Johnny Murphy, 15, struggled for a month this fall to learn how to unmute himself during live video lessons with his class at Vaughn High School in Chicago. And it looks different from student to student. Nine months after COVID-19 shuttered schools and prompted the country's largest experiment with virtual learning, the extent of academic regression is still a guessing game. Meghan Mangrum How much has learning slowed this year? "We almost need a disaster plan for education," said Sonya Thomas, executive director of Nashville Propel, a community group that works with many Black parents in Tennessee.Ībigail Alexander, right, a fifth grader at Head Middle Magnet School, helps her sister, Anaya, an exceptional education student at Maplewood High School, try to sign in online for the first day of virtual learning for Metro Nashville Public Schools on Aug. Hillsborough County, Florida, started the year missing more than 7,000 students. Los Angeles saw kindergarten enrollment drop by about 6,000. There's scant data about missing students' progress, of course, but few presume they're charging ahead academically. He co-wrote a report that estimated the average student could lose five to nine months of learning by June, with students of color losing more than that.īeyond that, tens of thousands of children are unaccounted for altogether. "This is not going to be a problem that goes away as soon as the pandemic is over," said Jimmy Sarakatsannis, leader of education practice at consulting firm McKinsey and Company. And math achievement has dropped nationwide, according to a report that examined scores from 4.4 million elementary and middle school students. Fewer kindergarteners met early literacy targets in Washington, D.C., this fall. In high-poverty schools, 1 in 3 teachers report their students are significantly less prepared for grade-level work this year compared with last year, according to a report by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research institution. Class failure rates have skyrocketed in school systems from Fairfax County, Virginia, to Greenville, South Carolina. Many of those students were already lagging academically before the pandemic. Now, they're even further behind – with time running out to meet key academic benchmarks. Children with disabilities and those learning English have particularly struggled in the absence of in-class instruction. The consequences are most dire for low-income and minority children, who are more likely to be learning remotely and less likely to have appropriate technology and home environments for independent study compared with their wealthier peers. It's becoming increasingly clear that districts and states need to improve remote instruction and find a way to give individual kids special help online.Īt the moment, plans to help students catch up are largely evolving, thin or nonexistent. students are attending virtual-only schools. The goalposts are constantly shifting on a return to in-person learning, and about half of U.S. And as the pandemic heaves into a winter surge, a slew of new reports show alarming numbers of kids falling behind, failing classes or not showing up at all.įor months, experts hoped a return to classrooms would allow teachers to address the lapses in children's academic and social needs. For many students, that hasn't happened. Like millions of students attending school virtually this year, Ruby is floundering academically, socially and emotionally. She sleeps a lot. She misses her friends. Her grades have dropped from A's and B's to D's and F's. Her online classes are lecture-heavy, repetitive and devoid of student conversation. But it has made it exponentially harder for her to stay motivated and learn. Virtual learning might be keeping Ruby, 14, and her family safer during a public health crisis. Anthony, like many schools in urban areas, including Milwaukee Public Schools, started the fall semester online amid the coronavirus pandemic. Her close friends attended different high schools, mostly other private schools that offered in-person instruction. Anthony's middle school missed their graduation ceremonies and parties. She doesn't know what her classmates look like, because nobody ever turns on their cameras.Īfter schools in Milwaukee went remote last March, Ruby and her friends in eighth grade at St. Anthony High School, a private Catholic school in Milwaukee. She sits alone at the dining room table, barefoot and petting the family dog. Now class begins when her classmates' names appear online. MILWAUKEE – Ruby Rodriguez remembers the days when English class meant walking to her desk, talking to friends and checking the board.
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