The new academic year is underway, and Los Angeles teachers are continuing to wrestle with challenges that came from distance learning during the height of the COVID pandemic. Chronic absenteeism, technology, and emotional learning loss are at the top of the list for two teachers who check in with Greater LA from time to time.
“I hate the term ‘learning loss.’ It makes it seem like there was no learning going on, when that really wasn't the case,” shares Kristie Collette, a third grade teacher at Newcastle Elementary School. “Academically, my kids seem to be where they should be. But developmentally, I am finding that they are more immature. And they're having a much more difficult time dealing with social and emotional issues, self-regulation, negotiating play with their friends.”
For Aviva Alvarez-Zakson, who teaches ethnic studies at Hamilton High, those issues are still a concern at her school too, though she’s seeing improvement. “At the beginning of this year, I really noticed a shift. It feels a lot better. I think it’s like a testament to the work that the teachers of younger grades have been doing. The students are coming to high school with a little bit more of those skills and those tools in their belt. But you know, we're still working on it. We're still getting there.”
While other states in the country have made moves to eliminate ethnic studies, this is the first year that it’s being taught to all ninth-grade students in California. “We do talk about [the bans], especially when we're talking about the history behind ethnic studies,” Alvarez-Zakson says. “There were literal battles for ethnic studies since the 1960s. And that's part of the curriculum for all of my classes.”
Teachers of all levels are also up against rising absentee rates. “We were, prior to COVID, at about 14% chronic absenteeism. And as of last year, it was at 34%,” says Collette.
Alvarez-Zakson agrees, “I think at the high school level, it's important to talk about the difference between chronic absenteeism and then period absences. Because if a student is present for one period, they technically get marked as present for that day, but we have students who miss half of their classes in the day, and they don't necessarily get counted towards our chronic absenteeism. So the problem is actually even bigger than what it looks like on the surface.”
The new academic year also involves a new approach to COVID: Mildly sick students are still allowed to come to campuses.
“They are telling [students] that if you do have sniffles, you still need to wear a mask. So I have no problem telling the kids they should put a mask on,” says Collette, who hasn’t had a COVID case in her class since she returned to the classroom.
“The reality is, especially at the high school level, people were coming to school sick last year — not necessarily with COVID, but with the flu or with other sniffles. And that's also, again, an issue that we need to address as a society about what do we do when we are sick? And what are the appropriate measures to take?”