School districts tackle learning curve and accessibility issues with online learning

With school buildings officially closed for the rest of the semester, districts across the state are continuing with their distance learning curriculum and working to develop their Return to Learn Plan as they consider what the following school year will look like.

In southeast Iowa, Fairfield Community School District has been doing virtual enhanced learning for the past two weeks. Superintendent Laurie Noll said teachers have been working hard to meet students' needs, sometimes having to think of innovative ways to reach those without internet.

For those with internet, many teachers have been conducting meetings over the video conferencing platform Zoom. But that's not the only way they've reached out. Fairfield's curriculum director Chuck Benge said teachers are also calling families to find out what works for them, whether they want online resources or a packet of handouts delivered through the mail.

The district's technology director John Grunwald added the district has had to confront a few tech-related problems in these early weeks of virtual instruction. The most basic is finding out how many students have the internet at home. Benge said the district still is surveying families to find out, but as of April 24 it had surveyed half the families in the district and found that 70 do not have access to the internet.

Noll said the district is looking into solutions for the lack of internet access, but each one has its own complications. For instance, the district is looking into internet on its buses, but the problem is that the range of the internet is not good, and students would need to gather around the bus to get a Wi-Fi connection. Noll said that's a problem because the district wants students to practice social distancing, and is not encouraging people to gather in groups.

But access to high-speed internet is not the only issue families are facing. Grunwald said a further complication is that some students might have access to it, but no device to conduct work on it, like a laptop or desktop computer. High school students in the district are issued a laptop, but there's no similar program for middle school and elementary students. Noll added that even if people have internet, they may not have high-speed internet, and thus cannot support a video call like that in a Zoom session.

'It helps a lot if a family has a high school student, because they will have an FHS-issued computer,” Grunwald said. 'Some families might have a high school student but also three elementary or middle school students, and they all need to share that laptop. We also have teachers who are trying to push content to students, but they have their own children who need to use the computer for their classes.”

Mt. Pleasant Community School District Superintendent John Henriksen similarly said one of the biggest things his district has also learned is the continued issue with access to high-quality internet connection in the region. Henriksen said about 75% of families in his district do not have broadband connectivity.

'We're going to have to have some help form the state of Iowa to try to tackle that issue. There's a difference in the kind of quality of connection that allows you to stream a teleconference as compared to other products that are a little more simplistic that allow you to send or receive email,” the superintendent said.

The necessary move to virtual learning has further exposed the holes in the state's ability to serve students in rural areas. The problem is further exacerbated with parents working from home and multiple family members needing to access the internet all at once.

'If we're going to have to try to operate like this, it's beyond buying hot spots for families. There needs to be a comprehensive plan to get broadband to rural areas,” Henriksen added.

Though his hope for the following year is for students and teachers to be back in a regular classroom setting, Henriksen acknowledges there's an opportunity for distance learning to continue into the fall.

'That's my hope. If we're not back to that, I believe the state expects us to be fully prepared to offer required online learning so we're preparing for that also. This interim time being voluntary has been good for us. We've seen what challenges there are to getting learning to kids,” he said.

As for the immediate future, Kathleen Gavin, MPCSD's director of instruction, said the district is waiting for more guidance from the state on how Return to Learn Plans, which districts must submit to the Department of Education by July 1, should be formulated.

'One strong piece that we're going to make sure to include is social emotional and mental health,” Gavin said.

The director of instruction added that since the district has opted for voluntary learning, there may be a gap forming between students who have been engaging with the online activities and those who may not have access and are unable to.

'It's something we're all very mindful of,” Gavin said. Currently, the district still is planning on holding their Title 1 summer reading program in July to hopefully close some of that gap. In addition, the district is looking at modification of 'circular pieces that broaden [their] ability to look at skills and assessment and pinpoint what kids really need,” as they enter the next school year.

In the Washington Community School District, Superintendent Willie Stone said classes will continue to be online through the rest of the school year.

Students in preschool through eighth grade have voluntary learning opportunities, he said. Teachers have been putting out regular activities for students to encourage work at home.

High school students in the district have required learning and will complete that on a pass/fail scale, he said. Due to equity issues of some students not having proper access to internet, the new scale seemed the fairest.

'We want to make sure offering school the way we are isn't going to hurt a GPA that could link to a scholarship or class rank later on,” he said.

Looking forward to summer school, Stone said the district will still offer something but he is not sure how it will look. Virtual learning and social-distanced learning are both possibilities.

As of July 1, the state department of education will release guidelines and expectations for the fall semester and administration will begin to work on that plan at that time, he said.

Throughout the entire online learning experience, Stone said is has gone smoothly but the biggest lesson the district staff has learned is that it is hard to do on a tight schedule.

'We did within a week what some districts take two years to work out,” he said.