The coronavirus shutdowns have launched an
unplanned, unprecedented experiment with
online education at schools across the U.S., and
the nation’s largest school system plunged in
Monday as New York City asked over 1.1 million
students to log in and learn.
After a whirlwind week of planning, students
— those who could — signed in to Google
classrooms and Zoom video conferences for
virtual versions of everything from high-school
English discussions to kindergarten gym classes.
City officials were still trying to get laptops to
hundreds of thousands of students in need.
Parents grappled with how much to expect of
their schools, their kids and themselves.
Emily James was pleased to see the vast majority
of her ninth-grade English students showed up
for class by video, some using smartphones or
borrowed laptops.