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Physician Assistant Students’ Perception of Online Didactic Education: A Cross-Sectional Study

Physician Assistant Students’ Perception of Online Didactic Education: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose: This study describes physician assistant students’ perception toward online didactic education and highlights relationships between student characteristics and their preference for online learning.

Methods: A previously validated survey questionnaire was administered online to physician assistant students enrolled in traditional, in-person training programs across the United States. The survey consisted of five Likert-scale statements measuring perceptions of online learning and was rated on a seven-point Likert scale. Students also reported their age, gender, history of taking an online course, and preferred learning style. Mean scores were reported for agreement with each Likert-scale statement; Pearson correlation coefficients, one-way ANOVA with post hoc Tukey tests, and independent samples t-tests were used to determine relationships between student characteristics and their preference for online learning.

Results: A total of 391 completed surveys met the inclusion criteria for the study and were used in data analysis. The average age of respondents was 25.98 years, 81.1{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 317) were female, 96.2{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}, (n = 376) reported taking an online course previously, and preferred learning styles were reported as 36.1{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 141) visual, 7.7{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 30) auditory, 15.6{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 61) reading/writing, and 40.7{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 159) kinesthetic. Nearly a quarter of respondents indicated they preferred online courses, particularly students with a preferred learning style of reading/writing. No relationships were observed between age, gender, or history of taking an online course and preference for online education.

Conclusion: Most physician assistant students prefer in-person learning. However, a substantial number prefer online learning, and a significant number of these students reported a preferred learning style of reading/writing. More research is necessary to give educational institutions the ability to make data-driven, student-centered program development decisions. However, data in this study indicate a need for continued development of online/hybrid physician assistant programs to better align with current student preferences. 

Introduction

Since the inception of the profession in 1965, physician assistants (PAs) have learned to practice medicine through a combination of in-person didactic instruction followed by the completion of supervised clinical practice experiences at affiliated hospitals and clinics. Although this is an effective curriculum delivery method, pioneers in the field have also recently demonstrated the feasibility of hybrid PA education [1]. In the hybrid model, students complete the didactic year predominantly online, followed by traditional, in-person clinical training. Anderson summarized some of the benefits of online medical education [2]. These include fostering the development of self-directed learners [3], enhancing student engagement in the classroom [4], expanding opportunities for interprofessional education experiences [5,6], promoting digital literacy with medical technology [7], widening the instructor pool [7,8], removing barriers to attending PA school [9], repurposing time spent commuting [4], allowing students to live in and learn about the communities where they may one day practice, and helping to close the gap of clinician shortages in underserved areas [10]. The ability to teach didactic content online may also prove beneficial considering recent changes to the educational landscape following the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2)/coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. During this time, remote learning in the didactic year across PA programs increased from 6.4{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} before the pandemic to 96.8{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} during the pandemic [11]. During this time, there has also been increasing program director support for online didactic education in PA programs [12]. Now that online didactic PA education is possible, innovative PA educators should seek to determine what method of curriculum delivery students prefer, and analyze these preferences to help guide future program development decisions.

A review of the current literature indicates an overall preference for traditional in-person education over online learning among health professions students, both within and outside of the PA profession; however, research specific to the PA community is limited. In a 2006 seminal study, Day et al. concluded that PA students preferred in-person over online curriculum delivery [13], and in 2009, York et al. observed that 78{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of PA students enrolled in a web-based evidence-based medicine course stated they would have preferred in-person lectures instead of, or in addition to, online learning [14]. A review of the literature outside of the PA profession yields similar findings [15-17]. Although video-recorded lectures were found to be of equal or more educational value when compared to in-person instruction, Harvard Medical School students continued to attend traditional lectures if given the choice [15]. Hamilton et al. reported that third-year pharmacy students favored a blended educational approach as opposed to an exclusively online course [16]. A study by Bramer et al. also found that United Kingdom nursing students preferred a balanced mixture of online and face-to-face learning and did not feel that online learning should replace traditional teaching [17].

Further research is needed to explore the current preferences of didactic PA students regarding in-person versus online education to ensure PA program development decisions are student-centered, evidence-based, and data-driven. This is especially important considering the number of new PA programs in development and the number of existing programs that are adapting their curricula to combat current and evolving barriers to medical education. The current study sought to narrow this information gap by determining the curriculum delivery preferences of currently enrolled didactic PA students. Participants were also asked to report their age, gender, history of taking an online course, and preferred learning styles to determine if an association existed between any of these factors and their preference for online education.

Materials & Methods

Study description 

This was a cross-sectional survey study. Risks were minimal and consisted of time lost by students to complete the survey and the potential loss of confidentiality among participants. To mitigate these risks, the survey was designed to be completed in fewer than five minutes, participation was a one-time endeavor with no follow-up, and no personally identifiable information was collected. The primary benefit of the study was insight into the preferences of didactic PA students regarding their preferred curriculum delivery method. This could help current and future programs plan the instructional design of their curriculum. The study proposal was reviewed and approved by the institutional review board (IRB) of A.T. Still University, Mesa, Arizona, United States (approval number: 2021-174), and secondary approval was given by Franklin Pierce University, Rindge, New Hampshire, United States (protocol number: 08252021) for exempt status prior to data collection. 

Study sample

The Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Program Report 35 reported that the maximum capacity enrollment of didactic students in PA programs across the United States was 11,299 [18]. According to a sample size estimator by Qualtrics (Seattle, Washington, and Provo, Utah, United States), 372 individuals from this population needed to be sampled to adequately represent the target population [19]. Inclusion criteria for participation were as follows: students had to be at least 18 years old, be enrolled in a currently accredited PA Program in the United States, and be in their didactic phase of study. Students at the Yale PA online program were excluded from participation as the principal investigator felt they may reasonably have a favorable bias toward online education. The principal investigator currently works for Franklin Pierce University and has previously been employed by the University of South Alabama; therefore, students from these institutions were also excluded to limit participation bias. 

Survey design and distribution

A previously validated survey instrument from O’Malley et al. [20] regarding perceptions of online education was adapted for use in the study, with the author’s permission. The adapted survey consisted of two questions to identify eligibility criteria, five Likert-scale questions regarding student perception of online education, and four student characteristic/demographic questions: (i) age, (ii) gender, (iii) history of taking an online course previously, and (iv) preferred VARK (visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetic) learning style [21]. An alphabetical list of currently accredited PA programs by state from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) website was used to determine which programs to target for student recruitment [22]. The program director for the first accredited program listed for each state was sent a recruitment email asking whether they would offer participation to their didactic students. Those who agreed were asked to forward a standardized student-specific recruitment email to their currently enrolled didactic students that described the study’s purpose, risks, and benefits, and informed students that participation was voluntary, and completion of the survey was considered their consent to participate. The email also provided a link to the survey should they wish to complete it. If no response was received from a program director after one week, the recruitment email was sent for a second and final time. At the end of every two-week period, the next accredited program listed on the ARC-PA website for each state was contacted. This process continued, every two weeks, until the needed sample size of 372 qualified surveys was completed. 

Data collection, storage, and analysis

Data were collected from September through December 2021. Both ordinal and nominal (categorical) data were collected and stored on the SurveyMonkey platform (Momentive Inc., Waterford, New York). Following data collection, descriptive (frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals) and comparative statistics were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 28.0 (Released 2021, Armonk, New York). To determine if a correlation existed between age and preference for online education, a Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated for each Likert-scale statement; p-values less than .05 were used to determine statistical significance. A one-way ANOVA test was used to compare means among Likert-scale statements according to the four different preferred learning styles of participants; p-values less than .05 were used to determine statistical significance. Post hoc Tukey tests were then conducted to determine pairwise differences between the preferred learning styles for each Likert-scale statement; p-values less than .05 were used to determine statistical significance. Independent samples t-tests were used to determine if there was a significant difference in mean Likert-scale scores between genders or between those who had taken an online course previously versus those who had not; because multiple t-tests were conducted, the criterion for statistical significance was adjusted downward to a p-value less than 0.1 to control for alpha inflation in accordance with the Bonferroni correction.

Results

PA program participation and student characteristics 

The researchers did not directly access the study sample (didactic PA students), which instead had to be recruited to the study by PA program directors of invited programs. Therefore, the total number of student participants who received the survey was unknown and an accurate response rate could not be calculated. Approximately 35{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (50/141) of PA programs invited to the study responded to the email request, and 32{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (45/141) opted to participate. These programs represented didactic PA students across 31 states. At the conclusion of data collection, 472 surveys were received, of which 391 were complete, met inclusion criteria for the study, and were subsequently used for data analysis. The average age of the study sample was 25.98 years (range = 21-51 years). Gender was reported as 18.4{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 72) male, 81.1{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 317) female, 0.3{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 1) gender non-binary, and 0.3{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 1) preferred not to answer. Most participants (96.2{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}, n = 376) reported taking an online course previously. The distribution of preferred learning styles of the sample was 36.1{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 141) visual, 7.7{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 30) auditory, 15.6{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 61) reading/writing, and 40.7{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 159) kinesthetic (hands-on). 

Participant preferences for online education

Table 1 reports the study participants’ agreement and disagreement with statements pertaining to their perception of online education. Most students disagreed to some degree (strongly disagreed, disagreed, or somewhat disagreed) with four out of the five Likert-scale statements studied; 76.5{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 299) disagreed with the statement “Most people believe that online learning is more effective than traditional methodologies”, 72.4{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 283) disagreed with the statement “In a course with both traditional and online methodologies, I learn better through the online portion”, 69.4{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 271) disagreed with the statement “I prefer online courses to traditional courses”, and 59{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 231) disagreed with the statement “I believe that I can learn the same amount in an online course as in a traditional course.” In contrast, most students (56.5{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}, n = 221) agreed to some degree (strongly agreed, agreed, or somewhat agreed) with the statement “I believe that I can make the same grade in an online course as in a traditional course.”

Likert-scale Statement Strongly Disagree, n ({e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}) Disagree, n ({e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}) Somewhat Disagree, n ({e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}) Neither Agree nor Disagree, n ({e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}) Somewhat Agree, n ({e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}) Agree, n ({e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}) Strongly Agree, n ({e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf})
Most people believe that online learning is more effective than traditional methodologies. 96 (24.6) 125 (32.0) 78 (19.9) 29 (7.4) 39 (10.0) 14 (3.6) 10 (2.6)
In a course with both traditional and online methodologies, I learn better through the online portion. 104 (26.6) 117 (29.9) 62 (15.9) 35 (9.0) 29 (7.4) 27 (6.9) 17 (4.3)
I prefer online courses to traditional courses. 116 (29.7) 96 (24.6) 59 (15.1) 27 (6.9) 41 (10.5) 25 (6.4) 27 (6.9)
I believe that I can learn the same amount in an online course as in a traditional course. 74 (18.9) 83 (21.2) 74 (18.9) 22 (5.6) 55 (14.1) 48 (12.3) 35 (9.0)
I believe that I can make the same grade in an online course as in a traditional course. 41 (10.5) 48 (12.3) 42 (10.7) 39 (10.0) 67 (17.1) 101 (25.8) 53 (13.6)
Table
1: Levels of Agreement with Likert-scale Statements Regarding Perception of Online Education

n, number of participants

Relationships between participant characteristics and their preferences for online education 

Age

One survey respondent was omitted from analysis due to an erroneous input of their age (“2t”) which could not be validated. As reported in Table 2, no significant correlation was observed between age and preference for online education. 

Likert-scale Statement What is your current age?
n Pearson Correlation p-value
Most people believe that online learning is more effective than traditional methodologies. 390 0.02 0.66
In a course with both traditional and online methodologies, I learn better through the online format. 390 0.09 0.07
I prefer online courses to traditional courses. 390 0.06 0.23
I believe that I can learn the same amount in an online course as in a traditional course. 390 0.03 0.56
I believe that I can make the same grade in an online course as in a traditional course. 390 0.01 0.79
Table
2: Correlation of Likert-scale Statements with Age

n, number of participants

Gender

Only male and female genders were used in the analysis as these categories made up 99.49{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of the sample. As reported in Table 3, no significant relationship existed between gender and preference for online education. 

Statement Gender n Mean Standard Deviation t df Two-sided p-value Mean Difference 95{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} Confidence Interval of the Difference
Lower Bound Upper Bound  
Most people believe that online learning is more effective than traditional methodologies. Male 72 2.64 1.50 -0.16 387 0.87 -0.03 -0.43   0.37    
Female 317 2.67 1.56  
In a course with both traditional and online methodologies, I learn better through the online format. Male 72 2.72 1.68 -0.31 387 0.76 -0.07 0.23 -0.52  
Female 317 2.79 1.75  
I prefer online courses to traditional courses. Male 72 2.89 1.84 -0.09 387 0.93 -0.02 -0.51 0.47  
Female 317 2.91 1.92  
I believe that I can learn the same amount in an online course as in a traditional course. Male 72 3.58 2.07 0.59 387 0.56 0.15 -0.36 0.66  
Female 317 3.43 1.95  
I believe that I can make the same grade in an online course as in a traditional course. Male 72 4.33 2.06 -0.44 387 0.66 -0.11 -0.61 0.39  
Female 317 4.44 1.93  
Table
3: T-test Comparison of Likert-scale Scales by Gender

n, number of participants; t, independent sample t-test; df, degrees of freedom.

History of Taking an Online Course Previously

As reported in Table 4, no significant relationship existed between taking an online course previously and preference for online education. 

Statement Online Course Previously n Mean Standard Deviation t df Two-sided p-value Mean Difference 95{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} Confidence Interval of the Difference
Lower Bound Upper Bound  
Most people believe that online learning is more effective than traditional methodologies. Yes 376 2.66 1.53 -0.74 14.58 0.47 -0.41 -1.59   0.77  
No 15 3.07 2.12  
In a course with both traditional and online methodologies, I learn better through the online format. Yes 376 2.77 1.71 -0.79 14.56 0.45 -0.50 -1.85 0.86  
No 15 3.27 2.43  
I prefer online courses to traditional courses. Yes 376 2.90 1.88 -0.61 389 0.54 -0.30 -1.29 0.68  
No 15 3.20 2.31  
I believe that I can learn the same amount in an online course as in a traditional course. Yes 376 3.44 1.96 -1.86 389 0.06 -0.96 -1.98 0.06  
No 15 4.40 2.20  
I believe that I can make the same grade in an online course as in a traditional course. Yes 376 4.38 1.94 -2.74 15.53 0.02 -1.22 -2.17 -0.27  
No 15 5.60 1.68  
Table
4: T-test Comparison of Likert-scale Statements by History of Taking an Online Course Previously

n, number of participants; t, independent sample t-test; df, degrees of freedom.

Preferred Learning Style

As reported in Table 5, the highest mean score (most agreement) for each Likert-scale statement was observed with those who selected reading/writing as their preferred learning style; four out of the five differences in means reached statistical significance. There were also statistically significant findings on the pairwise analysis of the different learning styles (Table 6). 

Likert-scale Statement Visual n Mean Standard Deviation 95{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} confidence interval for mean p-value
Lower Bound Upper Bound
Most people believe that online learning is more effective than traditional methodologies. Visual 141 2.75 1.49 2.50 3.00 0.04
Auditory 30 2.70 1.70 2.06 3.34
Reading/Writing 61 3.08 1.80 2.62 3.54
Kinesthetic 159 2.44 1.44 2.21 2.67
In a course with both traditional and online methodologies, I learn better through the online format. Visual 141 2.84 1.71 2.56 3.13 0.02
Auditory 30 2.77 1.87 2.07 3.46
Reading/Writing 61 3.33 2.07 2.80 3.86
Kinesthetic 159 2.53 1.56 2.29 2.78
I prefer online courses to traditional courses. Visual 141 3.01 1.83 2.71 3.32 0.01
Auditory 30 2.73 1.91 2.02 3.45
Reading/Writing 61 3.56 2.25 2.98 4.13
Kinesthetic 159 2.60 1.75 2.32 2.87
I believe that I can learn the same amount in an online course as in a traditional course. Visual 141 3.57 1.99 3.24 3.90 0.55
Auditory 30 3.57 1.96 2.83 4.30
Reading/Writing 61 3.66 2.06 3.13 4.18
Kinesthetic 159 3.30 1.94 3.00 3.61
I believe that I can make the same grade in an online course as in a traditional course. Visual 141 4.43 1.97 4.10 4.75 0.04
Auditory 30 4.47 2.13 3.67 5.26
Reading/Writing 61 5.03 1.75 4.58 5.48
Kinesthetic 159 4.19 1.93 3.89 4.49
Table
5: One-way ANOVA of Likert-scale Statements with Preferred Learning Styles

n, number of participants

Likert-scale Statement Preferred Learning Style (a) Preferred Learning Style (b) Mean difference
(a-b) 		95{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} confidence interval for mean p-value
Lower Bound Upper Bound
Most people believe that online learning is more effective than traditional methodologies. Visual Auditory 0.05 -0.75 0.85 1.00
Reading/Writing -0.33 -0.94 0.28 0.50
Kinesthetic 0.31 -0.15 0.77 0.30
Auditory Visual -0.05 -0.85 0.75 1.00
Reading/Writing -0.38 -1.27 0.50 0.68
Kinesthetic 0.26 -0.53 1.05 0.83
Reading/Writing Visual 0.33 -0.28 0.94 0.50
Auditory 0.38 -0.50 1.27 0.68
Kinesthetic 0.64 0.04 1.24 0.03
Kinesthetic Visual -0.31 -0.77 0.15 0.30
Auditory -0.26 -1.05 0.53 0.83
Reading/Writing -0.64 -1.24 -0.04 0.03
In a course with both traditional and online methodologies, I learn better through the online format. Visual Auditory 0.08 -0.82 0.97 1.00
Reading/Writing -0.48 -1.17 0.20 0.26
Kinesthetic 0.31 -0.21 0.82 0.41
Auditory Visual -0.08 -0.97 0.82 1.00
Reading/Writing -0.56 -1.55 0.43 0.46
Kinesthetic 0.23 -0.65 1.12 0.91
Reading/Writing Visual 0.48 -0.20 1.17 0.26
Auditory 0.56 -0.43 1.55 0.46
Kinesthetic 0.79 0.12 1.46 0.01
Kinesthetic Visual -0.31 -0.82 0.21 0.41
Auditory -0.23 -1.12 0.65 0.91
Reading/Writing -0.79 -1.46 -0.12 0.01
I prefer online courses to traditional courses. Visual Auditory 0.28 -0.69 1.25 0.88
Reading/Writing -0.54 -1.28 0.20 0.23
Kinesthetic 0.42 -0.14 0.98 0.22
Auditory Visual -0.28 -1.25 0.69 0.88
Reading/Writing -0.82 -1.90 0.26 0.20
Kinesthetic 0.16 -0.83 1.10 0.98
Reading/Writing Visual 0.54 -0.20 1.28 0.23
Auditory 0.82 -0.26 1.90 0.20
Kinesthetic 0.96 0.23 1.69 0.00
Kinesthetic Visual -0.42 -0.98 0.14 0.22
Auditory -0.14 -1.10 0.83 0.98
Reading/Writing -0.96 -1.69 -0.23 0.00
I believe that I can learn the same amount in an online course as in a traditional course. Visual Auditory 0.00 -1.03 1.03 1.00
Reading/Writing -0.09 -0.87 0.69 0.99
Kinesthetic 0.27 -0.33 0.86 0.65
Auditory Visual -0.00 -1.03 1.03 1.00
Reading/Writing -0.09 -1.23 1.05 1.00
Kinesthetic 0.26 -0.75 1.28 0.91
Reading/Writing Visual 0.09 -0.69 0.87 0.99
Auditory 0.09 -1.05 1.23 1.00
Kinesthetic 0.35 -0.42 1.12 0.64
Kinesthetic Visual -0.27 -0.86 0.33 0.65
Auditory -0.26 -1.28 0.75 0.91
Reading/Writing -0.35 -1.12 0.42 0.64
I believe that I can make the same grade in an online course as in a traditional course. Visual Auditory -0.04 -1.04 0.96 1.00
Reading/Writing -0.61 -1.37 0.16 0.17
Kinesthetic 0.24 -0.34 0.81 0.72
Auditory Visual 0.04 -0.96 1.04 1.00
Reading/Writing -0.57 -1.68 0.55 0.56
Kinesthetic 0.28 -0.72 1.27 0.89
Reading/Writing Visual 0.61 -0.16 1.37 0.17
Auditory 0.57 -0.55 1.68 0.56
Kinesthetic 0.84 0.09 1.60 0.02
 Kinesthetic Visual -0.24 -0.81 0.34 0.72
Auditory -0.28 -1.27 0.72 0.89
Reading/Writing -0.84 -1.60 -0.09 0.02
Table
6: Tukey Post Hoc Pairwise Analysis of Preferred Learning Styles

Discussion

Purpose and major findings

The PA educational community has endured many challenges and evolved significantly over the last few years. Due to the unfortunate COVID-19 global pandemic, almost every PA program across the country quickly discovered its ability to implement didactic curriculum online and continue the education of PA students at a time when clinicians were crucially needed [23]. Academic administrators, faculty, students, and other stakeholders must now decide what role hybrid PA programs have in the future of PA education. Perceptions of PA students toward online learning should be considered in this discussion; determining these perceptions was the purpose of this study. 

Most pre-COVID-19 studies show that health professions students generally prefer in-person over online education [13-17], and the results of the current study align with those findings. However, the current study also reveals a significant number of PA students who do prefer learning in an online environment. Despite the majority of participants (69.31{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}, n = 271) preferring traditional courses, the survey nevertheless identified 23.79{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 93) who preferred online learning. Furthermore, as the sample population did not include students from programs that currently use online programming as a major component of their curriculum [2], the preference for online education of the entire PA student population may be slightly higher than reported here. The current study also provides insight into the type of student who may prefer learning online. Interestingly, data analysis showed no correlation between age and students’ preference for online education. Similarly, there were no significant relationships between gender or having previously taken an online course and preference for online education. However, a statistically significant relationship did exist between self-reported preferred learning styles and preference for online learning. Although only 15.6{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (n = 61) of the sample reported their preferred learning style as reading/writing, this group had the most agreement with all Likert-scale statements favoring online education; four out of five of these results were statistically significant. 

Relevance of findings 

A substantial interest among PA students in online didactic education is not surprising considering other recent studies of medical students in a post-COVID-19 educational environment. Stoehr et al. collected cross-sectional data from 3,286 medical students across 12 countries [24]. In their study, 91{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of participants agreed that lecture-style education was a suitable teaching concept for online learning, 97{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} indicated they had the devices required for online learning, 80{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} felt comfortable using the software required for online learning, 76{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} felt well prepared for online learning, and 62{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} reported being happy with the quality of online courses [24]. Another post-COVID-19 study of 64 medical students at a United States-based allopathic medical school that moved the entire pre-clinical curriculum to a virtual format during the pandemic demonstrated that 70.3{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of students reported an unchanged or improved overall medical education in a virtual course module compared to a previous module that was taught in a traditional face-to-face setting [25]. Furthermore, a recent systematic review of 24 studies measuring medical student satisfaction with e-learning during the pandemic indicated that 51.8{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} of the 15,473 medical students studied were satisfied [26]. 

Study limitations

A potential limitation to this study is that it was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and perceptions of online education may have been influenced by either positive or negative experiences encountered during this turbulent time in medical education. Furthermore, the study was not experimental in nature and, therefore, could not control for other variables that may have influenced student perception of online PA education, such as the quality of instructional design and the types of resources made available to students at different institutions. Another limitation was that students were asked to self-report their VARK [21] learning style instead of completing the VARK questionnaire, and students were limited in their selection to only a single preferred learning style. Other limitations to this study are those inherent to survey-based research, including an inability to clarify study questions if needed and not allowing respondents to further explain their answers beyond predetermined survey selections. 

Conclusions

Most didactic PA students (69.31{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}) prefer traditional in-person education over online learning. However, the number of didactic PA students that do prefer online learning (23.79{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}) is also substantial. If we generalize these findings to the 11,299 maximum enrollment slots available per the last PAEA Program Report, there are potentially 2,689 students who may benefit from online/hybrid PA education. Despite these findings, only three out of the 282 currently accredited PA programs are designed to offer a significant portion of their curriculum in an online/hybrid format. Although more research is needed regarding hybrid PA education, based on the findings of this study, the researchers recommend more institutions consider exploring and/or piloting this type of program delivery. Future studies may consider determining the characteristics and preferred learning styles of students who decide to apply to online/hybrid PA programs and how a student’s preferred learning style relates to their satisfaction with, and success in, an online PA educational environment.

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WSU community engages Detroit students at Chrysler Elementary School – Today@Wayne

WSU community engages Detroit students at Chrysler Elementary School – Today@Wayne

Staging displays that ranged from chemistry experiments to robotics exhibitions, Wayne State University learners, faculty and team stoked visions of school professions for approximately 100 Detroit schoolchildren at Chrysler Elementary School this week as aspect of the university’s WSU Warrior Working day outreach plan.

For nearly an hour and a 50 percent on Tuesday, Jan. 10, scores of third-, fourth- and fifth-grade learners streamed into the school’s multipurpose space for fingers-on demonstrations led by groups from Undergraduate Admissions the Faculty of Medicine and College or university of Engineering and Wayne State’s chemistry, environmental sciences and geology, biological sciences, and kinesiology departments.

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LaJoyce Brown, WSU senior associate director of admissions, was a vital organizer of the Warrior Working day event
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“We are energized to be in this article today for this Wayne Condition Warrior Day,” claimed LaJoyce Brown, senior associate director of admissions and an organizer of the celebration, in her opening remarks.

“We want to inspire young minds…When you improve up, no issue what it is you want to be, Wayne State is the university for you. If you would like to improve up and become a decide, Wayne Point out is the school for you. If you’d like to increase up and turn out to be an engineer, Wayne Point out is the university for you.”

Brown has been arranging the occasion with Chrysler Elementary counselor Mona Lisa Kelly and other folks as considerably back as 2020, but the pandemic compelled them to postpone.

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The School of Medicine was among a number of university units that rolled out eye-catching displays for the almost 100 learners at Chrylser Elementary in Detroit
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Judging by the children’s reaction, the extensive-awaited method was a resounding accomplishment. All through the early morning, pupils rotated from one particular display space to a further, marveling more than animal skulls at the biological sciences table, rooting for very small robots that raced through mazes at a Division of Engineering exhibit and viewing chemistry learners whip up foaming messes from check tubes of coloured liquid. There were also rock displays, health and fitness evaluations and a surgical skills desk.

“We appear to show science for the children so that they will respect chemistry,” mentioned Solomon Effah, a second-calendar year chemistry scholar and member of the Nationwide Business for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. “We want them to know what they are capable of undertaking.”

In addition to the displays, the application also presented good arts functions, such as an artwork collage by college students and pick out e-book readings to 2nd-graders.

“It’s critical to keep the entertaining in school,” mentioned Latonia Garrett, the director of university student achievement initiatives and educational partnerships, who led the readings. “We need to have to be below, in the neighborhood, as the neighborhood’s college. And we need to have to hold finding out exciting and engaging.”

 

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Business Profile: College Axis Project gives high school students an edge

Business Profile: College Axis Project gives high school students an edge
Christine Chapman

Christine Chapman, co-founder of The College Axis Task, has been an educational advisor since 1995.

For significant school juniors and seniors, the pandemic has been a substantial source of uncertainty and anxiousness as learners approach for their academic and professional futures. Worried about the gaps in university advising and application help during this period of time, Christine Chapman founded The College or university Axis Venture (CAP) in May 2021.

Unlike many other college or university steerage programs, CAP is built to provide students of all socioeconomic backgrounds and does not target distinct populations. “We are a blended system,” Chapman clarifies, “so individuals who can find the money for our companies and people who require monetary guidance obtain the exact same higher-good quality products in little-team settings. This also facilitates the sharing of diverse experiences and suggestions.”

CAP’s systems include things like school procedure workshops and boot camps that deal with every little thing from purposes to resumes, particular statements and essays. The nonprofit also offers a two-night school application retreat in Vermont and is obtaining ready to launch a faculty counseling on line system with video clips and guided tutorials. In addition to its compensated courses, CAP delivers common cost-free resources like college profile critique conferences with a qualified college or university counselor and an on the internet resource library for pupils and mom and dad.

The excellent of its instruction is an additional facet that sets CAP aside, Chapman suggests. “The people providing the program include my colleagues, who are seasoned educational consultants, educators and industry experts who have invested a long time performing in faculty admissions and school or steering counseling settings, and me,” Chapman suggests. “Together we characterize additional than 100 several years of expertise in the field.”

Chapman notes that the college or university admission system has developed increasingly nerve-racking and aggressive, although at the identical time, guidance counselors at general public and personal faculties need to take care of overwhelming caseloads. CAP gives pupils a lot-desired personalized guidance that they may well not have ample access to at their schools, Chapman suggests.

Describing the process of working with students on their school essays, Chapman remarks on how contributors are not accustomed to the significant stage of attention that CAP provides. “It’s impressive mainly because our system will allow for relationship and vulnerability to materialize so a actually genuine piece can evolve,” she says. “That’s the things that lights my soul on fire when I believe about the operate that I do and becoming ready to offer that to any person and every person.”

Considering that launching, CAP has supplied more than 100 cost-free college or university profile evaluate opportunities and granted more than $2,000 in fiscal help in the variety of tuition guidance and classes. Chapman is fully commited to the philosophy that these services need to not be a luxury. “I’d like to give each individual substantial school junior and senior the guidance and empowerment that they ought to have as they get prepared to transition into an undergraduate education or a vocational path or whichever it could be,” she claims. “That is what drove me to get University Axis off the ground.”

Chapman lives and operates in Hopkinton, but CAP also is registered to supply solutions in California, Florida, New York and Texas.

To discover far more about The University Axis Challenge, check out thecollegeaxisproject.org, call 617-823-5403, or electronic mail [email protected].

Business Profiles are advertising and marketing capabilities intended to present details and qualifications about Hopkinton Unbiased advertisers.

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America’s public schools are losing students

America’s public schools are losing students

Data: National Heart for Schooling Statistics Be aware: Includes pre-principal, elementary and secondary instruction. Data for Louisiana and Virginia is unavailable. Map: Tory Lysik/Axios Visuals

The pandemic has supercharged a development that has plagued districts throughout the U.S. for several years — pupils are fleeing general public universities.

Why it matters: Community educational facilities drop funding as they reduce students, and some colleges have been forced to shutter entirely.

  • That drawbacks the many tens of millions of students — typically decreased-profits learners in metropolitan areas — who won’t be able to change to private faculties or homeschooling.

By the quantities: Public schools misplaced far more than a million students from fall 2019 to slide 2020, in accordance to the National Heart for Schooling Data. Enrollment fell from 50.8 million to 49.4 million.

What is actually occurring: About the final decade, a variety of states, like Michigan and New Hampshire, observed enrollment slide generally due to declining birthrates. Others, like Texas, noticed numbers rise due to immigration.

  • Then the pandemic hit, and community educational facilities have been subjected to condition and regional recommendations. Many of them flip-flopped on digital as opposed to in-man or woman learning.
  • Prevalent teacher and staff shortages exacerbated the challenge. Learners quickly fell guiding. That pushed frustrated mothers and fathers to pull their children out.
  • As a end result, private faculties and constitution colleges received pupils. The selection of homeschooled pupils doubled to about 5 million.

Zoom in: Districts from coastline to coastline are responding to the exodus by shuttering total faculties, The Wall Avenue Journal experiences:

  • “The faculty board in Jefferson County, Colo., outside the house Denver, voted in November to near 16 schools. St. Paul, Minn., very last summer shut 5 educational institutions. The Oakland, Calif., university board very last February voted to close 7 schools soon after decades of declining enrollment and monetary strife.”

Big metropolitan areas have been strike the most difficult. A Wall Street Journal examination located “enrollment fell in about 85 of the nation’s largest 100 community-university districts.”

  • Enrollment in New York City’s community schools, the country’s greatest university district, dropped by 8.3{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} from 2020 to 2022, in accordance to a fiscal watchdog funded by the metropolis.
  • Constitution school enrollment in NYC enhanced roughly 7.8{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} around the very same period of time.
  • It may possibly consider yrs for some college students to recuperate from pandemic-era finding out decline, according to a report from NWEA, a nonprofit group that administers standardized exams.

What to enjoy: The federal authorities projects general public university enrollment will tumble even more — to 47.3 million — by 2030. Even the districts that have observed mounting figures in new many years are expected to drop learners.

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How to improve American students’ math skills

How to improve American students’ math skills

In the past two a long time, scientists have made excellent strides in uncovering how little ones learn math, but tiny of that new expertise has trickled down to academics, in accordance to a new ebook on math education and learning.

The hole involving exploration and follow is specifically unlucky, provided the current state of American students’ math skills, said Nancy Krasa, co-writer of How Children Learn Math: The Science of Math Mastering in Analysis and Apply.

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American kids are not executing nicely at math. In 2019, only about a person-fourth of high school seniors scored at or higher than the proficiency degree in math. And all indications are that this has only gotten worse with the studying loss associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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Nancy Krasa, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology, The Ohio State University

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But there is a way to fulfill this problem, in accordance to Krasa, who is a certified psychologist specializing in youngsters with understanding issues, which include individuals who have issues with arithmetic.

“The scientific investigate on how children learn math has exploded in the previous 20 years, with countless numbers of new experiments centered on how small children occur to understand quantities and numerous other features of math,” she mentioned.

“The problem is that tiny of this do the job has been obtainable to teachers on the front line.”

Krasa mentioned she and her co-authors, Karen Tzanetopoulos and Colleen Maas, wrote How Small children Find out Math to deliver the most up-to-date discoveries in math finding out to lecturers and moms and dads and give them research-dependent ways to instruct the fundamentals to youthful college students. The e book focuses on toddlerhood by way of the finding out of fractions.

A superior instance of one of the new discoveries is understanding spatial skills. The importance of spatial skills in early math is one of these crucial findings that has not made it to early education and learning lecturers, Krasa said.

Most persons believe of spatial skills in conditions of geometry, but modern research indicates that a person’s spatial competencies are linked with their math abilities much more usually.

“Which is anything most lecturers would have no notion about, but the benefits are remarkably regular,” she reported.

“What is not but solely crystal clear is how they are similar – why do folks with fantastic spatial techniques have an much easier time with math?”

One particular speculation is that humans think of numerical portions alongside a psychological number line, as if they existed in place. Just one authentic-life classroom software is that a actual physical variety line in the classroom, if thoroughly applied, may possibly help teach youthful youngsters about figures.

But investigation exhibits that youngsters begin producing spatial skills even just before they get to faculty. Just one way extremely younger kids understand spatial capabilities is by enjoying with blocks.

A single analyze Krasa and her co-authors mention in the guide located that when mothers and their 3-year-olds build with blocks alongside one another, the total of spatial language, connected gestures, and preparing guidance the moms deliver predicts the children’s math ability in initially grade.

The influence of enjoying with blocks and its effects on spatial competencies goes effectively over and above the early grades.

Yet another examine discovered that children’s preschool block-creating techniques predicted their large college math training course selections, math grades and standardized math scores.

One particular implication of modern investigation is that youngsters ought to be screened for spatial competencies early in lifestyle, just as they are for looking through competencies, Krasa reported. The fantastic news is that “spatial capabilities are trainable, particularly if we can discover those who want assist early.”

Another essential discovering of the latest research is the importance of language in learning arithmetic, she claimed.

“Math language is quite summary. Students may well realize math ideas far better with acquainted terms, this kind of as ‘and’ alternatively of ‘plus’, for illustration.”

“Also, math is not separate from studying. Analysis has shown that small children with reading through disabilities, specifically dyslexia, are at a excellent threat for math failure.”

A single review uncovered that of small children who experienced been identified with a developmental language disorder in kindergarten, 55{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} experienced major math complications by the fifth quality – far more than 10 occasions the price discovered in the standard population.

Irrespective of the alarming figures about math awareness amongst American kids, Krasa said doing work on the reserve has persuaded her that the problem is not hopeless.

“I consider that with the correct supports, all youngsters in the typical assortment of intelligence can understand math. Even with troubles like poverty, reading and language incapacity, weak spatial capabilities and attentional concerns, they can master and recognize the basic concepts,” she stated.

The crucial is that students have to get started early, or, if they never, they have to go back and start out with the fundamentals. Math abilities and principles that students discover in significant university are crafted on those from elementary faculty – and individuals are developed on capabilities realized in preschool and at residence.

That indicates several of the problems that learners confront in large college obtain their roots in early math education.

“If we’re going to get it right, we have to commence from the commencing,” Krasa stated.

The U.S. failure in math schooling is not the fault of academics, she mentioned. They are carrying out the finest they can presented their teaching and the problems they facial area.

“We want lecturers to have the latest research on how youngsters actually learn math so they can assist flip factors close to. That’s why we wrote this e book.”

The ebook delivers functions that are conveniently easy to understand for instructors and mothers and fathers, but that aren’t presently becoming utilized in most classrooms, she reported.

These new approaches are desperately necessary.

“Plainly, a thing is not functioning in math education in this region. We could be performing significantly, substantially much better,” Krasa stated.

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School enrollment: Number of students in public schools drops as parents turned to home-schooling, private schools during pandemic

School enrollment: Number of students in public schools drops as parents turned to home-schooling, private schools during pandemic

Before Principal Samuel Karlin’s students moved into a new school building in the fall of 2010, Chicopee was forced to build a four-classroom addition because there wasn’t enough room for all the children.

A dozen years later, enrollment has declined so much at Chicopee’s Belcher School two of those rooms are now being used for preschool classes and there is space for more.

Nationwide, schools have been seeing a decline in enrollment for several years. But when COVID-19 hit, the dip became a deep plunge and many are not seeing a resurgence, even though classrooms have reopened and have pretty much returned to normal since the spring when masking, social distancing and testing requirements were largely abandoned.

The drop is being attributed to everything from families switching to private school or continuing with remote education to a surge in home-schooling in response to the pandemic. Nationally, grades K-12 enrollment has dropped 3{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} and trends show those who have been slower to abandon pandemic restrictions have seen a loss of as much as 4.4{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}, according to a U.S. News report.

But one of the biggest reasons for declines is nationwide population growth has been slowing for years due to lower birth rates and a decrease in net immigration. Between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021, the nation’s growth was just 0.1{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}, the slowest in history, due to decreased fertility and increased mortality, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“The projections show Chicopee is getting older so there are fewer kids and with COVID you had a rise of virtual, home-schooling and parochial schooling,” Assistant Superintendent Matthew Francis said.

A decade ago, Belcher School was bursting with enough children to require five classes each for kindergarten and first grade. Now there are three kindergarten and first-grade classes, keeping with statewide trends that show the biggest student declines are in the youngest grades.

In Chicopee, the drop isn’t just being seen in one school. Enrollment has been declining by about 100 students annually since the 2014-15 school year when the district hit a peak of 7,841 students. At the start of the 2019-20 school year, it was 7,286 and that plunged to 6,796 when the pandemic struck, Francis said.

The city had an enrollment study done recently to help with long-term planning and eventual redistricting. It predicted it would drop to 6,524 this year, but the latest numbers calculated in mid-November show enrollment is about 240 children higher at 6,762, he said.

“We are still 90 kids lower than where we were when we ended the year,” Francis said, explaining enrollment had increased to 6,850 by the spring of 2022 before children left for summer vacation.

But one of the reasons student numbers did not drop as much as expected is Chicopee expanded preschool from 250 to about 310 children this year by offering free, full-time classes for 4- and 3-year-olds for the first time. It also expanded preschool into two neighborhood elementary schools, Belcher and Fairview, he said.

All Massachusetts public schools take official enrollment on Oct. 1. The 2022-23 school year numbers released in December by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education show a slight increase in students but it is far lower than pre-COVID enrollments.

West Springfield Superintendent Vito Perrone is seeing the same trends. In the past five years, overall enrollment has dropped from 4,113 to 3,851 and kindergarten enrollment especially declined 21.5{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} in four years from 302 in the 2018-19 school year to 237 last year. In this school year, kindergarten enrollment has rebounded a little to 266 children.

The school district is a reflection of the trends across the country, with enrollment especially dropping in kindergarten, Perrone said.

Statewide, enrollment started declining an average of 2,500 students annually in the two years before March 2020 when schools closed on an emergency basis to stop the spread of what was then the new coronavirus, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education enrollment statistics show.

Student numbers dropped precipitously in the 2020-21 school year when COVID-19 vaccines were not available and classes in most public schools were taught virtually or in a combination of remotely and in-person to allow for social distancing. That enrollment, which was 911,465, or 37,363 students fewer than the previous year, barely budged in September 2021 when schools reopened with full in-person classes and mostly with universal masking and other precautions in place.

The official enrollment, which is taken every year on Oct. 1, has stayed pretty much static for this school year with 913,735 students attending public schools this year.

Most superintendents said they do not expect those numbers to return to pre-COVID totals this school year even though COVID-19 protocols have been suspended since the spring.

Statistics show statewide enrollment stayed steady for about eight years, averaging 954,500, until the 2018-19 school year. That plateau came after a steady decline in students that started in the 2002-03 school year when there were 983,313 students enrolled statewide in public schools. The number of students dropped an average of 4,000 annually for about eight years.

In Springfield alone, enrollment has dropped more than 9{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} in the past five years. This year, there are 23,721 students attending the district and six years earlier there were some 25,600 students.

Springfield — which had one of the most conservative policies with nearly all classes held remotely until the state ordered public schools to return to some in-person learning in the spring of 2021 — lost nearly 870 students in the fall of 2020. When full in-person classes returned in September 2021, enrollment declined by another 440 children.

“It’s hard to say why but it is trending across the commonwealth,” Superintendent Daniel J. Warwick said. “The reasons are multi-faceted.”

The school district has been losing students to charter schools for two decades, but when Springfield closed classrooms because of the pandemic, more families turned to private schools which were among the few to continue in-person learning. Others have turned to home-schooling and a smaller number are moving out of Massachusetts to less-expensive states, he said.

“The COVID-19 pandemic also opened families’ eyes to other education options for their students outside the traditional public school setting,” said Azell Cavaan, chief communications officer for Springfield schools.

The student decline is most dramatic in the younger grades in most Western Massachusetts schools. In Springfield, preschool, kindergarten and 1st grades each declined by about 200 children in two years.

“It would be remiss to factor out the growing numbers of families choosing home-schooling or smaller, private school settings for their students and those who move out of Springfield,” Cavaan said.

Private and parochial schools did see some small increases in students but state numbers are showing the steepest increase is among parents who turned to home-schooling children when schools closed and opted to continue.

Pre-pandemic, there were 92 Springfield students home-schooled in the district and in 2020-21, a number that more than doubled to 221 but declined to 154 during the last school year. West Springfield saw home-schooled students increase from 48 to 110 in the 2020-12 school year and decline slightly to 93 last year. Ware, which returned to in-person schooling sooner, saw home-schooling students jump to 83 at the height of the pandemic and then drop to 55 when students returned to in-person learning in the past two school years.

State Department of Education home-schooling statistics, which are calculated on Jan. 1 instead of Oct. 1, show the number of students home-schooled annually remained at an average of 7,500 for at least five years. That number jumped to 17,127 for the 2020-21 school year but then dropped to 13,090 last year when all schools returned to in-person learning.

Gabriella Michaliszyn, part of the leadership team of the Western Mass Homeschoolers, said she saw a dramatic increase in the number of parents who joined their Facebook group over the past few years. Before the pandemic there were consistently about 850 people in the group; now there are 2,200.

The organization offers information, networking and answers questions parents have about technical issues such as how to submit applications to local districts. They also work together to provide socialization opportunities for students, said Michaliszyn, of Westfield, who has been home-schooling her children for 10 years.

“A lot of what we are seeing is students have anxiety issues and they don’t want to go back to school,” she said.

Some parents are concerned about the sex education and LGBTQ+ curriculum taught in school, she said. Many others witnessed their students’ classes when they were learning from home and felt there was a lot of time wasted on discipline and other issues. Those parents felt they could teach better, more efficiently and fit more material into their children’s day, she said.

Becky Quinn started home-schooling her children, Jackson, 11, and Lincoln, 9, in 2020 when she felt remote learning did not give her students the structure they needed. The stay-at-home mom from Palmer said her sons now don’t want to go back.

“We absolutely love it and the freedom home-schooling has brought to the family is great,” she said.

She said she buys some lesson plans, finds other curricula for free online and typically picks and chooses what parts will best serve her children. She also gives her sons placement tests to ensure they are learning skills they need.

But home-schooling also allows her to focus on her children’s interests and have a little fun. For example, in December they put aside most of their traditional classes, except for math, and did a study of Christmas carols to teach about everything from reading, writing, research, social studies and other topics. Her sons selected the program from a list of options she offered.

Quinn said she was interested in home-schooling even before the pandemic, but her husband was not enthusiastic about the idea. He has changed his mind after seeing it in action during the pandemic.

Quinn said she mostly follows the public school schedule, taking off summers and holidays, but last summer her sons wanted to learn more about astronomy so she continued their science classes a few days a week,

The Western Mass Homeschooling Association has made it easier because it offers non-stop educational and fun activities to give students an opportunity to make and hang out with friends. Parents sometimes simply meet in a park and share ideas and advice while their children play together, Quinn said.

In Westfield, Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski confirmed the number of home-schooled children has grown in his district. Families who chose to teach their children must apply to their home district and submit a curriculum, but the School Department and School Committee cannot deny their application.

“On average the number of home-schoolers in Westfield was under 100. Last year (in 2020-2021) it was 250 and many of them have not returned,” he said. “The pandemic opened people’s eyes to home-schooling. I think some students liked it and we saw a lot, especially in the Russian and Ukraine populations.”

Last school year about 200 students were home-schooled, he said.

In Westfield, the region’s fourth-largest school district, enrollment had already been dropping by more than 100 students a year before COVID hit, as predicted by studies. Then, when students returned to school in the fall of 2020 under a hybrid plan that had 50{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} learning remotely one week and alternating to in-person the second week, the student body dropped a shocking 330 students, Czaporowski said.

The student population is inching upward but it is still lower than the 5,261 total tallied Oct. 1, 2019, before the pandemic and far lower than the nearly 6,000 Westfield Public students of a decade ago.

Westfield schools dropped to 4,774 students in fall of 2021 but by the end of March 2022, it increased by more than 100 students to 4,876. Much of the increase came from refugees, mainly from Ukraine and Afghanistan, but a handful also returned from home-schooling or private schools, Czaporowski said.

At the start of this school year, Westfield again bucked the trend, increasing to 4,942 students in November (although the official Oct. 1 enrollment count is 4,836). “It was not expected,” he said.

One of the reasons is the schools had a 53-student surge of children coming from other countries. While 35 were from Ukraine, which isn’t an anomaly since a fairly large number of Ukraine immigrants have settled in Westfield long before Russia invaded the country in February. What was a surprise was the other half of the new students hailed from a wide variety of countries including Guatemala and Moldova.

Czaporowski said enrollment would have likely dropped more if Westfield was not one of about 10 school districts statewide to apply to continue offering remote classes. Springfield and Pittsfield also have virtual schools.

Westfield Virtual School

Ann Farnham, math teacher at Westfield Virtual School, and principal Thomas Osborn checking with students. (Hoang ‘Leon’ Nguyen / The Republican)

Between 150 and 160 students in kindergarten through grade 8 were learning in the virtual school at the end of the 2021-22 school year and that has declined to 91 this year.

Interest is virtual school is now waning in the elementary grades, but is increasing for middle and high school grades so Westfield expanded to high school grades this year. It will likely stop offering the program for students in kindergarten to grade 5 next year simply because parents are not registering their children.

“I think we have learned early that K-5 kids do better in-person. At the high school kids can be successful in virtual learning,” he said.

The school, which is run by teachers who operate out of a separate building, generally serves students who found they were learning better online as well as those who are immunocompromised or live with family members who have medical conditions, he said.

“We wanted to keep Westfield kids in Westfield schools and there was a waiting list for virtual schools,” he said.

Czaporowski said he also likes that virtual students can still participate in sports and other after-school activities if they want so they can remain connected to peers and staff.

Currently, the state will only allow the district to accept local students into the virtual academy but Czaporowski said he would definitely be interested in taking students from neighboring districts if rules change in the future. “As COVID lingers, it will be a significant factor in our educational process,” he said.

Plenty of students have left their traditional public schools since the start of the pandemic for the Greater Commonwealth Virtual School, which is based in Greenfield but has students who live across the commonwealth, said Michelle Morrisey, director of enrollment and recruitment.

Before the pandemic, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education allowed two virtual schools to operate across the state. Similar to a charter school, the schools are operated by a board of trustees and are financed by receiving a per-pupil allotment from the state for each student who attends.

Enrollment has nearly doubled since COVID, further nibbling away at traditional public school numbers, and the school has been allowed to increase its cap several times during the past two years. It now can take up to 1,200 students, up from 750 at the start of the 2019-20 school year, she said.

“One of the things that made it popular is COVID opened a new world to students and some students found out they did better in a virtual setting and wanted to continue,” Morrissey said.

Previously, the school mainly was attended by students who had a medical or mental health condition, had been badly bullied, were in competitive training for sports or the arts, parenting or pregnant teens and some very gifted students, she said.

Some students also attend for a short period of time due to illness or because of seasonal competitions, Morrissey said.

Before COVID hit, the school was fully enrolled. A boost in marketing and a new information center that made it easier for parents to ask questions resulted in a large waiting list, Morrissey said.

But in September 2020, six months into the pandemic, the school was inundated with applications. State officials agreed to increase the cap to 1,050 students but even then, the waiting list ballooned to more than 800, she said.

“It was crazy. We always have had a good waiting list, but this is much larger,” she said.

Private schools have had a smaller impact on public school declines.

“While there has been a decline in public school enrollment in certain areas of Western Massachusetts, our overall school enrollment continues to increase. We thought a number of families might leave us after the pandemic restrictions were lifted, but they decided to stay. It is the same with inflation. The families who have come to us are happy with the community and care they are receiving in our Catholic schools,” Springfield Diocesan Superintendent Daniel R. Baillargeon said in writing.

Some schools have seen a small steady increase such as Pope Francis Preparatory High School in Springfield, which had 393 enrolled in June 2022 as compared to 366 in 2021 and 335 in the 2018-19 school year. The kindergarten to grade 8 schools show more sporadic numbers with a few dropping, but more seeing modest increases over the past two years after previously being in a decline.

Statewide enrollment for in-state private and parochial schools, which is also taken on Jan. 1, showed a small increase for 2022 but overall has declined. During the last school year, there were 67,579 students enrolled in private schools, up from 66,253 for Jan. 1, 2021 when so many parochial schools were teaching in-person. During the 2019-20 school year, statewide enrollment in parochial schools, which closed like public schools in March 2020, was 68,050. In school year 2017-18 and 2016-17 it was about the same at about 75,500 students.

In Chicopee the number of students attending parochial high schools is insignificant with just seven out of more than 2,140 high school students, Francis said.

“We did lose some students to parochial but we did get some back,” he said. As of October 2021, there were 284 city students attending Catholic schools.

Perrone said he understands families who are trying to balance fear of exposure, COVID protection protocols and excessive screen time have been reluctant to send the youngest children to school, but is hopeful he will see enrollment bounce back in West Springfield, especially in the youngest grades.

“That’s where children begin to love to learn and love school,” Perrone said. “Our goal now is to focus our engagement on that love for school, learning and the skills that start in kindergarten.”