Underlying Conditions: How the COVID-19 crisis has put the inequities of American education in plain sight

Policymakers and state education leaders, join NWEA for a free webinar on this topic, "Innovation Beyond Back-To School: Focusing Your COVID-19 Response on Equity and Innovation," on Wednesday, May 6. The panel includes former Secretary of Education and EdTrust CEO Dr. John King, NWEA CEO Chris Minnich, New Classrooms CEO Joel Rose, and CASEL President Karen Niemi. Register here!

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At the end of January, our country was confronted with an illness unlike anything we’ve seen in more than a century. The coronavirus has ravaged communities and families, and it has warranted serious policy action to safeguard the public. The number of people contracting the illness and being affected economically is increasing by the week and shedding light on longstanding inequities across a myriad of systems: healthcare, transportation, housing, and education, just to name a few. 

Earlier this month, local, state, and national officials illuminated the disproportionately high percentage of African Americans both testing positive for COVID-19 and succumbing to the illness. In Michigan, Blacks account for 40% of coronavirus-related deaths but only make up 14% of the state’s population. In Maryland, the numbers are also astounding: 52% of coronavirus deaths have been Blacks, but Blacks only total 31% of the state’s population. These staggering numbers have left policymakers grappling with how social systems have led to such huge disparities—and what to do about them. 

Inequity didn’t start with COVID-19

To be clear, coronavirus did not create inequities in communities of color, but it has exacerbated them. Over 50% of African Americans live in southern states, where, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, “poverty rates are high, social welfare programs spotty and health care infrastructure threadbare. Last year, 120 rural U.S. hospitals closed their doors; 75 of them were in the South.” And long before coronavirus hit, research from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that underlying health conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and asthma—all of which increase the likelihood of death from the virus—occur in Black communities, and those of other marginalized groups, at higher rates than among whites.

Inequities in healthcare and job losses, coupled with reduced public transportation, plus limited and expensive childcare, have created a perfect storm for inequities to swell.

In addition to living with preexisting health conditions, Blacks are also more likely to work as essential frontline workers, making social distancing next to impossible and increasing the chances of contracting the illness. For those who have been furloughed or laid off during this time, including the more than 26 million who have filed for unemployment, the future is uncertain and the social safety nets few. Unexpected emergencies and gaps in employment require having savings on hand. However, Blacks are far less likely to have a rainy day fund. According to the Center for American Progress, “The typical white family has 10 times the wealth of the typical Black family and seven times the wealth of the typical Latinx family.” 

Inequities in healthcare and job losses, coupled with reduced public transportation, on which many low-income families depend, plus limited and expensive childcare, have created a perfect storm for inequities to swell. And I haven’t even gotten to education yet. Learning is deeply affected by all of these problems, and it is also vulnerable to unique challenges that are tilting the scales further out of balance. 

The landscape in education—and what legislators and policymakers can do

School closures due to coronavirus have impacted at least 124,000 U.S. public and private schools and 55.1 million students. Parents across the nation are delicately balancing their family’s financial and health concerns with determining how to meet the care and education needs of their children. 

If we don’t pay attention, there is the potential to lose a generation of young people to inaction.

Every family looks different: some have ample resources to support children in distance learning, some do not have even basic dial-up access, and some find themselves somewhere in the middle. In my previous post, I noted that in 2015, about 11% of 5–17-year-old students had no access to the internet or had only dial-up access at home. The transition to distance learning has left many children without a compatible learning experience outside of the classroom simply because circumstances, compounded with the health crisis, don’t afford them internet access. This statistic does not even account for students who do not have access to a home computer. So if the internet and a computer are prerequisites for distance learning, what happens to these kids?

Local school districts and state governments are left with the same question and have a responsibility to keep it top of mind as they navigate budgeting their piece of the $30 billion Education Stabilization Fund, part of the $2 trillion stimulus bill. Of that $30 billion, states get just $3 billion of that pie to spend, at their discretion, on emergency grants to local education agencies. As governors, state, and local policymakers work to allocate those funds, they should do the following: 

• Prioritize districts or counties with higher levels of low-income families and Title I schools 
• Allow the purchase of computers and high-speed internet as qualifying expenses
•  Continue to assess state and local needs to be well prepared to advocate for funding in any forthcoming bills

Cautious optimism

These are incredibly difficult times, for all of us. Like so many others, I hope for an end to this pandemic and loss of life. I also hope we will find ways to use this crisis to make the world a better place. As Eduardo Porter, of The New York Times, recently wrote, “Maybe the coronavirus outbreak will shock us into understanding just how much damage racial hostility—contempt, bigotry, mistrust, fear—has inflicted upon American society.” If we don’t pay attention, there is the potential to lose a generation of young people to inaction. Let’s not. Let’s seize the opportunity to change the course of education and of our country.

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Dr. Aaliyah Samuel, a Fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard, is the Executive Vice President of Government Affairs & Partnerships at NWEA. Her experience includes program evaluation and evidence-based programs; data collection and disaggregation; family and community engagement support strategies; and policy development and implementation at the local, state, and national level. Aaliyah has informed state policy agendas, assisted with developing cross systems approaches to develop policy solutions to support children and families and leading systems-level change. In her current role at NWEA, she leads a team working on driving a state and federal education agenda. Prior to NWEA, Dr. Samuel was the Director of Education at the National Governors Association (NGA). Follow her on Twitter at @asamuel2020.