Just weeks into the start of the academic year, schools in some areas have seen thousands of students placed into isolation or quarantine after contracting COVID-19 or having been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, as the Delta variant has caused case counts to spike in many parts of the country.
As a result, a significant number of children are once again learning from home鈥攅ven as some states and districts have limited access to remote instruction in their attempts to encourage students to return to five-day-a-week in-person instruction. Keeping students engaged and on-track during quarantines has quickly become a thorny challenge.
In many school systems last year, students who had to quarantine shifted temporarily into their district鈥檚 2020-21 remote learning option, sometimes videoconferencing into in-person classrooms. That鈥檚 not always an option this year, as some districts have pivoted away from this kind of concurrent teaching鈥攁 model that many teachers found overwhelming.
Other districts don鈥檛 have a remote option any longer. In Texas, for example, the state legislature hasn鈥檛 funded virtual learning, meaning districts that want to offer it have to find the money elsewhere.
What that leaves, in many places, is a patchwork of solutions for quarantined students that varies school by school and even classroom by classroom. Some teachers say that they鈥檝e shifted to a fully asynchronous model for students at home, posting assignments online or sending paper packets.
This kind of instruction is 鈥渞eally going back to the old days鈥� of the pandemic, said Dan Domenech, the executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association.
And teachers say it鈥檚 taxing, for them and their students. 鈥淲e kind of went into this year thinking it would be OK. But it鈥檚 twice as bad as it was last year, if not worse,鈥� said Kathryn Vaughn, an elementary art teacher in a rural district in Tennessee.
Almost as soon as students came back this year, in early August, children at her school started getting sick or exposed to others who were sick, rotating in and out of the classroom. (Vaughn鈥檚 district started the school year without a mask mandate, and then put one in place. Under an executive order from Gov. Bill Lee, though, parents can opt their children out of the mandate.) The uncertainty has made it hard to plan instruction, Vaughn said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a constant state of disequilibrium,鈥� said Jim Bentley, a 5th grade teacher in Elk Grove, Calif., who said he鈥檚 had up to a quarter of his class out at any one time this school year, which started mid-August. He鈥檚 worried about the continued interrupted learning. 鈥淭he inconsistency in what students are going to experience is probably going to be much greater,鈥� he said, than if they were full-time remote or full-time in person. (Students are required to wear masks in the district, with exemptions for medical conditions.)
Improving quarantine instruction is an urgent priority, said Bree Dusseault, the practitioner-in-residence at the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Even in districts with low community spread and strong COVID-mitigation measures, it鈥檚 possible that students might get exposed and spend some time at home.
鈥淩ight now, we do not know if we鈥檙e going to be experiencing these outbreaks for weeks or months or the whole year,鈥� Dusseault said. 鈥淲e cannot have another year with students getting limited to no access to instruction.鈥�
Quarantine instruction policies are all over the map
Heading into this school year, eight states banned schools from issuing mask mandates. The move has spurred fierce debate among parents and community members, and has been met with condemnation from public health officials who have said that it could lead to increased spread of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend that all adults and children wear masks in schools, regardless of vaccination status.
Some high-profile cases of large student quarantines are in districts where masks are optional, or where parents could opt their children out of mask requirements鈥攍ike in Hillsborough County, Fla., just a week into the school year, in a district of about 224,000 students and 24,000 employees total. But even in some schools with universal mask mandates, community spread of the virus has forced students out of the building.
Mae Pagett, a 6th grade science teacher at Drew Charter School in Atlanta, said her school took precautions as the school year began: requiring masks, testing teachers weekly, and installing portable air filters. 鈥淭hey were really thinking about a lot of stuff, but just the number of students that came into the building, and the Delta variant hitting Atlanta right before school opened, it threw everybody a curve ball,鈥� she said.
Which students have to quarantine, and when, differs from district to district. The that unvaccinated students quarantine if they have been within 6 feet of an infected student unmasked for 15 minutes or more, or within 3 feet while masked. Unvaccinated students who have been within 6 feet of an infected adult for 15 minutes or more should quarantine, regardless of masking. Vaccinated students do not need to quarantine. Still, CRPE, which is tracking districts鈥� COVID responses, found a lot of variation in its review of 100 large, urban school systems.
Most districts, but not all, exempt students who have been vaccinated鈥攖hough this distinction is irrelevant for students under 12, who aren鈥檛 eligible to receive the vaccine yet. And some exempt other student groups, including those who have recently recovered from COVID, students who are masked, or students who receive a negative COVID test result after exposure. Quarantines are generally between 10 and 14 days.
Districts鈥� plans to keep students learning during those quarantine periods are just as varied.
鈥淔irst of all, there鈥檚 not a lot of information being put out yet about what is happening,鈥� said Dusseault, of CRPE. In an , only 38 share any information on their websites about how students will keep learning if they鈥檙e sent home.
Among those that offer specifics, the details are all over the map: Some say they鈥檒l send home packets; others will deliver assignments electronically. Six districts mention that they鈥檒l have someone check in with students, and only four promise synchronous instruction.
鈥楾here鈥檚 been a lot less direction鈥�
After 18 months of distance learning and a summer to build back-up plans for quarantined students, how did some schools end up back where they started in March 2020: relying on a patchwork of paper packets and asynchronous online activities to provide instruction at home?
In some places, teachers say, new state laws placed constraints on what districts were able to provide. Vaughn, the Tennessee art teacher, said that the governor鈥檚 ban on schools pivoting to virtual learning sent her school back to paper packets for quarantined students.
The governor鈥檚 rule . But because her elementary school doesn鈥檛 offer a regular online option anymore, Vaughn said, there鈥檚 no infrastructure or plan to provide assignments virtually.
鈥淭eachers are having to prepare paper packets of work, kind of guesstimating how long students will be out,鈥� Vaughn said.
Other districts are asking teachers to make work available virtually, but not requiring any live instruction. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no real, official back-up [for quarantined students],鈥� said Stephanie, a high school teacher in Atlanta Public Schools who asked that her last name not be used.
Stephanie uploads assignments to Google Classroom, and students who are out are supposed to complete the work by the end of the week. She says that most haven鈥檛 so far. It鈥檚 hard to know if her students have made much progress in these few weeks, she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really icky feeling being in the classroom watching all of this happen like a slow-moving train wreck."
鈥淭here鈥檚 been a lot less direction,鈥� said Bentley, the California teacher. He鈥檚 tried to maintain connection online, recording videos of himself and trying to engage students in reading and writing. He鈥檚 been considering setting up a livestream of his class via Zoom, but it鈥檚 not a requirement, he said.
Even in schools where teachers are able to provide some synchronous instruction for students in quarantine, having new students in and out of the building every day has been 鈥渉ectic,鈥� said Pagett, in Atlanta. She teaches in person, with a livestream option for students who are quarantined at home.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to keep track of who is out, why they鈥檙e out. So most of us just turn on our Zoom everyday and we鈥檙e not sure who鈥檚 going to be at school,鈥� she said.
She鈥檚 been trying to stick to activities that students can do at home or at school鈥攍ike comparing the melting speeds of ice on different surfaces鈥攁nd she鈥檚 recorded herself giving voice instructions for students to listen to. But only about 65 percent or 70 percent of her students who are out are signing on regularly. They had the option to pick up laptops at the school, but not everyone did. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a mess,鈥� she said.
The situation has left some teachers overwhelmed and exhausted, only a few weeks into the school year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really icky feeling being in the classroom watching all of this happen like a slow-moving train wreck,鈥� said Vaughn, referring to climbing numbers of quarantined students.
Models exist for continuous instruction
At the same time, some districts have found ways to provide continuous instruction for students at home.
Arlington Heights School District 25, in Illinois, for students who test positive for COVID or who have been in close contact with someone who tested positive. (The Illinois State Board of Education requires that students in quarantine must have access to a remote option.)
Academies are organized by grade band, with one dedicated teacher each for early childhood, grades K-2, grades 3-5, and grades 6-8. A fifth, special education teacher supports students across the different virtual classrooms. All core content is delivered through synchronous instruction, while classes such as music, art, and physical education, as well as lunch and recess are asynchronous. Students rotate in and out of the quarantine academy as needed throughout the year.
Tracy Recklaus, the grades 6-8 quarantine academy teacher, said the set-up is 鈥渨ay better鈥� than concurrent teaching, in which one teacher works with both students in the classroom and students on a live video call. 鈥淚 have the full attention of the kids in one place, and I can attend to that,鈥� she said.
Recklaus and her quarantine academy colleagues worked with the district鈥檚 learning coaches and content area leads for a few weeks before the start of this school year, designing lessons that could be easily differentiated to meet the needs of multiple grade levels in one group.
For example, studying a poem of the day in English/language arts: 鈥淵ou can unpack a poem at every level, and the brilliant thing about poetry is you can interpret it in a billion different ways,鈥� she said. Recklaus also plans to focus on skills that are relevant across grades and that students often need reinforcement with from year to year鈥攍ike scale factors in math and science, or differentiating between mean, median, and mode.
Even if districts don鈥檛 have the staff to set up quarantine academies, there are still ways to improve the instructional experience for students at home, said Dusseault, of CRPE.
Clear communication should be a priority, she said鈥攅xplaining exactly what will happen once students go into quarantine, and what options students will have to stay connected with the classroom. Houston Independent School District does this on its website, she said, with a separate landing page to answer students鈥� and parents鈥� questions.
Providing some kind of live instruction is also important, said Domenech, of AASA: 鈥淭he best model would be where the district can revert back to providing remote learning with a teacher.鈥�
Students should at least have access to staff during the week, Dusseault said, to review assignments or check in on progress. Districts could use tutors for this purpose, she said鈥攁 strategy that .
鈥淚 think what we did learn in the last 18 months is that relationships absolutely drive student engagement and well-being,鈥� Dusseault said.
