Coronavirus pandemic has worsened racial disparities in education, lawmakers told

[TexasTowelie]

WASHINGTON — The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated racial inequities in education, a disparity that Congress needs to help rectify, the former education chief under President Barack Obama told lawmakers Monday.

“Our education system is fraught with inequities that existed before COVID-19,” John King Jr., who served as Secretary of Education in 2016-2017, told lawmakers on the House Education and Labor Committee. He is president and CEO of The Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that focuses on opportunity and achievement gaps in education.

During school closures, researchers found that Black, Latino and Native American students were disproportionately less likely to have access to devices and home internet service and parents who were able to telework.

Researchers estimated that students could lose seven months of learning on average during the pandemic. But they found Black students may fall behind by more than 10 months, and Hispanic students by nine months, according to an analysis by research firm McKinsey & Co.

Read more: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/06/24/coronavirus-pandemic-has-worsened-racial-disparities-in-education-lawmakers-told/