Ed Tech Trends

Current School-Year Survey Assesses Teaching and Curriculum Choices in Light of Pandemic

• By Kate Lucariello
• 09/07/22

San Francisco-based Bay View Analytics has recently released a study done in April 2022 on how teachers and administrators have regarded and used print vs digital teaching and curriculum resources during the mid- and beginning of the post-pandemic school years.

A survey of 1,015 teachers and 343 preK–12 administrators across the U.S. asked how the pandemic had affected their teaching and curriculum choices, especially between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. The use of remote teaching and digital resources increased significantly during mid-pandemic (39% during 2020-21) but dropped to 27% the following year. The survey found that two-thirds of teachers preferred print materials to digital for teaching, and believed that 59% of their students learned better from print materials. But it also noted that although teaching had returned to 91% in-person during 2021-22, 39% believe that digital materials are “here to stay.” The majority of administrators report that the pandemic will affect their adoption of course materials and curricula in the coming years.

The survey also found that Open Education Resources (OER) awareness had declined compared to previous school years. Half of teachers were unaware of OER, and of those who were aware,19% had only “heard of it.” Teachers from schools with more than 50% black and Hispanic students and 20% poverty were less aware. Further, many teachers were unaware of the differences between OER and “free” or “open source” materials.

The study, titled “Coming Back Together: Educational Resources in U.S. K–12 Education, 2022,” can be found here. It is the fourth in a series examining the discovery, selection, and adoption of curricula in the United States.