The Impact of School Closures on Remote Learning in Dayton, Ohio
The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically altered the educational landscape, forcing schools to adopt remote learning models. In Dayton, Ohio, the transition to online instruction has exposed and exacerbated existing inequalities, particularly concerning internet access and technology proficiency. This article examines the challenges and consequences of school closures on remote learning in the Dayton area, focusing on the digital divide, the responses from schools and community organizations, and the ongoing efforts to ensure equitable access to education.
The Digital Divide in Dayton
As schools increasingly moved classes online during the coronavirus pandemic, a survey taken in the spring revealed that thousands of students in the Dayton area lacked internet access. This digital divide stretches from rural areas, where internet lines or signals don’t reach, to urban areas, where the cost of broadband is prohibitive.
According to local data, as many as 3,800 K-12 students in Montgomery County alone experienced internet insecurity when the pandemic surged in the spring. This included 1,080 students, or 42% of Trotwood students, enrolled in Trotwood schools, according to the educational service center’s spring survey.
Virginia Ward of Trotwood shared her struggles as her two foster children in high school and two elementary school students she provided child care for tried to complete school online this spring. She described the situation as a waste, citing frequent internet connectivity issues and slow speeds that made video presentations nearly impossible to follow. Wired internet service stops 1,000 feet short of Ward’s Sycamore Woods neighborhood.
When the virus shuttered schools earlier this year, the educational service center collected data from all of Montgomery County’s public school districts and determined 3,529 students (of about 65,000) were disconnected from the internet. That’s more than 1 in 20, or the equivalent of about one child in every classroom countywide.
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The consequences of internet insecurity extend beyond academics, impacting entire families. Without high-speed internet access, students cannot connect to remote learning, employment that requires working from home is not possible and telehealth services are not available.
School and District Responses
Area school boards have made tough decisions, voting in recent weeks on how much time students will be in the classroom or learning online. Most districts started by giving the option of in-person classes or entirely online instruction.
In recent weeks, Dayton, Huber Heights, Yellow Springs and Northmont are among more than a dozen districts and charter schools that have said they’ll start the year fully online. And plans continue to shift daily.
Students at Trotwood-Madison City Schools will be taught completely remotely for at least the first nine weeks.
Dayton Public Schools (DPS) Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli said her district has spent more than $6 million since March on technology costs related to the COVID-19 shutdown. Between the district’s own purchases, plus grants from The Connor Group, the Tait Foundation and others, she said DPS is in “relatively good shape” on computers and Wi-Fi hot spots for students to use.
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Many charter schools in Dayton also are starting this year online. The three Horizon Science Academies are giving each student a Chromebook or iPad ahead of the Aug. 17 first day of school, according to Christopher Murphy, spokesman for the Concept Schools chain.
Community Initiatives and Funding
Dayton-area community leaders also recognized how school closures this spring revealed a wider digital chasm for some area families. The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission convened a Digital Divide/Internet Insecurity Work Group with representatives from Montgomery County, the city of Dayton, the Dayton Foundation, Dayton Metro Library, Learn to Earn Dayton, the Miami Valley Communications Council, the Miami Valley Educational Computer Association and the Montgomery County Educational Service Center.
The pandemic has brought millions of dollars in federal assistance to the region, and government, civic and educational leaders say it’s imperative students experiencing internet insecurity get some of that assistance as soon as possible.
Montgomery County received $92.77 million in federal CARES Act funds in May. It announced just within the past two weeks that $10 million of that will go to a grant program for schools, part of which can be used to address the technology needs of area students, said Montgomery County Administrator Michael Colbert.
The Dayton Foundation awarded a $70,000 grant last month to Learn to Earn Dayton to purchase 900 Chromebooks for schools in the Dayton, Jefferson, Northridge and Trotwood-Madison districts.
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Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted on Friday confirmed that the state will allocate $50 million to provide students with computers and hot spots. The program may help more for the future than this fall, as schools have to apply by Aug. 21, and the state will announce financial awards the week of Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. Schools could then use the money to order the technology.
Beyond Technology: Proficiency and Support
Paying for devices and connectivity is perhaps the easiest part of the equation. Helping families become proficient with the technology will be harder to solve.
Dayton Public Schools is working to build some parent workshops about technology, Lolli said.
No online learning system will work if parents and students aren’t comfortable logging in.
Lingering Impacts on Students with Disabilities
The pandemic has impacted all students, but for Ohio’s growing number of students with disabilities, those impacts are lingering longer. Issues including chronic absenteeism and teacher shortages could make academic recovery more difficult. The upcoming release of state report cards will shed additional light on how students are progressing.
During the height of the pandemic, districts reported that complying with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and providing support to students with disabilities was substantially more difficult than before. Families tried to “have grace” for schools but were often left frustrated by the turmoil and struggling to cope with considerable challenges, including a lack of in-person services and support for their children.
Statewide, achievement in ELA has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels. There’s still plenty of work to do in math to catch students up, but scores are steadily increasing from pandemic-era lows. For students with disabilities, however, the picture isn’t as rosy. In both subjects, achievement remains nearly 10 percentage points lower than it was prior to the pandemic.
More than a third of students with disabilities were chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year. It’s important to recognize that for students with disabilities, attending school regularly can be far more difficult than it is for their peers. Chronic health conditions, side effects from medication, social issues like bullying, and attending necessary doctor or therapy appointments can all play a role in contributing to chronic absenteeism. A global pandemic likely exacerbated many of these issues for Ohio families.
Staff vacancies data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in March 2024 show that 51 percent of public schools nationwide reported that they would need to fill positions in special education before the start of the next school year. That’s up from 46 percent in June 2022. No other category of teaching is more in demand.
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