Disparities in Learning Mode Access Among K-12 Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic, by Race/Ethnicity, Geography, and Grade Level - United States, September 2020-April 2021

Details

• Personal Author:
  Oster, Emily ; Jack, Rebecca ; Halloran, Clare ; Schoof, John ; McLeod, Diana ; Yang, Haisheng ; Roche, Julie ; Roche, Dennis
• Corporate Authors:
  COVID-19 School Response Dashboard, Providence, Rhode Island ; Brown University. ; Abt Associates. ; Burbio. ; Precision Development.
• Description:
  What is already known about this topic? Reduced access to in-person learning is associated with poorer learning outcomes and adverse mental health and behavioral effects in children.
  
  What is added by the report? Although access to in-person, hybrid, and virtual learning modes varied throughout the school year, during January-April 2021, access to full-time in-person learning for non-Hispanic White students increased by 36.6 percentage points, 31.1 percentage points for non-Hispanic Black students, 22.0 percentage points for Hispanic students, and 26.6 percentage points for students of other race/ethnicities.
  
  What are the implications for public health practice? To increase equitable access to full-time in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year, school leaders should focus on providing safety-optimized in-person learning options across grade levels in all geographic areas. Vaccination and other efforts to reduce levels of community Transmission should be intensified.
  
  In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the United States began transitioning to virtual learning during spring 2020. However, schools' learning modes varied during the 2020-21 school year across states as schools transitioned at differing times back to in-person learning, in part reflecting updated CDC guidance. Reduced access to in-person learning is associated with poorer learning outcomes and adverse mental health and behavioral effects in children (1-3). Data on the learning modes available in 1,200 U.S. public school districts (representing 46% of kindergarten through grade 12 [K-12] public school enrollment) from all 50 states and the District of Columbia during September 2020-April 2021 were matched with National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) demographic data. Learning mode access was assessed for K-12 students during the COVID-19 pandemic, over time and by student race/ethnicity, geography, and grade level group. Across all assessed racial/ethnic groups, prevalence of virtual-only learning showed more variability during September-December 2020 but declined steadily from January to April 2021. During January-April 2021, access to full-time in-person learning for non-Hispanic White students increased by 36.6 percentage points (from 38.0% to 74.6%), compared with 31.1 percentage points for non-Hispanic Black students (from 32.3% to 63.4%), 23.0 percentage points for Hispanic students (from 35.9% to 58.9%) and 30.6 percentage points for students of other races/ethnicities (from 26.3% to 56.9%). In January 2021, 39% of students in grades K-5 had access to full-time in-person learning compared with 33% of students in grades 6-8 and 30% of students in grades 9-12. Disparities in full-time in-person learning by race/ethnicity existed across school levels and by geographic region and state. These disparities underscore the importance of prioritizing equitable access to this learning mode for the 2021-22 school year. To increase equitable access to full-time in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year, school leaders should focus on providing safety-optimized in-person learning options across grade levels. CDC's K-12 operational strategy presents a pathway for schools to safely provide in-person learning through implementing recommended Prevention strategies, increasing vaccination rates for teachers and older students with a focus on vaccine equity, and reducing community Transmission (4).
  
  Suggested citation for this article: Oster E, Jack R, Halloran C, et al. Disparities in Learning Mode Access Among K-12 Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic, by Race/Ethnicity, Geography, and Grade Level - United States, September 2020-April 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 29 June 2021.
  
  mm7026e2.htm?s_cid=mm7026e2_w
  
  
• Subjects:
  Child Child, Preschool Child Health CoronaVirus Infections COVID-19 Education, Distance Schools
• Source:
  MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2021; v. 70 Early Release
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Pages in Document:
  6 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:33d8c0419dd3b7bd3cbaa7a29bf6e5144b953450014734f079934e87134c55fa6fceaad1efae183bb5c6da1c7ff59385d73af798e071ba85efaac1611e5d1fd4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/107555/cdc_107555_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 160.31 KB ]