Students in schools that were fully remote for most of this school year received less instructional time and were more likely to be absent and receive a failing grade than students who were attending classes in person, a new report finds.
While some teachers have pointed to some academic benefits of remote instruction, stemming from this school year. The results are particularly important given that many principals and teachers say remote learning isn鈥檛 going away any time soon.
To provide what the report deems the first look at students鈥� learning experiences for the majority of this school year, researchers analyzed March survey results from nationally representative samples of teachers and principals. The data provide 鈥渢he clearest evidence, to date, that students were on sharply different learning pathways depending on whether their schools were mostly remote or mostly in-person for the majority of the 2020-2021 school year,鈥� the researchers wrote.
Other research, including from the EdWeek Research Center, has shown that throughout the pandemic, students have lost out on learning time and been less engaged in their classes. Emerging evidence suggests that many students have fallen behind this year and may need to repeat a grade.
One in 5 schools were fully in person for most of the school year, while another 1 in 5 were fully remote. The rest of the schools in RAND鈥檚 sample offered a combination of in-person and remote instruction, known as a hybrid model. The fully remote schools tended to be in urban areas and serve more students of color and from low-income families.
Many of the students who learned from home for most of the school year were disadvantaged even before this year, said Julia Kaufman, a senior policy researcher at RAND and one of the authors of the report.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e comparing the outcomes of fully remote versus in person, there鈥檚 inevitably going to be a gap because there was a gap going into the school year. The question is, is that gap widening?鈥� said Kaufman. 鈥淲e do have evidence that being fully remote is not as good as being fully in person.鈥�
Still, some teachers stress that remote learning hasn鈥檛 necessarily been all bad.
鈥淚t鈥檚 obviously portrayed pretty negatively overall throughout the country, and while not ideal, there were definitely glimmers of [success]鈥攖hings I鈥檓 going to take and use next year, things we learned that may not have been on our content list,鈥� said Megan Heine, a high school math teacher in Ankeny, Iowa, who was not involved in the RAND report. She is back in the classroom full-time this semester after periods of both remote and hybrid learning last semester, although some of her students remain fully remote. 鈥淎 lot of [my students] have had a lot of success.鈥�
Remote students get less instructional time
While RAND found that about 90 percent of fully remote schools provided at least one synchronous, or live, class per day, students learning from home still received less instructional time on average than their peers in schools. The survey found that fully remote elementary schools offered, on average, 110 fewer minutes of English/language arts, 80 fewer minutes of mathematics, and 40 fewer minutes of natural sciences than schools that were fully in person.
Kaufman said it鈥檚 possible the principals were answering with a traditional view of instruction in mind, and some remote students may be getting additional instruction that鈥檚 not captured in their responses. Even with that caveat, though, it appears remote students get less face time with their teachers, she said.
Nearly half of fully remote schools reported a shorter school day than in previous years, compared to 17 percent of fully in-person schools and 25 percent of schools offering a hybrid model.
Across the board, teachers said they covered less curriculum this year than is typical, perhaps because of time spent catching up on concepts that students missed in the previous grade. But teachers in fully remote and hybrid schools were even less likely to get through all of the content. Only 15 percent of teachers in fully remote schools and 19 percent of teachers in hybrid settings鈥攃ompared with 35 percent of their counterparts in fully in-person settings鈥攕aid they had covered all or nearly all of what they would cover in a more normal year.
Heine said she fell behind in her curriculum last semester, when students were only coming to school one day a week, and she hasn鈥檛 been able to catch up. Now, even though some students are back in the classroom full-time, she鈥檚 about two units behind where she would normally be.
鈥淭he inconsistency of seeing the students was definitely a factor in the content that was covered,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or hybrid students, it was very challenging to fall into a routine and structure.鈥�
Theresa Morris, a 2nd grade teacher at Vicentia Elementary School in Corona, Calif., is teaching only students who opted to stay remote for the full school year. She said she hasn鈥檛 gotten through the same amount of material as she would have in the past鈥攂ut the lessons she has taught have been richer. Since she鈥檚 working from home, she can plan meatier lessons during the time in which she would typically be waiting for students to finish assignments or managing transitions.
鈥淚 can do all of those amazing, creative, add-on lessons that I normally wouldn鈥檛 have time to do,鈥� she said.
For example, her 2nd graders read a story about a child who was scared of a storm. One of the vocabulary words was 鈥渉urricane.鈥� Normally, Morris said, students would learn what a hurricane is, and they鈥檇 move on.
But this year, Morris added GIFs and videos of hurricanes to her virtual presentation so students could see how the storms formed. They discussed how hurricanes turn clockwise or counterclockwise depending on which hemisphere they鈥檙e in, and then Morris asked her students to flush their toilets to see which direction the water drained.
Remote learning, she said, has given her the chance to dive deeper into what her students are most curious about, which has led to more authentic learning. And while she hasn鈥檛 been able to cover the same amount of material as she would normally, most of what she鈥檚 missed has been centered around test prep or isn鈥檛 necessary to learn in 2nd grade, she said.
鈥淚 feel like we鈥檙e not pushing these things that before we thought were so important,鈥� Morris said. 鈥淚t certainly gave me ideas about what is really needed and what is extra. We can get there when we get there, but it鈥檚 not a must-do.鈥�
Other challenges persist for remote learners
Technology was another challenge for remote instruction, the RAND study found. Nearly half of remote teachers said their typical student experienced technical problems more than one day per week. And just 8 in 10 teachers in both remote and hybrid settings said they had internet that was fast and reliable enough to deliver instruction.
Researchers noted that the technology obstacles could have contributed to the less-rigorous instruction in remote settings. The RAND study also found that one-third of fully remote schools changed their grading policies to assign incompletes rather than failures鈥攃ompared to just 6 percent of fully in-person schools.
And while principals in all settings estimated that their students鈥� average achievement was considerably lower this year compared with previous years, principals in remote and hybrid schools were much more likely to say their students were performing below grade level. Twenty percent of principals in fully remote schools said average student achievement in math was far below grade level this spring, compared with 8 percent of principals in hybrid schools and 4 percent of principals who were fully back on campus.
Meanwhile, teachers in the highest-poverty schools and in schools serving the most students of color鈥攚hich were more likely to be fully remote for most of the school year鈥攚ere more likely to report negative student outcomes, such as students not completing assignments and failing courses.
And student absenteeism is another big concern: Overall, teachers estimated that 10 percent of students were absent most school days over the past month. Teachers in remote and hybrid settings were more likely to report significant student absences.
The RAND survey asked teachers about the extra supports and interventions that were available to students this school year, and found that teachers in the highest-poverty schools and those with the most students of color said their students had significantly less access to reading specialists and one-on-one meetings with teachers, although they did have much more access to free tutoring than their peers in more affluent schools.
Kaufman said she hopes districts use their federal relief money to make sure students who need it have access to highly trained specialists.
Remote learning will stick around
Despite all the challenges, nearly half of principals whose schools have been fully remote for most of the year said they planned to offer remote instruction 鈥渢o any family who wants it鈥� in future years. Overall, a third of principals are willing to make remote learning an option.
Even so, when districts do offer families the option of remote learning, it鈥檚 often disproportionately Black and Latino families鈥攚hose communities have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic鈥攚ho opt in. It鈥檒l be critical to make sure any remote option going forward is rigorous and high-quality, Kaufman said.
鈥淲e know that being remote doesn鈥檛 serve all of our students well, especially those who are coming in behind,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e really behind, remote will probably not help them as much as in-person [instruction].鈥�
At least seven states have already mandated full-time, in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year, and some have restricted the amount of remote instruction school districts can offer. Just this week, the New York City mayor said students there will no longer have a remote schooling option.
Yet if given the choice, a third of teachers who have taught fully remotely for the majority of the school year would be open to continuing teaching in remote or hybrid settings, compared to just 10 percent of teachers who were in fully in-person settings.
鈥淲e suspect that teachers who have been fully remote have gotten a little more acclimated to it and have discovered that it鈥檚 not scary, it鈥檚 doable,鈥� Kaufman said.
Indeed, Morris, the California elementary teacher, said she has applied to continue teaching remote students next year. She鈥檚 enjoyed the creativity and innovation that has happened this year.
鈥淚 have spent more time teaching and preparing and planning than any year prior, but I鈥檝e loved it more,鈥� she said.
Meanwhile, Heine, the Iowa math teacher, said she feels comfortable teaching remote classes and knows she could do it if she needed to. But it wouldn鈥檛 be her first choice.
鈥淢y one in-person class really does breathe life into me because I miss the student interactions,鈥� she said. 鈥淸With remote classes], students don鈥檛 turn on their videos, they don鈥檛 even talk. For the most part every day, I鈥檓 talking to a blank screen, and that is definitely a challenge because I鈥檓 in it for the students.鈥�
