Unprecedented. First in our lifetime. Never seen before.
The superlatives used to describe the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are employed so often they almost sound cliché. There is no escaping it, however. This is a big deal for everyone, but the deal is bigger for Michiganders of color.
Public Sector Consultants (PSC) recently partnered with Bridge Magazine to field an online survey on how Michigan families are faring with school-aged children learning at home instead of in the classroom. Last week, Bridge summarized the results of the survey and revealed a surprising contrast between the 69 percent of parents and guardians that support the policy keeping their students home through the end of the academic year and recent statements about safely reopening schools sooner rather than later.
This survey, conducted between April 13 and April 20 by Dynata, posed questions dealing with a range of home-schooling topics, including special education and the number of hours per day a student spends learning.
It also added more evidence showing the unevenness of the pandemic’s effect on our lives, telling us that the superlatives used to describe COVID-19 are anything but cliché, especially for traditionally marginalized groups and any family whose income has gone down because they have missed work to be home for their kids.
Take a look at some insights from our analysis.
Health, Academic Achievement and Support for School Closure
On the question of concern for their family’s health, black respondents registered their concern at 73 percent, Latinx respondents at 76 percent and white respondents at 57 percent — a 16 percent difference for black and a nearly 20 percent different for Latinx respondents compared to those who are white.
Concern About Health
On a scale of one to five, with one being not at all concerned and five being extremely concerned, how concerned are you today for the health of your immediate family due to coronavirus?
Select variables in legend to adjust data.
Source: PSC/Bridge/Dynata poll of 800 Michigan adults conducted April 13 – 20 with a 3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level. Due to rounding, numbers in text and chart may not match.
On the question of concern for their student’s academic achievement, black respondents registered their concern at 75 percent, Latinx respondents at 86 percent and white respondents at 60 percent — a 15 percent difference for black and 26 percent difference for Latinx respondents compared to those who are white.
Concern About Academic Achievement
On a scale of one to five, with one being not at all concerned and five being extremely concerned, how concerned are you about the impact on your students’ academic achievement caused by the State-mandated classroom closure?
Select variables in legend to adjust data.
Source: PSC/Bridge/Dynata poll of 800 Michigan adults conducted April 13 – 20 with a 3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level. Due to rounding, numbers in text and chart may not match.
On the question of support for keeping classrooms closed for the remainder of the academic year, black respondents registered their support at 74 percent, Latinx respondents at 83 percent and white respondents at 68 percent — a 6 percent difference for black and 15 percent difference for Latinx respondents compared to those who are white.
Support for Classroom Closure
On a scale of one to five, with one being very unsupportive and five being very supportive, how supportive are you of the decision to close classroom learning for the remainder of the academic year?
Select variables in legend to adjust data.
Source: PSC/Bridge/Dynata poll of 800 Michigan adults conducted April 13 – 20 with a 3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level. Due to rounding, numbers in text and chart may not match.
Lost Child Care Means Lost Wages
We asked survey takers to tell us about schedule changes they have had to make at work to support the child care and learning needs of their children who are attending school from home.
Of black respondents, 60 percent reported having to reduce their hours or stop working entirely to support the learning needs of their students. That number for Latinx respondents is 67 percent, while the number for those who are white is 39 percent.
Modified Work Schedule
How have you or another adult in your household modified work schedules to support the learning needs of your student(s)?
Select variables in legend to adjust data.
Source: PSC/Bridge/Dynata poll of 800 Michigan adults conducted April 13 – 20 with a 3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level. Due to rounding, numbers in text and chart may not match.
Parents and Guardians Agree — They Need Help with Learners
Our findings revealed that parents and guardians feel they need greater support to help keep their learners on track but are roughly evenly split on what form that help should take. Only 3 percent of parents reported wanting schools to do nothing. How they will move forward in this academic year and, potentially, the next is under debate, and Michigan policymakers and education leaders will have important questions to answer in the coming weeks and months.
Help for Remote Learners
If you could order all Michigan schools to do one thing during this period of classroom closure, what would it be?
Select variables in legend to adjust data.
Source: PSC/Bridge/Dynata poll of 800 Michigan adults conducted April 13 – 20 with a 3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level. Due to rounding, numbers in text and chart may not match.
While families look for support from local entities, the federal government is contemplating its next steps. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act made $13.5 billion available to state and local educational agencies, including $390 million for Michigan, which will largely be used to backfill lost tax revenue. Currently, parents’ and guardians’ best hope for new resources from the federal government is a competitive program announced by the United States Department of Education. This program to help stem learning loss will provide grants between $5 and $20 million to states, which amounts to about $13 per student in Michigan. These funds may be used for microgrants for parents, such as paying for online courses for their children, establishing statewide virtual learning opportunities or finding other innovative, locally determined approaches. Michigan policymakers will need to decide whether to apply for this new program and, if they do, the track on which they should focus.
Regardless of the approach policymakers choose, it’s clear that decision makers, educators and parents will need to be flexible and creative in order to make sure Michigan’s children and parents alike have what they need.