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Virtual Learning Resources Provided by School Districts for K-12 Students During
COVID -19 Outbreak

CUIN 7347: Seminar in Learning, Design, and Technology

Raffat Waqar

November 7, 2021
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Introduction

When COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, all the schools across the US were shut down. Classes

went online, school meal distribution became grab-and-go and extracurricular activities and

services were paused. It was by far the most challenging time for the school districts to decide on

a plan to effectively incorporate virtual learning specially for little kids. One of the biggest

hurdles that districts faced was ensuring that students had the technology and internet access to

participate in remote learning.

“Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that one out of every four

households in Texas doesn’t have access to broadband internet and some 8 million homes don’t

have a computer or a smartphone.” (Isensee , 2020)

Furthermore, providing technology and internet access did not ensure that every student could

thrive in an online learning environment .The districts had to work day and night to establish an

online platform that was productive and beneficial for student learning not just for regular kids

but also for kids with special needs , English language learners , students experiencing

homelessness and students in foster care to provide them the educational services and

accommodations they are entitled to and rely on during remote learning .

“Returning from a chaotic summer, teachers had to create new classes for virtual learning with

almost no time to plan, while instructing kids in person and online at the same time. Texas funds

districts for remote students if they can show those students engaged with their lessons that day.

A simple task like taking attendance now lasts more than twice the usual time, as teachers hunt

for evidence that a student reached out or completed an assignment.” (Swaby , 2020)
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“There are always at least two sides to every story. But the current situation in the Savannah-

Chatham County Public School System with virtual school, hybrid school, in-person school, and

“twilight school” looks more like a Rubik’s Cube. Some parents expressed displeasure with the

virtual-only offering and demanded at least an opportunity to choose. There is an equally vocal

group of parents who are happy with the virtual option.” (Augsdorfer ,2020)

In the time of this public health crisis, the teachers and other staff of the school districts have

worked really hard to provide the best online learning experience for elementary kids. My

research would shed a light on the resources and technical support provided for free from some

of the major school districts across the Houston area.

Not all parents are tech savvy and aware of all the free resources provided by major school

districts especially during the pandemic. Being a part of the Technology department of Katy ISD,

I know how hard our teams have worked to provide enormous technical assistance to both the

parents and students during this time. My research will focus on exposing the parents of K-12

students with the resources provided by different school districts to take care of their student

learning needs and demands in the time of Corona to ensure they remain engaged and connected

to learning and my analysis will highlight the key lessons learned as the education system

responds to the Corona Virus crisis .“The current wave of school closures across the United

States are leading parents and teachers to search for quality educational activities and online

resources for children and students of all ages to continue learning at home. Whether you’re a

parent, a teacher or a school district leader, the recent spike in COVID-19 (Coronavirus) cases in

the US, along with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) designation of COVID-19 as a

global pandemic, has certainly affected your daily routines at home and at work. Education

Week’s map for coronavirus-related school closures reports “at least 57,000 schools are closed,
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are scheduled to close, or were closed and later reopened, affecting at least 25.8 million students.

With so many school closures across the country, online learning or distance learning is

becoming a key alternative in ensuring that students and teachers have access to online lessons

and activities.” (Swing Education,2020)

Remote Learning

When schools closed their doors in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there

was a scramble to adjust to remote learning. Two methods were introduced to support online

learning:

1. Synchronous Instruction:

Requires all participants to be present at the same time, virtually. Examples: Live

interactive classes with students and teachers participating real time, teacher supported

work time on video conference calls, scheduled and timed online tests

2. Asynchronous Instruction

Does not require all participants to be virtually present at the same time Examples: Self-

paced online courses with intermittent teacher instruction, preassigned work with

formative assessments on paper or in LMS (Learning Management System), watching

pre-recorded videos of instruction with guided support.

 Recognizing the young age of these students, families played a key role in enabling access for

remote attendance and providing continuous supervision to kids for a productive synchronous

learning experience. Teachers also created asynchronous assignments that allow students to step

away from their device as much as possible.

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“But for those whose children were just entering kindergarten, the decision to commit to distance

learning was a far tougher choice: Wrangling a 5-year-old in front of a computer screen for

several hours a day requires constant supervision, technical assistance and cajoling, an

impossibility for many working parents, particularly essential workers and those juggling

multiple children.” (D’Souza ,2021)

I was able to gather the information on all the educational services and resources provided by

three major school districts across the Houston area for Elementary students to continue learning

at home during the pandemic.

Fort Bend ISD

FBISD began online engagement March 30, 2020 and teacher-facilitated instruction started on

April 3. The district’s online learning program was not optional but was reasonable and allowed

for families to have flexible learning schedules.

“Everyone will make mistakes, and everyone will feel stressed from time to time,” Dupre wrote.

“It’s okay. As long as everyone is showing grace and compassion, communicating with one

another, demonstrating patience, and being respectful of others, it will be fine. Just do your

best."(Shoop,2020).

FBISD approved specialized digital learning resources fulfilling the district’s mission during the

COVID-19 Pandemic for Grade Pre-K/PPCD, K, Grade1-5, ESL, Special Education / GT /PE

/Fine Arts/ Library. Learning centers were established to help parents who can’t work remotely.

The Fort Bend ISD parent / student call center was setup to resolve technology related issues of

the students. Hot spots/Reduced priced Wi-Fi connection and Chromebook/laptops/iPad

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distribution was put into effect. They used Schoology as their learning management system to

support online instruction.

Houston ISD

Houston ISD started its online learning from March 31, 2020, and offered a variety of digital

resources, such as textbooks, digital libraries, digital video content, and more, to all elementary

students. Students could log in directly to the Digital Resources page by

visiting www.HoustonISD.org/DigitalResources. Digital Learning centers for elementary

students who don’t have access to technology needed to participate in online learning at home

were established. They also introduced an Online learning program H.O.M.E(Home Based

Online Mobile Education). Resources include a combination of online e-texts, digital libraries,

handouts, virtual field trips, parent-guided lessons, and independent work. HISD also

broadcasted HISD-TV, which includes recorded lessons. The program is broadcasted on

Comcast: channel 18; U-Verse: channel 99; and streamed online. Distribution of electronic

devices and Hot spots/Reduced priced Wi-Fi connections were offered to the students. They used

Power Up: HUB as the learning management system. Academic Instructional Technology

Support for specific problems was also provided to the students.

Alief ISD

Alief ISD began the 2020-21 school year online for all the students. They used Alief Hub

Schoology as their learning management system. Alief HUB was used to help students and staff

manage all of their digital resources. Alief ISD also introduced Alief Redbird Blended

Learning Program which offered both online and in-person learning opportunities for kids. Hot
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spots/Reduced priced Wi-Fi connection and Chromebook/laptops/iPad distribution were also

provided by the district.

“Students will have access to tablets and the internet to do their work from home. Alief ISD has

teamed up with area providers to get internet to families in need. “We still have work to do,

everyone has work to do, to make sure that the virtual teaching, the online teaching is still as

productive and as efficient as it can be,” says Chambers.” (Ojeda,2020)

My analysis on the educational resources provided by all three school districts

All three ISD’s have provided enough digital learning resources to the students. They have

helped needy students with getting a device and strong Wi-Fi connection for their online

learning. They have even set-up a support line to help students with their technical issues and

used a variety of communication strategies (texting and emailing); and adapted to different

materials and instructional methods to keep the continuity of the learning process. They also had

a critical role to play in marshaling the federal funds into sustainable programs that improve

student outcomes. “Teachers were supported through numerous forms of communication and

professional development about technology, providing the tools necessary for teachers to educate

students during a public health crisis.” (Rule & Miller,2017). “Counselors were available via

teletherapy for behavioral counseling and to promote mental health. This was especially

important for students with behavior intervention plans (BIPs) who may need additional support

while at home as well as for students feeling overwhelmed with COVID-19 closures who needed

extra support and strategies while adjusting to instruction in a new environment.”

(Tremmel,Brunow & Hott,2020).

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The school districts have worked really hard to ensure that the schools are defined not by

disparities but by equity and opportunity for all students and there are some key lessons learned

as our education system continues to respond to the coronavirus crisis .First of , research has

shown that online learning is only effective only if the students have consistent access to the

internet and electronic devices and if the teachers have the right set of skills for teaching online .

Reports have indicated that there were still a large number of students and teachers who did not

meet these requirements, thus, remote education during the pandemic has impeded teaching and

learning. Secondly, research has also shown that online learning only works well for students for

whom intentional and personalized resources are available. There are several reports that indicate

that many children during the pandemic were not replicating such models and thus were not

reaping the associated benefits. Lastly, despite the fact that the districts have provided equitable

access to all the students, they still lacked in reinforcing the urgency of providing appropriate

support to the students who were least prepared and who were at high risk of becoming

disengaged and eventually dropping out. “During the pandemic , schools have been challenged

with not only fulfilling their main roles of educating our children but also serving as a key part of

the safety net: Specifically , to some degree , schools have provided not just remote education

but also supports like meals , health services , counseling , and , in some cases , housing , Given

the fact the schools are not universally going to be resuming standard operating procedures in the

foreseeable future , policies must be enacted to enable all schools to provide effective remote

instruction and supports consistently , and at scale .”(Garcia & Weiss,2020)

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Gap in the literature

“No published research has yet examined student compliance in online learning during an

emergency and, in particular, during this unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic and

months-long stay-at-home orders.” (Catalano , Torff , Anderson , 2021).

Given the impact of COVID-19, all districts and schools received a label of Not Rated: Declared

State of Disaster for their 2020 accountability ratings. Since, TEA did not provide any

Accountability Ratings for school districts for the previous year, we don’t have any data to

analyze the student’s online learning progress at the time of extreme lock down. No doubt the

school districts have worked really hard but there is no data to explore student learning and

achievements during 2020.

“Nearly all — more than 97% — of educators reported seeing some learning loss in their

students over the past year when compared with children in previous years, and a majority, or

57%, estimated their students are behind by more than three months in their social-emotional

progress.” (Dickler ,2021).

Conclusion

K-12 students have experienced disrupted learning, trauma, and stress as a result of the COVID-

19 pandemic. These challenges had a direct impact on student learning and growth but with

significant federal resources to implement evidence-based strategies, the school districts were

able to accelerate learning through integrated and targeted supports, equitable technology access,

and applying different instructional approaches.

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Future Research

Major crises provide unique opportunities to rethink the status quo and COVID-19 will most

likely not be the last encounter with a global pandemic. Keeping the aftermath of the coronavirus

crisis into consideration, I can recommend future research on my topic by analyzing the new

policies introduced to rebuild the education system to address the impacts the pandemic had on

our human capital and how prepared we are for the shocks of this nature in the future.

Reflection

The focus of my Literature Review was to analyze the resources provided by different school

districts for K-12 students during the Covid-19 outbreak. and how useful they were in terms of

student learning. Despite the enormous support provided to the students by the school districts,

there was a major drop in student learning and achievement, and the school districts had almost

no control to overcome those factors.

“When comparing students’ median percentile rank for fall 2020 to those for fall 2019, there is

good news to share: Students in grades 3-8 performed similarly in reading to same-grade

students in fall 2019. While the reason for the stability of these achievement results cannot be

easily pinned down, possible explanations are that students read more on their own, and parents

are better equipped to support learning in reading compared to other subjects that require more

formal instruction. The news in math, however, is more worrying.”

(Khufeld ,Soland ,Taraswa,Johnson,Ruzek,Lewis, 2020)

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References

Swaby, A. (2020, November 20). Many Texas families say remote learning isn’t working and
they want it fixed. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/20/texas-schools-
remote-learning/

Augsdorfer , B. (2020, September 22). ‘I’m happy to keep us home’: Savannah-Chatam parents
talk appeal of virtual learning. Savannah Morning News.
https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/local/2020/09/22/rsquoirsquom-happy-to-keep-us-
homersquo-savannah-chatham-parents-talk-appeal-of-virtual-learning/43046731/

Isensee, L. (2020, April 27). Parents, Educators Worry Digital Divide During COVID-19
Pandemic Will Widen Learning Gaps.inDepth Education.
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/education/2020/04/27/367491/parents-educators-
worry-digital-divide-during-the-pandemic-will-widen-learning-gaps/

Dickler ,J. (2021, October 12) Virtual school resulted in ‘significant’ academic learning loss,
study finds.CNBC.https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/30/learning-loss-from-virtual-school-due-to-
covid-is-significant-.html

Swing Education (2020, March 13) 20 Online Learning Resources to Get You through
Coronavirus School Closures. SWING. https://swingeducation.com/resources/20-online-
learning-resources-to-help-you-get-through-coronavirus-school-closures/

D’Souza, K. (2021, January 28) What happens to children who missed kindergarten during
Covid-19 crisis? EdSource. https://edsource.org/2021/what-happens-to-children-who-missed-
kindergarten-during-covid-19-crisis/647721

Shoop, C. (2020, March 31) JUST IN: Fort Bend ISD extends online learning through May 4.
Community Impact Newspaper.
https://communityimpact.com/houston/sugar-land-missouri-city/coronavirus/2020/03/31/just-in-
fort-bend-isd-extends-online-learning-through-may-4/
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Ojeda , S. (2020, July7) Alief ISD will begin 2020-21 school year online due to
pandemic.Click2Houston.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2020/07/08/alief-isd-will-begin-2020-21-school-
year-online-due-to-pandemic/

Kuhfeld, M., Soland J., Taraswa B., Johnson A., Ruzek E., Lewis K. (2020, December 3) How is
COVID-19 affecting student learning -Initial findings from Fall
2020.BROOKINGS.https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/12/03/how-
is-covid-19-affecting-student-learning/

FutureLearn (2020, March 19) COVID-19: The best resources for online teaching during
coronavirus. Future Learn.https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/resources-for-online-teaching-
during-coronavirus

Catalano, A.J., Torff, B. and Anderson, K.S. (2021), "Transitioning to online learning during the
COVID-19 pandemic: differences in access and participation among students in disadvantaged
school districts", International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, Vol. 38 No. 2,
pp. 258-270. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-06-2020-0111

Rude H., Miller K. J. (2017). Policy challenges and opportunities for rural special education.
Rural Special Education Quarterly, 37(1), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/8756870517748662

Tremmel, P., Myers, R., Brunow, D. A., & Hott, B. L. (2020). Educating students with
disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from Commerce Independent
School District. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 39(4), 201-
210.https://doi.org/10.1177/8756870520958114

Garcia,E & Weiss, E (2020). COVID-19 and Student Performance, Equity, and US Education
Policy: Lessons from Pre-Pandemic Research to Inform Relief, Recovery, and Rebuilding.
Economic Policy Institute.https://www.epi.org/publication/the-consequences-of-the-covid-19-
pandemic-for-education-performance-and-equity-in-the-united-states-what-can-we-learn-from-
pre-pandemic-research-to-inform-relief-recovery-and-rebuilding/