Beginning in March 2020, many bad decisions were made that will impact untold numbers of young people for the rest of their lives.
There has been nothing but awful news about the unnecessary COVID-related shutdown of American schools. Study after study and a mass of anecdotal evidence show the harm done by the forced lockdowns.
Yet more research, released in January, extends the grim scenario. A meta-analysis of 42 studies across 15 countries assessed the magnitude of learning deficits during the pandemic, and finds “a substantial overall learning deficit . . . which arose early in the pandemic and persists over time. Learning deficits are particularly large among children from low socio-economic backgrounds.”
The analysis finds the losses are larger in math than in reading and in middle-income countries relative to high-income countries. The learning progress of school-aged children slowed substantially during the pandemic and overall, students lost about 35 percent, of a school year’s worth of learning. One of the studies included in the analysis found that the average public school student in third grade through eighth grade lost half a year of math learning and a quarter of a year in reading.
Two countries, Sweden and Denmark, managed to avoid the upheaval. Swedish children experienced no learning loss because they were not subjected to mass school closures during the pandemic. While Denmark did have closures, it is theorized that the lack of learning loss could be attributed to the country’s “reliable digital infrastructure with Denmark being one of the absolute top-scorers in digital skills, broadband connectivity, and digital public services in Europe.”
Another recent study by the Institute of Educational Studies’ School Pulse Panel reveals that about half the students in the U.S. entered school in September 2022 below grade level in at least one subject.
The findings from the School Pulse Panel are very similar to the results of a survey compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April 2022. According to the CDC, a survey of nationally representative public schools showed that 49 percent of students began the 2022-23 school year behind grade level in at least one subject. The percentage is significantly higher compared to a typical pre-pandemic year, in which just over a third of students are behind.
The bad news isn’t all about academics, however.