Students across the United States are not attending school virtually or in person in an increasingly alarming trend during the coronavirus pandemic that experts and educators warn could disrupt an entire generation of learning.
School officials in states such as Michigan, Texas, and Florida are reporting enrollment declines in the tens of thousands, according to an ABC News report published on Tuesday.
That number could reach the millions and disproportionately affect underserved communities, given the difficulties associated with remote learning during the health crisis, according to a study by Bellwether Education Partners, a nonprofit group that focuses on underserved communities. The assessment, released in October, found an estimated 3 million of the “most educationally marginalized students in the country” may have gone missing from school since in-person learning shut down in many areas of the country last March.
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On the federal level, the Biden administration announced its desire to get schools reopened within the president’s first 100 days. However, in President Biden’s push to make it happen, his team has faced opposition from teachers unions across the country. One of the big sticking points in the debate for reopening schools with the union is getting teachers vaccinated before the schools reopen, though guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that’s not necessary.
Vice President Kamala Harris dodged questions last month about the guidelines, saying that teachers “should be a priority” without explaining whether COVID-19 vaccines should be mandatory before schools reopen.
One major obstacle of remote learning, especially during the onset of remote schooling, is internet access. A report by the National Education Association found that an estimated 25% of school-age children do not have a web-enabled device such as a computer or tablet.
Mike Magee, CEO of Chiefs for Change, a nonprofit network of education leaders, said there were approximately 17 million students who were not adequately connected to the internet for schooling.
“From a learning standpoint, that was potentially catastrophic,” he said, according to ABC News. “What we’ve learned, over the course of the last 12 months, is that from both a learning and a health perspective, there are millions of students for whom virtual learning just is not working.” In addition, he said, “there’s a subset of those students who are completely detached from their school systems at the moment.”
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Another long-term implication of students missing school is a lack of preparedness for college and to enter the workforce, but school systems are taking steps to reconnect, including implementing programs geared toward reaching out to students and parents.
A Dallas school district, for instance, began a program called “Operation Comeback” in which teachers, administrators, and volunteers reach out to students to ask, “Where are you? We miss you. Come back. There’s still time.”
