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The Hechinger Report
5 ways schools hope to fight Covid-19 learning loss
Data show kids are behind in reading achievement, especially in the early grades
By Jackie Mader
February 4, 2021
A deluge of data released late last year confirmed what has long been
suspected: The coronavirus pandemic caused widespread learning loss
while also amplifying gaps across racial and socioeconomic lines.
The situation is especially concerning among younger children: one
analysis of reading level data by Amplify Education, Inc., which
creates curriculum, assessment and intervention products, found
children in first and second grade experienced the most dramatic drops
in grade level reading scores compared to previous years. This year, 40
percent of first grade students and 35 percent of second grade students
are “significantly at risk” of needing intensive intervention compared
to 27 percent and 29 percent last year.
Larry Berger, chief executive officer at Amplify, said the data reflect
how the pandemic has interrupted schooling at a critical time for young
children when they are learning basic reading skills and making rapid
progress in the foundations of reading. For first graders especially,
the kindergarten year was “seriously disrupted,” Berger said. “It would
make sense that there would be a lot of kids who are just missing a
bunch of those basic reading skills that are typically developed in
kindergarten.”
Amplify isn’t alone in identifying this learning loss. Data analyzed by
McKinsey & Company concluded that children have lost at least one
and a half months of reading, with students of color faring worse. And
some experts say the loss could be even worse because some of the most
vulnerable students may not be regularly attending class online or
taking assessments this year. “It’s hard to even test where kids are,
and in the ways they are [usually tested] in the classroom,” said
Adeola Whitney, chief executive officer of Reading Partners, a
nonprofit that focuses on reading support and tutoring. While some
reports suggest reading loss hasn’t been as bad as expected, Berger
says Amplify’s data show reading achievement in the early years
deserves a closer look. “The slide is substantial and it definitely has
us asking, ‘is the country ready to try and close the gap of this
scale?’”
Here are some of the ways experts and educators are proposing to do
just that, many of which were highlighted in a recent report by
McKinsey & Company:
Tutoring: Research shows “high dosage” tutoring can help boost reading
skills, especially in the early years of elementary schools.
England launched a national tutoring program last year to help students
make up learning loss and some states like Tennessee have specifically
targeted learning loss from the pandemic with existing tutoring
corps. Broward County Schools in Florida partnered with Saga
Education late last year to launch a math tutoring program to address
pandemic-related learning loss. Reading Partners, which puts tutors in
under-resourced schools, pivoted to an online platform last year when
the pandemic hit.
Extended school year: States like North Dakota are considering
extending the length of the school year to help catch students up to
where they should be academically. The Ector County Independent School
District in Texas has extended its school year and will launch a summer
program for students this year. The Los Angeles Unified School District
is planning on tutoring appointments and Saturday school to help
support students, and the McKinsey & Company report suggests summer
programs like Aim High in California or Acceleration Academies as an
option for remediation.
Grade-level reading exposure: The report by McKinsey & Company
highlighted data that show keeping learning materials at grade-level
and helping students work up to that level is more effective than
pulling students out of grade-level work and reteaching content from
earlier grades. Mississippi has offered professional development for
educators to learn about this approach, and the Highline Public Schools
district in Washington state has equipped teachers with sample units
with this approach in mind.
Partnerships with community organizations: Whitney with Reading
Partners said communities should to support teachers through
partnerships with literacy programs like the Minnesota Reading Corps or
Jumpstart. Those programs “are needed now more than ever,” Whitney said.
Work on literacy at home: Outside of school, parents can boost literacy
by reading books with children and pointing out letters and words in
everyday life, like at the grocery store. Even if a child lacks access
to books during this time due to school and library closures, parents
can make literacy-related activities playful to help young children
build their basic reading skills, such as by singing rhyming songs,
slowly sounding out words to help children identify the sounds in a
word or challenging children to find everything in a house that starts
with a specific sound.
Read this and other stories at The Hechinger Report
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