A new report released Thursday reveals how much pandemic-related schools disruptions have wreaked havoc on American students’ learning.
(Bloomberg) — A new report released Thursday reveals how much pandemic-related schools disruptions have wreaked havoc on American students’ learning.
The analysis from the National Center for Education Statistics found that fourth-grade reading and math scores dropped by the largest margin in over 30 years, an average of 5 and 7 points each. It was the first decline ever in math, and the biggest in reading scores in 30 years. While all races and ethnicities lost ground, Black and Hispanic students fared the worst, with an average drop of 6 points in English and 13 and 8 points in math, respectively.
Acting NCES Associate Commissioner Daniel McGrath called the scores “some of the largest declines we have observed in a single assessment cycle” in the NAEP’s 50-year history. He added that students are currently testing at levels from 20 years ago.
The onset of the pandemic in 2020 shuttered schools nationwide. Some closures were short-lived, others dragged for over a year. Remote learning, the report suggested, had a bigger impact on kids with less access to the tools needed to succeed at home. Of the 70 percent of 9-year-olds who learned remotely during the 2020–21 school year, the highest performers had access to a tablet, laptop or computer all of the time and a quiet place to work some of the time.
“COVID-19 disruptions may have exacerbated many of the challenges we were already facing,” said Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the NCES. “We know that students who struggle the most have fallen further behind their peers.”
The report comes amid turmoil in schools. A July survey by the American Federation of Teachers found that the majority of teachers are dissatisfied with their jobs. Covid-era closures and re-openings, as well as school-shooting threats and drills and limitations on what they could teach all contributed to the deteriorating morale.
(Updates with comment in fourth paragraph.)
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