Teachers report spring school reopenings were unproductive.

[Pressure]

Teachers report spring school reopenings were exhausting and unproductive

The responses are in the latest installment of a survey by the California nonprofit Inverness Institute and education consultant Daniel Humphrey. EdSource is partnering to present the findings.

During the first three weeks of May, 136 teachers were asked to rate and discuss their experiences on returning to school this spring and the implications for the fall.

The “California Teacher Consultant Response Network” participants were chosen from a pool of veteran classroom teachers who have participated in school improvement networks and education leadership programs. They broadly represent the diversity of the state’s teaching force by ethnicity, gender, grade level, and geography. Most have more than 10 years of classroom experience.

Of the teachers, 96% said they had been vaccinated for Covid, with 80% saying that immunization had eased their worries about in-person instruction. “The moment the second vaccine went into my arm I felt a sudden excitement about returning to school that I had not felt before!” said a Central Coast teacher in a middle school with 79% low-income students.

The researchers have not identified the teachers’ names and their schools to encourage candor. In turn, the teachers were frank — about the decision-making process to reopen schools and about the challenges they and their students have faced.

“Simultaneous instruction is really difficult. Distance learning is really difficult,” said a teacher in a high school with 90% low-income students in the Central Valley. “The creative capital I have spent trying to create an engaging and academically rigorous experience has really depleted me as a professional educator.”

Although the state has reported that more than 90% of public schools have offered students the option to return to school for the remainder of the year, an EdSource analysis in found in early May that 55% of students overall and two-thirds of low-income students chose to remain in distance learning.

That split has resulted in a complex mix of options. In some districts, teachers taught students in person and remotely simultaneously. In others they taught in-person in the morning, distance learning in the afternoon, or on alternate days, or alternate weeks. In some elementary schools, most kids showed up; in middle and high schools, a handful.

Worry about catching Covid was not families’ only concern. Teachers pointed to a lack of transportation, with no busing, parent work schedules, and a lack of child care.

In an Inland Empire high school with 1,700 students, only 230 opted to return for 90 minutes each day on Mondays and Tuesdays or Thursdays and Fridays.

In many middle and high schools, students were disappointed to find that in-person learning was no different from distance learning. Instead of switching classrooms every period and interacting with students, they were locked into the same desk, socially distanced, with instruction via computer. “Only about a third have chosen to come back as it is still Zoom in the room,” said a Bay Area high school teacher in a school with 22% low-income students.

Four out of 5 teachers agreed that hybrid arrangements were more difficult than solely distance learning had been — and were ineffective.

“I feel like I end up neglecting my students online to help the students in the class. I spent all year developing relationships through private chats and individual conferences on Zoom — all of that is gone now,” said a Bay Area teacher in an elementary school with 67% low-income students.

“Two-thirds of my students are in person and the other third are at home. It is difficult to meet their needs all at once and I always feel like I am ignoring one group over another,” said a Central Coast teacher in a middle school with 39% low-income students.

Regardless of the mode of instruction, some teachers said they continued to worry about the mental health of their students and about the inequitable effects of the pandemic on families.

“The greatest challenge is trying to address the worsening mental state of my students. We have had at least two families become homeless, an attempted suicide, an ugly divorce, and multiple kids sliding into depression,” said a Bay Area teacher in a high school with 79% low-income students. “For some, school has been a lifeline, but for others it is a burden.”

“Kids with families with means and expectations are getting far more out of virtual or in person instruction,” said a San Diego area teacher in a school with 93% low-income schools. “Parents’ expectations matter. Study habits matter. Socioeconomic status and stable home environments matter. These cause gaps. If this is not a conclusion drawn from the pandemic it will be a detriment I believe to our educational system.”

Despite the stress and the difficulties, some teachers, particularly in elementary schools, saw moments of joy and their students’ spirits lift in the return to school.

“The 13 students that are in-person are thrilled and excited to be back despite the fact that they have no recess or any sort of interaction with other students. The first day of school I was told, ‘This is how you really look?’ … They were mesmerized with the fact that I was physically in front of them. It was truly touching!” said a Los Angeles area teacher in an elementary school with 90% low-income students.

“I don’t think we could call what is happening now ‘normal,’” said a Central Coast teacher in a middle school with 79% low-income students. ”And yet, there is a sense of joyfulness that I believe teachers and students are experiencing when on campus even with masks on and physically distanced.”

Need for trust and a ‘new normal’
Hybrid instruction, which many teachers called “unsustainable,” will cease in all probability by the end of summer. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are set to order a return to pre-pandemic conditions in school, and the California Department of Public Health will withdraw the social distancing requirements that prevented a full classroom of students.

What may linger, Inverness researchers said, is a “damaging level of distrust” that many teachers have toward their districts and their school boards. Asked how districts “handled reopening timelines and arrangements, given the constraints,” 69% said it was “not at all,” “a little” or “somewhat” done well; 72% said characterized the process was not at all, a little or somewhat “visible and transparent.”

“The district over-promised and under-delivered to families. Teachers were often finding out about district decisions at the same time as parents,” said a Los Angeles teacher in an elementary school with 20% low-income students.

None of the teachers said their school had returned to pre-pandemic conditions, and many said they hoped there would not be a return to “normal.”

“The school system needed a major overhaul, and unfortunately, it took a pandemic to see the truth in this reality. I hope that there is no ‘back to normal’ and instead create a new way of what it is to be in school,” said a San Diego area teacher in an elementary school with 40% low-income students.

Noting that pre-pandemic “normal was not working for many teachers,” the Inverness researchers concluded, “Listening to California’s leading teachers about how to apply lessons from pandemic education seems like an obvious next step

 

[DEAD7]

“The greatest challenge is trying to address the worsening mental state of my students. We have had at least two families become homeless, an attempted suicide, an ugly divorce, and multiple kids sliding into depression,” said a Bay Area teacher in a high school with 79% low-income students. “For some, school has been a lifeline, but for others it is a burden.”

 

[jerniebert]

My wife's a teacher and she said a lot of her students liked doing online studies because they got to spend time with their families. They were doing family activities that brought them together.

 

[mastermind]

Not a surprise. Absolutely awful but this is what the affluent parents wanted.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

I sympathize with the difficulty but don't see much of a roadmap forward considering those comments. Perhaps it's too early for clarity?

 

[88m3]

I sympathize with the difficulty but don't see much of a roadmap forward considering those comments. Perhaps it's too early for clarity?

hoping for clarity when teachers are harmed

 

[Professor Emeritus]

hoping for clarity when teachers are harmed

?

What are you even trying to imply with that?

My point is that the teachers themselves are giving contradictory messages about what they want. Do you see a clear best option going forward that wasn't expressed in the article? I guess you had some opinion on a really easy fix to our shytty education system that you just haven't chosen to express?

"I felt a sudden excitement about returning to school that I had not felt before!"

"55% of students overall and two-thirds of low-income students chose to remain in distance learning."

"Simultaneous instruction is really difficult. Distance learning is really difficult,"

"Four out of 5 teachers agreed that hybrid arrangements were more difficult than solely distance learning had been — and were ineffective."

"“For some, school has been a lifeline, but for others it is a burden.”"

“Kids with families with means and expectations are getting far more out of virtual or in person instruction,”

“The 13 students that are in-person are thrilled and excited to be back despite the fact that they have no recess or any sort of interaction with other students."

”And yet, there is a sense of joyfulness that I believe teachers and students are experiencing when on campus even with masks on and physically distanced.”

"None of the teachers said their school had returned to pre-pandemic conditions, and many said they hoped there would not be a return to “normal.”

"I hope that there is no ‘back to normal’ and instead create a new way of what it is to be in school,”

Noting that pre-pandemic “normal was not working for many teachers,” the Inverness researchers concluded, “Listening to California’s leading teachers about how to apply lessons from pandemic education seems like an obvious next step.

So most students didn't even want to return to class but some did. For some who returned it wasn't any better than distance, but others really appreciated it. Teachers found hybrid instruction really hard, but didn't think distance learning was sustainable either, but didn't want to return to pre-pandemic system either.

If you see an obvious way forward there I'm not seeing it. I would LOVE if this means a large transition to an upside-down classroom model or something like that. But nothing in the article showed to me that that was what is being hoped for.

 

[Regular_P]

My wife's a teacher and she said a lot of her students liked doing online studies because they got to spend time with their families. They were doing family activities that brought them together.

I bet a major reason students liked online was being able to sleep in. School start times are way too early for a teenager's natural body clock. It really fukked me up when I was in high school. Day after day going to school absolutely exhausted because I couldn't fall asleep until 3 AM no matter what I did (this was in the 90s ).

 

[Professor Emeritus]

I bet a major reason students liked online was being able to sleep in. School start times are way too early for a teenager's natural body clock. It really fukked me up when I was in high school. Day after day going to school absolutely exhausted because I couldn't fall asleep until 3 AM no matter what I did (this was in the 90s ).

Yeah, I've argued for 9am start times in the schools I've had a hand in, to no avail.

One of my schools started at 7:30am and those first period kids were fukking zombies just sitting there silently. 2nd/3rd/4th period were okay and then by 5th period shyt was getting out of hand cause kids were too amped up from sitting and listening all day and just wanted to be active and get out of there. The modern school day is very poorly designed.

 

[88m3]

?

What are you even trying to imply with that?

My point is that the teachers themselves are giving contradictory messages about what they want. Do you see a clear best option going forward that wasn't expressed in the article? I guess you had some opinion on a really easy fix to our shytty education system that you just haven't chosen to express?



So most students didn't even want to return to class but some did. For some who returned it wasn't any better than distance, but others really appreciated it. Teachers found hybrid instruction really hard, but didn't think distance learning was sustainable either, but didn't want to return to pre-pandemic system either.

If you see an obvious way forward there I'm not seeing it. I would LOVE if this means a large transition to an upside-down classroom model or something like that. But nothing in the article showed to me that that was what is being hoped for.

I'm just sharing my concerns about populations willingness to scapegoat teachers...


Haven't colleges struggled with hybrid learning pre-pandemic? Is it any surprise it failed with young children? Aren't most teachers like 50 something, not the most tech savvy lot....


I think the family's socioeconomic issues, children's home lives, and mental health need to be addressed before we're going to see waves made by education.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

I'm just sharing my concerns about populations willingness to scapegoat teachers...


Haven't colleges struggled with hybrid learning pre-pandemic? Is it any surprise it failed with young children? Aren't most teachers like 50 something, not the most tech savvy lot....

I'm not hearing the solution?

Distance learning didn't work for many kids. For others it worked decent. Teacher unions by and large delayed going back to the classrooms as long as they could. Some kids desperately wanted to go back and some didn't.


I simply said that I sympathized with them but didn't see clarity yet or a roadmap going forward. I would have thought you agreed.

 

[GodinDaFlesh]

My wife's a teacher and she said a lot of her students liked doing online studies because they got to spend time with their families. They were doing family activities that brought them together.

Yeah a lot of kids also flourished with virtual learning because they weren't being distracted by their peers.

 

[Shogun]

There is no institutional solution. American culture doesn't value education, so kids generally don't.
Kids are nearly constantly digesting a culture that glorifies people who made it without education (athletes, artists, social media personalities, etc.), and is explicitly telling them that school is bad.


https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1180739.pdf

 

[Wild self]

My wife's a teacher and she said a lot of her students liked doing online studies because they got to spend time with their families. They were doing family activities that brought them together.

Whoever forced these kids back in the classrooms, without their consent, is basically doing Lucifer's job.

 

[88m3]

I'm not hearing the solution?

Distance learning didn't work for many kids. For others it worked decent. Teacher unions by and large delayed going back to the classrooms as long as they could. Some kids desperately wanted to go back and some didn't.


I simply said that I sympathized with them but didn't see clarity yet or a roadmap going forward. I would have thought you agreed.

It's there you must've scrolled past it.

Should they have kept schools open for in person learning throughout the pandemic?

I think the country needs to do more to address the home lives of children and their families. It's hard to learn when they're dealing with abuse, food insecurity, housing insecurity, mental health issues, access to internet, and the list goes on and on. Another issue is the funding mechanisms for schools and education/wealth disparity. In NY they're finally going to try and address it with the recent budget(it still falls short I think)but more needs to happen at the federal level.

The blame largely lays in the federal/state governments/boards of education and finally superintendents. I've gotta admit that it really bothers me that teachers are singled out for the faults of people above them and that they've wrongly become the face of what's wrong with education in this country and particularly during the pandemic. I wasn't having a go at you btw just musing that this country never feels far off from rounding up teachers and scientists.