Only a small slice of American schools remain fully closed: 12 percent of elementary and middle schools, according to a federal survey, as well as a minority of high schools. But the percentage of students learning fully remotely is much greater: more than a third of fourth and eighth graders, and an even larger group of high school students. A majority of Black, Hispanic and Asian-American students remain out of school. Teenagers from low-income families have taken on heavy loads of paid work, especially because so many parents lost jobs. Some families do not know that local public schools have reopened, because of language barriers or lack of effective communication from districts.

Source: New York Times May 09, 2021 09:00 UTC