LINCOLN- The Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is set to receive testimony on the civil rights implications of the Covid-19 pandemic at two separate hearings, with "a focus on the digital divide and increasing mental health challenges." The public testimony will then be used to create a report, which seeks to determine just how much the Covid-19 pandemic damaged Nebraska's education system, if at all.

Committee Chair Nikitah Imani, a professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said in a press release that the goal of the study, more broadly, is to better understand the "lived experiences and lessons learned from the urgent need to shift educational practices" in Nebraska. The Committee, using the testimony from the hearings, will work to identify areas of need and move to improve those as needed. The studies were prompted after Nebraska's student proficiency scores in math were found to be flat and after language arts scores plummeted during the 2021-22 school year.

One of the sessions was scheduled on Monday, July 3rd, and the next will be held on July 13th at 2pm, with a focus on "E-learning and the digital divide." The Civil Rights Act of 1957 established the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, with the goal of gathering facts and guiding the development of national civil rights policy and the enhancement of federal civil rights law.

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