A devastating new wave of U.S. coronavirus cases is forcing school districts to consider again closing classrooms and returning to remote online instruction, creating educational hurdles that can be especially severe for millions of poor and minority students.
The challenges are evident to students like Devon, who didn’t give his last name when he spoke with VOA outside Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School in south Florida, where classroom instruction is increasingly rare.
“It’s one of a few days I can attend in-person classes,” Devon, who is African American, said. “It’s been difficult to maintain my grades since we started virtual learning last March. My concentration level is higher in the classroom.”
Minorities constitute 97% of the high school’s student body, and 8 of 10 students are economically disadvantaged.
Research by the independent news publication Education Week suggests in-person learning yields superior educational outcomes for primary and secondary students — and that the pitfalls of virtual instruction are especially pronounced in minority communities and for those living in poverty.
Since March, the Miami-Dade school district, the nation’s fourth largest by enrollment, has dealt with a series of problems transitioning to remote learning. They included adequate laptop distribution, problems logging into virtual classrooms and minority communities lacking high-speed internet service.
