After a catastrophe, the people's response determines the areas of importance to them. Looking back throughout history, whether it be war, a pandemic, or a natural disaster, the people affected tend to show the world what is most important to their society by the response they quickly put into action. Of course, the most important needs, such as food/water, shelter, medical, etc., are addressed first. However, the true constitution of a community or group of people is shown based on the resources that are poured into the different areas of progressing a society. The pandemic of 2019 brought the world to a halt in some ways, but the response of societies worldwide is very telling of where the stock is put within each area of the world. During this unexpected time, the pandemic hit the world in many different ways, such as losing family members rapidly, shutting down businesses (both big and small), government movements and decisions, and even the education of children around the world.

While a worldwide catastrophe can send many areas of daily life into a tailspin, the question of how to respond and develop passed the disastrous events of the recent past. In Education 2.0, Dr. Cope and Dr. Kalantzis examine the reasons behind what a student may look like and need. Many experts in the field of education have looked at this current time of pandemic and the opportunities that may be attainable for educators, families, and most importantly, students. This work will focus on opportunities in education post-pandemic in the United States, but will include data from other countries impacted as well. With that being said, what impacts to the field of education were discovered throughout and after the effects of the pandemic? What areas of education were in need of improvement prior to the pandemic? What opportunity presents itself in the field of education post-pandemic? These, as well as others, are questions to be addressed in this work.

The impact of the pandemic on many areas of the world, as well as areas of everyday life. The figure below is an overview of the impacts on countries that were categorized into three groups: low-income, middle-income, and high-income Sanchez, vice-president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

(Sanchez, “COVID-19 Statistics around the World, Medians”)

The figure above is a clear picture of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people living in these socioeconomic countries. There are clear pictures of differences among these countries and the effect of the pandemic on their people. Moving past the most devastating loss of family and friends, countries faced different levels of crises in the area of economics.

According to the Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development, “Beyond the health and human tragedy of COVID-19, it is now widely recognized that the pandemic triggered the most serious economic crisis since World War II. All economic sectors are affected by disrupted global supply chains, weaker demand for imported goods and services, a drop in international tourism (OECD, 2020[3]), a decline in business travel, and most often a combination of these” (OECD 2020). In the state of technology in the world in 2019, certain aspects of business were able to go on while others were halted due to immediate restrictions. A lot of the predictions made by economists and trend data showed the economies moving in a certain trajectory in the early fall of 2019 that then altered during the impacted times of the pandemic in 2020. This caused many businesses to halt production, lose employees, and employees to become jobless trying to support a lifestyle with an absent income.

Noting the stress that the above research provided households during the pandemic, what does the residual damage look like for families? University of Rochester psychologists Dr. Sturgis-Apple and Dr. Davies, as well as the Mount Hope Family Center, participated in a research study to look directly at the impact of the pandemic and family dynamics. According to Dr. Sturgis-Apple and Dr. Davies' research, “During the pandemic, the incidence of domestic violence in the US surged, with estimates ranging between a 21 to 35 percent increase. These statistics are particularly distressing in the context of already high levels of harsh parenting, as documented in Davies and Sturge-Apple’s work, even before the pandemic” (Knispel). This research study will be conducted for five years post-pandemic. Additionally, “Finances, custody, and co-parenting are often contentious domains for divorced parents in general, although most do handle these with little help from outsiders (Lebow & Rekart, 2007; Nielsen, 2017). During COVID‐19, such issues may be intensified, as divorced parents cope with job loss and financial hardship, navigate altered custody arrangements amid public health risks, and try to establish shared guidelines for virus risk mitigation behaviors” (Goldberg et al.) The stress of separation is only exacerbated by the pandemic and the traumas it has brought to the individuals. In this work, the question from the culmination of the facts above is, ‘How does this impact students and the field of education?”

Just as the pandemic swept from the East into the West countries of the world affecting these areas in a variety of different ways, the impact of student participation in education did the same. The COVID-19’s Staggering Impact on Global Education from The World Economic Forum, shows the increase of learners kept from the traditional schooling opportunities.

(World Economic Forum)

The impact on students steadily increased through March and massively in April 2020. The closure sent students, worldwide, out of the classroom and into a variety of settings. While the figure above shows the massive impact students around the world face, it does not demonstrate the stark disparities among them. Unfortunately, some areas around the world are not foreign to disasters occurring in and near their homes. Additionally, the quick, turnaround type of resources, such as digital instruction or even providing students with learning materials at home is not readily available. Students have been separated from their classrooms due to tsunamis, floods, war, and so much more. They were simply forced to walk out of the classroom with no plan for the continuation of instruction nor knowing when they would ever be able to return. During the pandemic, this situation was very similar for some students, while others had the opportunity to continue with their education through differing means. The figure below, from Brookings University, shows differing delivery methods of instruction for students based on the income category of the country.

(Center for Global Development and the World Bank)

As shown in the above figure, Share of Countries Responding to School Closures with Different Forms of Remote Learning from Brookings University, the equity in instruction is quite diverse. Internet access is the main difference in instructional delivery. Internet access, as well, is the only mode of delivery on the figure that provides student feedback, the ability for check-ins and redirections, as well as planning instruction based on students' previous comprehension. The importance of dividing countries into the three categories is to show the availability and access for students, not just the country as a whole. While a government agency or education group may be able to provide interactive instruction for students in a particular country, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will reach the students. According to Emiliana Vergas, Center for Universal Education and Global Economy and Development, “... even when governments of low- and middle-income countries are trying to offer online education materials, they will not reach most students. Only 36 percent of residents of lower-middle income countries, for example, have access to the internet, a statistic that cannot easily be improved during the pandemic” (Vegas). This fact made connections with some students nearly impossible in certain areas of the world. Essentially, for some students, their education was stopped in March 2020 and sat stagnant for a year or more.

While the United States is categorized as a high-income country, some sections of the country face similar issues regarding reaching their students with instruction. It is not necessarily the question of creating the online content and instruction, but how to get the information to the students. Internet access was the main source of instruction, interactive instruction, available for students. The figure below, Learning Loss Will Probably Be Greater for Low-Income, Black, and Hispanic Students, gives a visual representation of how minority students' educational impact as well as the residual damage for years to come.

(Dorn et al., Learning Loss Will Probably Be Greater for Low-Income, Black, and Hispanic Students.)

The focus of student disparities mostly looks at low-income students. However, the additional disparity that can occur for minority students is due to the following possibilities:

• Family in the home speaking English as a second language.
• Family in the home not being able to complete the same schooling opportunities.
• Low income does not provide for resources, such as internet access.
• All adult, and even teenage, family members work shift work or jobs that keep them out of the home during the day, when instruction is being done.

The United States is a country of great fortune for many, however, it must be noted that this is not the case for all students in the United States.

According to COVID-19 and Student Learning in the United States: The Hurt Could Last a Lifetime, “In addition to learning loss, COVID-19 closures will probably increase high-school drop-out rates (currently 6.5 percent for Hispanic, 5.5 percent for black , and 3.9 percent for white students, respectively)” (Dorn et al 2020).

For a population that was already at risk within the area of education, the pandemic has exacerbated the concern. Minority students, in some ways, were fighting to access their education pre-pandemic, and during the time of school closures, the battle intensified. Dorn et al also describe that “The virus is disrupting many of the supports that can help vulnerable kids stay in school: academic engagement and achievement, strong relationships with caring adults, and supportive home environments” (Dorn et al). It is important to note that the above-mentioned supports are required for all students to be successful, but the impact of the pandemic, and therefore the economy, has provided additional stressors on families that prevent the ability to provide a supportive home environment. The number of families impacted during the pandemic period, and after, has dramatically increased. This time has shown that even in the year 2020, not every child in the United States has equitable access to their rightful education.

Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director of Education and Skills stated, “Access is vital: policies must therefore be directed not only at infrastructure, but also at better access for poorer students. Eight out of ten governments stepped in during COVID-19 to provide support, but it took a pandemic to make this happen” (OECD Forum Network).

It is clear what needs to occur as far as accessibility of technology in the form of instruction, but how to make this a possibility soon requires some overarching plans and regulations to be implemented. School districts in the United States did their best to band-aid for a temporary solution, but now is the time to propel technology in education into the future.

Additionally, students of color have been impacted in one of the most devastating ways possible, by the loss of a parent.

According to Education in a Pandemic: The Disparate Impacts of COVID-19 on America’s Students, “The pandemic hit disproportionately close to home for many families of color. The number of children who have lost a parent to COVID-19 has been staggering—with somewhere between 37,300 and 43,000 children already impacted as of February 2021, by one recent estimate.63 Those losses appear to have hit families of color especially hard” (The United States of America Department of Education).

A child of any age losing a parent is a trauma that cannot be swept aside to focus on their academic education. The impact of this trauma will also require the child to receive additional support and accommodations as they move back into their studies, and further through their schooling. While a child losing a parent is not unheard of, the scale at which the increase has occurred has been traumatic for students and staff alike.

In addition to the accessibility concerns for students around the world, as well as in the United States, many students have faced challenges surrounding mental health.

From the Office of Civil Rights - The United States of America Education Department, “Last May, nearly three in ten parents surveyed in a Gallup poll said their child was “experiencing harm to [their] emotional or mental health,” with 45% citing the separation from teachers and classmates as a “major challenge” (The United States of America Department of Education).

The sudden departure from teachers and peers, as well as the intensity of remote instruction, an entirely new way of learning, a toll was taken on the mental health of many students in the United States, as well as around the world. During this time, the education field has also taken a hit in the area of staffing, as have many other fields, and the impact is not only on colleagues but students as well.

According to Education in a Pandemic: The Disparate Impacts of COVID-19 on America’s Students, “Meanwhile many school districts, straining under logistical challenges and uncertain budgets, 24 have pointed to staffing shortages as an ongoing challenge in supporting students who are struggling. According to the National Association of Elementary School Principals, nearly 70% of school principals who participated in a survey conducted early in 2021 said they could not meet their students’ mental health needs with the staff they had” (The United States of America Department of Education).

The level of need that students are bringing into the school buildings is beyond what a public school can offer. While there are certain specialized programming options in the K-12 public schools, it is just that, specialized. For the more intensive programs, students need to be identified with a disability and eligible for an IEP. A certain change in circumstance in the home or anxiety induced by the pandemic takes time to identify which creates a waiting game for students, parents, and staff. Utilizing the Multi-Tiered System of Support process has assisted in some of these situations, however not all states, districts, or even buildings have adopted this process with fidelity.

The pandemic presented very difficult hurdles for students, parents, and educators to all overcome. With any storm, the damage is left, but there is also a rainbow of opportunity once the storm has passed. As a field focused on the art and science of learning, the question of what learning is available from an event, such as a world wide pandemic, is one educators must be asking. Experts in the field of education have isolated certain areas of opportunities for their societies as well as the field as a whole. In the UNICEF image below, some of those opportunities are highlighted.

(UNICEF East Asia and Pacific, “Increase Resilience and Building Back Better”)

In the figure above, there are 7 sections of opportunity highlighted and explained. These sections of opportunity are highlighted by the UNICEF campaign Reimagine Education - Time to Shine. This campaign is focused on 27 East Asia and Pacific countries to ‘build back more resilient education systems’ (UNICEF). These seven sections break the educational system as a whole, in these areas, down into categories and provide descriptions of ways to improve each section. These seven categories could be utilized as a starting place for other areas around the world to look at potential opportunities for reform. The following video, also from the UNICEF Reimagine Education campaign, gives educators and parents alike a picture of what students went through when the pandemic hit as well as the opportunities that were left behind.

                  (UNICEF East Asia and Pacific, “Reimagine Education - It’s Time to Shine!”)

Lifelong learning is a skill set that has been promoted in the field of education for some time now. However, has the instruction fostered an environment for students to find their love and learning or simply pass the test?

Maureen McLaughlin, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Education - United States Department of Education and OECD Education Policy Committee shares, “We need to reinvest in our students, and we need to re-imagine education for the future, in order to make sure we are building a better system and not accepting inequities that were there before the pandemic” (OECD Forum Network).

By utilizing a system such as the UNICEF figure above, education groups (both government and private) can isolate specific modifications and reformations that need to occur in the educational systems in the United States, and around the world. Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director of Education and Skills stated, “The demands of education have changed and the risks of inequality have changed—but the supply of education has remained unchanged” (OECD Forum Network). The instruction and training for educators in the area of technology usage and as an instructional delivery system is one of the first ways to level the playing field. The world has moved rapidly into a tech-based format for so many aspects of life. Academic instruction has to be one of those areas that has tech options as well as instructors familiar, comfortable, and proficient in using teaching as an instructional delivery model. A caveat to this statement is that when students are in person with an instructor, they should be participating in collaborative, hands-on opportunities of learning; however, there should be ongoing, practice, and proficiency opportunities through technology both inside and outside of the classroom as well.

A Literature Review on Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Teaching and Learning describes, “The use of online platforms such as Google Classroom, Zoom, virtual learning environment and social media and various group forums like Telegram, Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat are explored and tried for teaching and learning for the first time ever to continue education. This can be explored further even after face-to-face teaching resumes, and these platforms can provide additional resources and coaching to the learners” (Pokhrel and Chhetri).

When looking at the logistics of technology integration into weekly instruction, it is a cumbersome process in some parts of the United States, while it may be a task completed in other areas of the country. Soumitra Dutta, Professor of Management at Cornell University, states that the infusion of technology in instruction occurs in three stages.

Dutta shares, “We have gone through a phase of digital acceleration, but the real transformation has yet to come”, he said, explaining that adopting new technologies comes in three stages: substitution, diffusion and transformation” (OECD Forum Network). In order for a transformation to occur, students have to have access to reliable WiFi or broadband outside of the school building.

In any given community, there will likely be close to 10% of families without access to this resource. Lastly, Dutta shares, “Reimagining education will require us to rethink the basic assumptions of education”, said Dutta. “We have to reconsider the persistent need for physical infrastructure and instead think about access”—about education as an activity and less as a place” (OECD Forum Network). This mind-shift for educators and parents alike is a necessity for student education to be able to produce 21st-century society members in successful 21st-century careers.

Coming out of the pandemic, equity amongst all students across the United States, and the world, must be the first opportunity for change addressed. With that being said, it is also very important for each area around the world to take a moment to look at their community values and plan what they would like education to look like for their students while noting how education is presented in the rest of the world. The OECD graphic below describes how ‘unlocking opportunities throughout education’ can so heavily impact so many areas of the world.

(OECD Forum Network)

Additionally, addressing the achievement gap, and making educational opportunities for students in minority groups is so very important. What does this require beyond changes within the education field? As stated at the beginning of this work, how a community responds post a catastrophe of any kind, shows the world the values of that group of people. While it is very evident that education is the foundation of all other careers and even survival, it seems to be an area that many do not see the value of investing in. Education needs financial support. While this looks different in different locations, i.e. public school - government financing or private school - benefactors, funding needs to be addressed in many ways. An important note when speaking about education finances, is to understand that money alone will not fix the problem.

Gooch writes, in Equity in Education After COVID-19: Tackling the Challenges Ahead, “The funding of education systems has become smarter in the past 10 years, shifting from a model of spreading money out equally to designing more intelligent funding structures to adapt to local needs” (OECD Forum Network).

Identifying how the funding needs to be delegated and truly utilized with purpose is the most difficult part of this process. The majority of the funding research speaks to improving teacher salaries and even hiring more staff to lower class sizes. However, there is an additional component in the funding conversation that speaks to providing equity in the resources among schools. This topic opens up the broad topic of education funding overall. For example, parent A chooses to buy a high-priced home in an area due to the school district attendance area, also realizing that they will pay higher taxes in this area to ensure that their child can attend a high-quality school. Parent B moves their family to a low-income housing development, in an area with a very low tax rate. Should both children be awarded the same level of equitable education in The United States of America? Questions such as these need to be the topic of conversation for lawmakers at this time.

As in any area of opportunity would allow, there are areas of potential growth that have not yet been explored. Some of the research areas that would be beneficial to the field of education include areas of financial increase and funding distribution, training in technology usage and technological instruction delivery, and accessibility equity amongst students in the country. In the section above, some of the pertinent questions that require intensive dialogue amongst a variety of stakeholders. These areas require extensive research and evaluation before implementation could begin. Lastly, the consideration of strict(er) federal mandates that leave less of the responsibility to the states in the area of education. The question posed, that will require research and extensive evaluation, would be an important consideration when looking at equitable education accessibility for all students in the United States of America.