Students from low-income families in urban areas who stand to benefit most from a return to in-person lessons during the coronavirus pandemic are more likely to be learning remotely, exacerbating educational inequities that already exist, according to a report released Tuesday.
The report was released by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization.
Even though Gov. Gina Raimondo called on schools to open by Oct. 13, only nine districts were fully open by that date and only about one-third of Rhode Island’s students had access to full in-person learning on that date, according to the report. About one-eighth had no in-person learning access.
“The school districts that have fully reopened are suburban and rural districts in higher-income areas of the state, whereas many urban districts in lower-income communities are relying more heavily on distance learning,” according to the executive summary of the report.
“Since there is clear consensus among academic researchers that, overall, the educational outcomes of students engaged in virtual learning are worse than those of students in traditional brick-and-mortar schools, the report finds it troubling that the least open districts in Rhode Island are also among the state’s lowest performing.”
There were several recommendations made in the report, including the need for a discussion on whether the state’s decentralized model for public education delivers the best outcomes for all students.
The report was “fair and accurate” and pointed out many inequities the state is already addressing, state Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green said.
“We did see a lot of success compared to other states, but we have a long way to go,” she said.
The state will also take a hard look at the report’s recommendations, she said.
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DETENTION FACILITY CASES
A Rhode Island facility that houses federal detainees has seen a recent surge in coronavirus cases, according to documents filed with a federal court.
The Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls had 52 active cases among detainees, and eight among staff as of Monday, The Providence Journal reported.
A spokesman says the facility anticipated additional cases and is prepared to respond appropriately.
The center has had more than 150 cases total among detainees and staff.
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VIRUS BY THE NUMBERS
Five more Rhode Island residents have died of coronavirus-related complications and there were more than 150 more new confirmed cases of the disease on Monday, the state Department of Health reported Tuesday.
The new cases Monday were out of more than 5,500 tests, a positivity rate of 2.8%.
In addition, the department also added more than 145 positive cases to previous days’ totals.
There have now been more than 28,600 known cases and 1,164 fatalities from the virus in Rhode Island.
The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Rhode Island has now risen over the past two weeks from nearly 1.5% on Oct. 5 to more than 1.9% on Monday, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Rhode Island has also risen over the past two weeks from about 142 on Oct. 5 to more than 216 on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins.
The number of people in the hospital was 135 according to the latest state data, with 16 patients in intensive care.
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