NCES Data Show More Than Half K–12 Schools Offer After-School Help, but A Large Percentage Require Minimal COVID-19 Prevention
- By Kate Lucariello
- 11/17/22
A
National Center for Education Statistics School Pulse Panel K–12
survey done in September 2022 of 1,010 public schools showed that
over 56% offered intensive summer school or after-school programs
during the 2022-23 school year, but measures to prevent COVID-19 have
stayed the same or decreased since the 2021-22 school year.
The
School Pulse Panel, an arm of NCES whose mission is to show the
impact of the pandemic on K–12 public schools, released its ninth
experimental data report showing that 48% of schools offering after
school academic assistance or learning enrichment programs are
providing “high dosage tutoring,” meaning one-on-one help or help
in very small groups. The report also showed that 85% of schools have
no Covid vaccination requirements for staff to be in the building,
and 99% have none for students. But of the schools offering such
programs, only 33% have installed or used high-efficiency (HEPA) air
filtration systems during the 2022-23 school year to help prevent the
spread of the virus.
The
data also showed that, compared to the 2021-22 school year, while
student and staff mask requirements are roughly the same, daily Covid
symptom screening for students and staff has decreased respectively
from 16% and 20% in 2021-22 to 4% and 5% in 2022-23. Also, Covid
testing has decreased by nearly half, while in-person learning has
nearly doubled. Eighty percent of schools do require staff and
students to stay home or stay out of the building if they have tested
positive for Covid, but only about 33% require those who display
Covid-like symptoms or who have potentially been exposed to the virus
to do so. Finally, the percentage of schools having to quarantine
staff and students because of Covid remains about the same from the
2021-22 and 2022-23 school years so far.
The
report can be found on NCES’ School Pulse Panel page.
The National Center for Education Statistics, a principal agency of
the U.S. Federal Statistical System, is the statistical center of the
U.S. Department of Education and the primary federal entity for
collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and
other nations. Visit
this page to subscribe to NCES News Flash for email notifications of
new data releases.
About the Author
Kate Lucariello is a former newspaper editor, EAST Lab high school teacher and college English teacher.