Students absent from online classes
A “no classes until further notice” sign is taped to the front door of Edison Elementary School Tuesday, April 14, 2020, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:40 PM PT — Sunday, April 19, 2020
With the nation’s schools switching online, there’s growing concern about how students and the way they learn will be affected. Teachers are adapting their lessons to online formats, but many students across the nation are not logging in.
In New York City, 23 percent of high school students have been absent from classes this month. Thousands of kids have missed classes in Los Angeles.
This is due to a number of factors. Some students are distracted at home, while others don’t have access to computers or internet.
Many school districts have teamed up with tech companies to solve this problem. Amazon has donated more than 8,000 laptops to students in Seattle, while Apple has sent thousands of iPads to kids in New York City.
Acts like these have been seen throughout the country.
“My husband is unemployed, so it’s been really hard to try to make ends meet, to just pay bills,” explained one parent. “So these computers make a big difference.”
Lindsey Lilley, an employee of the Elk Grove Unified School District, hands a Chromebook to the parent of a student in the district, at Monterey Trail High School in Elk Grove, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
However, as students begin using these devices, experts have claimed damage to their learning may already be done.
Students are now playing catch-up for weeks of learning they missed. Additionally, some advanced classes, like calculus and physics, may be hard to grasp in online formats.
Some students may be suffering because online lessons don’t offer the same connections as in-person classes, where teachers can work with them one on one.
Now, school districts are debating whether students will need to take summer school or repeat classes next year. A lot of unanswered questions during this uncertain time.
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Kaitlyn McMurtey records a class about fractions on her phone for her 5th grade class at Westside Elementary School in Idaho Falls, Idaho on Thursday, April 16, 2020. (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP)