The country saw a continued drift to virtual only instruction. A number of districts across the US have announced in-person return dates on December 7th - including NYC - and as they occur they will be picked up in our percentages.
Burbio School Opening Tracker- Map% US K-12 students attending "virtual-only" schools =
50.8% (up from 49% last week)% US K-12 students attending "traditional" In-person/every day" schools = 32.5%
% US K-12 students attending "hybrid" schools = 16.7%
The above percentages are set to Sunday December 6th. We set our numbers to the day of our reports due to changes that occur the day before announced plans. Our data is presented as "students attending schools that offer this learning plan" - most districts also offer virtual even when providing in person. For above, 50.8% of US K-12 students are currently attending schools that offer virtual-only plans, 32.5% offering traditional, etc.1) To review, Burbio launched the audit on August 11th
showing 52% "virtual only" and it shifted dramatically as the month went on and increased to
62% by Labor Day as large districts such as Hawaii, Dallas, small cities in the Northeast, Boston and parts of the Midwest and Sun Belt reversed previously announced in-person plans. Post-Labor Day, large Sun Belt cities such as Houston, Dallas and Miami returned in person, plus communities across the Northeast and the Midwest, and by
early November less than 40% of US K-12 students were attending virtual-only schools. In the last three weeks, Covid-19 related closures of mid-size city districts such as Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Oklahoma City, widespread closures across states such as Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan and Minnesota, and the closure of the NYC schools to in person drove the the virtual-only figure back up to over half at 50.8%..
3) As noted last week many districts closed to in-person learning the week after Thanksgiving. Some are sticking with those plans, among them
Lower Merion, PA,
North Penn, PA,
Syracuse, NY. and
Canton City SD in Ohio which is in a region that just entered the "purple" Covid-19 alert level, which is the state's highest. Others are extending the virtual-only closures further including
South Butler, PA, which is closing to in-person through January. Schools in
Trumbull County, OH extended their virtual break through January at the order of the Board of Health.
Brunswick City School District, OH pushed to an all-virtual mode until January. as did
Anderson, IN, and
School District 24 in Schaumburg, IL.
5) A recent announcement from
Fairfax County schools described an increase in failing grades among students, among other media reports from large districts and that trend extends to smaller districts as
Wilson County, NC schools report almost half of students having failed at least one class so far this year, double the previous year.
Guilford County, NC is going to begin testing students' academic progress, a trend we expect to see at districts of all sizes as the educational establishment measures the size of the learning deficits that have developed since last March.
Dickinson School District in Galveston, TX, is requiring parents to apply to opt-out of in person learning and go through an evaluation of academic progress, one of a number of districts in Texas tightening criteria for virtual instruction.
With the return of NYC elementary students scheduled for this week - the largest school district in the US - and other districts planning on returning from post-Thanksgiving breaks (even as some postpone, as noted above) there could be some slight movement away from virtual in the figures over the next two weeks. That said, we don't expect large movements for the balance of 2020 and the situation around quarantining and Covid-19 spread continues to put pressure on districts that remain open in the Northeast and the Midwest. With Covid-19 vaccine roll out beginning this month, there will be
considerable discussion as to where educators fit in the plans after health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. It's much too early to tell how this may affect timing of school openings.