How To Tell If Your Kid Is Actually Getting Anything Out Of Remote School

sakkmesterke via Getty Images Millions of children are learning remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic — but are they actually getting anything out of it? For some families, it’s abundantly clear that online learning just isn’t working, either because their kids can’t even access the classes they need or because they have kids so ill-suited to sitting in front of a screen all day long that remote learning feels like a bad joke. One of the bright spots of this unusual academic year is that parents and teachers have an unprecedented amount of data available to them about how many minutes kids are spending every day doing academic work and how well they’re doing it, Alexander said. You can be specific, like: ‘How did that social studies activity go for you on Thursday?’” said Lisa Collum, owner of Top Score Writing and Coastal Middle and High School and a mom of four who is overseeing lots of online learning this fall. “Remember: Kids may fall a bit behind where they’re 'supposed' to be, and that’s OK.” Kids definitely learn at their own pace, but having a sense of the bigger picture can at least give parents some benchmarks, Collum said.