If there are any students in your life, it will come as absolutely no surprise to you that their academic — and social — lives continue to suffer greatly because of various effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last four and a half years, all American students at all levels except perhaps the very youngest kindergarten and elementary schoolers of today have felt the impact of school closures, distance learning, isolation from their peers, too much screen time, inability to get to know teachers, lack of recreation on the playground and sporting fields.
It was a special reminder last spring that one of the groups hit the hardest were then-college seniors. They had seen their high school graduation semester interrupted as the first school closures swept the nation with the initial phase of the deadly disease that killed over a million Americans in 2020. Then, in 2024, a number of prominent universities suffered various degrees of campus shutdown from the protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Couldn’t these scholars catch a break?
They could not. And research shows that they continue to have problems all these years on. For the third year in a row, important work from the Center for Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University dives into the statistics from around the nation about the pandemic effects on students.
This year, CRPE focuses on the effect on special populations in the schools: “COVID-19 disproportionately affected students with unique learning needs. English learners, students with disabilities, and homeless youth had higher rates of absenteeism, disrupted services, and setbacks. Our analysis points to a dysfunctional system that served these students badly before the pandemic hit and remains inadequate,” the 2024 State of the Student report says.
But it also cites statistics from the general population of students and educators, and they’re essentially all bad: 60% of teenagers said pandemic learning loss was a problem. Some 22% of American adults said they feel positively about the direction of education across the country. About 92% of school leaders are concerned about their students’ ability to meet grade-level standards. In 36 states, chronic absenteeism has risen to truly concerning levels — 20% or more of the student population. Seven of 10 students report that all or most of their peers are bored in class.
Well, maybe with that last stat, it was always thus. And at some point, educators and parents as well are going to have to remind students that all generations have had to face their own problems — all those miles of walking through the snow to get to school, and whatnot.
But we can’t deny the reality that 35% of teens, according to EdSource, say their mental health is worse or much worse since the pandemic started. And society clearly needs educators who can begin to turn this problem around with creativity and vigor.
Though the CRPE properly worries that schools “face worsening challenges, including teacher morale, mental health support shortages, declining enrollment, and expiring recovery funds” after the pandemic, the group does report some good news on the road to educational recovery.
In a segment of the report called “We Are Learning What Works,” the group notes: “Students and teachers are showing signs of recovery from the pandemic, with students recovering about a third of their math and a quarter of their reading losses. States and districts are adopting permanent measures like tutoring, quality curricula, and extended learning time, with rigorous evaluations confirming their effectiveness. Education systems are emphasizing relationships, joy, and flexibility, leading to more agile and future-focused schooling models. There is a growing effort to support educators by fostering teamwork and utilizing new technologies, such as generative AI, to reduce workload.”
Joy and flexibility — now there are two watchwords for what learning should be about.