RIPEC: Only one-third of R.I. students had access to in-person school learning by Oct. 13

PROVIDENCE – Only one-third of students in Rhode Island’s 36 districts had access to full in-person learning as of Oct. 13, while about half had partial access to in-person learning and one-eighth did not have in-person learning access, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

The council’s report, titled “Elementary and Secondary Education in the Pandemic: An Analysis of School Reopening and Distance Learning in Rhode Island,” raises concerns about increased inequity across the state’s public K-12 system since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state moved to remote learning for the rest of the 2019-20 school year as the pandemic hit last April and Gov. Gina M. Raimondo later called for all school districts, except for Providence and Central Falls, to fully reopen for in-person learning by Oct. 13.

However, the report states that public health requirements and concerns “have made it difficult” for many schools to fully reopen. RIPEC also said school districts that fully reopened are in suburban and rural areas with higher incomes, while urban areas in lo-income communities are “relying more heavily on distance learning.”

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Only nine districts offered full in-person instruction available to all students by Oct. 13, the report states, while most districts are providing full in-person for some and partial for others. For example, more than two-thirds of students in Tiverton, North Providence and Scituate have access to full in-person learning, while Cumberland is offering in-person to fewer than 5%.

Burrillville, Lincoln, North Smithfield, West Warwick and Westerly only offer partial in-person to the districts’ entire student bodies, the report states, and Pawtucket, Warwick and Woonsocket were teaching “a large portion” of their student bodies remotely as of Oct. 13.

“While there are major public health and operational challenges to reopening our public schools, it should not be acceptable to policymakers that the students most likely to be denied access to in-person instruction are already experiencing low proficiency rates,” RIPEC CEO and President Michael DiBiase said in a statement. “They can least afford to suffer the learning loss expected to result from distance learning.”

RIPEC also found that while school districts improved access to technology since the spring as the pandemic hit, internet access “does not appear to have received the same attention from districts as has access to devices,” and student access to both reliable devices and internet hotspots “remain a concern in some districts.”

“There also appears to be no statewide accounting to identify the full extent to which gaps in student access to technology remain,” RIPEC said in the report.

RIPEC, in its report, calls on state lawmakers and officials to make the following recommendations:

  • Seek to expand in-person instruction to promote greater equity between districts, and appropriate additional funding to the extent needed to advance this goal
  • Ensure that every student has access to a suitable device and broadband
  • Encourage educational leaders to modify distance learning methods to align with best practices
  • Require all teachers engaged in delivering remote instruction to receive professional development in distance learning
  • Require greater transparency regarding key elements of public-school operations during the pandemic
  • Enable Rhode Island public schools to build proficiency in distance learning
  • Determine whether the decentralized structure of Rhode Island’s public education system delivers the best outcomes for all students

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.