{"id":2948,"date":"2020-12-06T10:50:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T10:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salinareport.com\/?p=2948"},"modified":"2020-12-16T10:51:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T10:51:31","slug":"school-bleeds-into-summer-after-coronavirus-widens-academic-gaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salinareport.com\/?p=2948","title":{"rendered":"School bleeds into summer after coronavirus widens academic gaps"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For Jana Langhoff and her son Tyler, summer days don\u2019t look drastically different from when their Medford elementary school was in session.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tyler, who finished his first-grade year at home like the rest of his Howard Elementary School classmates amid Oregon\u2019s statewide school closure, didn\u2019t thrive while learning from a distance. And the catch-up instruction his school is offering him this summer won\u2019t work much better, since his teacher still must connect with him over a computer instead of face-to-face.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tyler, 6, had been settling into a routine just before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ensuing restrictions disrupted that rhythm. If you ask his mother, she\u2019ll tell you Minecraft has been a more effective teaching tool than anything his school offered him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s just not having the teacher there,\u201d Jana Langhoff said. \u201cGetting back in the classroom would be great. I know he\u2019s falling behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s that lack of connection that makes online summer school less appealing to the Langhoffs and to some older students as well. Citing the health risks of coronavirus, Howard Elementary\u2019s leadership decided on an online-only model for its first summer school, available to students who need extra help preparing for the next school year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Students of all ages, from kindergarten through high school, saw their quality of education lessened and academic trajectories slowed, with students in poverty and without stable housing most likely to have lost ground.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Distance OK for some, not all<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But one group of Medford-area students is getting a new set of summer learning opportunities this year, a positive result of the school closure. The school district\u2019s annual migrant summer school is offering career and technical courses for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Though COVID-19 precautions continue to affect delivery methods, the summer offerings in Southern Oregon\u2019s largest school district are further-reaching than they\u2019ve ever been, with expanded programming to support students spanning the K-12 system. Multiple schools have already launched virtual programs to remedy learning loss this summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A significant share of Medford high schoolers also struggled under the distance learning model during the final quarter of the school year, achievement data show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This spring while studying at a distance, Medford high school students achieved a passing grade in 81% of their classes, a rate nine percentage points lower than in the previous quarter. And students in low-income households or without stable housing managed to pass at lower rates: Students who are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged passed 73% of classes they took in the fourth quarter, and students experiencing homelessness passed 71%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAll of the data that we\u2019ve gotten show that distance learning just doesn\u2019t work well for our most vulnerable students,\u201d said Natalie Hurd, communications specialist for the district.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Throughout the spring school closure, school officials counted how often students checked in with teachers and completed assignments, giving them a portrait of which students were engaging with school despite not being able to come to campus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In Medford, those data indicated that 97% of students connected with online learning throughout the spring, said Jeanne Grazioli, Medford\u2019s executive director of teaching and learning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But there\u2019s considerable nuance in that figure, ranging from students who were regularly engaged to those who connected with a teacher only once or a handful of times over several months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Natalie Schroeder said her daughter Allison, a second-grader at Ruch Outdoor Community School, was still able to learn effectively at a distance. A substitute teacher who lost work when the closures hit, Schroeder turned to helping her daughter stay in a routine. Money was tight as her husband also lost his job in the pandemic, but Allison \u201cdid OK\u201d overall, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But awareness of the challenges that distance learning posed for so many other students, as well as some leftover funds, led to Medford\u2019s bulked-up, but largely online offerings for summer school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Migrant students get hands-on<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Participants in Medford\u2019s annual summer school for migrant students, however, are getting expanded in-person instruction. For the first time, the program includes career and technical courses, including welding, engineering and manufacturing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Silvano Pineda, an incoming ninth-grader, said his first two weeks in a welding class have been \u201cthe greatest experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Jesse Holcomb, a manufacturing teacher at South Medford High School, leads Pineda and his classmates through the basics of the trade. The students begin by reviewing measurements and conversions before donning jackets and hoods for the hands-on portion of class.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s really fun learning something new,\u201d Pineda said. \u201cYou can definitely learn more like this than just sitting down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Leftover federal funding for migrant education that wasn\u2019t spent during the school closure this spring helped make the career-related courses, with their small student-teacher ratios, possible this summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For migrant students, whose elective choices may be limited during the school year from fitting English language classes in their schedules, the summer career classes offer unique opportunities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe class is smaller, which is great, because then we can get more one-on-one time,\u201d Holcomb said. \u201cThey get more time working. And so they actually have an advantage over the normal school year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The federally funded summer school, which Medford has hosted for nine years, supports students from migrant families who frequently move across district, state and even national boundaries with the tides of seasonal work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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High mobility and poverty are just a couple of the barriers that can affect migrant students\u2019 education. Making career-tech experiences accessible, officials said, offers a path to what they call \u201chigh-skill, high-wage, high-demand\u201d jobs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Extra federal funding also contributed to three Medford elementary schools offering broadened summer learning opportunities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe don\u2019t traditionally hold a summer school for elementary,\u201d Grazioli said. \u201cBut a few of our Title I schools have decided to do an extended learning plan, where they have a lot of kids working online with a teacher, continuing to do that work over the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With squirts of hand sanitizer to greet them as they enter the campus and physical distancing measures firmly in place, summer school students are getting a jumpstart on the formats and precautionary measures expected to be in place for the fall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Earlier in June, the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Health Authority jointly released guidelines for K-12 school districts for the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Detailed safety plans, which officials in Medford and other school districts are now formulating, will spell out how students will be kept properly distanced from each other and staff in classrooms, how surfaces will be regularly sanitized, and how staff and students who need to remain at home will be accommodated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Whether their students weathered the closure with a little or a lot of difficulty, many employees\u2019 and parents\u2019 preference seems to be some kind of a return to the classroom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s really important to do whatever they can to get the kids back in the building somehow,\u201d Schroeder said. \u201cThat socialization, the interaction they have with the teacher is so important. I saw that for sure in these last couple months.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Jana Langhoff and her son Tyler, summer days don\u2019t look drastically different from when their Medford elementary school was in session. Tyler, who finished his first-grade year at home like the rest of his Howard Elementary School classmates amid Oregon\u2019s statewide school closure, didn\u2019t thrive while learning from a distance. And the catch-up instruction his school is offering him this summer won\u2019t work much better, since his teacher still must connect with him over a computer instead of face-to-face. Tyler, 6, had been settling into a routine just before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ensuing restrictions disrupted that rhythm. 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Tyler, who finished his first-grade year at home like the rest of his Howard Elementary School classmates amid Oregon\u2019s statewide school closure, didn\u2019t thrive while learning from a distance. And the catch-up instruction his school is offering him this summer won\u2019t work much better, since his teacher still must connect with him over a computer instead of face-to-face. Tyler, 6, had been settling into a routine just before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ensuing restrictions disrupted that rhythm. 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