Research Wednesday | May 22nd, 2024

Dear Friends,

This week's evidence concerns persistent disagreements among researchers about the degree of COVID-related learning loss in mathematics and reading. The New York Times claimed that students are making a “surprising surge” in learning (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/31/us/pandemic-learning-loss-recovery.html while other researchers, such as Joel Rose writing in Education Next claim that learning loss – especially in middle school – remains pervasive and persistent, forecasting huge challenges for these students who will struggle with the demands of high school math classes. https://www.educationnext.org/addressing-significant-learning-loss-in-mathematics-during-covid-19-and-beyond/.  

 It is not unusual for researchers to look at the same data and come to different conclusions, but these views are so wildly different that they will leave teachers and school leaders wondering how to address learning loss for the 24-25 school years before secondary school students become so frustrated that they simply stop coming to school.

There are three keys for administrators and policymakers to consider: assessment, academic support during the school day, and avoiding the grade-level expectations trap, in which if only teachers focused on teaching the current grade-level expectations, a miracle would ensue.

 First, assessment. Some schools give every student a reading, writing, and math assessment in the first week of school and plan academic support accordingly. They need not wait until a student has accumulated multiple failures in order to act decisively.  

 Second, there has always been a need for academic support during the school day. Clearly, the adverse impact of school closure associated with COVID affected different families and different communities to different degrees. Students who had tutors and “pods” to continue learning during COVID have different needs than students who went a year or more with little or no instruction. This is not a call for a return to tracking; some students – typically those from economically disadvantaged families - systematically had lower expectations. Rather, we need a “catch-up” system in which students who need academic support receive it immediately and during the school day – not in summer school or after-school programs. This will require tough decisions by courageous leaders who will make the case that for middle school students to succeed in high school, they need a core set of skills not only in math and reading but also in executive function. To put a fine point on it, these students need those skills more than they need a German elective. Moreover, students who drop out of school never have the opportunity for electives.  

Third, we must reconsider the orthodoxy that grade-level curriculum is a panacea. Middle school students who do not know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide will struggle in their pre-algebra classes no matter how committed the teacher is to grade-level instruction. Students need to gain mastery of the skills that they will need to succeed in later grades. If schools fail to provide this support in the name of pursuing grade-level expectations, they will widen the very equity gaps that they are seeking to address.  

 I can be reached at 781.710.9633 or douglas.reeves@creativeleadership.net, if you want to discuss this week’s research.

 Best,

Doug