Many students still learning remotely despite schools reopening

WASHINGTON - A survey released by the Biden administration shows large numbers of students are not returning to the classroom for in-person learning even as more schools reopen full-time.

According to the survey, nearly 46 percent of public schools offered five days a week of in-person learning to all students in February but just 34 percent of students had returned to full-time learning in the classroom.

The gap was larger among older K-12 students, with just 29 percent of eighth graders getting five days a week of learning at school.

The results showed dramatic disparities based on region and race. In the South, slightly more than half of all fourth graders were learning entirely at school in February, an increase from the month before. In the same period, by contrast, the Northeast saw a decrease in the rate of students learning in the classroom five days a week, from 23 percent to 19 percent.

According to the survey, more than a third of students in the South and Midwest were learning entirely at school, compared with less than a quarter in the West and Northeast.

The findings are based on a survey of 3,500 public schools that serve fourth graders and 3,500 schools that serve eighth graders and is based on data from schools in 37 states that agreed to participate.

White students continued to be far more likely to be back in the classroom, with 52 percent of white fourth graders receiving full-time, in-person instruction. By contrast, less than a third of Black and Hispanic fourth graders were back at school full time, along with just 15 percent of Asian students.

READ THE FULL SURVEY RESULTS HERE

Taken from Associated Press reports