Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 8-14-20

Editorial
A Case For Online Learning
We congratulate the Hillsborough County School Board for deciding to provide online learning to all K through 12 students for the first four weeks of school. We urge them to expand online learning until January 2021 or until a cure or vaccine is found for the Coronavirus.
If you are a parent of a K-12 student en- rolled in Hillsborough County Public Schools, no doubt, you are still trying to de- cide if you should enroll them in in-home school learning, in-person classroom learn- ing, or online (virtual) learning.
We suggest you choose home schooling or online learning if at all possible. Until our schools can promise that each child will have six square feet or more of space all day and each day within each classroom or hall- way, students should be enrolled in online learning.
We make these suggestions because of the high risk of infection in the Black popu- lation, the Florida population and the gen- eral American population, even with the wearing of masks; and because studies by three major universities (Michigan State University, Perdue University, Harvard Uni- versity) show online learning can be as good
or even better than in-person classroom learning.
Research shows that students in online learning performed better than those re- ceiving face-to-face instruction, but it has to be done correctly. The best online learning combined elements, “where students go at their own pace, on their own time, and are set up to think deeply and critically about a subject matter; and if students go online at the same time, and interact with other stu- dents, their teacher, and are given personal- ized learning content.”
Though online learning may be a chal- lenge for low-income families, we believe family support alliances, or a consortium of the school system, businesses and religious, fraternal, masonic, and Panhellenic groups could form a financial source of support in cooperation with local cable company foun- dations to provide reduced cost cable access for the families of students without cable.
There are other creative options for funding cable access for low-income fami- lies. Online learning for the majority of stu- dents would allow for adequate social distancing for in-person classroom teaching for special needs students.
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2020