Adam D. Powell, President & CEO, Communities In Schools of the Dallas Region.
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If there were any doubts that the pandemic wreaked havoc on the American educational system, they can now be laid to rest. The magnitude of Covid-related learning loss experienced by a cohort of 9-year-olds, the first group for which national data are available, presents a sobering reality, to say the least.
The Fallout: What Was Lost
Unsurprisingly, especially for those of us in the business of education, or parenting for that matter, a first look at our “Nation’s Report Card” and student educational achievement following the Covid-19 pandemic reveals a failing grade. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the primary longitudinal and nationally-representative measure of K-12 learning, student performance plummeted, and in a mere two years; math scores dropped 7 points, the first decline of its kind in mathematics while reading scores dropped 5 points, the largest decline since 1990.
On average, scores for all groups of 9-year-old students declined when compared to 2020 pre-pandemic data; however, some groups of students, particularly those defined as "lower performing," experienced far greater declines than their "higher performing" counterparts. At the same time, the white-Black score gap within the age category swelled. Black students lost a full year of education to the pandemic when compared to 2020 test scores. What accounts for the gaps between students? Differential "classroom" experiences in the pivot to virtual schooling; the timing of return to in-person learning; disparate access to resources, the digital divide; space within the home; and parents, guardians and teachers who could provide assistance appear to be key buffers in stemming the tide of learning loss.
However, there were other powerful dynamics at play that undermined student achievement. Research consistently demonstrates the formidable impact of student well-being and mental health on the ability to concentrate, learn, acquire knowledge and develop new skills. The youth mental health crisis was already brewing prior to 2020, as suicide became the second leading cause of death among teens, but amid the pandemic, it accelerated. According to CDC data, during the pandemic, one in three high school students reported poor mental health, rates of depression and anxiety increased and over half of students experienced emotional abuse in their homes. Meanwhile, as students struggled to cope with the standard growing pains, they were confronted by the loss of loved ones, social isolation, poverty and resource scarcity, and the absence of the critical peer and adult support systems normally afforded within educational settings; there are clear reasons why the kids are not okay.
The Great Comeback: What We Can Gain
Despite the bleak portrait of student academic achievement and mental health, however, I remain hopeful that the lessons of the pandemic portend an educational comeback—one that recognizes why investment in K-12 education is so critical to our nation’s future and how to support youth proactively. And there are signs of just such a realization afoot. We comprehend the genesis of the problem, the magnitude of the loss and where to funnel our resources. Likewise, we recognize the profound impact of mental health on student learning, which points us to embedding mental health support systems in schools, including trauma identification, early intervention and public health approaches to the youth mental health crisis.
As a populace, we have also gained a far greater appreciation of the benefits of face-to-face learning, additional instructional time during the summer and after school, the centrality of technology to scaffolding learning and skill acquisition, and the invaluable role that teachers play in the lives of their students. We are acutely aware of how to improve student achievement—we’ve been doing it for over 20 years—so recovering from these losses is not uncharted territory.
However, it requires targeted resources. President Biden’s budget for 2023 looks to provide some of these resources, particularly for low income schools insofar as it “more than doubles funding for Title I compared to the 2021 enacted level through a combination of discretionary and mandatory funding.” Yet it also prioritizes teacher recruitment and retention and rewards innovation and simultaneously encourages the use of best practices, data and research findings on how to improve learning outcomes. Mental health support systems have also been prioritized.
Taken together, these shifts signal a profound transformation in our approach to education, and they just may be a sign of the great American educational comeback. However, our collective success is dependent on far more than schools merely offering additional K-12 programming or receiving additional funding.
Leaders of educational nonprofits play a vital role in this transformation, and their contributions will be felt simply by treating schools as the center of the youth universe. At a practical level, nonprofit leaders should work directly with schools to deliver student and parent services during or directly before/after school, while housing their services directly within schools themselves (when feasible). This also necessitates strategic partnerships, data sharing, supplemental technology, positive adult mentors and ongoing education to create a community of support around students.
Moreover, educational nonprofit leaders should approach students with the recognition that academic achievement cannot be improved unless we address youth holistically. Yet, this requires pivoting to view mental health as the centerpiece of all efforts targeting students, even if mental health is not part of your program model. In particular, nonprofit education leaders can engage personnel in mental health training so that they recognize the signs of trauma, crisis and declining mental health in youth. Staff training and ongoing education in culturally competent approaches to working with students, especially related to the high rates of undiagnosed, underdiagnosed and untreated mental health issues among racial and ethnic minorities, can effectively reduce many of the barriers to intervention for these populations.
Finally, while K-12 is the focus here, this shift in perspective applies equally to institutions of higher education programming and the non-profit sector that supports access and success for students transitioning to college and those already there—a far reaching community offering support not just for student achievement but for student well-being.
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