CORPUS CHRISTI — As students made their way back into the classroom the past two weeks, districts were forced to play catch up to fill the learning gap.
"There's no better instruction than face to face,” Conrado Garcia, the West Oso Independent School District superintendent said. “Virtual learning has limitations."
According to the Texas Education Agency, the number of students not meeting grade level increased since 2019 across all subjects and grades.
"When the student don't go to school, they depend on their self pace, their self learning,” Alice Pena, a private tutor said.
Pena said it's also difficult for children to focus online because they aren't on a schedule and are forced to motivate themselves. So, private tutoring services saw an increase in traffic.
"We are getting more parents who are calling 'Mm before the pandemic, my kid used to do well but not with this online learning you know things are not working so well so we're really concerned'." Roland Omene, the CEO of Frog Tutoring said.
Garcia said the biggest concern at his district is children falling behind in reading.
"If there are any West Oso parents that haven't sent their kids to school, please send them.” Garcia said. “The longer they stay at home the more the gap keeps growing and growing and growing."
Garcia said the district is implementing more tutoring opportunities and they are also sending teachers to reading academies so they can better help students.
