Polls: 20 percent of teachers not likely to return to reopened schools - The Washington Post

Polls: 20 percent of teachers not likely to return to reopened schools - The Washington Post

Polls: 20 percent of teachers not likely to return to classrooms if schools reopen this fall

Twenty percent of U.S. teachers say they are not likely to return to their classrooms this fall if schools reopen — and most parents and educators believe that school buildings will open, according to polls published Tuesday.

The polls — one taken of K-12 teachers and the other of parents with school-age children — found that 73 percent of parents and 64 percent of teachers said they believe that children will eventually make up for learning lost because of the disruption of school during the coronavirus crisis. And 63 percent of parents and 65 percent of teachers said they believe school buildings in their areas will reopen this fall.

The findings came in USA Today-Ipsos polls published Tuesday in USA Today. The newspaper and Ipsos, a global research and marketing firm, conducted two polls at the same time from May 18-21 and said that the “credibility intervals,” which are similar to margins of error, are plus or minus five percentage points for the teachers survey and 5.6 percent for the survey of parents.

It is not possible to know how school districts would be affected if 1 in 5 teachers did not show up to reopened schools, because schedules and attendance expectations will probably be different in the fall to comply with social distancing requirements.

School districts are racing to complete plans for the fall semester but are also factoring in contingencies: full-scale openings, no openings or some hybrid.

Many districts have said they are considering having students come in on some school days but not others so that social distancing rules inside classrooms can be respected. An outbreak of the coronavirus on any school campus could lead to a full-scale closure.

Sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked in the newsletter are free to access.

In the polls, about two-thirds of both teachers and parents said they support having students go to class up to three days a week and staying at home to work remotely the other days. Such a schedule could CONTINUE READING: Polls: 20 percent of teachers not likely to return to reopened schools - The Washington Post