The COVID-19 Gap Year
(and not the cool kind where you get to backpack Europe for a year)
COVID-19’s impact on education started like a spring snow day. Kids had the week off and were excited about it. Teachers got to take a few days off too. Most parents were worried but optimistic that things would turn around and return to normal. Little did we know, none of it panned out like we thought.
The mini-holiday for teachers quickly turned into a mad scramble as they tried to figure out the nuances of virtual learning and prepare for their first online classes. It was a DISASTER. Between technical difficulties, software hiccups, and teachers who could not adapt to the virtual environment, the end of the 2019-2020 school year was essentially written off; swept under the rug.
By the fall of next year, things seemed to have been ironed out. Most teachers were up to speed on the new portals that the schools would be using for the school year, and students were getting acclimated to their online classes (if they attended). By comparison, the 2020-2021 school year was shaping up to be much less disastrous than the conclusion of the previous year. Again, things didn’t turn out as well as we thought.
Engagement plagued the public school system. Some counties reported really low attendance rates: some kids missed 1 out of every 3 school days. However, measuring attendance isn’t a reliable metric of student engagement. Students may have been marked present, but, mentally, they weren’t present. With the ability to turn cameras off and blame “technical difficulties”, students were able to “attend” class while playing video games, watching the latest on Netflix, watching YouTube, or hop into Discord calls with their friends and laugh about all the school they were skipping.
Attendance issues aside, the virtual group learning environment just didn’t work well for many students. The lifeless 2-D classroom can make it difficult for students to feel seen and get the attention they need. So even the students who did attend class logged off at the end of the day having learned nothing/very little. Now that classes have been in-person again for over a year, it may seem logical to think all is well. Let me assure you that all is NOT well.
For some classes, this virtual year-off of learning may not be a big deal. For others, the damage done is profound. Math, for example, builds off itself. Each year of math, you add concepts, confidence, and critical problem-solving skills to the foundation formed from the previous year. If a student misses one of those years, it leaves that foundation weakened. It’s only a matter of time before you stack too much content on top before the whole thing collapses. That’s exactly what we’re seeing with students this year: the first somewhat normal year of school.
I work with high school juniors and seniors who have trouble doing 8th-grade level math. I spend large quantities of time reteaching content from the previous two years, trying to patch the holes in a sinking ship before it’s too late. And there is such a thing as too late. One study recently showed only 10% of students who are considered far off-track in 8th grade get caught up by the 12th grade. That’s abysmally low, and, in most cases, is not the fault of the student.
So what does this mean if your child is behind? Statistically, the odds of getting caught up are not in their favor. If they do stand a chance of getting caught up to their peers, the time they spend in the classroom is just not enough. They need extra practice and reinforcement outside of the classroom and in addition to their assigned work. They need the guidance of someone with the experience of working with students before, during, and after the COVID school year across all levels of math and science. Considering students missed almost an entire year of school (~50 hours of learning time in each class), it will take a full calendar year to make up the lost time if students get academic support for one hour each week outside of school. If you’re concerned about your student’s preparedness for high school and beyond, please contact me and I’ll help you and your student come up with a plan.
