COVID Pandemic Impacts Test Scores

The COVID-19 pandemic left no state or region unaffected as it created historic setbacks in the education of America’s youth, undoing decades of academic progress.

In a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, elementary math and reading scores from across the country plummeted drastically from pre-pandemic levels. Math scores declined for the first time ever, dropping 12 percent, and reading scores dropped to their lowest levels in 30 years, according to NBC. 

Students who were already struggling academically were affected the most by the pandemic. Students who performed poorly before the pandemic saw the biggest decline in scores, while high-performing students had the smallest decline. Furthermore, economically disadvantaged students and students of color struggled more than the national average. Tory Mathieson, an Upper School English teacher, says that during the pandemic, “There [were]so many privileges that our school had that other schools didn’t.” Having reliable access to the internet and technology throughout the pandemic was vital for students’ success, so the pandemic played a large role in widening the economic and racial achievement gap.

These findings reflect two years of massive disruption within the American education system. Disease prevention measures forced millions of students into remote learning, causing challenges for both educators and students. Chris Kinney, math and engineering teacher at the School, says, “So much of teaching involves ‘reading the room to see [or] understand levels of student comprehension, which was quite difficult to do via Zoom.” 

As teachers struggled with the challenges of instructing remotely, students had to adjust to the many difficulties of the new learning environment. Kinney echoed the opinions of many students, saying, “It’s hard to learn via a computer screen!” These challenges throughout the pandemic clearly impacted students’ ability to learn, and teachers have noticed a harmful effect on socialization. Mathieson says, “Everybody dropped some social skills.” 

In a post-pandemic world, the School must make a strong effort to help students make up for the loss of in-person instructions over the pandemic. Ciara Coleman, a fifth grade teacher in the Lower School, said “There are definitely [academic] skills that are missing, but I don’t think they are skills that we can’t get back.” Supporting lower-performing students should become a high priority for educators to get students back on track. Kinney says, “we all have to collectively ‘dig our way out’ of the hole we’ve found ourselves in.”