According to a recent article published online by EducationWeek, an adult learning leader, a quiet place to study and learn, and internet access at home as well as mobile sites, are all important to producing a smarter and stronger learner.
Alyson Klein, an EducationWeek reporter, writes,
“Technology access and good learning environments make a difference when it comes to student achievement.”
“That is a key lesson from the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, which showed across-the-board declines in achievement in reading and math due to the pandemic.”
“The achievement scores showed that higher-performing students were more likely to have access to laptops or other computing devices, an internet connection, a quiet place to work at home, school supplies, and daily, real-time lessons than lower-performing students, according to teacher survey data released last month alongside student results on the NAEP, also known as the Nation’s Report Card.”
“More than half of 4th graders – 58 percent, according to the math survey – learned remotely during at least part of the 2020-21 school year. But conditions for learning outside of school were very different for students who scored in the top-quartile (the high-performers) than for many of those who scored in the bottom quartile (the low-performers).”
“The most striking finding: High-performing students were more likely – in some cases, significantly more likely – to participate in real-time virtual lessons with a teacher [adult learning leader], every day or almost every day. For instance, nearly three-quarters – 71 percent – of high-performing 8th grade math students received those lessons, compared with under half – 41 percent – of low-performers.”
“The differential for 8th grade reading was even more dramatic, with 74 percent of high-performers participating in daily or almost daily virtual lessons, compared with just 39 percent of low-performers.”
When it comes to technology access, Klein writes,
“Access to technology also had a significant effect on achievement. For example, for 4th grade math, 80 percent of high-performing students had access to a desktop or laptop computer, or a tablet, all the time. But just 50 percent of low-performing students could say the same.”
Finally, Klein addresses optimal learning environments,
“Proper learning environments were also a big influence on achievement:
90 percent of high-performing 4th grade math students had a quiet place to work available at least some of the time, compared with 70 percent of low-performing students.
And 87 percent of high-performers had access to an internet connection at least some of the time, compared with 71 percent of low-performers.”
Recently, it seems the traditional public school system has tried to convince all of us the only place learning can take place is on their property, at a place called school. They expect young learners to follow their rules all the time.
But that’s not what the NAEP data reviewed above is telling us.
What the NAEP data suggest is that a strong adult learning leader, substantial learning time, technology access, and a positive learning environment, make all the difference when it comes to producing smarter and stronger learners.
It seems to me that all of this could happen anywhere – home, community centers, business-sponsored sites, parks – anywhere.
And anytime!
But there is one big roadblock to giving these types of opportunities to all our young learners. Our current traditional public school system is inherently inequitable, as the NAEP survey data proves. In almost every category surveyed, high-performers had access to everything that matters when it comes to deeper learning compared to low-performers.
And yet, it is the low-performers that are forced back into a public school system that has failed them in the past and in the present.
A strong adult learning leader, substantial learning time, technology access, and a positive learning environment. That seems to be all that is separating low performance from high performance.
Maybe it’s time to stop relying on the traditional public school system to provide these things to low- performers and their families. Their track record is not a compelling one.
Maybe it’s time to create a new system of learning, so that low-performers can become high-performers.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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