Comments on: PROOF POINTS: Why are kids still struggling in school four years after the pandemic? https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-kids-struggling-four-years-after-the-pandemic/ Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education Mon, 16 Sep 2024 17:26:09 +0000 hourly 1 By: Danny Orozco https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-kids-struggling-four-years-after-the-pandemic/comment-page-1/#comment-77195 Tue, 27 Aug 2024 13:35:57 +0000 https://hechingerreport.org/?p=102942#comment-77195 Has anyone considered the possibility that students care less about these assessments as they get older? Just a thought, that perhaps as students become older they stop seeing the value in giving their best effort for tests that will not affect their grades. Isn’t it curious that the gaps seem to increase as they get older? I’m curious what the data shows for high school students. I have taught for 20 years, majority in middle school and for the past 4 years in high school. I agree with the conclusion that there seems to be larger gaps than pre-COVID era but perhaps the reason is not due to a lack of in person instruction but rather the results show that students are giving less effort and attention to these adaptive assessments designed to challenge and measure them rather than assess the content they have actually been taught. Just a thought.

]]> By: Thomas O'Connor https://hechingerreport.org/proof-points-kids-struggling-four-years-after-the-pandemic/comment-page-1/#comment-77008 Fri, 23 Aug 2024 16:49:31 +0000 https://hechingerreport.org/?p=102942#comment-77008 The assumption made in all of these studies is that learning velocity, the rate at which children acquire knowledge and skill is the primarily the result of a loss of instruction time. This is indicated by calculations of additional instruction needed to “catch up.” This is certainly a factor, but it doesn’t explain why current first and second grade students, who were not in school at the time of COVID, are also lagging behind where they would be predicted to be pre-COVID. It is thus important to ask what else changed as a result of COVID?

There are several additional factors which changed with COVID including acceptance of absenteeism, changes in social context, changes is peer pressure to perform, and on-time assignment expectations for example. But the one change which does not seem to be on the table for discussion is efficacy of the movement from one device for several students, the norm in most schools before COVID, to one device per child during COVID and resulting focus to computer based learning even in the classroom. Does an hour of computer based instruction equate to an hour of in-person, instructor lead learning?

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