Hari Sreenivasan: Most families got a sense of what this coming semester might look like back in March,
when schools across the country suddenly
made the switch to remote learning due to COVID-19. It was an early
indicator of which students might and might not succeed.
I recently spoke
with former Kentucky Education Commissioner, and Dean and Professor of
Education at Belmont University in Nashville
Wayne Lewis about what lessons were learned and how we move forward.
Wayne Lewis: I think we learned a lot in the spring, there can be very significant
differential impacts on kids and families when we shift to remote learning.
So for example, if you're talking about my family and the shift to remote learning,
because of the the socioeconomic status, the economic situation, the job situation
that my daughter has with with two parents,
such as me and my wife, even though there are challenges associated
with it, we can make it work. When you shift to a completely
remote learning situation for kids that come from low-income backgrounds,
for kids that may have one—or in some cases no parent at home,
parents with lower levels of education, you can have
really disparate impact, particularly on on low-income kids, particularly on
kids who historically have not been served well by our schools.
We're going to have to critically examine every policy, every program,
every line item, and think about how we might spend dollars
different, so that with additional investment we can transform the way schooling looks for kids.
Hari Sreenivasan: How could that look i mean what is an
optimistic scenario of a silver lining that comes from this...
this opportunity that we've had to reevaluate how education
is working, or is not working.
Wayne Lewis: If we're looking for a silver lining, here's what I believe it is.
We have the opportunity now, um,
with technology, with curriculum resources, with instructional resources
that permit us to differentiate instruction in ways that you just can't
without technology. We have the opportunity to better
identify the learning needs, and better— or more strategically—intervene
in kids education in ways that that can advance them that we've not seen before.
Hari Sreenivasan: Now that said there's still at least what 10 or 11
million kids that don't have access to the same digital tools, right, I mean
there's kids that have iPads at home, or or laptops at home, and that's still not
the case for everyone, and even if they had a computer
there's still the issue of broadband and whether that's a
universal lifeline service, or a utility, or should be considered that way versus,
uh, if it's, you know, a luxury.
Wayne Lewis: You know it i think we're at the place
in this point in the 21st century where there shouldn't be any debate,
broadband access and access to digital tools and digital resources
is not a luxury, it's an absolute necessity, and when we think about
kids not having access to those things, we should think about it very similarly,
um, to the way we would think if if kids didn't have access to electricity.
Right, there there's no way in the 21st century environment as we're preparing
for a 21st century workforce for these kids that they can
have the type of education that they need and that they deserve
unless we can ensure that every child has access to those resources, and I want
to be really clear that that is not the responsibility
solely of schools, so to say that it's the responsibility
of schools and school districts to make sure that all kids have access
to that, I don't think that's the case it's going to take partnership
on the part of federal and state government to make sure that families
have that type of access.
Hari Sreenivasan: Wayne, finally, just academically,
how should parents be looking at this year going forward,
I mean given the school districts, and the cities, and the composition of
the workforce, and which unions might support strikes, and
it's not going to be a normal year, but at the same time
we still want our children to be educated and advance.
Wayne Lewis: That's a scary question for me, and...and here's why.
We...we understand from the research and literature
that kids who lose an academic year, uh, tend to be disadvantaged for
for the better part of their academic careers.
Kids that lead...lose two academic years...
the the chances that they'll ever catch up are slim to none.
So even while we're dealing with this pandemic this very real public
health crisis, we cannot afford to lose an
academic year, and we're not just talking about an academic year, many of our kids
have been out of school, um, for all intents and
purposes since March of last year, and and what I see
happening on the ground, um, is not much different than what we've
seen traditionally with education in the United States, is
parents and families who have resources, who have
time, are ensuring that their kids are not only not
falling behind but they're using those resources
to make sure that their kids move ahead while at the same time
families and kids who have traditionally been underserved and don't have
resources are falling further behind, the effect of
which, unless we are very intentional in
intervening here, is exacerbation of extraordinarily, um,
large achievement gaps and opportunities that we've seen in the past.
Hari Sreenivasan: All right, Wayne Lewis, thanks so much for joining us.
Wayne Lewis: Absolutely.