Editorial: Learning loss continues to hamper student achievement in Virginia
You might say Virginia schools have a form of long COVID: Students who were in the early grades when schools shut down for the pandemic four years ago are still struggling to overcome major learning setbacks.
Students across the U.S. fell behind during the pandemic, as schools closed and later relied heavily on remote learning. Getting students now in grades 3-8 back where they should be is proving to be a difficult, slow process. In some places — including Virginia — the recovery has been especially challenging.
How much effect did the disruptions have in Virginia? Between 2019 and 2022, math achievement statewide fell by 84% of a grade equivalent in math and 60% in reading. The pandemic, of course, hit in March 2020.
Nationwide, students made up about a third of their pandemic losses in math and about a quarter of their losses in reading during the 2022-2023 school year, as reported by the Education Recovery Scorecard produced by researchers at Harvard and Stanford universities.
Unfortunately, Virginia is one of only nine states where reading scores continued to drop during that school year. Students across Virginia have not overcome the setbacks they suffered during the pandemic. They don’t perform as well on standardized tests as their peers before COVID hit.
Things could get worse. When schools open come September, the $191 billion in federal pandemic relief funds, some of which states have been using to help students catch up, will be running out.
To their credit, leaders in Richmond have been working to address the problem. Lawmakers approved and Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed legislation providing an additional $418.3 million in school funding for the 2024 fiscal year. The money is being used for academic tutoring, combating chronic absenteeism and expanding the Virginia Literary Act.
This learning setback is a crisis in public education, one that could have serious repercussions. It would be hard to overstate the importance of doing everything possible to help Virginia’s children learn to the best of their ability.
That means all Virginia’s children — including those in rural areas and in urban areas with high poverty rates, and minority students. The already significant gap in achievement between high and low poverty widened during the pandemic. Children in low-wealth districts in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke and Alexandria fell more than a full grade equivalent in math.
There are some bright spots. The most recent data show that math achievement in Norfolk schools improved by more than half a grade in a single year. We need to intensify efforts that are working.
If we fail to get children back on track, the damage could affect them into the future, limiting their ability to find work and build successful, productive lives.
Youngkin is promoting his “ALL In VA” approach, which is using 70% of the extra funds in the new budget to promote effective math and literacy tutoring, including online and high-intensity in-person programs. Twenty percent of the money is going to expand the Virginia Literacy Act, including intensive literacy instruction, online resources for families and reading specialists to work with students who fall behind.
The final 10% will go to combat chronic absenteeism — missing 10% or more of the academic year. Absenteeism doubled from 2018 to 2022-23 and continues to be considerably higher than before the pandemic. There’s a clear relationship between excessive absences and lower reading and math scores.
Families of children who need help should take advantage of summer programs and strive to avoid unnecessary absences in the new school year.
School districts should take full advantage of the All In programs when the next academic year starts.
Even those who don’t have children in school now can help. Youngkin and the state Department of Education are urging people to become tutors, to volunteer to work with students and to support public schools and teachers.
Overcoming the ravages of the pandemic on learning is critically important, for the future of our children and of Virginia.
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