High School Wednesday. “Kids are more likely to have an in-person classroom option in Connecticut than just about any other state in our region, which is a good thing. But still, the vast majority are not in school full time.”State Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona said more than 70% of Connecticut students have been able to have at least some in-person learning over the last three months, due to the “heroic effort of our educators, our principals, our superintendents.”Still, he recognized that many students have relied entirely on remote education since September. As infection rates rise and staff shortages worsen, at least six entire school districts have already shifted to online-only classes through mid-January.“Some students have better access to technology and connectivity and quality content than other students,” Cardona said. “When we rely on remote learning, we either exacerbate the gap, or we close the gaps. There’s no middle ground.”Despite having access to devices and internet, some Connecticut students are still missing from classes. The Department of Education told The Courant Wednesday that according to the most recent data available, from Nov. 9-13 about 2.8% of fully remote students, or about 5,400 children, had not logged on once for school.While the percentage of disconnected students has steadily declined since mid-September, the department said in its that “all student groups exhibit lower attendance rates on remote days than on in-person days, and this pattern is most acute among our students with the highest needs.”Students with high needs, which includes English learners, students with disabilities and students living in low-income households, tend to be fully remote at greater rates than their peers, researchers noted. Overall, less than 50% of their school days are in-person days, they said.In Hartford, computers and tablets have been provided to all students and in a recent district survey, 90% of students said they had the technology they needed to complete schoolwork at home.AdvertisementDespite that, nearly 6% of students were disconnected from school the week before Thanksgiving, meaning they didn’t attend a single class, the public school system reported during a school board workshop Tuesday.Hartford schools have also found a significant increase in chronic absenteeism, in which a student misses at least 10% of all school days. Nearly half of Hartford students are chronically absent, compared to 21% last year, according to the district.Professor Mordechai Gordon, chair of education in the School of Education at Quinnipiac University in Hamden said, “I think what the state is doing by providing all these laptops and internet access is a good thing. I’m not criticizing [that] ... but I don’t think it’s enough.”DailyWe're providing the latest coronavirus coverage in Connecticut each weekday morning. &gt; “More has to be done, and hopefully we can have kids come back to the classroom, especially the young ones sooner rather than later,” he said.While state officials have repeatedly expressed a preference for in-person education — when it can be done safely — many schools districts have had to close because of the number of students and staff in quarantine after exposure to positive individuals.Once it is safe to reopen those schools, Gordon said it was important that the state continue to work with districts to bring back younger students and special education students as soon as possible. Some schools have prioritized keeping these children in classrooms while other students continue to learn from home.Advertisement“My own research and the research of others has shown ... that the learning that’s happening virtually is not really a substitute for the on-ground instruction,” he said. “It can’t achieve the same outcomes in terms of student engagement, participation, performance.”Gordon added, “I fear that if we let an entire academic year go by, for a place like New Haven, only with remote learning, it’s really going to put ... students with the most need further and further behind.”Courant staff writer Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@courant.com.Amanda Blanco can be reached at ablanco@courant.com. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantDec 02, 2020 at 5:24 pmConnecticut is the first state in the nation to provide a laptop to every student in need during the pandemic, state officials announced Wednesday.But while the distribution of about 142,000 laptops marks a “major milestone in the fight to close the K-12 digital divide in Connecticut,” officials and educators remain concerned about thousands of students who are still not regularly logging on for online classes.AdvertisementAt the beginning of the pandemic, the state Department of Education collected information from every school...

Connecticut has provided laptops to every student in need during the pandemic, but thousands are still not showing up for online classes

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS