More Than Half of Students Are Not Tuning In to Online Classes, Informal Teacher Survey Shows
With the rise of remote learning and the announcement of school closures lasting until the end of the academic year in many states, a recent survey conducted by the social media app Fishbowl reveals that a significant number of students are still not participating in virtual classrooms during the coronavirus pandemic.
The survey asked teachers to report the attendance rate of their students in remote classes between April 6 and April 9. Out of the 5,659 teachers who responded, 35% stated that the attendance rate was 25% or less, while only 17% reported that at least 75% of their students were attending class. It’s important to note that the survey is not scientifically conducted, and little information is available about the specific schools where the teachers work. However, Fishbowl mentioned that nearly 97% of the respondents teach in district schools.
Fishbowl created this survey after witnessing discussions among educators on the app regarding challenges related to student engagement, such as access to technology and the difficulties faced by working parents. According to spokesperson Becky Graham, the survey was based on these conversations and the firsthand experiences shared by teachers on the platform.
Fishbowl is an app-based social network that allows individuals to discuss their workplace anonymously with others in their industry or company. It was initially launched in 2017 for consultants and later expanded to include professionals from select fields, including education, in 2019. The app verifies the user’s employment in a specific field before granting access to its discussion page, known as a "bowl." Graham stated that tens of thousands of teachers are currently using the app.
As more than 55 million students are out of school, with many facing the prospect of not returning until the next academic year, schools and districts across the country have adopted various approaches to distance learning. Some teachers offer real-time lessons through video platforms like Zoom, while others provide paper packets for students to complete. Data collected by the American Enterprise Institute indicates that about 70% of schools already had remote learning plans in place as of April 7. Additionally, how attendance is tracked differs from one district to another, ranging from students signing in to a learning management platform each weekday to teachers reaching out to students regularly via phone.
There are several factors that can contribute to students becoming disconnected from school, such as homelessness, lack of internet access, and insufficient devices for every child in a family. Chronic absenteeism, where students miss a significant portion of the school year, is already a concern even in traditional classes, with millions of students frequently missing school each year. Research shows that frequent absences are associated with lower test scores and an increased risk of dropping out. Robert Balfanz, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, expressed two main concerns regarding students who are not engaged in remote learning. First, these students are missing out on learning opportunities and may fall behind academically. Second, their connection to the school community is eroding, making it harder to re-engage them next year.
Balfanz suggests that educators should strive to maintain the nonacademic aspects of school, such as clubs, in order to improve attendance. By keeping students connected and involved in extracurricular activities or collaborative projects outside of regular lessons, the negative impact of reduced learning time and a weakened school-community relationship can be mitigated.
Among the nine states where at least 100 teachers responded to the Fishbowl survey, Michigan reported the lowest attendance, with nearly 62% of teachers stating that their attendance rate was 25% or less. On the other hand, educators from New Jersey reported the highest student participation, with two-thirds of teachers indicating that more than half of their students were logging on to remote classes.
Education Week recently conducted a survey among teachers on April 7 and 8, where they were asked about the percentage of students who were regularly absent during the closures caused by the coronavirus. The findings revealed that, on average, 22 percent of students were not attending their classes. However, teachers in schools with a higher percentage of students from low-income backgrounds reported even higher rates of absences.
