More than 1.5 years since it began, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the US population. One community that the virus has severely impacted more than others is that of students of color, widening existing gaps in racial equity in education.
In June 2021, under the US Department of Education, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a report titled, “The Disparate Impacts of COVID-19 on America’s Students.” The report discusses the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on various marginalized student communities, especially English learners, LGBTQ+ students, and students of color.
The health and wellbeing of students of color before and during the pandemic is yet another topic that falls under the recently revitalized nationwide discussion of systemic racism’s impacts on Black communities.
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A plethora of education gaps were in place well before the pandemic began. Students of color are disproportionately likelier than their white peers to attend schools that are in less safe settings and have fewer and lower-quality resources, such as temporary trailers and poorly maintained HVAC systems. Students of color also often have fewer resources at home, with caregivers disproportionately having jobs with lower pay and unpredictable hours, “resulting in higher-than-average levels of household poverty.” In the classroom, students of color face lower expectations for their academic achievement, and Black students in particular are “four times more likely to be suspended from school than their white peers, and more than twice as likely to be referred to law enforcement or arrested.”
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The pandemic has only reinforced existing stressors for students and families of color, increasing rates of homelessness and food insecurity due to job losses caused by economic downturn. Students of color have had lower rates of participation in virtual learning, due in part to increased barriers to technology access. Schools with a student body that is mainly or exclusively students of color have been more likely to “identify a major need for high-quality materials to support students’ social-emotional learning.” More families of color have lost contact with their children’s schools. Asian American students in particular experienced a disproportionate growing threat of harassment and violence once the pandemic began. In response, some Asian American families avoided leaving their homes to retrieve learning supplies and free meals from school districts. They also kept their children learning remotely at home out of fear they would experience violence during the commute to and from school.
It is possible that the country will never return to the way it was before the pandemic, but rather be forced to recalibrate to a “new normal”—a way of life planned around an especially infectious disease and extra precautions to prevent its further spread. For the sake of young learners’ wellbeing and of the country’s future, it remains important to document the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on students of color, and thus help grant them the resources needed to close the widening racial equity gap in education.
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