Speaker 1: This is the SoCal Update. I'm Cara Santa Maria. Distance learning and the impact on motivation. We speak with a local high school student about what has kept her from falling behind during the pandemic. It's Monday, May seventeenth. The COVID pandemic has been an unprecedented test for teacher-student relationships. Hannah Keon from PBS NewsHour's Student Reporting Labs looks into how this relationship, or lack thereof, has affected students at Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga.

Speaker 2: Thanks, Cara. There's been a lot of news about how distance learning has caused students to fall behind. What people haven't thought about is the impact on motivation. At my school, pre-COVID, only five students were reported to take a pass or fail class, but that number increased to 30 in the last year. I spoke with math teacher Matthew Sandrejo, who did regular check-ins with his students, surveying not just how they were doing academically, but mentally as well.

Speaker 3: By building this culture that we had over Zoom, I could tell where some students were coming from, and I could understand better, and they could understand me better, and it just made overall just a more enjoyable experience for the whole year. But this wasn't the case for all students

Speaker 2: and teachers at Etiwanda. Distance learning and the lack of a relationship to other teachers left not just me, but my fellow classmates feeling less motivated. Students reported feeling misunderstood and lost without the connection with their teachers. School psychologist Desiree Page says that when we can develop healthy and appropriate boundaries and relationships with our teachers, it helps our overall mental health and well-being overall. This is something I felt myself. Before distance learning, I would show up to my classes excited to be there because I had that bond with my teachers, and that motivated me to want to do better.

Speaker 1: Thanks, Hannah. For more on COVID's impact on education, you can stream the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Lab special, Disrupted, on Tuesday, May 18th at 4pm on the PBS NewsHour YouTube channel.