The scary truth about how far behind American kids have fallen
American students are struggling to recover from COVID-19 learning setbacks, with significant declines in math and reading, especially among low-income and disabled students, due to absenteeism and funding challenges.
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American students continue to struggle in math and reading, with a recent report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education indicating that they are less than halfway to recovering from the academic setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report highlights significant declines in performance, with only 56% of fourth-graders meeting grade-level expectations in math, down from 69% in 2019, and 65% of third-graders in reading, compared to 72% pre-pandemic. The pandemic's impact has been particularly severe for low-income students and those with disabilities, exacerbating existing educational inequities. Despite some initial optimism about recovery, recent data shows that many students are still falling behind, with chronic absenteeism and foundational learning gaps contributing to the issue. While some schools have implemented successful strategies to improve student engagement and attendance, the expiration of federal funding and logistical challenges hinder broader recovery efforts. Experts emphasize the need for accessible recovery programs and better communication with parents regarding their children's academic standing to prevent long-term deficits in essential skills.
- American students are significantly behind in math and reading, with recovery from pandemic-related learning loss lagging.
- The performance gap is most pronounced among low-income students and those with disabilities.
- Chronic absenteeism and foundational learning gaps are major obstacles to recovery.
- Some schools have seen success with engaging strategies, but broader efforts are hampered by funding and logistical issues.
- Effective communication with parents about academic performance is crucial for addressing learning deficits.
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8 comments>>>> struggling to put away their laptops when asked
"One of my principles generally is look at what rich people are doing and see whether or not they know what they're doing and that could be more broadly learned. And, you do see this sport red shirt, "academic" red shirting. So, it's for academic reasons, not athletic reasons, but this is relatively common in upper middle class circles. (parents will have their kids restart the grade, voluntarily). And, indeed some private schools do it almost by default. They have a second year of pre-K [pre-Kindergarten]. And that second year of pre-K skews very male".[1]
Rich men like Bill Gates and famously severely restricted access to computers to their kids [2]. Members of the "All In" podcast, including FB exec Palihapitiya do not allow any screen time [3]
COVID turbocharged negative trends, but maybe our leaders could look at what people with resources are doing, then help our kids with simple solutions: Start by taking computers back, away from 6-8 year olds.
[1] Richard Reeves: Author "of Boys and Men" (how boys are completely falling behind)
[2] https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-steve-jobs-bill-gat...
[3] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-capital-ceo-chamath-pali...
And it's scary to see such a fall. We seem less competent.
Reciprocally there's some - not vast but some - challenge that I deeply welcome. The blood of tyrant flows these days; those who kept us tied to the machines, who have been the expressed way things are, aren't getting such tight controls. Some regression in scores is acceptable if youth are finding authentic their own ways to engage, are more deeply pursuing their own value systems, rather than that which is imposed.
It's entirely unclear what degrees of constructivist building our own values is at play here. Far too soon to tell. But education has maintained the course for a long long time now, has kept their captive audience enthralled to a certain achievement based system. These are the first signs of wavering, the very first. In many many many decades of belief in education. I have no desire to see education (as we've seen it) thrown away, but I hope it can adapt & respond & better serve it's people, as they are less cohesive & less managed a people.
It will also be deeply interesting to see how things go as time marches on, if this is blip is isolated or if it ripples recur.
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