LOUISIANA, USA — We're getting a look at just how much the pandemic set children back, as they were away from the classroom.
Across the nation there were declines.
Louisiana has consistently ranked at the bottom when it comes to reading and math skills, but some changes by the state, now show progress.
The report card on Louisiana students is mixed. It shows the toll virtual learning took on our children, and it shows some progress on what is being done to fix that.
When you look at what happened to students across the country in the last three years, there are minus signs across report cards. Fourth and eighth graders lost proficiency in both reading and math.
“We know that for the majority of our kids, them being in daily face-to-face instruction really matters. In the first year coming out of the pandemic, we saw the disparities between students who were fully remote, and those who were in daily face-to-face instruction,” Dr. Cade Brumley, Louisiana Superintendent of Education said.
But the Louisiana Department of Education is touting an area of progress. Louisiana fourth graders were among only a handful of states, to show growth in reading skills. In fact, it was at the top of the growth chart.
“I don't believe our state has had a sound strategy around teaching kids how to read for some time, and so what we have done for the last couple of years, we spend a lot of time working on implementing phonics back in our schools,” he added.
In a state-by-state ranking, Louisiana children no longer had the distinction of being dead last. Students moved up a few places compared to other states, but still, education leaders are assessing why, and what will change low math scores.
In recent stories to lower crime, on WWL-TV, called “Wounded City,” some connect the crime to a lack of learning skills, like at a forum at Dillard University.
“We know that where children are in or around the third grade is an indicator for their future. Around 60 percent of the third graders in Louisiana can't read. That indicates what their future will be" Kristen Rome, Co-Executive Director of Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights said.
And advocates who work with children in schools, tell stories of how some children and teens handle the stress of not being able to keep up.
“She was so outgoing, so talented, and gifted. Well, she couldn't read, so every time it was test time, she'd get into a fight. And so a number of kids was the same way,” Ameer Baraka said of one of the students he mentors. He is the author of “Undiagnosed: The Ugly Side of Dyslexia.”
“The outcomes across the state of Louisiana, for a long time, haven't been what we want them to be. However, this is a signal that our recovery strategy is working. Are we back to pre-pandemic levels across the board? No. Are we making progress towards that? Yes,” Dr. Brumley said.
Truancy was a big problem during the pandemic. So, the state launched the first Attendance and Recovery Task Force to make sure students are in school every single day.
And every school has had to develop a “Comeback Plan” based around attendance, well-being, academic recovery, and acceleration.
For more on Louisiana's "Comeback Plan," click here.
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