DLC members views on the digital learning landscape

We gather our Digital Learning Collaborative State Affiliates and Premium Members by video once per month. The discussions cover DLC directions and strategy, and we also use our time together to explore the themes and trends that our members are seeing. These members collectively can speak to activity in the majority of states, as well as representing a range of schools, districts, state agencies, and companies.
 
Last week we put to them this question: what are you seeing in digital learning, and in education more broadly, as the new school year gets underway? Three broad themes emerged.
 
It’s Groundhog Day again
We’ve talked about this in previous blog posts, so it's not a surprise that our members are talking about it as well: the Delta variant is upending the start to the school year and sending schools back into remote learning, quarantines, mask mandates, etc.
 
A common theme is that many states are pushing for schools to open, but some parents want to continue to have remote options. As one DLC member said, with others agreeing: “Parents are scared.”
 
Of course, that’s not all parents. Districts are seeing unprecedented battles over masks and mandates at school board meetings and other public forums. What appears to be a very vocal minority is pushing hard for students to be able to attend schools without wearing masks.
 
These issues are widely reported in the media, but not as widely reflected is the continued COVID impacts on teachers and school staff. One participant talked of the deaths of three staff members in area districts, including one who had just had a baby. As the COVID fatality numbers have climbed well above 600,000 in this country alone, these stories remind us that the numbers represent lives, not statistics.
 
These stories are also having another direct impact on teachers’ willingness to continue in physical classrooms, and several members reported teacher shortages in physical schools while others report that it’s been fairly easy to hire teachers to teach online. Some state virtual schools are reporting course enrollment numbers that are lower than fall 2020, but significantly higher than 2019, in part driven by districts needing online courses to address onsite teacher shortages.
 
Continued interest in online learning for the youngest students
Quite a few states—although not all—are reporting a surge in interest among elementary age students, although often from a small base. In Texas, for example, TEA reports high demand driven by the fact that online options for grades K-2 are not available through the Texas Virtual School Network (nor from districts, pending the possibility of a new law passing in the current Texas special session). The North Dakota Center for Distance Education reports that elementary age enrollments are up by 300%, and they are having to cap further enrollments at least for now. At least two providers are reporting a significant increase in interest in online courses for elementary students from district clients (separate from enrollments in online schools).
 
Some of this demand appears to be driven by the lack of vaccine availability for kids under age 12 and, perhaps, the realization over the past year that young students can learn online if well-supported by a caring adult at home, along with an online teacher. The demand is not universal, however, as state affiliates in Colorado and elsewhere report that they are not experiencing this surge.
 
New state policies vary widely
State policies implemented during the pandemic related to digital learning continue to vary by state. For example:

• North Dakota has expanded the ability of districts to offer online schools. With all the news about districts starting online schools for the first time, one might think such state policy changes are common, but in fact North Dakota is the only state that we are aware of that has broadly expanded online learning options for districts.

• In Illinois, the state has not relaxed the path by which districts can offer an online option to their students. Joliet Public Schools is going through with creating an online program for its students with medical needs, but it appears that few other districts in the state are doing so, likely because of the cumbersome regulations.

• As of this writing (September 1), Texas is in flux, with a new law (SB 15) that has been passed but is waiting for the Governor to sign, veto, or ignore it. (If the governor does nothing the law will go into effect.) We will revisit this law if it goes into effect, as seems likely.

The Texas Legislature addressing online learning in its special session is in part due to the special circumstances there. The regular session was cut short due to controversies over the voting rights bill, leaving districts unable to be funded for online students in their districts, despite seeming general support among legislators. This development does raise the question, however, as to whether some other states that are not allowing online options will revisit the issue in the 2022 legislative sessions aspressure from parents is growingin at least some cases.

In sum, at this point the state policy landscape appears to be quite similar to the pre-pandemic situation. States that allowed online schools—charter or district, statewide or geographically limited—are still doing so. Most states that did not allow online schools, or did not allow certain types (i.e., statewide schools), for the most part still have those restrictions in place. Certainly a few states have changed their policies (for example South Carolina limiting districts to being funded for only 4% of their students in online learning), but in all pre-pandemic years a few states would change policies as well. It doesn’t appear that the pandemic changed state online learning policies all that much.