Fayette kids’ participation in at-home learning dropped as school shutdown wore on

Fayette County’s rate of student participation in Kentucky’s at-home learning program dropped over an eight week period that schools were shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to data the state released Friday.

Fayette’s student participation rate in non-traditional instruction, or NTI, dropped from 85 percent in the first week it was implemented in April to 58 percent in the eighth week. In between, Fayette’s student participation rate was 83 percent in the second week, 82 percent in the third week, 80 percent in the fourth week, 78 percent in the fifth week, 77 percent in the sixth week, and 73 percent in the seventh week, according to data released Friday by the Kentucky Department of Education.

In an overall sense, Fayette’s numbers were below the state average, but the two sets of numbers can’t be compared and Fayette can’t be compared to other districts, because they don’t necessarily represent the same dates on the calendar, state officials said. Fayette started the program later than other districts and Fayette has no data for a ninth week as some other districts did.

The statewide student participation rate for the first four weeks of NTI was 92 percent, 91 percent in the three weeks after that, 90 percent in the eighth week, and 87 percent in the 9th week.

State Rep. Tina Bojanowski, a public school special education teacher from Louisville, said at a recent legislative meeting that some kids didn’t fully participate when teachers in Kentucky switched to take-home learning packets, the internet and telephone as part of the state’s non-traditional instruction program.

Bojanowski, D-Louisville, said some parents of her students didn’t respond when she tried to contact them.

“I had a subset of kids... who I never saw,” Bojanowski said. ...They never had assignments turned in.”

Fayette County was one of the first districts in the state to pilot the use of a system called Infinite Campus to record NTI student and teacher participation rate, district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Friday in response to the state data.

“It is our belief that the data recorded in Infinite Campus more accurately reflects actual participation than other collection methodologies, but we also recognize that consequently, our rates are likely to be lower than other districts,” she said.

“In reviewing the data, it is obvious that as the length of NTI was extended, we saw some educational fatigue from our students and families. This speaks volumes to the value of face-to-face interaction between our students and teachers. There is simply no substitute for victory in the classroom,” said Deffendall.

With the school year ending in late May, school districts including Fayette County are starting free academic intervention programs this month. Education officials have said some students did well with learning at home and others struggled.

In Fayette County, district guidance recommended that work done during NTI could only improve a student’s grade, and there should be no negative consequences of NTI.

Some Kentucky superintendents are worried about the long term impact of academic losses for students that started when in-person classes shut down in March with the coronavirus outbreak.

It’s a situation referred to nationally as “the COVID-19 slide.”

“I think what we will see ... is that achievement gaps will widen,” Greg Schultz, superintendent of Oldham County Schools told lawmakers on the Interim Joint Committee on Education recently, saying his comments represented the concerns of his peers.

Kentucky Department of Education officials are encouraging superintendents to give students diagnostic tests as soon as schools reopen in the fall to measure deficits. Researchers from the not-for-profit group NWEA said that students are likely to return in fall 2020 with approximately 63 to 68 percent of learning gains in reading compared to a typical school year and with 37 to 50 percent of the learning gains in math.

Many districts in the fall are going to give the Measures of Academic Progress or MAP test, a test that provides educators with the information they need to improve teaching and learning.

“If we can return in August, students will have been out of the classroom for five months,” said Woodford County Superintendent Scott Hawkins. “Having that direct in-person contact with teachers is critical to student success and that has not been possible due to COVID-19.”

Bath County Superintendent Harvey Tackett told the Herald-Leader he was concerned about the effects of being in the state’s non-traditional learning for an extensive period of time.

“It will be important to determine our student’s current achievement levels in the core content areas when we return to school this fall,” Tackett said. “We will have a starting point to address our kid’s academic needs.”

Schultz said non-traditional instruction probably increased equity issues in the state. He said students who do not have a computer, reliable internet service and family who could help them will likely fall behind.

Fayette school board member Daryl Love said at a recent school board meeting that “a lot of students have lost a lot of learning over the last couple of weeks.”

On Friday, Deffendall said, “our incredible teachers worked diligently and creatively to keep students engaged, but the fact remains that NTI was never intended to replace in-person instruction for 2 1/2 months.”

“In our classrooms we are able to provide individualized supports for our most vulnerable students, but NTI shifted that responsibility to families, who were facing challenges and stressors brought on by the pandemic,” she said.

Deffendall said it has been widely documented across the nation that extended school closures because of COVID-19 will have long lasting implications on students.

“Our summer bridge program is one of the ways we are already working to address this issue. And this is a major consideration for the teams developing plans to resume school in the fall,” she said. “As we go forward, we recognize that should there be a resurgence that prompts extended closures again, we will have to find additional ways to support our families with at-home instruction.”

In Fayette County, kids with low academic performance will be assigned teachers in the district’s Summer Bridge virtual program.

Every student pre-K through eighth grade will have access to the program. In a separate effort, high school students can work on credit recovery programs.

“These extra efforts in math and language literacy can help reduce learning gaps while providing structured activities for children to complete with little or no assistance,” Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk said in a letter to families in May.

Penny Christian, president of the 16th District PTA, said she thinks the Fayette summer program will help.

“I absolutely expect there to be much more than a traditional ‘summer slide’; missing that much in class instruction can and will impact all groups. I believe summer intervention is crucial to mitigate the damage as much as possible,” Christian said.

With the spread of COVID-19 and school reopenings uncertain, officials have told superintendents to prepare for a combination of virtual and in-person learning for the 2020-2021 school year.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said at the legislative meeting that there should be some way of tracking and requiring students to participate in non-traditional instruction. At the same time, he said students must get help with internet service and be provided equipment such as Chromebooks so they can participate.

Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Brown told lawmakers it will be “a huge lift” for districts to accommodate students who currently don’t have technology.

“If we’ve already lost track of them, it’s going to be a huge problem for districts that I don’t have a answer for right now,” he said.

On Wednesday, at a virtual meeting of the Commissioner’s Parent Advisory Committee, Mandy Sapp, a parent from Bourbon County, discussed the need for technology, according to an education department news release.

“In our household, we have to run off a cell phone hotspot because DSL, (a digital subscriber line), is not available, which can slow down homework progress,” said Sapp, a parent member from Bourbon County.

Bourbon County Superintendent Amy Baker told the Herald-Leader that while she has concerns about student achievement in the fall, “I know we have amazing students, parents, community members and teachers that will make sure that we will all do whatever it takes to make up any learning that was lost as a result of the coronavirus.”

This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 5:36 PM.