Ohio advocacy group searches for solutions to learning setback caused by COVID-19
CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The pandemic has resulted in historic learning setbacks for America’s children, erasing decades of progress.
Test scores known as the Nation's Report Card revealed that math scores have declined in nearly every state and district from 2019-2022. The data shows that four in 10 eighth-graders failed to grasp basic math concepts, and reading scores also dropped to 1992 levels.
It's not a complete surprise that students are not where they should be, two years after the pandemic gave birth to remote learning. Learning that way made it hard to get students to pay attention, and increased absences across the board.
“Children that were struggling prior to the pandemic, which is often our economically-disadvantaged Black and brown kids, are struggling even more,” said Lisa Gray, the president of Ohio Excels, an advocacy group backed by Ohio’s business leaders.
Gray said say urgency is key. Ohio Excels wants a comprehensive statewide plan to help students catch up from all the setbacks.
Local 12’s Cassy Arsenault asked Gray if there is reason to be alarmed, since this is a nationwide problem.
“Well, everyone is in the same exact boat. The same exact thing disrupted learning," Arsenault said. "So, aren’t we just all on the same sliding scale, and we can start there? Can’t we pick up where we left off? Do we really have to be alarmed about it or can we accept there was a loss of learning for everyone and start from there?"
Gray says it’s not as simple as that, because the rest of the world and its institutions are not going to lower their standards.
“The expectations of the workforce, the expectations of higher ed., the military, those kinds of things are not changing, so lowering the expectations is not the answer," said Gray. "The answer is, how do we get kids to where we know they need to be to be successful?"
Gray says extending school years, or school days, or even adding an extra year of education may the be answer. It could also be adding extra tutoring programs. Whatever the answer is, she says we need to find and agree on that answer right now.
“I think there are solutions to it, we just have to be diligent. We have to look at the data. We have to make sure we know where all of our kids are,” said Gray.
Gray also mentioned the amount of federal dollars that came into the State of Ohio during the pandemic, so, she says, finding and providing resources for students should not be a challenge.
According to Gray, Ohio’s proficiency rate in eighth grade fell from 38 percent in 2019 to 29 percent in 2022. In addition, eighth-grade reading proficiency rates fell from eight percent to 33 percent.
