海角大神

In the early 2010s, Jon Valant, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution鈥檚 Brown Center on Education Policy, began researching Americans鈥� perception of the 鈥渁chievement gap,鈥� mainstream lingo for the difference in educational outcomes between historically advantaged and disadvantaged students.聽

What he found surprised him.

As a scholar of education, he thought it was clear that systemic racism had long impacted the country鈥檚 school system. From the days of slavery, when it was illegal to teach Black children, to today, when researchers have found that school districts filled primarily with students of color receive billions less in funding than predominantly white school districts, students of color have faced undue difficulties.聽

But most Americans, it turned out, did not see it this way. Indeed, according to a study that he released in 2016 with colleague Daniel Newark, most Americans 鈥� particularly white Americans 鈥� did not believe that discrimination or injustice played a role in the different educational outcomes of white and Black students. They blamed parenting and student motivation instead.

While respondents were interested in closing disparities between wealthier and poorer students, a majority were hesitant to support policies that experts believed would close the Black-white divide. 鈥淢ost Americans at the time just did not believe that social injustice or discrimination played a role,鈥� recalls Dr. Valant.

This year may be changing that. It may also be opening the door to what some scholars hope could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revamp one of the most intransigent systems in American life, education; and one of its most intractable problems, inequity. 聽

Recent polling shows a dramatic shift in the way Americans see racial disparity. A majority of white Americans now believe policing is racially biased, according to a recent Associated Press poll, and there is a growing sense among white Americans that racial injustice is a continuing problem in the United States 鈥� something that most Black Americans have said for years. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the reality that some students simply do not have the same resources as others, whether technological, familial, or institutional. A recent Pearson survey found that 72% of U.S. respondents worried the pandemic would exacerbate inequality at school.

鈥淭here are gaps that have always been there that are becoming more visible to a lot of people,鈥� says Dr. Valant.聽

For decades, educational reformers from all sides of the political spectrum have faced an uphill battle making fundamental聽changes to the American school system. As John Danner, an entrepreneur who focuses聽on equity in education, puts it, public schools are a 鈥渇ree monopoly,鈥� a system that is both resilient and resistant to uncomfortable disruptions or innovations.

鈥淏ut will the next two years of COVID allow some cracks to form in that structure?鈥� he asks. 鈥淚 think to some extent yes.鈥�

The big question, he and others say, is how to make the most of this opportunity.

With this in mind, the Monitor reached out to experts across the country to ask for their ideas of how to rethink education to create a more equitable future for America鈥檚 students 鈥� from the bold and creative to the mundane but essential.

Below are five solutions that emerged from those conversations. They are ideas to ponder during a pandemic-induced disruption that David Kirkland, professor of English and urban education at New York University and the executive director of NYU鈥檚 Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, describes as an 鈥渋ncredibly crucial intermission.鈥�

鈥淗ow can we focus not only on what the disease has taken from us but what it鈥檚 given us?鈥� asks Dr. Kirkland. 鈥淭he best way to predict the future is to invent it.鈥�

Tech, yes, but better

America鈥檚 uneven experience with remote online-based learning this year has made many people shy away from the idea of a tech-based education future. Parents are exhausted, students are bored, and America鈥檚 digital divide, with Black people and Hispanics far less likely than white people to own a computer or have access to high-speed internet, threatens to exacerbate learning inequities.

But many involved in cutting-edge educational technology say there is still huge potential in online learning to both improve education and reduce inequalities.

鈥淚t was difficult to watch during the spring how we were not doing it right,鈥� says Jan Plass, professor of digital media and learning sciences at New York University, during a recent webinar about the future of education. 鈥淓mergency remote learning was nowhere near what technology can accomplish.鈥�

Done well, Dr. Plass says, technology can engage students by allowing them to pursue their own interests, regardless of the resources or capabilities of their particular school. Through augmented and virtual reality, gaming, and other formats, students can connect to larger networks and delve into interest-driven activities scholars know motivate children to learn.

鈥淭he right technology can give you access to the vast amount of information that鈥檚 available,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t gives you access to a wider world.鈥�

This sort of technology can disrupt what he sees as an outdated model of 鈥渟itting in a room full of chairs with someone standing at the front talking to you.鈥� And it can be available to students with the technology they have. While the Pew Research Center found a significant racial divide in broadband access, it also found that Black people and white people are equally likely to own smartphones. 聽

Technology can also boost equality when it comes to educational opportunities outside of school, says Amir Nathoo, co-founder聽of Outschool, a burgeoning marketplace of online classes and camps.

鈥淪upplemental education before was the reserve of the wealthy, people who could afford private enrichment programs,鈥� he says. 鈥淲ith small group online classes, you鈥檙e getting much lower price points.鈥�

At Outschool, weekslong lessons for everything from piano basics to video game design cost as little as $10 an hour. Outschool has also pledged $3 million to provide financial assistance to families. Because the classes are online, Mr. Nathoo says, they connect children of different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds more regularly than in-person schools, which tend to cater to students who are demographically similar.

鈥淚鈥檓 not advocating that anyone learn online every day, all day,鈥� Mr. Nathoo says. 鈥淭he future of education is going to be hybrid. Teachers, parents, and kids will use a combination of in-person and online resources. The mix will depend on the subject, the kid, the particular availability of resources.鈥�

Forget grade school聽

If you start with the idea that education in the future could be hybrid, then it doesn鈥檛 take long to question some of the long-standing structural aspects of school itself.

Why are children grouped by age? Why divide schooling into elementary, middle, and high school? And what about the calendar 鈥� why should children go to school when they do?

鈥淧arents for the first time are getting a front-row seat into schooling and are asking questions they haven鈥檛 asked before,鈥� says Michael Horn, co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation and co-author of 鈥淒isrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.鈥� 聽

Take child care, he says. Perhaps more clearly now than ever, working parents who have struggled through remote learning recognize that schools play a significant role in child care. But even in the best of times, Mr. Horn points out, schools are not particularly well designed for that.

鈥淚鈥檓 not sure a lot of two-working-parent families want child care from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and not during the summer,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hat are the opportunities to create a much better set of coverage for families that is more flexible?鈥�

This is an equity issue, says Elena Silva, director of Pre-K-12 for the education policy program at New America, because parents with more resources can compensate for the inadequacies of school structure. They have jobs that allow them flexibility to be at home in the afternoon, or they can enroll their children in after-school programs. 聽

They are also able to offset the ways that the current school structure, set up for a host of historical and institutional reasons unrelated to children鈥檚 needs, disconnects with childhood development.

For instance, studies question the traditional elementary-middle-high school format. Rather than grades one through five being treated as a cohesive group, she explains, it would make more educational sense to focus on birth through third grade, which experts see as a unique developmental phase. At the same time, high schools typically offer the same structure for ninth grade through 12th grade. But during those final two years of school, adolescents are ready to embrace far more independence 鈥� and responsibility. And middle school? There is a reason it seems such a mess, she says, and it鈥檚 not just because of issues surrounding puberty.聽

鈥淣obody ever sat down to say, 鈥楬ow should we educate a child from birth to age 25?鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淭he weaknesses in the system ... are made up for in households that have a lot of resources.鈥�

Changing the calendar could help with learning loss. 鈥淓very single summer some kids fall behind,鈥� Dr. Silva notes. 鈥淥ther kids gain. They鈥檙e going on trips and they鈥檙e going to summer camp and they鈥檙e having experiences and exposure. It鈥檚 covering for those weaknesses in the school system so you don鈥檛 see them.鈥�

Some organizations are already trying to tackle this problem. Sora Schools, an education startup based in Atlanta, offers a virtual learning-based high school that adjusts its model as students get older. Rather than classes, students pick among small group 鈥渓earning expeditions鈥� tailored to match their development, says co-founder Garrett Smiley. Mr. Smiley started Sora after running a nonprofit to teach financial literacy to children in foster care. It became clear to him, he says, that traditional education wasn鈥檛 working.

鈥淭he kids who were entirely dependent on the system are just being failed,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e have to fix the system itself. That鈥檚 what Sora is doing. We are trying to do a full-fledged replacement that is more equitable and also offers better education.鈥�

Rise of the microschool

Another way to make education more equitable, some experts say, is to look small.聽

During the pandemic, a growing number of families have banded together to create 鈥減ods,鈥� or 鈥渕icroschools鈥� 鈥� basically small learning groups led by a private instructor. Critics say this is inequitable: Pods allow wealthy parents to bypass imperfect remote learning while lower-income and students of color languish. 聽

But many who have been involved in the microschool movement for years say that these small, alternative learning arrangements have the ability to create more 别辩耻颈迟测.听

Kelly Smith, founder and chief executive officer of Prenda, a company that helps run microschools, says it is a misconception that only white or wealthy parents are involved in creating alternative educational opportunities for their children. Equity, he says, is central to Prenda鈥檚 model. The company has partnered with the Black Mothers Forum of Phoenix to bring microschools into primarily Black and lower-income neighborhoods, and it has brought a microschool to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona.

鈥淥ur goal is not to help the rich get richer,鈥� Mr. Smith says.

In Prenda鈥檚 microschools, there is a 鈥渓earning guide鈥� who organizes students鈥� academics. This could be a student鈥檚 parent or another trusted adult in the community. That person is not responsible for teaching all subjects, but coordinates students鈥� learning, making use of both online and community offerings. This model allows for more investment and ownership on the part of parents who may otherwise feel marginalized by school systems.

It also is easier to recognize and avoid the sort of baked-in racism that happens regularly in larger school districts, experts say, from the way school administrators interact with Black parents to the well-documented disparities in the disciplining of Black and white students.聽

鈥淪chools are such complex ecosystems. The way they are designed right now, it鈥檚 so hard to get anything but incremental progress,鈥� says Michael Finnegan, founder and CEO of QuantumCamp, a science camp and educational program that grew out of Dr. Finnegan鈥檚 work with underserved youth in Oakland, California.

Focus outside of school

As schools closed in response to the pandemic this year, it became increasingly clear just how many services they provided to children and families beyond education. There was child care, for sure. But there was also food, with some 20 million children across the country receiving free lunch at school. Mental health counseling is big, too. And child protection services.

鈥淓veryone is worried that someone is going to go hungry because schools aren鈥檛 going to provide free lunch,鈥� says Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children鈥檚 Zone, a renowned educational and neighborhood renewal program in New York. 鈥淎merica should just stop right there and say, 鈥楬ow is it that we have so many students who cannot afford to eat?鈥欌��

When he began running the Harlem Children鈥檚 Zone in 1990, Mr. Canada realized quickly that there was no way to separate school from the rest of children鈥檚 lives. Everything about their experiences 鈥� where they lived, what was happening with their family, how much violence took place on their street 鈥� impacted what happened in the classroom.聽

鈥淭raditionally, we have separated education from the rest of the environment. ... But there is no evidence at all that for the most disadvantaged students in this country that works,鈥� Mr. Canada says.聽

Indeed, to Mr. Danner, the educational entrepreneur, it doesn鈥檛 work. He notes how in Palo Alto, California, considered one of the best public school systems in the country, lower-income students attending from other districts do not achieve better test scores than in their home schools.

鈥淲e look at the data and know it鈥檚 not working,鈥� says Mr. Danner. 鈥淏ut we have a lot of loyalty to this system 鈥� like it鈥檚 this democratic equalizer. ... We鈥檝e all told ourselves a story that if we can just make the system work everything will be good. But, in fact, the system works for the people who have the most political voice in the system.鈥�

What works for students of color, whose communities often lack political or financial power, is wraparound investment, says Kwame Owusu-Kesse,Mr. Canada鈥檚 successor.

This is what happens at the Harlem Children鈥檚 Zone. The program addresses the needs of the entire community, starting with The Baby College, a parenting and early childhood education course, and continuing through to college, jobs, and mentoring programs and wellness initiatives. The nonprofit runs charter schools but also supports public school students; it uses intense聽data metrics to measure outcomes and adjust its interventions. What started on one Harlem block has expanded over 30 years into one of the most successful and well-documented experiments in urban education.

Critics have argued that the model would be too expensive to replicate across the country. And less well-funded versions of the program have not had equal success.

But this, Mr. Owusu-Kesse says, is a matter of priorities. The organization is calling for a $100 billion investment in the 100 most disadvantaged neighborhoods in America. Over 10 years, it wants each community to invest $1 billion in education, health care, mental health, after-school programming, mentorship efforts, wellness, and various other initiatives. It鈥檚 a huge amount of money, Mr. Canada and Mr. Owusu-Kesse acknowledge, but not compared to costs of incarceration, treating poor health, lost economic revenue, and policing.

鈥淭he question of investment is about breaking mental models,鈥� says Mr. Owusu-Kesse. 鈥淐OVID has shed a bright light on this. We need to reprioritize what we are putting money on.鈥�

Brookings Institution researchers found in 2016 that white families had on average 10 times the wealth of Black families. Dr. Valant of Brookings says that 鈥渂aby bonds,鈥� a proposal that would give every child at birth a bank account, funded in reverse proportion to a family鈥檚 wealth, could help mediate this inequality.

鈥淚f we were really able to target and address wealth gaps, you close the gaps in resources when it comes to tutoring, digital divides, pods, all sorts of other things that cost money. ... When you invest more, kids perform better,鈥� Dr. Valant says.

Joy-based learning

There is a question, though, at the base of all of this work. How should students 鈥� particularly students of color 鈥� experience education? What does it mean to go to school? What is the purpose of learning?

It鈥檚 an area that Dr. Kirkland, of NYU, has been pondering a lot recently. As tough as this pandemic has been for families and schools, he is conscious that, for the first time, many children have had the opportunity to see what it鈥檚 like to not walk through metal detectors every day. It鈥檚 the first time that no students have been suspended and the first time they haven鈥檛 gotten in trouble with teachers or school police.

The question he鈥檚 been asking, he says, is 鈥渨hat does a joy-based education look like?鈥�

It鈥檚 an issue on the minds of many education disrupters. 鈥淵ou have a system that鈥檚 built on the opposite of what we know motivates people,鈥� says Mr. Horn of the Clayton Christensen Institute. 鈥淭here are very few opportunities to feel successful in it; there are very few opportunities to tackle the problems that are interesting to the students themselves; there are very few opportunities to make learning joyful. It鈥檚 why every kid starts off excited in kindergarten, and they get to high school and the word they use about school is 鈥榖oring.鈥欌��

The belief in educational joy is why Ryan Delk helped create Primer, an online-based home-schooling network scheduled to launch this year. Mr. Delk remembers how his parents decided not to send him to public school in Florida, concluding that it was better for his father to work three jobs for a time and his mother to teach him at home rather than send him to their struggling local school district. Today he sees it as 鈥渙ne of the most incredible gifts that anyone has given me. My parents鈥� whole orientation was 鈥榳e want you to love learning.鈥欌��

Primer helps parents work through the bureaucracy of home schooling, and then connect to experts and the community. Mr. Delk says he has seen growing interest among parents of color. The National Home Education Research Institute says Black students in 2015 made up the fastest-growing segment of home-schooled children.聽

鈥淕iving parents more options is a good way to increase equity,鈥� he says.聽

But there also should be joy in traditional schools, most scholars agree. And this is not a straightforward proposition, nor is it apolitical.

In many ways, says Dr. Kirkland, Black children have experienced school as a hostile environment 鈥� an institution that is about control and regulation, not expression or pleasure. Joy expressed by Black students has traditionally been viewed with suspicion, he says. Think, for instance, of a group of Black teens laughing loudly together. It often prompts a different institutional reaction from that toward a group of white teens enjoying each other鈥檚 company.

鈥淲hen we see Black and brown bodies in joyful moments there is a collective judgment,鈥� Dr. Kirkland says. 鈥淭here is a narrative about deviance.鈥�

So it is perhaps unsurprising, he says, that educational institutions catering to students of color have been constructed 鈥� consciously or unconsciously 鈥� to eliminate joy.

Dr. Kirkland tells the story of a private school on 33rd Street, not terribly far from his work, that serves primarily white and financially privileged students. It has great facilities. The children learn by playing. They have toys and equipment.聽

鈥淭hey have created a setting where they can love the kids,鈥� he says.

Two blocks north, there is a public school, with mainly disadvantaged students of color. 鈥淭hey go through metal detectors. They鈥檙e marching in single-file lines. There鈥檚 no love of them. It鈥檚 about obedience. This is the type of school we have created for Black and brown students.

鈥淲e have to radically change education.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 note: As a public service, we have removed our paywall for聽all pandemic-related stories.