Survey Sheds Light On Distance Learning Troubles Facing Students, Teachers
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- Teachers say grades and student participation have been negatively impacted this year by the constraints that remote learning has on students, according to a new survey.
A survey conducted by Educators for Excellence-Los Angeles, a teacher-led organization, and the USC Rossier School of Education found that 94% of teachers surveyed said students have been less engaged.
"My colleagues and I have done our best to serve our students during this pandemic, but our students are experiencing the largest disruption to education in generations,'' said Meghann Seril, a third-grade teacher and member of Educators 4 Excellence-Los Angeles.
"Although we have continued to adjust and adapt to distance learning during the past 10 months, we still lack the resources and quality guidance to ensure our students, especially the most vulnerable, are not shortchanged of the education they deserve.''
According to the survey, teachers found that it appears the younger and more vulnerable populations have been most affected by the struggles associated with distance learning.
Some issues teachers noted were access to high-speed internet, adequate guidance from superiors regarding best practices for distance learning, and student attendance.
"It is disturbing that our educators and students are still facing some of the same fundamental challenges they did in the spring ... and lack of useful guidance to teach in this new learning environment,'' said Patricia Burch, a USC Rossier professor.
Survey results showed that just over one-third of teachers -- in the wake of anti-police brutality protests -- indicated that they received guidance for their classrooms, and half of the teachers said they discussed race relations with the staff and student body.
Other findings were that three-quarters of teachers supported a mask mandate as part of a safe school reopening plan.
A little over one-third of LAUSD teachers surveyed said they support a traditional grading system during the pandemic, while the others do not.
Full survey results can be found at e4e.org/news/survey-americas-educators/voices-virtual-classroom-los-angeles.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)