Study shows student performance plummeted during pandemic

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts and teachers had to get creative.

Enter “remote learning.” There was no other choice. It was either instruction through the screen, or nothing at all.  

But a newly released study shows remote learning was not as effective as experts once hoped.

Researchers at curriculum and assessment company, Amplify, assessed more than 400,000 students pre-K through second grade. They found close to 40% are in dire need of education-related intensive intervention now compared to the 27% in the 2019-2020 school year.

Researchers found Black and Hispanic children suffered significantly more than their white classmates.

“The struggles of students who have fallen behind are not going to go away on their own,” Susan Lambert, chief academic officer of elementary humanities at Amplify, said in a statement. “If we don’t address them, those struggles will compound. The older these students become, the longer it will take them to catch up.”

Lambert says a number of things need to be addressed as students head back to the classroom.

Lifting the morale of teachers, student well-being, and stopping the spread of the virus will all help to get kids back on track.