Jill Biden to visit Utah school as US moves toward reopening

Jill Biden to visit Utah school as US moves toward reopening

Biden, a teacher herself, is visiting Glendale Middle School, which has a diverse student body and returned to in-person instruction a few months ago. The stop is part of a swing through the U.S. West that also includes Nevada and Colorado.

But a Biden administration survey of U.S. schools last month found striking variations in how students of different races and ethnicities were learning. Among fourth-graders, more than half of white students were being taught fully in person. By contrast, less than a third of Black and Hispanic fourth-graders were back in classrooms full time, along with just 15% of Asian students.

The disparities have raised alarms among advocates who worry the pandemic is worsening racial inequities in education. Debate also persists nationwide on how schools can reopen safely.

At Glendale Middle, 65% of students are Hispanic, 12% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and 6% are Asian, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The area also has a large refugee community, and a majority of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch.

Student grades dropped in Salt Lake City while all learning was conducted remotely but have improved since reopening for in-person classes, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. At Glendale Middle, half of students still received at least one F during the third quarter, but that was down from 61% in the first quarter, the paper found.