In March, public school shutdowns in response to COVID-19 affected more than 50 million children. Caught flat-footed, most districts failed at crisis online learning. Only 1 in 3 districts even expected teachers to provide instruction or monitor student academic progress, according to the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Five months later, most still haven’t figured it out.

The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity reports that 71 of the 120 largest school districts remain closed. As of July 31, more than one-third hadn’t even announced their plans for reopening. Another quarter said they would be offering hybrid or completely remote learning.