Pandemic learning loss 'a 4-alarm fire' as low student scores paint grim picture

WASHINGTON (TND) – Amid the raucous battles over masks versus no masks in schools, the more long-term scars will likely be found in the loss of learning for America’s children.

From schooling through a screen to those who simply stopped showing up, the trends caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are now yielding a new set of numbers that paint a grim picture of young people falling behind.

"Today their math and reading scores alone are losing at about a year to two years behind. We’re looking at a staggering number of students who are going to fail to be productive," said Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of The Center for Education Reform, a group that advocates for school choice.

Pennsylvania's Department of Education just released its results from students scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams, showing broad declines in both math and English in grades 3 through 8. English scores fell between 3.5 to 7%, and math scores were down between 7% and 11%.

However, far fewer students took the test this year so it’s difficult to compare.

"We should be treating this like it literally is a four-alarm fire," Allen said.

The non-profit educational research group Northwest Evaluation Association revealed similar numbers for test scores in a Dec. 2021 report, but found achievement gaps between low and high poverty schools in the U.S. growing even wider.

“The pandemic was not an equal opportunity crisis in that students of color and students of high poverty schools have been hardest hit. The toll of the pandemic has been, in every aspect possible, has been harder for students and families in those communities," said Karyn Lewis, a senior research scientist with NWEA.

The concerns run deep, but school administrators and researchers say there are changes that can be made but work on these needs to start now.

"There is a sense of urgency," Lewis said. "It could be additional summer school opportunities, it could be high dosage one-on-one tutoring, it could be extending the school day.”

She and other experts in education say it’s also about helping kids reconnect socially and emotionally to also make up for losses in their mental health, and that understanding the overall losses from the last two years could take more than double that amount of time to regain.