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ONLY 1 IN
10 ILLINOIS STUDENTS HAD ACCESS TO IN-PERSON LEARNING FOR EIGHT MONTHS
OF THE PANDEMIC, CDC REPORT FINDS
Illinois Policy Institute/
Patrick Andriesen
Illinois ranked 8th worst in the nation for
offering students access to full-time in-person learning between
September 2020 and April 2021 – less than any other Midwest state. |
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 A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study revealed
90% of Illinois students did not have access to full-time in-person learning for
eight months during the pandemic.
The Land of Lincoln ranked 42nd in the nation for full-time in-person learning
for students between September 2020 and April, according to a CDC Prevention
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released Tuesday.
Wyoming and Montana led the nation, offering 100% in-person instruction.
Meanwhile, Hawaii came in last, with just 1.3% for the in-person option.
The report, based on data from about 46% of kindergarten through 12th grade
public school enrollment in the U.S., found Illinois ranked worst in the Midwest
– offering just 1 in 10 Illinois students access to full-time in-person
instruction, on average.
This rate was even lower for Illinois’ students of color.
Illinois was one of 43 states in which students of color had less access to
full-time in-person learning than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. CDC
researchers offered a few potential explanations for the racial disparity in the
report.
“Urban districts might be less likely to open for full-time in-person learning,
in part because of higher COVID-19 community rates, and these districts
generally include more students of color,” proposed researchers. “Further, rates
of COVID-19 hospitalization and mortality have been higher in communities of
color, and districts serving a larger share of these students might have faced
more significant public health challenges as they made decisions about reopening
schools.”
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The report found access to full-time in-person
instruction for non-Hispanic white students rose by 36% nationwide
from January to April. In the same period, black students saw a 31%
increase, Hispanic students saw a 23% increase and students of other
races and ethnicities saw a 30% increase.
Notably, the study only examines what proportion of students were
given the option to learn in-person, not the actual rate of students
who returned to the classroom.
These proportions can differ from the reality as Chicago Public
Schools found when it reopened remote learning to students back in
May 2020. Over the course of a week where 90% of CPS students had
access to remote learning resources, 23% of students never logged
on.
CDC researchers concluded that remote learning has been linked to
student learning losses and can have adverse mental health effects
on children and parents.
According to the most recent state information available online, 423
of Illinois’ 849 school districts were providing blended or hybrid
learning, 398 were fully in person and 28 were fully remote.
This coming school year, the Illinois State Board of Education will
require schools to offer daily in-person learning, with limited
exceptions for medically vulnerable students. |
