Study Shows Hybrid Learning Is Effective At Slowing COVID-19 Spread In Illinois Schools
A new study in Illinois shows that, while in-person learning in schools might lead to the spread of coronavirus cases, hybrid learning plans might not be worse for community spread than full remote learning.
Gary Reinbold, associate professor and faculty associate at the University of Illinois Springfield, said he “wouldn’t bet his life” on his research alone. But a study in Spain and contact tracing data in Utah suggest that schools are not increasing coronavirus cases in the community.
“When you use a few different types of research and get the same results, you start to get more confident,” he said, comparing his work to other studies.
Reinbold’s study doesn’t go quite so far as the others: In-person learning looks like it has had some negative effect in Illinois, but hybrid learning and completely remote learning were statistically very similar, suggesting that a mix of digital lessons with some in-person school attendance might be as safe as keeping students at home on their computers.
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/education/2020-11-13/study-shows-hybrid-learning-is-effective-at-slowing-covid-spread-in-illinois-schools