Will The Playing Field Be Leveled For All Students This Fall?
COVID-19 and Educational Inequity.
Covid-19 has forced us to reimagine how we do business and education. Zoom calls, virtual learning, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams…these have become the new normal. In March of 2020, when Covid-19 caused many schools to close, educators were forced to make immediate adjustments moving all instruction to the virtual and remote spaces. This proved challenging for some educators, administrators, students, and parents. Some working parents had to balance homeschooling and their remote jobs. Other working parents had to scramble to find childcare as they were still required to work outside of the home and try to balance virtual learning for their students. Stress levels rose for many people. Young children were confined to their homes, being taught by their parents who often did not have the patience or background to teach, and overall missing social interaction with peers their age. Despite the common trend of stress, this virus did not and does not impact every household the same.
Before Covid-19, we knew that there were already underserved or at-risk groups in every academic setting. We knew that all factors were not the same for every student. Some students have double parent homes, while others have single-parent homes, income gaps, and overall fewer resources to contribute to the quality of their education.
In addition to education, some students relied on school for stability. The free and reduced breakfast and lunch programs provided, for some students, their only source of nourishment. For many children, school provides safety, stability, and hope. Covid-19 came in and changed what was normal for some students, taking away their nourishment, safety, stability, and hope.
The move to virtual met challenges with the realization that all homes aren’t created equal. Laptops, tablets, and other devices were not available to every student. Many school districts and universities immediately responded by providing tablets to those students in need. Unfortunately, this was not the case in every situation. Also, even with devices, stable WiFi proved to be a luxury. Yet, despite the lack of devices or WiFi for all, the virtual learning requirement dictated use of technology and internet connectivity to complete assignments. Families who relied on public WiFi could not visit public libraries and coffee shops for WiFi due to the Covid-19 shutdown. Other families had multiple children vying for the one home tablet or splitting the bandwidth on their home WiFi. This process, though out of everyone’s control, made disadvantaged groups a little more disadvantaged. The playing field could not be leveled. Some colleges extended their WiFi to parking lots to assist those students who did not have access to WiFi. Though this plan was thoughtful, it didn’t consider other barriers such as those students who either relied solely on the computer labs to complete work due to not having devices or who used public transportation to get to and from school. For those students, parking lot WiFi was not beneficial.
Fast forward, school administrators had all summer to plan for Fall 2020. Despite time, planning proved to be a challenge due to the sheer uncertainty of what is to come. Will Covid-19 still be an issue? Will there be a government-mandated shutdown? What do the students want? Do we plan for in-person, hybrid, or virtual learning? While many hoped we would be back to normal, everyone knew there was a chance we would either start the semester in virtual or hybrid mode, but this was also coupled with the risk of fully opening schools, only to be met with a second round of Covid-19 outbreaks forcing another shutdown. Despite planning, inevitably, there remains a lot of uncertainty. Despite planning, inevitably, some groups will be disadvantaged. Despite planning, the playing field will not be leveled for all students.
Without a doubt, Covid-19 has changed the way we will do academics and this will extend into the Fall. Bottom-Line! Based on the response from Spring 2020, many plans are considering those students without resources, such as WiFi or devices, where other plans are focusing on capacity issues and how to safely reopen. How do you safely open a school and keep everyone Covid-19 free? What is the mask-wearing policy? What is the capacity and student-teacher ratio policy? How do we ensure equity and safety for everyone? Do we allow families to opt into virtual learning? What do we do if there is another outbreak? What about those typically disadvantaged students and families? How do we level the playing field during a global pandemic?
Amongst all of the planning, there is another group that may not be on the radar of many task forces, assigned to design Covid-19 plans. That other group who is at risk of being severely impacted by Covid-19 are students who qualify for and receive accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act (ADAAA) of 2008. This group of students is often forgotten when instruction and course planning takes place. 2020 marks 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 became law. It is hard to believe these rights were not codified until 1990 and it is even harder to believe that the Act required Amending in 2008 to clarify terms of art, previously not enforced.
In 2008, the ADAAA of 2008 took an additional step and defined phrases and terms of art in the 1990 definition of disability. One of those phrases defined was “major life activity”. The new definition of the Act stated “that a major life activities include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working”.[1]
Critical to learning are most if not all of the words listed in that definition. As we enter the Fall, the hope is that those students with disabilities impacting their ability to learn do not become the forgotten group. How do we ensure that the playing field is leveled for students with learning or cognitive disabilities? Not that they do not matter, but they, unfortunately, may not be on the radar or on the top of the priority list moving into this rare Fall. How do we ensure that these students are not only not an afterthought, but considered with every Covid-19 policy? Stress and anxiety have peaked for many, but have we considered this group already known to suffer adversely from stress and anxiety?
Per the ADA, unless there is an eligible exception, accommodations should be made for the person with the disability. Prior to Covid-19, many schools and universities had applicable policies and ensured compliance with the ADAAA of 2008. Now with Covid-19, virtual learning, and other challenges, will schools and universities quickly pivot to ensure compliance and equity to those students in need, or will there be some form of Covid-19 ADAAA exception? How can we ensure that these students have the tools and resources to level the playing field?
I urge every administrator to not only consider the rights of all students impacted by Covid-19, but specifically remember those who qualify for and avail themselves of protections afforded via the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sure, most institutions are considering the ADA from an EEOC lens, but what about the learning disabilities? What about those major life activities? What about students whose accommodations in the past have included notetakers, translators, interpreters, or extended time on exams? How has and how will the virtual space impact these students?
The charge is to every administrator to ensure that amongst an already hectic and unpredictable Fall, this vulnerable group of students is also protected and that a concerted effort is made to make educational quality and delivery as equitable as possible for every single learner.
[1] Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.htm
