On Learning Loss

A New York Times piece discusses, again, learning loss from the lockdowns of 2020, but a new study shows the lockdowns actually improved some skills. 

The Editorial Board of the NY Times wrote about the "Startling Evidence on Learning Loss" insisting that school closures "may prove to be the most damaging disruption to the history of American education."

Really? More damaging than many children getting a brain invasive virus over and over, sometimes 2-3 times each year, a virus we know swells glial cells around neurons that then fuse together, blocking signals to the brain, which creates Alzheimer's-like symptoms in the young?? Those months off, in most places a shorter time than a typical summer break, caused more disruption than this ongoing virus? That was just the first paragraph, so let's keep reading:

"Economists are predicting that this generation, with such a significant educational gap, will experience diminished lifetime earnings and become a significant drag on the economy. . . . The challenges have been compounded by an epidemic of absenteeism, as students who grew accustomed to missing school during the pandemic continue to do so after the resumption of in-person classes. Millions of young people have joined the ranks of the chronically absent--those who miss 10 percent or more of the days in the school year--and for whom absenteeism will translate into gaps in learning. . . . The more absences these students accumulate, the more they miss out on the process of socialization through which young people learn to live and work with others. The more they lag academically, the more likely they are to drop out."

Hold the phone. Absenteeism refers to a practice of intentionally missing school or work without good reason. What's their proof that they're off having fun or they just prefer being home?? I would posit, if I dare, that kids are missing school, some up to 40% of their classes, due to rotating illnesses in the building. Then when they come back, sometimes their teacher is off sick and the substitute, if there is one, isn't qualified in the subject area. And some well kids are being kept at home because of the level of illness in the schools that could kill a family member, an infant or immunocompromised adult, if it's brought home. Furthermore, students kept home to work aren't in full isolation. They are socialized within their family and the connections they have outside of the school system. 

Then this editorial board presents a lesson on the school engagement cliff; kids fall off when they no longer care about school: 

"This sense of disconnection stems from a feeling among high school students in particular that no one at school cares about them and that the courses they study bear no relationship to the challenges they face in the real world. These young people are also vulnerable to mental health difficulties that worsened during the pandemic."

In many schools, it's where kids get fed and one-on-one counselling and a whole host of supports, even when funding is abysmal because staff will give up their lunch and prep and before and after school time to help the kids. Definitely there are more difficulties now. Before the pandemic, almost every term I'd have a student who was off for the funeral of a grandparent. That's pretty common. After the pandemic, I had more students who lost a parent or a sibling to the virus. That type of thing used to bring out a range of supports in place. Now, we just move on. It's too common to provide as much supports as it really deserves. And many more kids are grieving missing out on prom or other events where they know it's not safe to attend because nobody is going to wear a mask and nothing will be done to clean the air. At most dances, like Taylor Swift concerts, they close and bar all the doors to keep out the riffraff - and much needed ventilation. 

But beyond that, it can be really hard to care about school when you're growing up during an ongoing pandemic when the global CO2 tapped the 2°C benchmark and the potential for a viable future is up for grabs. I'm not sure the solution to that one, but we might add things like growing and preserving food to the curriculum.

None of those issues are a result of the lockdown, though. 

The solution to reverse the learning loss from the team at the NY Times:

"One way is by exposing them to teachers who have had an extraordinary impact on their students . . . offering these excellent teachers extra compensation in exchange for taking extra students in to their classes."

Okay, that's just dumb. What works for the average students can be weeded down some basic techniques, but no study can find what works for each student. Some kids told me I was life changing, and others couldn't stand me. That's the way it works in the real world. There's no magic formula that creates the perfect kind of teacher that's going to inspire all the kids and solve the learning loss. 

My solution: give all the kids and staff N95s and clean the air so everyone is safer in the building and then just watch the "absenteeism" plummet!

About that other study:

A study in JAMA looked at "Cognitive and Emotional Well-Being of Preschool Children Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic." (It was also discussed in New Scientist and appears on the Canada Healthwatch website.) They used data from the Ontario Birth Study that started collecting info on kids between 24 and 54 months (or between 2 and 4½ for regular people) back in 2018, which was perfect to compare to kids just a few years later. They looked at the difference between 258 2-year-olds tested before the pandemic and 460 2-year-olds tested during the pandemic, and they looked at 417 4½-year-olds tested before and 286 tested during the pandemic. So, lots of kids at both ages before and during, but all at the pre-school or kindergarten age. They used a battery of tests at each age. They note one confound that could affect the results: the participants were more likely to be from homes with well-educated parents who read about the study online and had the wherewithal to bring their children in for testing. Just over half reported a household income over $150,000. 

I've always known, intellectually, that there's a huge educational disparity in homes at the top and bottom of the economic curve, but it was made so much clearer to me when teaching remotely. As some kids unmuted to speak, you could tell they were sitting in the middle of a room full of people, with so much noise in the background that we could barely hear them speak. Other kids had their own room, headphones, and mic. Just that one thing alone makes a difference in the ability to concentrate and study, which can affect the ability to learn. It's what makes homework a barrier to many kids, but that's a story for another day. 

On to the results of kids being home with their parents more during the early years:

"The pandemic-exposed group had significantly higher problem-solving skills. . . . Fine motor skills were significantly higher in the pandemic-exposed group. . . . The pandemic-exposed group had significantly higher vocabulary and picture sequence memory scores compared with the nonexposed group, as well as higher cognitive composite scores. There were no significant differences in children's socioemotional functioning."

Then they looked at exposure in groups based on how far into the pandemic they were tested and found those 2-year-olds further along (who had been at home longer) had better fine motor skills and problem-solving skills, and the 4½-year olds at home longer had higher picture sequence memory and higher overall cognitive composite scores. However, kids tested during the pandemic had lower gross motor skills which could reflect less time using outdoor play equipment. 

Remember when play equipment was all blocked off at parks and playgrounds because it couldn't be wiped down sufficiently between users?? Angry about all that droplet-dogma bullshit yet??

The upshot of this, if there's any possible way to stay home with your kids when they're little, specifically when they're 2-4½, the one-on-one attention will benefit the child more than whatever they get at daycare or kindergarten, possibly assuming, that is, that being at home doesn't bring undo strain in other ways. 

But when they go to school or daycare, get them used to wearing an N95 to protect their little brains!!