Adaptations to the Learning Environment for Elementary School Children in Georgia during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In March 2020, the rapid spread of COVID-19 led to physical school closures across the United States. Schools quickly transitioned to a remote and/or virtual learning environment. This transition had implications for students at all levels of education, especially for those most vulnerable and school-dependent for ancillary resources. The goal of this qualitative exploratory research study was to examine how public elementary schools in Georgia adapted their learning environments for students in kindergarten through third grade during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection activities included school demographic surveys, parent surveys, interviews with twelve school administrators, and six focus groups with twenty-six parents. The participants discussed schools' preparation capabilities, implementation of learning modalities, and resources for students and families. Most school personnel described the new virtual teaching demands as a hurdle for their teachers and identified several academic consequences stemming from inadequate technology access or training, such as student absenteeism and lower teaching performance. Schools lacked appropriate preparation as well as limited resources to transition to virtual learning. The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated pre-existing education and technology resource disparities for students and families of low socio-economic status or who live in rural areas. Findings from this study provide educators with information regarding deficiencies in the learning environment and provide recommendations for ongoing academic remedial efforts. Additionally, this study provides important context for the shortcomings of the COVID-19 learning environments and highlights the need to strengthen school community infrastructure and emergency planning. Highlights: School administrators and parents from four public elementary schools located in urban and rural settings reported school adaptations made during the COVID-19 pandemic Many K-3 teachers were unprepared to provide virtual instruction and many K-3 students attending 'high poverty' schools lacked access to digital resources Three of the four schools lacked the resource capacity to support student learning needs during the spring 2020 transition and reported student absenteeism from online classes Schools should prioritize issues of academic preparedness and capacity building [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]