Fresno Unified limits eligibility for remote learning as early grades struggle
Fresno Unified is no longer offering remote learning to kindergarten students starting this school year, district officials confirmed to The Bee.
Carlos Castillo, Fresno Unified’s chief academic officer, said the district is evaluating whether its Farber School of Online Learning should remain open to students in early elementary grades, citing the challenges of remote learning for young students and their teachers.
“Reading foundational skills are hard enough to teach in person,” and even more difficult through a computer screen, Castillo told the school board at an Aug. 27 meeting.
Fresno Unified’s Farber School of Online Learning has grown to one of the largest online programs in California. Farber Online enrolled more than 800 students last school year and has a staff of about three dozen teachers who teach synchronous, or real-time, classes in virtual classrooms.
Castillo said in an interview that teachers have encountered some struggles with teaching young students remotely. Teaching phonemes in a virtual setting is challenging, for example, because it’s difficult to sound out the letters through a computer screen.
When students are specifically past the second grade and have more of a foundation, they’re more receptive to online learning, Castillo said. There’s a “higher percentage of interest” in the opportunity once they enter middle or high school, he said.
Students who don’t perform well with remote learning will have meetings and interventions to explore potential supports, including whether in-person schooling would be a better option.
Fresno Unified set a goal last year to have 80% of its first-grade students be proficient in literacy.
This story was originally published September 16, 2025 at 3:26 PM.
