If parents favour learning pods, let's help them

That many families can't access alternatives to government-run schools is a serious and long-standing problem. It is a big financial sacrifice for any family to pay school fees on top of the taxes they already pay to operate the unionized government-run schools that they feel deliver an unsatisfactory quality of education to their children. For low-income families, the additional cost is prohibitive. Sending their children to the government-run schools isn't just the cheapest option, it's the only one available.

The lack of educational choice for many families is a problem made worse by the pandemic. Some families are understandably worried about the potential danger of the coronavirus spreading in schools. Many who can afford it are forming “learning pods,” in which they group together to hire a teacher and create a mini-classroom for their children in one of the families' homes or in a rented space. As in non-pandemic times, however, poorer families have fewer and worse options.

Lower-income families and those from marginalized communities are more likely to live in crowded buildings or with an elderly relative. For them, the risks of returning children to physical classrooms are higher — yet they can't afford the learning pods.

Their only option is remote learning, which is not nearly as effective as classroom learning. The pandemic has clearly widened the disparities in education. But discouraging learning pods and other alternatives to government-run schools, as some have suggested, is surely counterproductive.

Some critics warn of devastating long-term consequences should families continue using learning pods instead of government-run schools even after the pandemic has passed. But home schooling has served many families well, and learning pods seem to combine the positive aspects of home schools (parents have more control over their children's education) and regular schools (students have classmates and are taught by a hired teacher). Instead of causing harmful consequences, the learning pods would reduce the fiscal burden for taxpayers. If pods or other alternatives deliver better education than government-run schools, we should help lower-income families access such alternatives rather than discourage them.

Similar worries that charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run, could increase class and race disparities within the education system are also misplaced. Charter schools are rare in Canada — they exist only in Alberta, where they account for about one per cent of enrolments — but in places where they are more prevalent, the evidence overwhelmingly shows that they are profoundly beneficial to students from marginalized communities.

In New York City, charter schools account for 13 per cent of public-school enrolment. Despite their students being overwhelmingly from marginalized backgrounds — 91 per cent are African-American or Hispanic and 79 per cent are economically disadvantaged — their academic performance is remarkable. In the charter schools, 64 per cent of African-American and 60 per cent of Hispanic students are proficient in math. By contrast, the city's public schools have only a 46 per cent average proficiency rate, with a dismal 28 per cent rate for African-Americans and 33 per cent for Hispanics. Test scores in English also show that students are far better off in charter schools, though the difference is not quite as pronounced.

Defenders of government-run schools might protest that students applying to charter schools are more motivated than average to begin with. To an extent that's probably true, but the argument is weakened by the fact that New York City charter school admissions are decided by lottery. The demand for charter schools is so high that most of the presumably highly motivated students who apply are not chosen and so remain in the government-run schools.

The fact that so many students from disadvantaged backgrounds apply to charter schools is solid evidence their parents believe these schools provide a better education than the government-run ones. In Alberta, as well, long wait lists for charter schools, which are not allowed to turn students away if they have capacity, are evidence many families regard them as better than the government-run alternatives.

If we truly want to reduce the inequities in education, what is needed is a government reform of the public education system to improve the access of lower-income families to learning pods, charter schools and other options that many parents clearly prefer to government-run schools. Given the evidence, there should be little doubt that families across the country could benefit from charter schools. And if learning pods prove more effective than government-run schools, we should also enable, not discourage, families who choose to pursue this option.

THE PANDEMIC HAS CLEARLY WIDENED THE DISPARITIES IN EDUCATION.