This week, David Nevins, President and CEO of Nevins and Associates, spoke to Nancy Grasmick, the former Superintendent of the Maryland State Department of Education. They discussed the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on education, the future of education and more. Below is a condensed version of their conversation:

David Nevins: How are you doing during the pandemic?

Nancy Grasmick: Well, as you can imagine, I’m constantly on Zoom meetings. Although it’s much different than seeing people in person, I’m thankful to have access to technology so that I can continue working.If this had been 10 years, or even 20 years ago, things may have been slowed down to a complete stop because we didn’t have access to the technology we have now. I worry now, but without our current technologies, the situation would have been dreadful.

DN: We’re talking to the woman who was the nation’s top school superintendent for many years. Maryland had the number one school system in the country. What are your thoughts on the current situation educators are facing?

NG: Well David, I have a very difficult time projecting what I would do in this situation because I do not have the benefit of having all of the information. I do think that children are better educated when they have access to face-to-face teaching. Whether that is through the technology that enables students to tune in to a real teacher, or if children are face-to-face with their teacher. For example, the Catholic schools are doing face-to-face instruction this year as opposed to learning virtually. Of course, this is parent choice, so a parent does not have to send their child to school.

I was fascinated by the decisions made by Maryland’s various jurisdictions. The one that most appeals to me is Carroll County’s decision. Carroll County decided to do a limited opening virtually, but they will reassess the situation in October. This gives them the opportunity to see if things have change dramatically, instead of committing to being virtual for six months.Children are just not benefitting the same way from virtual education.

DN: Education has recently been referred to as the great equalizer, but with the pandemic, it’s becoming the great divider. Some parents are well equipped to perform fantastic at home education, whereas other are working full time outside of the home. Decisions just must be made on a per family basis.

NG: That is very well put David, I do agree that this can be the great divider. Education builds on what came previously. Now we’re seeing big holes in this crucial foundation. It doesn’t just impact the current school year, but the entire trajectory of the child’s education. Particularly in areas such as mathematics. I will admit that I am very worried about these holes and as you stated, it’s more profound in situations where children lack daily guidance in terms of positioning themselves for this virtual learning and the support that they get from their families. Young children are especially vulnerable since they have shorter attention spans, and that is a tremendous problem that I believe will take years to solve.

DN: I recently spoke to Jay Perman, a paediatrician and the chancellor of the University System of Maryland, and he is concerned that children are losing a year of their childhood. Not just with their education, but also their socialization and playing with other children. It seems to me that schools will then have to figure out how to catch these children up.

NG: There are a lot of studies going on in regards to socialization, but also anxiety and depression. Depression is becoming rampant amongst children. They are social people who desire to be in the company of friends. We know how hard this is for us as adults, with children that depression is mounting. We truly do not know when this will end, so I believe we need to be prepared to be a nimble as possible. That’s why I like the plan of regular reassessment for schools where they consider any circumstances that may have changed.

DN: Do you have any thoughts on those educators who are saying that we could use this school year as a “missed” school year?

NG: I don’t think we should necessarily do it universally, I think that should be considered on a student by student basis. As indicated, the circumstances of children are different depending on their homes and other factors. There are students who have been dedicated to virtual learning and it’s much more appropriate for them. My concern is those assessments won’t be given to figure out which students need to do that kind of retention, as opposed to those students who don’t. There must be a mechanism for that kind of assessment and then I think decisions should be made in regards to whether they move forward or not.

DN: Now more than ever, we need to encourage people to go into the teaching field. One day the pandemic will pass, but where do you think that means for the future of teaching?

NG: We’ve learned an important lesson: we never know when something like this will occur and whether or not we will have to change the way we are teaching students. The way we prepare teachers also must change. Total virtual learning may not be the future, but we can find ways to use virtual education in creative ways.

Another thing is that virtual education can be used to eliminate the disparity between high and low performing schools. If we prepare teachers well, we can identify those who are exemplars in their content areas who can virtually teach a widespread number of students. This type of access would be a great equalizer for students as they can learn from the very best teachers in different content areas.

We fail to realize that public education is the second highest priority in the State of Maryland, second only to a well-balanced budget. And yet, we don’t value that enough. When determining the budget for the next school year, we are willing to give money without thinking about how it is specifically helping our kids. We need to consider how this money is impacting programs, curriculums and of course, salaries for our educators. I think we begin with the preparation of teachers, while also continuing to look at how to use these dollars to make improvements to our education system.