The New Covid Learning Gap In Education

I predict this will impact many students for years to come

Introduction

The pandemic has caused many educational disruptions to prevail. While I am not a demographer nor a sociologist, I am a highly experienced educator. I am also a mom. These factors have enabled me to build my capacity to analyze circumstances related to students and learning as I forecast relevant outcomes. With all these elements considered, I believe that a phenomenon that I exclusively refer to as the

“Covid Learning Gap”

will become pervasive in our national and global society long after the pandemic has dissipated. This refers to the gaps in the demonstration of student of knowledge due to all of the interruptions in learning that have occurred in recent months. To me, the covid learning gap is synonymous with the achievement gap that has persistently impacted many groups of students in schools throughout the United States.

As progress continues to be made in approving safe vaccines for national distribution and despite the fact that people are continuously urged to intensify their efforts to adhere to safety protocols to dramatically slow the spread of the coronavirus, I believe that school leaders and teachers should prepare for the imminent effect of the covid learning gap.

This article explains my definition of the covid learning gap by comparing it to the achievement gap. I establish a rationale for the existence of an approaching covid learning gap by describing complications that continue to adversely impact schools and families during the pandemic. I use these challenges to elaborates on my professional opinion regarding the ways the pandemic will influence the student acquisition of knowledge. Finally, I offer solutions to minimize the influence of the covid learning gap so that it ultimately disappears over time.

What Is An Achievement Gap?

Educators routinely monitor, analyze, and use various student performance data. Here are some of the reasons why this is a critical function of their work.

• They are able to secure a broad picture of how students are actually learning compared to the expectations that have been established for them.
• Educators are able to design and provide targeted supports and interventions for students who achieve at lower performance levels.
• School leaders, teachers, and non-teaching professionals engage in continuous training that improves the delivery of instruction and other services that support student learning.
• This helps teachers to provide rigorous instruction to facilitate continuous student growth.

Different types of student performance data also enables educators to compare the way groups of students are learning compared to all students. Unfortunately, doing so allows them to determine if learning gaps exist among student groups. This is known as an achievement gap.

The National Center for Education Statistics provides this definition for achievement gap.

“Achievement gaps occur when one group of students (students grouped by race, ethnicity, gender) outperforms another group and the difference in average scores for the two groups is statistically significant.”

Performance disparities also occur among low income students and English learners compared to students outside of these groups.

The Covid Learning Gap

I believe that a newer, more intense type of achievement gap has begun to develop in the United States. The complications related to educational interruptions are certain to result in performance disparities among many groups of students. I call this the covid learning gap.

Once schools closed their doors when the first wave of covid-19 began to spread, the lives of students immediately changed. It did not matter if students were enrolled in school through grade twelve or enrolled in college, they had to quickly adapt to very new ways to learn and interact with others. Teachers and professors had to embrace new instructional methodologies that most were not used to as well.

Since college students possess a strengthened capacity for self-advocacy and problems solving skills and because they have broader educational experiences, they were able to navigate the new challenges they encountered.

Unfortunately, sustained complications mounted by the day within schools and within the homes of students enrolled in basic education, which goes through grade twelve.

School Complications

1. The initial shift to virtual learning left many schools totally unprepared to meet all of their new challenges.
2. Many facilities did not have the wireless infrastructure to support the new and immediate demands associated with their online format.
3. A lot of schools did not have the financial resources to distribute technology devices to the students who needed them in a timely manner.
4. Teachers who lacked experience and adequate training with the delivery of a virtual instructional model were forced to learn fast.
5. Schools were confronted with a relentless amount of pressure from parents, the community, politicians, and educators to make decisions about reopening or maintaining their online model in time for the new 2020–2021 school year. Some school leaders developed a compromise by offering hybrid program. Student cohorts were able to attend in-person school on some days while they participated in virtual learning other days.
6. Economically challenged schools struggled to enforce pandemic safety protocols when they opened their doors.
7. Many schools continue to deal with disapproval from parents and the community when they must immediately close due to coronavirus cases spreading.
8. As teachers became increasingly concerned about their safety as well as the safety of their families, many left their profession due to resignations, retirements, and by taking a leave of absence. This left many schools with teacher shortages. This also has left many to wonder if the most qualified teachers have been filling these vacant positions.
9. High absenteeism continues to prevail for students in some schools. Some transient students along with those classified as homeless may be difficult for the school to locate. Others simple fail to attend online classes.
10. The same parents who remain disengaged in their child’s learning before the pandemic have continued to do so throughout the pandemic. As a result, they have failed to hold their children accountable to participate in virtual experiences or to complete school work while receiving their education at home.
11. The field of education is research and scientifically based. Educators are mandated to use strategies that have been proven to produce positive student outcomes. Unfortunately, many educators have needed to rely on their ingenuity and creativity to make virtual learning work.

Family Complications

1. Connectivity concerns prevail as many homes lack access to the internet. This has caused many students to fall extremely behind in their school work.
2. Parents classified as essential employees have been unable to closely monitor their child’s academic performance during virtual learning because they have had to work outside of the home.
3. Families have been overcome with stress associated with the pandemic. Grief, unemployment, and uncertainties due to added financial hardship have resulted in an emphasis being placed on these things instead of their child’s education at home.
4. Families have not had enough devices for all of their children to use. Impacted students have fallen behind in their online school work.
5. Many parents have felt ill-equipped to help their children with school-related matters at home like developing a detailed schedule for them to adhere to, preparing meals, assisting them with assignments, and keeping them focused as well as organized. Others feel very overwhelmed as they support their children with school related tasks as they also manage household tasks.
6. Reopened schools that have had to close again due to covid outbreaks have literally upset households. This has impacted the ability of parents to maintain consistency with their work and personal schedules.
7. Groups of parents have advocated for students to return to school with safety protocols in place because they feel that their children are being short-changed developmentally. Since they place emphasis on the social experiences that are enhanced at school, they passionately believe that their children are best served there. These parents do not want their children to participate in online school.
8. Some parents want their children to attend in-person school because of their need for reliable child care.
9. Parents who believe that their children are safe in schools with safety guidelines in place have been angered with the decision to keep facilities closed.
10. Many parents with children who have disabilities and physical and mental health conditions as well as those who qualify to receive special education services have been denied the free and appropriate education that they are entitled to when they must attend virtual programs. These parents also believe that their children are denied the opportunity to receive the related services that they are guaranteed.
11. Communication barriers has made it difficult for some families who are English learners to understand what is going. If the schools fail to provide communications to families in their native language, the parents will remain isolated and unaware of school related requirements.

The educational complications that have persisted within schools and within families during the pandemic will make the covid learning gap a reality.

Many Students Will Be Impacted For A While

It is my opinion that the covid learning gap will have lasting implications on the following groups of students.

1. Students enrolled in and entitled to receive special education who have not received all of the required related services and supplemental supports that they have been entitled have not been able to make educational gains. The probability is very high that these students continue to regress academically, behaviorally, and in other ways. These students are likely to fall further behind compared to their classmates who are performing at grade level.
2. Students who were at-risk academically before the pandemic probably continue to struggles because they may not make educational gains. Since these students were used to receiving various types of interventions each school day prior to the pandemic, their struggles more than likely intensified if they have not gotten the daily help that they were used to.
3. Students who did not master critical concepts in classes that took during the last school year but were advanced to the next grade level or course are likely to struggle because they lack the prior knowledge to be successful. This adverse impact will likely extend into a student’s first year of college due to academic inconsistencies at the onset of the pandemic during their senior year of high school.
4. More students are likely to be retained in their current grades because they will not be ready to advance to the next level.
5. The students who have been victims of the pervasive achievement gap are certain to become victims of the covid learning gap as well.
6. Students who do not have internet access, technology devices, or were very late receiving the devices to support virtual or hybrid programs are sure to fall behind in their work. This will negatively impact their overall performance.
7. The students of parents who maintained unstructured households during online learning and failed to hold their children accountable to consistently assume their educational responsibilities will probably not be able to perform at their designated grade level.
8. Students who maintained a high level of absenteeism due to their failure to attend virtual classes or report the in-person school are also likely to remain behind in their school work.
9. Students who are English learners may suffer academically if the school fails to maintain open lines of communications with their parents in their native language. This exclusionary communication failure prevents parents from knowing and understanding all of the changes going on with their child’s education. This group of students may not consistently participate in virtual programming as they should because of this.
10. Unfortunately, some schools have not been able to locate some students due to relocating to a new address and becoming homeless. Such students who have been transient and unaccounted for have not attended their classes or school.
11. The terrible reality of the coronvirus has impacted many homes throughout the United States. A number of families with students enrolled in school have suffered in unspeakable ways. Members of these families have passed away and have become seriously ill due to the virus. Many have lost their jobs, business, and homes. As a result food insecurity has become a harsh reality day after day. The education of the children in these terrible situations has not been a priority. These students have fallen behind in their studies because of the lack of educational involvement and consistency.
12. Students will not be prepared to meet the demands of learning if teachers failed to deliver standards based and continuous rigorous instruction.

In summary, all of the students impacted by the covid learning gap will be confronted with future challenges at school. However, I believe hope exists for these students to regain the ground that they lost so that they will eventually experience the educational success they deserve.

Combating the Covid Learning Gap: There Is Hope

Since teachers and other educators are planners, they must begin to acknowledge the impact that the pandemic will continue to have on the overall growth and development of students everywhere. While they endeavor to work hard to provide instruction daily within environments filled with a high level of uncertainty, they absolutely must begin looking to the future. I believe that it is the responsibility of educational leaders to initiate this process. This will enable the students who require an extra level of support to receive it. Those involved in the planning process ought to include federal and state educational policymakers, superintendents, principals, and board of school directors. Parent leaders should also be a part of planning teams.

I believe the following components must be reflected in their plan to fight against the covid learning gap.

The Plan to Combat the Covid Learning Gap

1. Each state must amend their “Every Child Succeeds Act Consolidated State Plan”. (This exclusive and mandated plan accentuates accountability at the state level to ensure student academic growth that the No Child Left Behind federal legislation did.) The pressure of high-stakes testing must be removed, at least temporarily. Testing should be replaced with a robust emphasis on student remediation. Such an enhanced remedial curriculum would provide teachers with rigorous opportunities to reteach concepts from past and prerequisite courses taken during the pandemic.
2. Student grade level retention should not be considered a viable solution in response to the learning deficits that I anticipate will aggressively emerge.
3. Efforts to engage with the parents of students must be intensified. Positioning parents as partners with their child’s educators will enable them to provide increased levels of support with their child’s education both at school and at home.
4. Students not impacted by the covid learning gap must be provided individualized opportunities to flourish academically and developmentally. Parents must work with their child’s teachers as a member of their educational team to determine the strategies for ensuring the continuous growth of these students.
5. As educators continue to engage in continuous professional development and training, they must change their thinking about student learning. Empathy and compassion along with increased patience must become the foundation and purpose for their paradigm shift. Teachers, professors, and other educators must grow to realize the deep impact that the pandemic has had on student learning at all developmental levels. The impact will be pervasive. They have to avoid the use of blame and ridicule while addressing student deficits that will manifest due to the covid learning gap. Instead, they must grow to realize that perseverance on their part and the part of their learners will ultimately narrow and close the covid learning gap.

Conclusion

Educational disruptions and obstacles have prevented instruction to be continuously delivered to many students in a rigorous manner as the coronavirus spread. For these students, learning continues to be filled with irregularities, pauses, and change. Teachers and school leaders continue to experience these inconsistencies as well.

Educators have been doing their absolute best to adapt to new methods of teaching during these uncertain times. Change has been the most consistent part of their work.

Conversely, students have had to adapt to all of the newness associated with distancing themselves from the friends they hold so dear whenever it has been safe to return to in-person school. They have had to grow accustomed to the tangible contact of their computer screen replacing the tangible human contact of their teachers and classmates. Students have had to get used to the opened, closed, and reopen reality of attending school these days.

Student learning has been tumultuous instead of seamless and fluid. Instead of creativity being fostered through learning, educators have been forced to rely on their inventiveness to quickly figure out how to teach utilizing uncertain systems and techniques. Sadly, students have been impacted by these things.

Unfortunately, I believe that the covid learning gap now exists and will remain in existence for a while. Despite the disparities that will emerge among many different learners, educators must acknowledge this problem now so that plans are made to correct it. Professional empathy, compassion, and patience are among the elements needed to close the covid learning gap. Parent engagement will also become an extremely critical problem solving component.

I hope that you found this article to be insightful. If so, be sure to read some of my related article found in the link below.

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Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is a retired Teacher and School Administrator. Her website is www.Drdeborahmvereen.com and her YouTube Channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS1DPhBeA29UlybU9jzDkdQ.