Miami-Dade Schools got ahead on online classes, but immigrant students were left behind

While Miami-Dade County Public Schools officials patted themselves on the back for quickly moving instruction online, they left 800 of their most vulnerable students offline.

A group of recently arrived immigrants, ages 16 to 18, at Miami Jackson Senior High and their teachers say they were forgotten about as the district rapidly rolled out online teaching to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

They are among 800 students who attend the General Educational Development program at one of seven Success Management Academies, which are programs housed on high school campuses. The academies fall under the umbrella of adult education.

Unlike many adult education programs, the GED program is taught during the day in an effort to give students something more akin to a high school experience. They wear school uniforms, eat lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of the student body and can participate in clubs and other extracurricular activities.

But students in Success Management Academies only attend school Monday through Thursday. So when schools countywide went through a dry run of what online learning would look like with each teacher on March 13, a Friday, students in the academies weren’t on campus. Miami-Dade County Public Schools went online the following Monday, March 16.

Most of the teachers at the Success Management Academies are part-time. An agreement to pay these teachers wasn’t in place until March 19, four days into online learning. Students in the academies missed a whole week of being able to talk to their teachers online. That was unlike their classmates in the traditional, high school diploma program, who were able to connect with their teachers online.

One teacher’s lament

One Success Management Academy teacher at Miami Jackson tweeted on March 19, “We seem to be forgetting our recent #immigrant students that are under the #adulteducation umbrella. Their cut off is 18 [years old]! These kids are sitting home doing nothing #MDCPSLearns #immigrantstory @MDCPS.”

The Miami Herald reached out to the teacher, who sought guidance from administration, but was told there wasn’t clear direction from the district to administer online learning for academy students. The teacher asked not to be identified.

“Our kids didn’t do anything that week, and the teachers didn’t do anything that week,” the teacher said. “What [is] the messaging we’re sending out to them? Why weren’t they a priority as everyone else?”

Adult education learners were surveyed along with all traditional students on whether they needed a laptop computer or other device and internet connectivity to learn at home. But while devices were available for most students to pick up starting March 13, the district purchased devices for adult education students, which are now being handed out — 2 1/2 weeks after distribution began.

Students in the Success Management Academies officially started learning remotely on Monday, March 30. According to the academy teacher at Jackson, many students did not have computers at home and were doing work on their cellphones, although the small-screen format is not ideal.

“Most of them were eager to get back in the class routine,” the teacher said. But students reported having issues creating accounts with Edmodo, an online learning platform, or had trouble entering virtual classrooms with their teacher — kinks that could’ve been worked out the week of the 16th, which is how traditional students settled in to the new norm of online learning.

District spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego said 70% of adult education learners reported having a laptop at home. She pointed out that students could access self-guided lessons on a smartphone.

Luis Diaz, assistant superintendent of school operations, said students in the Success Management Academies were used to doing work online and had access to online learning materials. He said other teachers were also available to those students.

“The majority of our programs are online already so it’s something they’re used to doing every day,” he said. “It’s not always going to be 100%. ... But it’s good, really good.”

Yet students in the program couldn’t help but feel left out. One student said she never received any guidance.

“On the last week they didn’t give class online,” she said. “I would like to know why.”

Carvalho addresses it

After the Miami Herald inquired about those 800 students, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho addressed the issue at Tuesday’s special School Board meeting, which was held as a teleconference to adhere to social-distancing guidelines. He was not made available for comment.

“If at any time I personally or any one of my staff during this emergency and process, at any time in the process, did we look over any sensitivity or overlook or interpreted anything that was said or interpreted as anything less than helpful, I certainly apologize to anyone or the board,” Carvalho said, then went on to address students in the adult education program. “We have rectified the situation.”

In 2018, the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald found that Miami-Dade schools steered, and sometimes pushed, immigrant teens into adult education programs. The practice raised legal questions. Other school systems, including districts in Florida, have been scrutinized and even sued for not allowing immigrant teens to enroll in high school.

The investigation found that some students were told that they’re too old or that they won’t pass the tests needed to graduate. Others enroll in a school but are instructed to transfer to a GED program when they struggle in class. Graduation rates and standardized test scores are a major factor in determining the rating each school gets from the state.

One month after the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald’s investigation was published, the School Board ordered a review of the Success Management Academies, including outlining guidelines and procedures for enrollment.

This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 1:53 PM.