are less about the teaching than on the participation of students.
The biggest problem we’ve had in my city is lack of access to devices and reliable high speed internet connections (our district is more than 85% minority). Efforts have been made to ameliorate that, with the distribution of laptops, tablets, and installation of free hi-speed internet to the neediest.
The district is also sending out digital devices to its “highest-need students” so they can participate in online learning opportunities, according to the Mayor’s Office. More than 100,000 devices — including laptops and tablets — will be sent to homes.
https://www.newsbreak.com/illinois/chicago/news/0OayxbLR/cps-sending-100000-laptops-tablets-to-students-to-learn-at-home-a-sign-schools-could-stay-closed-for-longer
Chicago Connected is a groundbreaking program that will provide free high-speed internet service to approximately 100,000 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students. This first-of-its-kind program will be one of the largest and longest-term efforts by any city to provide free, high-speed internet over the course of four years to increase internet access for students.
According to Census data, an estimated 100,000 students lack access to high-speed internet in Chicago. In order to narrow the digital divide for CPS families, Chicago Connected will provide up to four years of high-speed internet for CPS families who are most in need. Students who are eligible for the program and are planning to enroll in summer school in 2020 will be prioritized as the program rolls out in the coming weeks.
‘Chicago Connected’ will begin notifying eligible families beginning Monday, June 29, 2020 with the goal of connecting as many of the 100,000 students as possible prior to the 2020-21 school year.
https://cps.edu/chicagoconnected/Pages/home.aspx
The other problem is participation: I saw one teacher who said that fewer than 20% of her enrolled students had attended class in a summer session. That’s a big problem.
My husband’s undergraduate and graduate students had no such participation issues (although students back in their home countries had to do the courses asynchronously, from recordings of the live class sessions, because of time differences and occasional unreliability of Internet). 100% of his students submitted their final papers and completed all work.
This is not the case for many younger students, and I don’t know what the fix is.
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