MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – On Wednesday, thousands of children from Miami-Dade County returned back to school.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Jose Dotres visited several schools as thousands of students made their return to the classroom from summer break.
“The children have been uplifted and more motivated now that the pandemic is not a major factor in our lives,” Dotres said.
However, the learning curve and pandemic-related learning loss could remain a steep one as he stated the Miami-Dade school district and other education systems have “a lot of work to do.”
One of several stops in the country’s fourth largest school district for Dotres was Comstock Elementary in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood.
Dotres visited Ms. Quintana’s third grade reading class where many students were English language learners and recent arrivals to the United States.
Dotres said “because they’re young English learners, the teacher prefers them to be in the classroom where they can get that one on one experience.”
With English not being his first language, Dotres has sympathized with the students with a learning curve and hopes that educators will pay closer attention to the student’s proficiency levels.
The four areas that are primarily impacted are math, science, special education and high school language arts.
Dotres also mentioned “We’ve showed a lot of recovery in the academic progress, however we have to pay attention to proficiency levels. In some of the students we still have to accelerate learning to catch them up.”