Arkansas educators: We're aware some students will not be up to speed this fall

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — In the midst of this pandemic, the uncertainty of what education could look like continues to be a topic of conversation.

Regardless of whether students will return to in-class settings, or remote learning, educators told KATV they’re aware some students will not be up to speed for their grade level.

Education abruptly changed for thousands of Arkansas students, by mid-March classrooms were empty and students were tasked with adapting.

“The biggest challenge was for every child there, [it] was a unique situation,” said Laura Strickland, a 2nd grade teacher at the Benton School District. “We had to identify the situations and meet the kids where they were during this pandemic – whether it was zooming in the morning or 6 o’clock at night - we just had to know what our families were going through.”

Strickland added, while her district was able to offer Chromebooks, internet access is still the biggest challenge.

“We did have printed out packets that the children could work from and we had drop-off points for the kids to turn the work in.”

For Strickland, it wasn’t just about sending her students home with work, it was about going the extra mile and reaching out. But come this fall, whether it’s remote learning or in-classroom settings, she’s prepared to deal with students who are not prepared, educationally and emotionally.

“The challenge this year is going to be re-establishing your classroom culture. They have not had authority other than their parents for five months,” said Strickland. “I think that will be our largest challenge, but we have to do that every year anyway, so really probably the social and emotional aspect, we have to be mindful of that.”

How teachers will go about this will vary throughout districts.

As far as the educational aspect, the Arkansas Department of Education released a playbook, or a guideline, for schools to use as they expect some students not to be prepared come this fall.

“They looked at the essential learning standards that have already been taught and mastered in their individual schools – and these educators from around the state – they also identified those learning standards that have been taught, but not mastered yet by their students and then they identified a third category of learning standards that didn’t get taught due to the shutdown,” said ADE Spokeswoman, Kimberly Mundell.

Mundell tells KATV as they continue to provide guidance to districts, individual assessments to make sure students do not fall behind will be necessary. The long-lasting impact of remote learning, she said, is to be determined.

“I don’t think we know yet what that’s going to be and I think that’s where, when students get back to school this fallthat’s when educators are going to need to do some initial diagnostic type assessments to really gauge how much that student has lost – we already know that there are some education standards that did not get taught,” added Mundell.

As far as retention, the ADE advised districts to make decisions on the local level. KATV spoke with several districts who said they have chosen not to retain students due to the pandemic, but instead work with them on an individual basis to bring them up to speed.