New data shows about 10% of Illinois students had access to full-time in-person learning from September 2020 to April 2021, with this access higher for white students compared with students of color.

       Illinois ranks 42nd in the country when evaluating the most access to full-time in-person learning during that period of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research published Tuesday in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Wyoming and Montana had the greatest access on average, while Hawaii had the least.

       Illinois was among 43 states where access to full-time in-person learning was higher for non-Hispanic white students. Study authors noted virtual learning can lead to learning losses and adverse mental health for children and parents. Researchers gave a few potential reasons for the racial disparities.

       Children from kindergarten to fifth grade arrive for their first day of in-person learning March 1, 2021, at Sutherland Elementary School in Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

       “Urban districts might be less likely to open for full-time in-person learning, in part because of higher COVID-19 community rates, and these districts generally include more students of color,” the study authors wrote. “Further, rates of COVID-19 hospitalization and mortality have been higher in communities of color, and districts serving a larger share of these students might have faced more significant public health challenges as they made decisions about reopening schools.”

       In Chicago Public Schools, for example, the resumption of in-person classes, which was staggered by grade levels, was delayed several times amid safety concerns from some parents as well as Chicago Teachers Union leaders, who often cited the pandemic’s higher toll in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods.

       As vaccinations increased and communities around the country began to relax restrictions, access to full-time in-person learning for non-Hispanic white students increased by 36 percentage points from January to April nationwide, compared with 31 percentage points for Black students; 23 percentage points for Hispanic students and 30 percentage points for students of other races and ethnicities.

       The study relied on numbers representing about 46% of kindergarten through 12th grade public school enrollment in the U.S., including data for nearly 800,000 Illinois students. The study examined what proportion of students had the choice of in-person classes, not the rate of students who actually returned.

       As of May 3, the most recent state information available online, 423 of Illinois’ 849 school districts were providing blended or hybrid learning, 398 were fully in person and 28 were fully remote.

       The Illinois State Board of Education adopted a resolution requiring daily in-person learning for the coming school year with few exceptions for remote learning. CPS, the largest school district in Illinois and third in the U.S., recently unveiled plans for a fully remote Virtual Academy for “medically fragile” students.

       tswartz@tribpub.com

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