Back-to-school season is in full swing.
Many students (K-12 and college) are already back in the classroom. Some students, like mine, do not go back until after the county fair has concluded in a couple of weeks (seriously, county fairs are a big deal and as a city girl, I just don’t understand). Regardless of the date of the first day of school, school is about to start!
Back-to-school marks the beginning of a new year. A fresh start. A new beginning.
And with that in mind, I’m writing a back-to-school series this week.
Five posts.
All focused on the ties between back-to-school season and community health.
Today, we address pandemic learning loss.
Future posts will cover disease spread in the classroom, preventive care, mental health, and safety. Be sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss a post…
Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy classrooms & communities.
Pandemic Learning Loss
It’s been ~3.5 years since schools shut down and moved to online learning because of the COVID pandemic. And while the majority of schools have re-opened for in-person learning, a lot of learning loss has occurred and there is a lot of catching up to do.
Learning loss (pre-pandemic many of us referred to this as summer slide) is defined as the loss of knowledge or skills that occurs while students are not regularly attending class. Learning loss during the pandemic was exacerbated by inconsistent schedules, Zoom fatigue, and unequal access to technology (among so many other things).
Research shows that the average student (K-12) is five months behind in math (compared to pre-pandemic data) and four months behind in reading because of the COVID pandemic. Additionally, the emotional well-being of students declined (and continues to do so) because of the pandemic. More than 35% of parents in the US report that they have an extreme concern about their child’s emotional and social well-being. And cases of anxiety, depression, and suicide among children are increasing.1
“Even students who spent the least amount of time learning remotely during the 2020-21 school year — just a month or less — missed the equivalent of seven to 10 weeks of math learning.”
~ Thomas Kane of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University
Research published in May 2023 demonstrated (for the first time) that the root causes of learning loss were at the community/school district level. The loss was NOT tied to what happened in individual households. Across the board, low-income and minority school districts experienced the most learning loss. Communities where the COVID death rate was highest experienced the largest losses in math.
Learning loss is a community problem.
There are countless reasons for learning loss (or is it missed learning!?!?) — teachers were unprepared to go online, teachers lacked the technology necessary to go online; there were staffing shortages, high rates of absenteeism, and high rates of violence and misbehavior; students lacked computers, access to the internet, and space to work at home; families struggled to provide the support needed to learn remotely; and then there was food insecurity, illnesses, and death. Not to mention a new disease spreading worldwide and all the fears and frustrations associated with the pandemic.
Honestly, we could spend countless hours pointing the finger at whose to blame. And we could debate the merits of the shutdown, remote education, and decisions that were made during the pandemic.
BUT — I think it is more important to pause and acknowledge that our children, all students are struggling.
Students are behind in math and reading.
Students are struggling socially and emotionally.
Conversations about learning loss NEED to occur.
And we need to start thinking — as communities — how we will address the learning loss that has occurred.
We cannot just say “Kids are resilient” and move on.
We need to acknowledge and address the learning loss that has occurred.
Learning loss is a community problem.
It is not a problem to be solved student-by-student, family-by-family.
So… what do we do????
Here are three strategies for (starting to) addressing and overcoming the pandemic learning loss —
Step #1 — Acknowledge the problem. Like all problems, we must acknowledge that learning loss occurred. And that it is a community problem. One that must be addressed at a community level.
I want to remind each of you that (in the words of Will McAvoy from The Newsroom, which I have quoted often)2 —
“The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.”
Acknowledging the problem means acknowledging that our own kids (not the annoying neighbors’ kids) experienced learning loss. Please note — acknowledging the loss does NOT mean that we get all political about who is to blame for the pandemic and our personal beliefs about the shutdowns and other mitigation strategies.
We must acknowledge that all of our students missed learning throughout the pandemic. And they are behind in math and reading.
Step #2 — Advocate for programs that will alleviate the loss. There is clear evidence that tutoring (outside of class) and summer programming can help to close the gap.
Use your voice — show up at school board meetings, talk with principals, help community organizations organize programming, go to your local library and ask for help. There are clear pathways to closing the gap, but we need to work to make those pathways accessible, straight, and available to all students.
Step #3 — Rethink education.
“To help our students move forward, America’s schools and colleges need to turn away from constant drilling for tests and fixation on ‘coverage,’ the notion that skimming across vast swaths of curriculum somehow makes for a good education.
Even and especially in disciplines we think of as essential, we need to shift to hands-on, experiential learning and side-by-side collaboration… the answer is not to pile on more rote work, more classroom hours, more enxious test taking, more passive note-taking…
Students have missed out on a lot, and we worry they might never catch up. The solution — and opportunity — lies in changing our teaching so that students learn by engaging with and participating in the world around them.”
~ Dr. G. Gabrielle Starr, President of Pomona College
The learning loss that occurred is an opportunity to rethink education.
It is an opportunity to dream about what could be, how things could be improved, and what might create students who are life-long learners.
We cannot expect to overcome the learning loss that occurred with business-as-usual.
So let’s talk about what could be…
Let’s think about field trips and forest schools. Let’s focus less on the SATs and more on learning to write clearly and persuasively. Let’s develop hands-on learning activities. Let’s teach kids to ethically and responsibly use ChatGPT. Let’s create space for students to dream, imagine, and create — without being graded. Let’s ensure that the arts, music, theatre, ballet, and languages are included in education.
I’d love to see yoga and meditation taught at every school. Available to every student.
Learning loss is a problem. But it is also an opportunity.
Only together can we address the problem.
And only together can we create a new education system that both closes the learning gap and creates lifelong learners.
Will you join me?
First, acknowledge the problem.
Then use your voice — talk to neighbors, teachers, and community leaders about the problem. You don’t have to solve anything, but get learning loss on their radar.
And then let’s start reimagining education. Together we can work to overcome the loss and create something that is better for all of our students.
This is a problem community concern. And a problem that we can only solve if we work together.
Join me.
Start by repeating to yourself “Pandemic learning loss is impacting all of our students.”
And share this with your friends and family (and community leaders, too) —
And stay tuned for another back-to-school post tomorrow…
Mental health will be covered in-depth on Thursday. Stay tuned. Be sure you are subscribed.