Experts agree that COVID lockdowns and remote learning were extremely damaging to children, affecting everything from reading and writing to basic social skills.
Since the start of the epidemic two years ago, the National Center for Education Statistics has performed a research on ninth graders. Five points were lost in reading, while seven points were lost in mathematics.
According to the United States Department of Education, this was the greatest decline in reading test results since 1990, and it was the first time they had ever recorded a lower average in mathematics.
Tony Kinnett, a former education executive at Chalkboard Review and Indianapolis Public Schools, stated that children are now returning to in-person learning’several grade levels behind’ and referred to the situation as a ‘catastrophe’
Kinnett told Fox News on Thursday, ‘It’s not like these students are returning and resuming up right where they left off. They have regressed since they have not been exposed to any academic challenge for the past year and a half.
Experts found that COVID lockdowns and remote learning were extremely damaging to children, affecting everything from reading to writing to basic social skills.
Some experts believe the decline began before the epidemic, but the lengthy lockdowns and absence of in-person classes exacerbated the situation.
Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, stated, “I believe that this is another one of the detrimental downstream effects of having schools closed for years in some cases without justification.”
A study conducted by the Department of Education revealed that 84 percent of public school administrators believed the pandemic negatively impacted the behavioral development of pupils, and that more than a third believed it led to an increase in fighting, bullying, and threats of violence.
Tony Kinnett, a former education executive at Chalkboard Review and Indianapolis Public Schools, reported that children are returning to face-to-face schooling’several grade levels behind.’ and termed it a “unmitigated catastrophe.”
Some experts believe the decline began before the epidemic, but the lengthy lockdowns and absence of in-person classes exacerbated the situation.
In addition to reading, Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach for Parents Defending Education, emphasized that children acquire essential behavioral development in schools.
She remarked, “Everything has taken such a big dive, and it doesn’t appear that many influential people are talking about it.”
Kinnett suggested that school districts must first acknowledge that shutting schools was a mistake.
He stated, “You will not progress if you fail to identify the gap.
So many want to argue that it’s not learning loss, but rather institutional racism or non-affirmation, or that kids are just worried since COVID was so intellectually taxing on them. There is so much of stuff that it is difficult to say, ‘OK, the problem is that they didn’t learn for a year and spent a year on their phones.’