Math and reading levels in K-12 schools from 2020 to 2022 have dropped back two decades, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The government lockdowns to combat the COVID-19 pandemic kept kids out of the classroom, causing their learning to suffer.
Reading scores between 2020 and 2022 showed the largest recorded drop, falling in line with numbers from 1990 while the nation suffered its first ever decline in math scores, according to a report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Students did not receive in-person learning for more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic in March 2020, while the CDC promoted in-person instruction as safe in February 2021, Pew Research reported. (RELATED: Here’s How Much Pandemic Learning Losses Is Costing School Districts)
Reading levels for students aged 9 dropped five points in the last two years, while math levels for students aged 9 dropped seven points, the report stated. Lower-performing students suffered a larger learning loss than students who excel in the classroom.
Hispanic students dropped eight points in math and African American students dropped 13 points, the report stated. In reading, all demographics dropped a total of six points.
In July 2020, studies showed that students were unlikely to transmit COVID-19 even if they returned to school. Regardless, a majority of schools did not open fully until the 2021-2022 school year, Pew Research stated.
When Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis reopened schools in Florida in December 2020, the teachers union filed a lawsuit calling the reopening “ignorance,” saying it would cause “millions of Floridians to die.” In October 2021, the nations second largest teacher’s union, American Federation for Teachers (ATF) conspired with the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create back-to-school guidance.
An attendee sits next to anti-vaccine mandate signs at a special Board of Education Meeting on mask mandates for students and staff in Kalamazoo County Schools at the Schoolcraft High School Gymnasium on August 23, 2021 in Schoolcraft, Michigan. The Schoolcraft Local School District opened the floor for public discussion. (Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)
Nearly 79% of parents with K-12 students were in favor of sending their students back to school in March 2021, a month after the CDC announced it was safe for students to return, as school districts pushed back plans of reopening. Of Republicans, 94% wanted in-person learning, compared to 62% of Democrats.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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