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Education Oct 22, 2020
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Distance Learning Photo: Keshara ShawKeshara Shaw (right) said her son isn’t receiving enough live instruction during distance learning in Los Angeles Unified. Back to school is well underway in California, but how much live teaching time kids are getting with their teachers online varies depending on their school district and its distance learning program.
Across the 20 largest school districts in California, representing nearly 26% of students, the amount of required live instruction for a fourth-grader, for example, could be as little as one hour per day in some districts and nearly four hours in others, an EdSource review has found.
Seeing the faces of their teachers helps students feel more connected to them, and also creates opportunities for more interaction with their fellow students, according to Victor Lee, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. But, Lee said, California — with its 6 million students — is in the middle of a “national experiment” to determine how much live instruction from teachers is most effective.
The right amount of live instruction — referred to by educators as synchronous learning — has been left to each district to decide. In July, California lawmakers passed a […]
