Editorial Staff

Pandemic, Lost Instructional Time Reveal Massachusetts’ Digital Learning Weaknesses

/in , , , , , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Report urges education officials to upgrade virtual schooling

BOSTON – A report released today by Pioneer Institute says that the shutdown of Massachusetts schools due to the COVID-19 virus and the shift to online education have exposed the uneven nature of digital learning in the Commonwealth, and calls for state officials to develop programs to create more consistency.

The study, “Class Dismissed: Massachusetts’ Lack of Preparedness for K–12 Digital Learning During COVID-19,” urges state officials to create a plan for the 2020-21 school year that will address the education gaps that occurred during the final semester of this school year. It also encourages a plan to address how future extended closures would be managed.

When the pandemic crisis is over, the state should also “take steps toward generally improving its knowledge and capabilities with respect to online learning, which Pioneer, Bay State lawmakers, and nationally-recognized experts on digital learning have long identified as a significant area of weakness in Massachusetts’ K-12 education system,” according to report authors, attorney David Clancy and Dr. John Flores, a national expert in the field of education, technology, and telecommunication affiliated with the United States Distance Learning Association.

“This report candidly demonstrates – going back nearly a decade – how ill-prepared the Commonwealth has been to face this moment,” said Jamie Gass, Pioneer’s education policy director. “Digital learning is an indispensable tool to ensure the state meets its K-12 obligations, and Massachusetts has long been lagging far behind states like Florida, Arizona, and Utah.”

On March 15, Governor Baker closed school buildings and ordered the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to support public school systems in developing and implementing plans to assist families and students in accessing alternative learning opportunities. Nearly two weeks passed before DESE produced a list of recommendations and advised districts to launch virtual learning by “early April.” Not only did that mean that some districts would go several weeks without a virtual learning plan, many superintendents were confused about how to proceed, according to the report.

The state’s recommendations themselves were flawed at points, as detailed in the report. Consequently, problems persisted across a diversity of districts, and students across the state as a whole “were not experiencing the challenge they would have experienced in school, nor a consistent baseline across districts in terms of the amount of educational activity, the content of educational activity, or the amount and nature of teacher interaction,” the report states.

A detailed April 17, 2020 Education Reform Now analysis ranked Massachusetts behind 43 other states – including all other New England states – in its transition to virtual learning.  The 43 states ranked above Massachusetts had (at the state level) required or more strongly encouraged districts to engage in virtual learning, and provided clearer guidance on how to do so, according to the report.

Though many states have struggled with the rapid transition to remote learning during the pandemic, the authors argue that Massachusetts suffers from a long-existing lack of preparedness in the realm of virtual learning. Statutes were passed in 2010 and 2013 to promote this alternative form of education, yet the Commonwealth – despite a record of quality and innovation in education generally – continues to lag behind other states with regard to developing knowledge and capabilities in the area of online learning.

The report includes several recommendations to improve the Commonwealth’s remote education:

  • Create a timely, public, Fall 2020 plan. The DESE and school districts should be working now on a plan for the Fall 2020 semester which addresses the education gaps of this spring and prepares for possible additional closures. That plan should be released publicly early enough to allow meaningful input from the broader community, including parents.
  • A separate plan for future school closures. The Commonwealth should also develop a plan for any similar school closure, which many experts believe may occur again as soon as the fall; reviewed and updated periodically.
  • Improvements to the Spring 2020 DESE guidance. Going forward, DESE should improve its guidance in areas where the authors identified flaws, including academic content, duration of the school day, methods of teaching, student participation, special education and teacher feedback. The state should draw on the lessons from Pioneer’s recent policy brief with ASU Prep Digital on how best to serve special needs students.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. John G. Flores is CEO and executive director emeritus of the United States Distance Learning Association, and an authority in the field of education, technology, and telecommunications. Flores led a Global Association focused on the application of distance learning for varied constituencies using varied technologies. He has held leadership positions as a School Superintendent, University Executive Dean and Business CEO for Distance Learning companies. He received his M.A. from Boston University and his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut focusing on educational technology, instructional design and leadership.

David S. Clancy, a resident of Concord, Massachusetts, is a partner in the law firm Clancy & Shine LLC, which focuses on civil disputes. Mr. Clancy was previously partner at an international law firm, from which he retired after a 20-year career, also practicing civil litigation. Among other professional activities, Mr. Clancy served three terms on the Board of Editors of the Boston Bar Journal, and has published multiple articles in that and other legal publications.

About Pioneer

Mission

Pioneer Institute develops and communicates dynamic ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond.

Vision

Success for Pioneer is when the citizens of our state and nation prosper and our society thrives because we enjoy world-class options in education, healthcare, transportation and economic opportunity, and when our government is limited, accountable and transparent.

Values

Pioneer believes that America is at its best when our citizenry is well-educated, committed to liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise, and both willing and able to test their beliefs based on facts and the free exchange of ideas.

Get Updates on Our Education Research

Related Content

Tax Credits, Religious Schools And You

0 Comments
/
Six years ago, I met with Erica Smith of the Institute for Justice in a Montana coffee shop, where I agreed to be the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit about the use of funds from a state education tax credit program for children attending religious schools. This past June, in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Montana’s highest court and ruled that if parents use funds from the program to access private education, religious school options cannot be excluded.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn on His Father’s Nobel Prize-Winning Fight with Communism

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard talk with Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a pianist, conductor laureate of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, principal guest conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and son of the Nobel Prize-winning Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. They discuss his father’s legacy, his courageous work to debunk the Soviet Union’s utopian myths, and key lessons American educators and students should draw from his life, writings, and battle with Soviet communism.

Eva Moskowitz of Success Academy on Charter Schools, Achievement Gaps, & COVID-19 Learning Loss

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard kick off the new year with Eva Moskowitz, CEO & Founder of Success Academy Charter Schools, a network of 47 schools enrolling 20,000 K-12 students in New York City. Eva shares her own education path, and how it influences her leadership and philosophy.

Voc-tech schools thriving despite pandemic strictures

0 Comments
/
HANDS-ON EDUCATION plays a critical role at Massachusetts regional vocational-technical high schools, where students alternate weekly between academics and shop classes. Given that reality, you’d think the schools would be particularly hard hit by the switch to hybrid models under which students are in a physical school building only half the time. But thanks to innovative approaches to coping with pandemic-related restrictions, voc-techs are successfully bucking statewide public-school enrollment trends.

USED Asst. Sec. Jim Blew Talks Sec. DeVos, School Choice, & K-12 Politics

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Jim Blew, the assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development at the U.S. Department of Education. Assistant Secretary Blew shares lessons from leading and implementing K-12 public education reform efforts in often contentious policy environments, and the unique challenges of the current partisanship and gridlock in Washington, D.C.

New Study Provides Toolkit for Crafting Education Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs

In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key impediment to private school choice, Pioneer Institute has published a toolkit for designing tax-credit scholarship programs. Now available in 18 states, nearly 300,000 students nationwide use tax-credit scholarships to attend the school of their family’s choice. TCS policies create an incentive for taxpayers to contribute to nonprofit scholarship organizations that aid families with tuition and, in some states, other K–12 educational expenses. This paper explores the central design features of TCS policies—such as eligibility, the tax credit value, credit caps, and academic accountability provisions—and outlines the different approaches taken by the TCS policies in each state.

Oxford & UCLA Pulitzer Winner Prof. Daniel Walker Howe on Horace Mann, Common Schools, & Educating for Democracy

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Daniel Walker Howe, Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus at Oxford University in England and Professor of History Emeritus at UCLA. Drawing from his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848, he provides background information on Horace Mann, the first secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, founder of the common school movement in public education, and a prominent abolitionist in Congress.

Knowledge is Power: Sir Francis Bacon and the Scientific Method – 10 Resources for High School Students

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs here, on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Sir Francis Bacon and the scientific method.

Education tax credits don’t cost taxpayers a cent

0 Comments
/
This op-ed has appeared in WGBH News, The Providence Journal,…

Stanford’s Prof. Caroline Hoxby on Charter Schools, K-12 Ed Reform, & Global Competitiveness

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Caroline Hoxby, the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor of Economics at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution.

The 400th Anniversary of the Mayflower – 15 Resources for K-12 Students

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the Mayflower’s voyage.

SABIS® President Carl Bistany on International Education, Charter Public Schools, & At-Risk Students

0 Comments
/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are joined by Carl Bistany, the president of SABIS® Educational Systems, an education company founded over 130 years ago that serves young women in the Middle East, and poor and minority students in the U.S.