Education Week - October 6, 2021 - 12

The Decline of Hybrid
Learning for This School
Year, in 4 Charts
By Benjamin Herold
School districts all over the country spent the 2020-21 school
year using a mix of in-person and remote instruction to keep
kids learning while limiting the spread of COVID-19. At the
beginning of this school year, however, their focus has shifted
almost entirely from such hybrid learning models to a mix of
fully in-person learning and full-time virtual schools.
That switch in philosophy, detailed in a recent Education
Week special report, left some experts concerned about continuity
of learning in the face of rising virus-related quarantines.
" I see the fact that schools aren't making plans for continued
disruptions as irresponsible, " said Michael K. Barbour, an expert
in virtual learning at Touro University California, as the new
academic year got underway. " The reality is that this school year
is going to look a lot more like 2020-21 than 2018-19. "
The charts below detail the dramatic drop in hybrid learning
in K-12 schools. All figures are from a nationally representative
survey of 1,241 educators administered online by the EdWeek
Research Center in late August and early September.
1. The use of hybrid learning has
declined dramatically.
Last year, more than two-thirds of educators said their district
used a hybrid model that mixed in-person and remote instruction.
In 2021-22, that figure is down to less than one-fourth.
Which model
is your district
implementing
for the 2021-22
academic year?
l Letting students learn partly in-person at school
and partly online at home
l Offering full-time remote learning through
a virtual learning company
l Offering full-time remote learning through
a state-run virtual school
l Offering full-time remote learning through
a district-run virtual school
24
76%
l Full-time in-person instruction only
l Hybrid (both remote and in-person options)
l We haven't decided
*Results show responses from principals and district
leaders who said their districts use hybrid learning.
SOURCE: EdWeek Research Center survey, 2021
Barbour of Touro University California described that
strategy as a smart response to the pressures of a competitive
school-choice marketplace, especially in states with a robust
cyber-charter sector. At the same time, however, full-time virtual
schools likely won't help with emergency COVID-19 outbreaks,
in large part because students are often required to be
enrolled for an entire semester or academic year.
" For districts to move some of their eggs into that basket is
a good strategy, " he said. " But they're not going to be able to
handle [quarantined students] at scale. "
0%
Full-time remote
instruction only
" The goal this year was to really stand up in-person learning
for students five days a week. Going into the summer, that
seemed feasible, " said Raymond C. Hart, the executive director
of the Council of the Great City Schools, a 75-member coalition
including many of the country's largest urban school systems.
With the Delta variant raging and a small but significant subset
of schools forced to enact new quarantines, leaving thousands
of students without clear paths to connect to their classrooms,
that approach has caused some second-guessing. But
Hart said districts were following both the science and the state
and federal guidance that was available over the summer.
" Districts first and foremost were trying to ensure they could
implement mask mandates and mitigate the spread of the
virus, " he said. " They could try to address the challenges of
quarantine after that. "
12 | EDUCATION WEEK | October 6, 2021 | www.edweek.org
4. Remote students have been
left to learn via a grab-bag of
instructional models.
Attending full-time virtual schools? Working with dedicated
online teachers? Following along with in-person lessons as they're
livestreamed on a videoconferencing platform? Working independently
on " asynchronous " classwork?
For better or worse, remote students are doing it all this year.
Such variety and flexibility could be an encouraging sign that
schools are moving away from one-size-fits-all models of education,
said Susan Patrick, the president and CEO of the Aurora
Institute, an advocacy group that promotes personalized learning.
But making these new approaches actually work will take planning
and long-term investment.
" The barriers for states are finding the will to change, and modernizing
and retooling teacher-training and professional development
programs, " Patrick said. " The pandemic may be here longer
than anyone initially anticipated, and school leaders need to find
a path forward. "
2. Full-time virtual schools are
now the go-to " hybrid " option.
Complicating matters, the time and resources schools have
invested in remote learning have been largely focused on standing
up full-time virtual schools.
35%
Which model best describes the
approach to hybrid learning your
district is taking this year?
18
14
14
l From campus, and all
my students will be
attending school inperson
on campus
l From campus, and
my students will be
learning both inperson
and remotely
l Both from campus
and from off campus,
and my students will
include both in-person
and remote learners
Just 7 percent of teachers told the EdWeek Research Center
they'd be teaching a mix of in-person and remote learners this
school year.
At the start of the
2021-22 school year,
I am teaching:
43
93%
3. The overwhelming majority of
teachers are back on campus,
teaching solely in-person students.
0%
From off-campus
*Results show responses from teachers.
SOURCE: EdWeek Research Center survey, 2021
In places like Hillsborough County, Fla., that represents a
dramatic shift from last year, when the 220,000-student school
system rolled out a robust hybrid " eLearning " model that had
teachers instructing in-person and remote students simultaneously.
Teachers were exhausted by that approach, said Stephanie
Baxter-Jenkins, the executive director of the local teachers'
union. But the decision to scrap hybrid learning has created new
problems this school year, when as many as 11,000 students have
been quarantined at a time.
Hybrid instruction " was completely overwhelming, doubled
our work, and burnt teachers out, " Baxter-Jenkins said. But
this year, " I think people are struggling with how to handle the
amount of quarantined kids we have. "
Which best describes how your district or school will
manage hybrid instruction at the start of the 2021-22
school year?
Via a dedicated full-time
virtual school
Via designated teachers
who provide instruction for all
remote students
Via videoconferencing or similar
technology that allows remote
students to follow live lessons
Via aynschronous lessons
remote students can complete
on their own time
17
16
*Results show responses from principals and district leaders who said
their districts use hybrid learning.
SOURCE: EdWeek Research Center survey, 2021
29
32%
Getty
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - October 6, 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - October 6, 2021
