Editor’s Note: The term developing story has taken on a new meaning since November 2019. At that time, many Americans read news stories about COVID-19, not thinking it would impact their lives, but come March 2020, nearly every American’s lives were turned upside down.
As scientists learn about coronavirus, as medical professionals deal with its aftermath, as people clamor to keep their jobs, students and teachers grapple with the reality that they cannot meet face-to-face, but rather have to figure out how to end a school year in ways that no one could have foreseen in November 2019.
When ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune surveyed the state’s 38 regional offices of education to e-learning plans approved before the pandemic forced buildings to close, they found that 670 of Illinois’ 852 public school districts and special education cooperatives; roughly one in four, or about 200, had plans approved before March 17.
E-learning plans, designed for no more than five days of instruction within a calendar school year, are different from the remote learning plans that school districts have been advised to use to finish the 2019-20 school year.
Just as the story of developing remote learning plans has been told, we believe that it is also important to record history from a variety of sources and perspectives. There is no doubt that within two or three weeks, education, as many Americans knew it, was turned upside down. There is also speculation that in the coming months and years, the COVID-19 pandemic may open the doors for new avenues of educating children.
Over the next three days, we will provide perspectives on what remote learning looks like at this point in the story from teachers, students and parents. We reached out to a variety of people all over East Central Illinois and some in other states. We provided anonymity to those who responded so that people would feel like they could be honest.
The Mahomet Daily and SJO Daily team will continue to provide a platform for different perspectives to be shared as the education story unfolds. This story may be in its infancy, and we understand there is much more to be understood.
BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com
A little over six weeks ago, mornings in American homes were a flurry of activity.
Parents focused on getting workouts in or having a breath of quiet time prior to getting the kids out of bed; because once they were out of bed, breakfast needed to be made, teeth needed to be brushed, socks needed to be put on, backpacks and purses and briefcases needed to be packed and families walked out the door to begin their very normal, oftentimes, jam-packed day.
Many parents and students in East Central Illinois were ready for vacation as spring break was just around the corner.
Then, in the days upon their return, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order halted the need for the morning frenzy as parents grappled with having to work remotely or facing unemployment for the first time in their lives, while also balancing the reality that their children would soon finish out the school year in their own home.
The day generally doesn’t end in a “how was your day?” or “what did you do today?” anymore. For the most part, families are aware of who is on the internet and when, what everyone ate for lunch and how long it’s been since someone has changed out of their sweatpants.
But what parents and students alike don’t know is how long remote learning or e-learning will continue.
After six weeks of remote learning across the state of Illinois, the Mahomet Daily and the SJO Daily reached out to parents in East Central Illinois to get insight on how the learning process is going from their perspective. Responders were provided anonymity to promote open comments.
Parents from each district: Mahomet-Seymour, St. Joseph-Ogden, Oakwood, Heritage and Blue Ridge held different experiences and concerns, but the consistent message between each parent was that they understand the blessings that have been bestowed upon their lives are not the reality for all children.
“For my family, it has gone fairly well,” a parent with students at St. Joseph Elementary said. “But we don’t lack for resources and, as teachers, we can support our (children) fairly easily. However, I know that many of my students don’t have the resources or support to really grow during this time.”
Another St. Joseph parent said, “When I heard about the remote study plan, my initial reaction was, ‘What about those children whose parents are ‘essential workers?’ What do they do with their children? How will they get the instruction they need?”
Illinois remote learning standards allowed for schools, who were capable, to provide digital resources for students. While many school districts had switched to a one-to-one model, especially for students in grades 6-12, much of East Central Illinois is rural, with limited or non-existent internet access.
To ensure that students had something in their hands, and to make sure that younger students continued to do their work in the same mode as they did during the in-person school day, some schools have also distributed paper packets on a regular basis.
A grandmother in the Heritage School District is helping her granddaughter with her daily assignments. The child’s home only has one computer, which is being used by her mother while she continues to work.
When she learned that her granddaughter would not be in a classroom each weekday, the grandmother worried that the students would not learn what they needed without a teacher’s instructions.
The child’s teachers post a week’s worth of material and assignments on Monday, and after 3-4 hours of doing two classes a day, plus reading a chapter or two, the work is usually completed by Wednesday.
“I will say she has always been good about doing her homework,” the grandmother said. “She knew when she was in school, she immediately came home from school and we did homework.”
Generally, that would take anywhere from 2-4 hours each night.
The amount of time students are spending on their lessons varies school-to-school, grade-to-grade and circumstance-to-circumstance, too. A parent with three elementary students at St. Joseph Elementary reported about 1.5 hours of packet work each day while a parent of a St. Joseph-Ogden high school student said their child is spending four or more hours per day on material.
“This has put a lot of stress on her because this is not the style of learning she is used to, and she is a good student that makes good grades,” the parent said. “This has been a tough transition.
“I can’t imagine a student who struggles or has no guidance or support at home can complete the amount of work that has been given.”
Comparatively, a Mahomet-Seymour High School senior is spending about 3 hours per day on work, according to a parent.
“With my child being a senior, they work very independently, and I am not involved,” the M-S parent said. “I ask about what types of things they are doing. Every subject is covered, but some take more time, offer more lessons than others.”
Parents with students at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School have not felt like their children are getting the instruction they need, though. A few parents reported that their child’s work load each day takes between 30 minutes to an hour, while another reports their child spends three hours a day learning material.
One parent said, “I have to search out additional enrichment activities that keep my child engaged and challenged.”
The child, a “communal learner”, has not engaged well with the YouTube videos or the instruct-yourself model being provided.
All parents interviewed required that their children complete the at-home work provided by the school district, but a few parents also felt like they are in the dark when it comes to what the child is expected to do.
“If this was to keep them engaged and emotionally supported then I think we have done OK,” the mother said. “If this was to be a situation where they kept their normal learning pace, then I feel like we have a long way to go and this process has been less than successful on many different fronts.”
From what she has seen, her children have been given crossword puzzles, word searches and collages, but she is frustrated with understanding how the work is helping their knowledge of a subject.
Another Mahomet-Seymour Junior High parent, who also has a student at Lincoln Trail Elementary, has experienced two different scenarios.
“Lincoln Trail is doing a great job with communication, but less so with the content,” the parent said. “The Junior High is doing a good job with the content but less so on communication.”
While that parent called the communication “abysmal”, wishing she heard from the teachers and administrators there, she does know that her child is getting something from every teacher each day. At Lincoln Trail, her child’s teachers are focusing their instruction more on math and reading.
The Mahomet-Seymour parents have been available to help their children during the school day. And while the Heritage grandmother has also been available, she said there is a gap.
She does not make her granddaughter complete the musical requirement. And other coursework is difficult to complete together, too.
They have tried to complete the coding/computer work, but the student “doesn’t understand it and I am pretty clueless with computers,” but added, “her uncle is going to try to help her with it.”
The uncle is also responsible for helping the child with math because the student would “be at a loss with the limited explanation she is getting from the math site they are using … and it’s beyond me to try to explain it to her.”
A Blue Ridge parent, with a high school junior and a junior high student, said that her children spend between 3-5 hours a day learning.
“My sixth grader has an IEP,” she said. “After five weeks of remote learning, we are finally into a set routine. My junior in high school, after the first two weeks, settled into a very regimented work schedule and is meeting all the deadlines.”
The parent works outside the home two to three days a week. On her days off, she is able to work one-on-one with her sixth-grader.
“The days I am home, we complete work for two days at a time, as by the time I get home from working, it is too difficult to start remote learning late in the day,” she said.
In a St. Joseph home where both parents are working remotely, they are doing what it takes to be there for their elementary-aged children.
“Luckily, we are both home and can tag team our efforts,” the father said. “There are times that we are both in meetings for our jobs, and our kids have to work independently.”
St. Joseph Elementary is providing students with work packets that cover reading and math daily, with science and social studies mixed in.
“As parents we are engaged in terms of helping them get organized, making sure they know what they need to do, answering questions as they come up and checking over their completed work.”
No matter what age or the characteristics parents reported their child having, nearly all said that their child(ren) are struggling with focus.
“Effort and attention to detail have probably been the biggest struggle for our kids,” a father in St. Joseph said. “They just want to be done with it so they can do something else. Obviously, this work isn’t as engaging as hands-on projects and lessons from their teachers, which leads to the kids not being as engaged in the work.”
According to the parent, the St. Joseph-Ogden High School student struggles to stay on task while completing her assignments.
“At times, she lacks motivation to get started,” her mother said. “She also puts so much pressure on herself because she isn’t sure if she is doing exactly what her teacher expects.”
Parents with students middle-school and high-school aged reported taking more of a support role, though.
An Oakwood parent said that her child is intrinsically motivated in school and on the farm, so the transition to remote learning has been a breeze.
The student is spending anywhere between two to eight hours on any given day with schoolwork. Each subject is covered each day.
Although the student struggles with math, she has been able to rely on her friends to help.
The remote learning atmosphere has actually been a welcome move for this Oakwood family.
“Our child is very self-motivated and we were glad she was going to be home to help more with the livestock and farm chores,” the mother said.
“We’ve enjoyed this time. I’m working shortened hours and my husband is going into work a very small amount of time. Having the time at home together to work outside and finish projects has been great.
“In some ways, I feel she’s gaining more life skills than if she were in school.”
The St. Joseph-Ogden parent said that her child continues to thrive independently. The mother does not hover, but just focuses on being her mom.
“I instruct when needed, I nurture when needed, I check in on her and make her take breaks,” she said. “I talk to her and communicate that we will get through this.”
Her daughter spends most of the time focusing on the courses that are building blocks for future growth: math, Spanish and driver’s education.
“As for her other classes, she completes the work, but not as much time is given to the subject,” her mother said.
In the final days of the school year, the Mahomet-Seymour senior’s final worry is when and how tests will be administered.
“We are hoping to learn that soon,” her mother said.
In mid-March, the parent became exceedingly grateful for the access to technology in the classroom at Mahomet-Seymour.
“I was very thankful that M-S had gone to all students having Chromebooks a couple of years ago because that made the transition much easier,” she said.
The parent felt that in the chaos of change happening, the district Superintendent was very communicative with rolling out information that was available to parents.
The Blue Ridge parent said that her district has given their students and parents tools to make gains.
“I think the staff at Blue Ridge has done an amazing job with remote study program,” she said. “Weekly improvements have been implemented and that has been greatly appreciated.
“I really feel that Blue Ridge has given us the tools we need to make gains with every passing week.”
The Oakwood parent has had a similar experience.
“(Oakwood High School) has been great with their communication,” the parent said. “I’ve heard from other families in different towns that receive emails and directions from multiple people in their school each day. Those people were very frustrated and were ready to give up pretty early on in the process. Through this whole situation, OHS has been clear and direct with their plans.”
Heritage took the approach of updating its website and using social media to help get information out about changes and opportunities.
The grandmother felt their willingness to combine the public distribution of information alongside emails was effective.
At St. Joseph Elementary and Middle School, the parents feel that the staff and administration has made themselves available to parents and students.
Some Mahomet-Seymour parents, especially those with junior high-aged students, agree that communication is key during this point in time, but are struggling with the messages they receive from the school district and those being relayed by teachers.
“As a parent I was told that kids won’t ‘be harmed’ by this new style … and at the same time, the kids say that if they don’t complete items, they will have an incomplete and not be able to start next year without making up the work. So which is it?” the parent wondered.
All of the Mahomet-Seymour Junior High parents who answered the provided questions said that their child is often unsure of where to find the assignments for all subjects or to know if they have completed everything that has been provided.
“Not all teachers engage at the same level, and because many tasks are presented as optional, my kids don’t tend to take them,” a MSJHS parent said.
Another parent said that students are still children, and parents need to be involved in this process.
“They cannot and do not intuitively manage this on their own,” the mother said. “If I am to be an effective partner with the school, I need a lot more information about expectations, communication, tracking and knowing what my role is in this process.”
While parents should have access to Google classroom, not all parents are sure how to login, and some parents report that not all teachers are using Google classroom; even if they do login, some lessons are missing.
Having had Chromebooks in the district for many years, a Mahomet-Seymour parent was surprised when she learned that the district had not established an e-learning plan prior to the stay-at-home order.
“Since we are Mahomet-Seymour schools, and a significant amount of our tax dollars go to our school district, I was really, really surprised and disheartened to read in a previous email from the District that ‘we’re building the plane as we’re flying it,’” the parent said. “This is not the remote learning I had expected or that I would expect from a district of our caliber.”
Some parents regard the end of the 2019-20 school year as losing a whole quarter of their education while others know that their child will not fall behind developmentally because they have the resources and tools available at home to succeed during this time.
But all parents said that they know remote learning or e-learning, which has more defined standards, is a possibility for next school year.
“Teachers would have to work much harder to establish relationships with students and families,” one parent said.
The Blue Ridge parent said the teachers in her school have helped bridge the gap for her child with special needs.
“My sixth-grader has struggled with the social distancing as she has strong bonds with all her teachers,” she said. “They have had Zoom meetings and that does seem to help.”
The St. Joseph-Ogden parent said that the bonds that were formed between student and educator in the months prior to March are what is making the current situation successful.
“There would be a lack of effort and some would give up due to lack of support,” she said. “Children need interaction and relationships other than with their parents. Parents are experiencing what teachers actually do all day, and I feel that remote learning may give parents a greater respect for teachers.”
Parents also hope that educators are taking this 2-month experience and learning. They are looking for a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to e-learning in 2020-21.
A Mahomet-Seymour parent said, “other districts and institutes of learning (colleges and universities, other school districts locally and in other states and countries) are already talking and planning for the changes coming in learning.
“I see no discussion of those plans here, there are no discussions of anything changing here at all,” the parent said.
“I hear people talk about getting back to normal when ‘normal’ is now shifting and will not look the same. The longer we fight that, the farther behind we will be … and the kids will be the ones to pay the price.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said earlier this week that school districts should prepare for e-learning in the future not knowing what the upcoming school year will look like, but also because as time goes on, e-learning platforms will be useful in educating students.
One parent suggested that school districts enlist already developed online programs, then use instructors as facilitators of that material.
“Trying to move what teachers have always done to an online platform is a recipe for disaster,” a parent said. “We are going to need to re-evaluate what the core competencies are for kids and then restructure how we do that in an online forum. I believe we should be working nonstop on that goal because I believe we are going to need it.”
Looking ahead, some parents are already looking at what it would cost to enroll their child in an online program instead of putting them in the public school system that they’ve grown up in. Others are considering homeschool options instead of sending their child back to a public school.
“If the 2020-21 school year begins like the 2019-20 school year ended, our children are in big trouble academically, emotionally, socially and in any other area of development that can be thought of,” a Mahomet-Seymour parent said.
“I am not leaving my child’s education to be gambled with. My child is not a pawn in a high-stakes game of poker.”
Another Mahomet-Seymour parent said that they are worried about the development of their child under remote learning, but believes the stay-at-home order was appropriate given how quickly and easily COVID-19 spreads.
“I have asthma, so I am at higher risk for complications and many people in my life have other health conditions that would put them at greater risk,” she said.
Many parents said that they understood the magnitude of the situation, and were able to give their district high marks for how they transitioned into remote learning.
Still, even in communities with tools and resources, there are questions about equality and access for all.
“St. Joe is in a much better position to support students through remote learning because a great majority of students have the technology and resources to participate in online learning,” a St. Joseph parent said. “That makes supporting the small percentage of students who lack access and technology much easier to support.
“Once the problem of access is solved, the focus can shift to methodology and curriculum, and I hope this is already being considered so that we don’t end up scrambling in the fall.”
A Mahomet-Seymour parent said, “As a community and a planet, we are going to have a generation of kids who will need us to be able to shift how we do things and approach school and learning. I am concerned because I believe this impact will be long-lasting and require major change and a shift in paradigms when it comes to producing educated kids who can problem solve, critically think and adapt to changes.”
