Study: Parents Recognize Valuable Aspects Of Cyber Learning Despite Digital Divide
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The past year has been tough on the education of our childen. Most schools were forced from their buildings and into cyber learning with no warning or planning.
A new study surveyed parents across the country and the Co-Founder of Connections Academy Mickey Revenaugh says it revealed the impact.
"There's just no question that the emergency remote schooling that a lot of folks had to do over this past year, made it a little bit tough to stay on pace with learning."
Watch as KDKA's John Shumway reports:
But Revenaugh says parents tell them they would like to see some use of online learning even after the kids are back in class.
"It was a little surprising to us as well. And I think what we're seeing is that as things get settled down a bit, people are beginning to really appreciate the silver lining from this past year's experience. So what we saw in our poll was that families have identified that this online learning has built some skills for their children, self-sufficiency, resilience, the kind of future skills that they'll need for the workforce that they might not have gotten otherwise."
And the parents are not overly concerned about any education loss.
Revenaugh says, "The sense is kids bouncing back, being able to make up that learning loss, much more quickly than we might have otherwise expected. Parents are feeling pretty confident that that will be the case. Overall, I think there's a sense that kids are more resilient than we give them credit for. And that the long term effects of this will be not as negative as we're concerned about over the past few months."
But Revenaugh says the survey did reveal some issues. "There's definitely still a digital divide in this country which is crazy if you think about it. This is something that as a society we should be looking to close that gap as soon as possible, You know high speed internet ought to be a right as much as clean air and water."
She says not everyone has thrived in the learning at home environment. "There's also been a concern that people who were already behind before the pandemic may have been set back a little bit further. Obviously schools have a big lift in terms of making sure they put the right resources in place, whether that's tutoring or extra support to help kids make that transition back."
The study indicates parents are favorable towards the idea that the cyber element will continue even after the kids are back in their classrooms.