The Impact of COVID-19 on Young Children, Families, and Teachers Denisha Jones, Ph.D., J.D. Author The Impact of COVID-19 on Young Children, Families, and Teachers A Defending the Early Years Report On June 22, 2020, Defending the Early Years released a survey to better understand the impact COVID-19 has had on young children, their families, and their teachers. Schools, centers, and childcare providers were forced to close their doors as the world implemented social distancing measures to slow the spread of the new deadly virus. Except for those deemed essential, most programs had to shift to some form of online learning/remote schooling. The resulting global pandemic impacted every facet of our daily life--altering our reality in many ways. Five months later, COVID-19 continues to spread as schools, centers, and childcare providers wrestle with the need to reopen and resume educating America’s children while also wanting to keep everyone safe. We wrote this survey so we could hear from parents and teachers of young children, a population often overlooked when discussing education. The survey contained 39 questions in three sections: demographics, parents, and teachers. Utilizing a mix of open-ended, multiple-choice, and Likert scale questions, we asked respondents about their experience with online learning/remote schooling, including participation, expectations, ease of adjustment, benefits, challenges, and concerns. From June 22 to August 17, 2020, we received 559 responses. We shared a web-based link to our survey in our newsletter, on our website, and on our social media sites. This report documents our findings based on an analysis of the responses collected. We begin by sharing the demographic data. Then we provide an overview of the online learning/remote schooling participation, expectations, and reports of adjustment. Next, we share the benefits, challenges, and concerns of both parents and teachers. Finally, we offer some suggestions for parents and teachers based on our understanding of the data. We recognize that our survey did not reach many families; thus, we do not claim to have a generalizable sample. However, we feel as though many of the responses we received are representative of what many people experienced when schools were closed. We hope that by amplifying the voice of parents and teachers of young children, we can continue to protect and invest in childhood. Demographics From the 559 responses, we narrowed our analysis to 314 responses from parents and early childhood teachers. We designated four groups of early childhood teachers: infant/toddler, preschool, pre-k/kindergarten, and 1st/2nd grade and reported these numbers separately when appropriate. See Table 1. We received at least one response from 37 states plus the District of Columbia. See Table 2. We asked respondents to share their working status as a result of the pandemic. See Table 3 for an overview and Table 4 for a breakdown of teacher working status by type of ECE teacher. We enquired about the access to the internet, and the number of computers and tablets parents and teachers had at home. See Table 5. Table 1: Number of Responses from Parents, ECE Teachers, ECE Parent and Teacher Parent, ECE Teacher, ECE Parent and Teacher Number of Responses Parent of at least one child 0 to 8 122 Early Childhood Teacher 153 Infant/Toddler 15 Preschool 71 Pre-K/Kindergarten 54 1st/2nd Grade 13 ECE Parent and Teacher 39 Infant/Toddler 3 Preschool 21 Pre-K/Kindergarten 10 1st/2nd Grade 5 1 We received no responses from Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, 1 New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Table 2: States with Most Responses Ohio 20 California 18 Massachusetts 18 New York 10 Illinois 9 Table 3: Parent and Teacher Working Status Parents Teachers Working Full-Time from Home 37% Working Full-Time from Home 38% Working Part-Time from Home 16% Working Part-Time from Home 10% Working Away from Home 15% Working Away from Home 20% Not Working 32% Not Working 32% Table 4: Teacher Working Status by ECE Teacher Type Infant/Toddler Preschool Pre-K/Kindergarten 1st/2nd Grade Working Full-Time from Home 20% 28% 44% 62% Working Part-Time from Home 13% 11% 6% 16% Working Away from Home 13% 24% 22% 0 Not Working 53% 36% 28% 23% 2 Table 5: Internet, Computers, and Tablets Parents Teachers Reliable Internet at Home 95% Reliable Internet at Home 97% One Computer at Home 31% One Computer at Home 38% Two Computers at Home 37% Two Computers at Home 31% More Than Two Computers at Home 26% More Than Two Computers at Home 25% One Tablet at Home 28% One Tablet at Home 31% More Than One Tablet at Home 41% More Than One Tablet at Home 40% Online/Remote Schooling Participation, Expectations, and Adjustment We asked eight questions related to child participation, expectations of, and adjustment to online learning/remote schooling. Parents reported their child’s participation, expectations from the school district, how well their child adjusted, and how well they adjusted. Teachers also reported if their child participated in remote/online schooling, the work expectations as they provided online learning/remote schooling, how well they thought their students adjusted, and how well they adjusted. We report teacher work expectations, student adjustment, and teacher adjustment by the type of ECE teacher. See Tables 6-12. Table 6: Online Learning/Remote Schooling Participation Parent ECE Parent & Teacher Child Participated in Online/Remote Child Participated in Online/Remote Schooling 64% Schooling 76% Child Did Not Participate in Online/Remote Child Did Not Participate in Schooling 17% Online/Remote Schooling 11% Other (i.e., not required, too young, etc.) 19% Other (i.e., not required, too young, etc.) 14% Table 7: Expectations for Online/Learning Remote Schooling- Parents Child(ren) Expected to Participate in Daily Remote Lessons for Less Than 1 Hour 24% Child(ren) Expected to Participate in Daily Remote Lessons for 1-2 Hours 23% Child(ren) Expected to Participate in Daily Remote Lessons for 2+ Hours 19% Child(ren) Expected to Submit Daily Assignments 31% Child(ren) Expected to Submit Weekly Assignments 38% 3 Table 8: Parent Report of Child(ren) Adjustment to Online Learning/Remote Schooling Child(ren) had a Very Difficult Adjustment 19% Child(ren) had a Difficult Adjustment 47% Child(ren) had Neither an Easy nor a Difficult Adjustment 1% Child(ren) had an Easy Adjustment 11% Child(ren) had a Very Easy Adjustment 4% Table 9: Parent Adjustment to Online Learning/Remote Schooling Parent had a Very Difficult Adjustment 19% Parent had a Difficult Adjustment 31% Parent had Neither an Easy nor a Difficult Adjustment 20% Parent had an Easy Adjustment 17% Parent had a Very Adjustment 6% Table 10: Expectations for Online Learning/Remote Schooling-Teachers Infant/Toddler Preschool PreK/Kindergarten 1st/2nd Grade Provide Daily Remote Lessons for Less Than 1 Hour 71% 41% 45% 17% Provide Daily Remote Lessons For 1-2 Hours 14% 5% 18% 8% Provide Daily Remote Lessons for 2 or More Hours 0 3% 6% 33% 4 Table 11: Teacher Report of Student Adjustment to Online Learning/Remote Schooling Infant/Toddler Preschool PreK/Kindergarten 1st/2nd Grade All Students Adjusted Well 0 0 2% 0 More Than Half of Students Adjusted Well 20% 19% 19% 15% Half Adjusted Well, and Half had a Difficult Adjustment 40% 27% 33% 46% More Than Half had a Difficult Adjustment 30% 47% 42% 31% All Students Had a Difficult Adjustment 10% 8% 4% 9% Table 12: Teacher Adjustment to Online Learning/Remote Schooling by Type of ECE Teacher Infant/Toddler Preschool PreK/Kindergarten 1st/2nd Grade Teacher had a Very Difficult Adjustment 8% 8% 4% 8% Teacher had a Difficult Adjustment 25% 43% 51% 46% Teacher had Neither an Easy nor Difficult Adjustment 50% 30% 26% 38% Teacher had an Easy Adjustment 8% 18% 17% 8% Teacher has Very Easy Adjustment 8% 0 2% 0 5 Concerns and Adjustment We asked parents to identify the level of concern they had for each of the following issues: financial (i.e., job loss, etc.), returning to work, academic instruction, child(ren) falling behind, child(ren) missing out on social interaction and play with peers, safely reopening schools, increase in child(ren)’s stress, and an increase in adults’ stress. We asked teachers to identify the level of concern they had for each of the following issues: job security (2020-2021 school year), safely reopening schools, loss of instructional time, returning to the classroom, establishing relationships with students (while online/remote), job expectations (while online/remote), increase in overall stress of children, and increase in overall stress of self. See Tables 13 and 14. Table 13: Percentage of Parents Somewhat to Very Concerned Financial Issues (i.e., job loss, etc.) 55% Returning to Work (not from home) 59% Academic Instruction 72% Child(ren) Falling Behind 55% Child(ren) Missing Social Interaction/Play with Peers 90% Safely Reopening Schools 87% Increase in Child(ren) Stress 91% (60% very concerned) Increase in Parent Stress 95% (64% very concerned) Table 14: Percentage of Teachers Somewhat to Very Concerned Job Security (2020-2021 school year) 54% Safely Reopening Schools 94% (67% very concerned) Loss of Instructional Time 57% Returning to the Classroom 83% Establishing Relationships with Students (online/remote) 90% (62% very concerned) Job Expectations (while online/remote) 75% Increase in Overall Stress of Children 95% (66% very concerned) Increase in Overall Stress of Teacher 91% (57% very concerned) 6 We compared parents’ and teachers’ level of adjustment with each area of concern. We noticed that teachers who reported being somewhat and very concerned about establishing relationships with children, increase in overall stress of children, and increase in overall stress reported higher levels of difficult and very difficult adjustment to online learning/remote schooling. We did not notice this trend with the other concerns nor did we see a trend in any of the concerns from parents compared with their self-reports of adjustment and online learning/remote schooling. Figure 1: Teachers somewhat and very concerned about establishing relationships with children (while remote/ online) compared with self-report of adjustment to online learning/remote schooling. Figure 2: Teachers somewhat and very concerned about increase in overall stress of children compared with self- report of adjustment to online learning/remote schooling. 7 Figure 3: Teachers somewhat and very concerned about increase in their overall stress compared with self-report of adjustment to online learning/remote schooling. Benefits and Challenges We asked participants to share any benefits and challenges related to online learning/remote schooling during the spring of 2020. We analyzed the responses from teachers and parents, compared responses based on reports of child and self-adjustment, and based on the type of ECE teacher completing the survey. Parents who said their child had a very easy or easy adjustment to online learning/remote schooling identified a positive increase in family time and improved relationships with siblings as the top benefits of online learning/remote schooling. Additional benefits included more flexibility, more time to sleep, enjoyment of self-directed learning, staying connected with peers and teachers, and receiving one-on-one instruction. Parents who said their child had neither an easy nor a difficult adjustment found the flexibility to move at their own pace and more time with family as the main benefits. Less stress, more time spent outside, more sleep, and enjoying having children at home to better understand what they were learning at school were also identified as benefits for this group. Though some parents who said their child had a difficult or very difficult adjustment to online learning/remote schooling were able to identify benefits, this group had the highest number of parents stating there were no benefits at all. More family time, an increase in time to play outside, improved relationships with siblings, more time to play and be creative, and a decrease in anxiety were additional benefits identified by this group. 8