| | | | | |  | | By Jessica Calefati | Presented by Sallie Mae® | AMERICA, WE HAVE A PROBLEM — Results from a standardized test taken by elementary and middle school students earlier this school year paint a bleak picture of the harm the pandemic inflicted on their learning. — Performance on the iReady test administered nationally by Curriculum Associates plummeted for all students compared to the last time it was given before the health crisis began. Nearly three million students took the test both times. But achievement among children who attend schools with large proportions of Black and Latino students suffered the most, the data shows. — The share of students performing below grade level in math swelled by 17 percentage points among kids who attend mostly Black schools — nearly two-thirds of those learners are now behind — whereas the figure only worsened by 6 percentage points among children who attend mostly white schools. In reading, declines were nearly twice as steep for students at majority Latino schools as they were for children at majority white schools. — "This is a disaster. The bottom has fallen out, and the results are as bad as you can imagine," said Michael Petrilli, president of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute. "We haven't seen this kind of academic achievement crisis in living memory." IT'S MONDAY, DEC. 6. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. I'm interested in documents and data that illuminate problems in our schools you feel aren't getting enough attention. Have something I should see? You can reach me at jcalefati@politico.com. You can also contact my colleagues: Lauraine Genota (lgenota@politico.com), Juan Perez Jr. (jperez@politico.com), Bianca Quilantan ( bquilantan@politico.com) and Michael Stratford (mstratford@politico.com). And follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @ POLITICOPro. | | A message from Sallie Mae®: Students shouldn't pay more for college than they have to, but more and more families are leaving money on the table each year. Nearly a third of students skipped the Free Application from Federal Student Aid or FAFSA® last year, and the form's complexity is a big reason why. To help students maximize federal financial aid, which is important to do before considering other options, including private student loans, Sallie Mae launched a free suite of financial education tools and planning resources, including a FAFSA support tool that can help families complete the form in minutes. See how Sallie Mae makes sense of the FAFSA. | | | | | | STUDENTS STRUGGLING THE MOST — Overall, the students most affected are the second and third graders who were still learning to read when the pandemic began, and the tweens who couldn't grasp the shift from procedural to conceptual math when the lessons were delivered virtually, a Curriculum Associates analysis of student performance on its test shows. — "Our data points to how the pandemic interrupted all teaching and learning but not equally so," the report states. — Morgan Polikoff, an associate professor of education at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education , said the worrisome test results demonstrate the importance of in-person learning. White families were more likely to have access to in-person classes and more likely to choose it for their children. Black and Latino families in many cases had fewer options and less faith that schools would protect their children from the virus, he said. — Data collected by reopening tracker Burbio shows only three states — Arkansas, South Dakota and Wyoming — whose populations are more than three-quarters white started last school year by inviting nearly all families back for in-person instruction. It wasn't until June that the vast majority of states asked students to return to their physical classrooms. — The steep decline in student performance on the iReady test mirrors the standardized test results trickling out from different states. In Oklahoma, the share of students proficient in math and reading fell 10 and nine percentage points, respectively, between the 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 school years. In North Carolina, math proficiency rates plummeted nearly 20 percentage points and reading proficiency fell at least 10 percentage points for all but eighth graders during the same time period. OHIO CASE STUDY — Early evidence that the nation was rocketing toward a learning loss catastrophe came in February when Ohio released the results of a standardized test students took in October 2020. More than 80 percent of the state's third graders showed up to take the reading test in person even though many were attending classes remotely at that point. — Achievement fell precipitously. Compared to third graders' performance on the test in fall 2019, the decline in scores equates to about one third of a year's worth of lost learning, The Fordham Institute found. The decline was greater for economically disadvantaged children, and it was especially large for Black students, who lost about half a year's worth of learning. — The Fordham Institute also found that declines were steeper in Ohio districts where learning remained completely virtual at the start of last school year and that test score declines were bigger in parts of Ohio that experienced the sharpest job losses. "Our preliminary calculations suggest that Covid-related unemployment explains approximately one-third of the decrease in average test scores statewide," a report from the institute states.
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| | | NOW WHAT? — Students across the country are back in their classrooms, following a year-and-a-half of online learning in some cases, and state officials and district leaders are starting to think about how to help children catch up. Allison Socol, assistant director of P12 policy for The Education Trust, said she's hopeful substantial progress can be made this school year thanks to the $190 billion in federal pandemic relief funding schools received. — "I'm choosing to be optimistic," Socol said. "I have to hope that with these resources, good things will come." — A portion of the federal aid must be spent tackling learning loss. Many states have expressed interest in proven strategies like offering targeted intensive tutoring, which works well for younger students, and increasing the number of hours of instruction students receive each day, either during nonacademic class periods or by lengthening the official school day, Socol said. Tennessee's plan to invest in tutoring is especially promising, she added. — "Finally, we are assisting school districts in their work to address lost instructional time," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in September when he testified before the Senate HELP Committee. "Not only as an educator, but as a father, I can tell you that learning in front of a computer is no substitute for in-person learning." — But parents' desire to erase pandemic disruption from their memory and get back to normal could hinder efforts to make up for what students lost academically since the health crisis began. Only a tiny number of parents in the five states that made it easier to hold students back asked to have their children repeat a grade, The74 reported. And according to one new survey, 73 percent of parents oppose a longer school day and two-thirds oppose a longer school year. | | | |   | | | | | | ICYMI: BRUCE CONFIRMED — The Senate on Friday confirmed Sandra Bruce as the Education Department's next inspector general. Bruce joined the department in 2014 as a deputy inspector general and has been leading the office since 2018 when former Inspector General Kathleen Tighe retired. — "Sandra will be an asset in the continued promotion of efficiency, effectiveness, and economy in all department programs and resources," Cardona said in a statement. "I look forward to her continued work to advance our mission in service of students, educators, and families across the country." | | | | DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | | | | — Southern Illinois University President Dan Mahoney has named James Minor the 10th chancellor of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Minor most recently served as assistant vice chancellor and senior strategist in the Office of the Chancellor at California State University, which just posted the highest graduation rates in its history. Minor will assume the role in March 2022. | | A message from Sallie Mae®: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA® , opens the door to $150 billion in federal financial aid, including scholarships, grants, work study, and federal student loans. But too many students and families are missing out on aid because they simply never complete the form. To help simplify the process, Sallie Mae launched a tool that helps students file the FAFSA in minutes, empowering them to make informed choices with confidence. See how Sallie Mae makes sense of college financing. | | | | | | — Dramatic Day Reveals Details About the Parents of a School Shooting Suspect. The New York Times — San Diego County district plans to offer in-person classes for unvaccinated students. The Los Angeles Times — Colleges prepare for unknowns with omicron variant. The Washington Post — Survey: Louisiana teacher pay among the lowest in the South. The Associated Press | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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