A majority of parents in Massachusetts say they want to see a focus on bringing more children back to school for in-person learning. That's according to a new survey.
The survey of about 1,500 parents (PDF) of K-12 students says 54% want schools to focus on returning kids to the classroom.
Parents with kids already back to in-person schooling, or in hybrid models, tend to support a return to in-person classes in a stronger fashion, compared to respondents with children still learning remotely.
"We see an almost mirror image when it comes to remote parents. Just over half — 56% — of remote parents say that they think the focus should be on improving remote learning," said Maeve Duggan, research director with The MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the survey.
The poll found parents with students in remote learning are "disproportinately low-income and parents of color." Students in urban areas tend to be more likely to be learning remotely.
Conversely, higher-income parents are "more likely to have their children learning in person," the survey said. About half of parents with children in private or Catholic schools said their kids are also back in classrooms.
As for hybrid learning, parents who are white and with "higher" incomes are more likely to have their kids partipating in hybrid learning.
The survey also looked at the impact COVID-19 has had on learning. A quarter of parents polled said they felt like their kids had fallen behind grade level. That's about double what parents said they felt before the pandemic, and consistent with what parents said last fall.
