NYC’S FUZZY MATH
Teachers dispute DOE’s 89% claim on remote classes
The city boasts that 89 percent of schoolkids are engaging in “daily interactions” with classes during remote learning amid the coronavirus lockdown. But teachers dismiss the statistic as smoke and mirrors.
“A student can literally text or e-mail, ‘F--k you’ — and that counts as a meaningful interaction,” an elementaryschool teacher told The Post.
“All a student needs to do is hit ‘turn in’ on Google Classroom without doing the assignment and that counts. A text from a parent saying, ‘My child isn’t doing the work,’ counts as an interaction.”
For the past seven weeks, the city Department of Education has issued reports on “student daily interactions” as a purported measure of whether kids are engaged in remote learning.
The DOE leaves it up to each school to define interactions but says they may include a submitted assignment, joining an online discussion, a student’s or parent’s phone call or e-mail or response to a message and “other evidence of participation as determined by the principal.”
At some schools, teachers report students simply signing in — but then disappearing for the day and turning in no work — as an “interaction.”
In a press release issued
Wednesday, the DOE said an average of 88.6 percent of students in pre-K through grade 12 had “daily interactions” from May 18 to May 22.
Even if true, that percentage leaves some 128,500 kids a day who did not even check in. The DOE has nearly 1.1 million students enrolled.
It’s unclear if the absent kids are playing virtual hooky, lack an iPad or laptop with Internet access or can’t take part because of personal or family hardships. All three reasons are possible, teachers say.
“A big part of the job has been playing ‘phone-number detective,’ ” a Brooklyn high-school teacher said of efforts to track down missing kids.
A couple of his students are homeless and living in shelters. Other no-shows are Spanishspeaking immigrants. Some are working to support their families.
“We call, we text, we e-mail to get students to sign on for live instruction, a Harlem special-ed teacher said. “Some go MIA for days at a time.”
Last week, the teacher contacted every parent of kids in her class with the message, “Your child needs to attend Google Meet at 11 a.m. for live math instruction.”
“No one showed up. No one,” she said.
Some parents say they run into
Internet problems or can’t help their kids while working. Babysitters or grandparents may not speak English.
A City Council hearing on remote instruction last week left Councilman Mark Treyger, chair of the body’s Education Committee, frustrated.
“The DOE did not know how many students have never logged on, or don’t log on regularly,” the Brooklyn Democrat said.
DOE Chief Academic Officer
Linda Chen could not answer Treyger’s questions. A DOE spokeswoman insisted, “On any given day during in-person schooling, nearly 10 percent of students may be absent, and our current interaction data is comparable.”