It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the education sector. NBC6’s Sophia Hernandez shows us how those changes look in South Florida schools today.
Maybe you are a parent, a teacher or a student.
It’s no secret that the pandemic transformed the education sector, and as we near five years since the coronavirus pandemic, we look back at all of the impacts to our schools and how classrooms have changed in South Florida.
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WATCH HEREAccording to the nation’s report card released in January of this year, Florida students' reading and math scores dropped to their lowest point in 20 years. It's a sign that it’s been a struggle to regain the ground that was lost during the pandemic.
“Some students are fully back in swing, yet some others are still experiencing these disconnects that were not there before,” shares Dr. Jose Dotres, the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
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He says for his district, one of the main impacts was the use of technology.
In the years since Covid-19, the district has distributed over 168,000 devices and over 4,000 hotspots for students. In the classroom, there’s been the implementation of artificial intelligence technologies and software.
It’s something Dotres says is a double-edged sword.
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“Teachers are balancing the act of when to introduce technology and when not," he said. "That overreliance on it is not necessarily a positive thing, because as we move into the future, we know that for example students collaborating with each other versus doing isolated individual assignments, is not the avenue of greater personal growth we want to see in them.”
He continued: “Not only are we teaching students academically the content, we also have to have the responsibly of how to use learning tools ethically and correctly so that they truly expand their level of knowledge.”
Another impact to the school structure was the importance of mental health awareness.
MDCPS, because of Covid-19, decided on-site services like school counselors were not enough. They have since contracted with outside agencies to provide assistance to students outside of the classroom and their families as well.
Broward County Public Schools, too, learned the importance of mental health awareness.
“Sometimes they just need to get away from their daily stressors when they are walking around and in an environment with a lot of people in the demanding challenges of today’s societies and their need to perform, and sometimes you just need to get away and chill out,” Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn said.
The district has implemented four wellness centers, with two more being built across different schools. One of them is McNicol Middle School.
The space offers students and their families counseling, through vital access to trained counselors and mental health professionals.
During a Broward County School Board meeting in January, the principal revealed that assessments showed 66% of students scored very low in areas like self-management, self-awareness and relationship skills.
“When our students are in crises or depressed, they are not in a mindset to learn," Hepburn said. "So, if we don’t tackle those issues first, our students can’t tackle the quality learning experiences our district provides.”
Other additions to enhance their mental health awareness include the ‘TALK’ app. It’s an exclusive app for students in kindergarten through 12th grade to be able to have confidential conversations with a mental health professional.
And both school districts, because of Covid-19, expanded free breakfast and lunch, which is currently available to all students regardless of income.
In Broward they created ‘Parent University,' in Miami-Dade it’s called ‘The Parent Academy,’ and the goal is to help parents with their child’s overall wellbeing. The two platforms touch on a variety of topics including screen time, mental health and financial literacy.
“I think we are understanding as a school district that the equation is not only the child, it is also making sure that we are facilitating the family as well, so that they are supporting the success of that student in that household,” Dotres said.
