Sobering News

NPR reported yesterday that,

“Math and reading scores for students across the country are down following years of disrupted learning during the pandemic. On Monday, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, released a full report for the first time since 2019; the results show a slight dip in reading scores and a drop in math.”

The NPR report went on to say that,

“U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona called the results “appalling and unacceptable” in a call with reporters. ‘This is a moment of truth for education,’ he said. ‘How we respond to this will determine not only our recovery, but our nation’s standing in the world.’”

NPR continued by reporting that,

“When you compare the most recent results to past years, it paints a stark picture: In 2022, the average fourth-grade math score decreased by 5 points to its lowest level since 2005. The average eighth-grade math score decreased by 8 points to its lowest level since 2003.”

“’Given the disruptions of the pandemic, the drop in math was expected’ said Peggy Carr, commissioner for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which administers the Nation’s Report Card.”

“’We really need the teachers to teach math,’ she said. ‘Reading, on the other hand, is something that parents and communities are more comfortable helping students with.’”

This recent NAEP news should rock our public education community, and the early responses from writers suggest it has.

Andrew Rotherham wrote in The 74 yesterday that,

“The disaster and inequity of pandemic policies is now in clear focus. The state NAEP scores released Monday underscore and quantify just how much of a catastrophe pandemic-era school policy and practice was for students – especially the youngest and those already struggling in school. These data build on and confirm previous evidence we saw through the NAEP as well as results from the ACT and data from vendors such as NWEA and Curriculum Associates. This much converging data is hard to brush away. As the president himself might say, it’s a big ******* deal.”

Rotherham focuses on the worst news when he writes,

“Most worrisome for those concerned about equity: Students already furthest from success in school were most impacted. In fourth-grade math, the number of students at the below basic level jumped 6 points. It was 7 points higher in eighth-grade math. In plain terms, that means 38% of eighth-graders are at a level in mathematics that leaves them functionally unprepared to fend for themselves in the world, let alone pursue success in various college and career opportunities. And remember, these downward results were evident even before COVID cold-cocked schools. In 48 states, more students performed at “below basic” on eighth-grade math than did in 2019. In many states, the number of students at that bottom tier grew dramatically because of the past few years.”

To make matter worse, according to Rotherham, parents, especially black, brown, and poor parents, haven’t a clue how bad this data really is.

Rotherham writes,

“Even though a variety of private resources are trying to help people come to grips with it [how bad the data really is] – the Edunomics Lab created a learning loss calculator, and researchers and analysts from the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University, the Center of Education Policy Research at Harvard and elsewhere have sought to quantify the impacts – too little is being done to make sure parents are aware of any of this information.”

Rotherham concludes by writing,

“The predicate for more support for parents and students, however, is a clear and honest sense of the problem – something in the K-12 sector continues to fail to provide. This new round of NAEP data, with progress in some state rolled back to 1990s levels of performance, should end any hesitancy about leveling with parents about where things stand and what we collectively must do. This new data removes the last excuse for not providing an honest accounting – now.”

Except in Iowa.

As many of you know, I spend quite a bit of time in Iowa these days. So I was surprised to see how the Governor of the Hawkeye State, Kim Reynolds, responded to the sobering NAEP news.

According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Reynolds had this to say when NAEP results were shared with her:

“’Iowa was the first state in the nation to reopen its schools during the pandemic, bringing students back to the classroom for in-person learning in August 2020 – not to make headlines or for political gain, but because we believed it was the best thing to do for our children’s education, stability, and overall well-being. Now, the first pandemic-era math and reading results reported today by the National Assessment of Educational Progress prove we did the right thing.’”

It’s hard to figure out how Governor Reynolds thinks Iowa did the right thing when the Gazette reports,

“For Iowa, the test found students were treading water in three of the four metrics:

There was no significant difference in fourth-grade math scores between 2019 and 2022. Iowa was on of nine states to how no notable change in that time, including the neighboring states of Wisconsin, Illinois and Nebraska.

Similarly, fourth-grade reading skills showed no significant change in that time, as was the case with 20 other states including neighbors Wisconsin and Illinois.

Eighth-grade reading scores also showed no notable change in Iowa, as was the case with 16 other states plus the District of Columbia.

However, eighth-grade scores in Iowa declined. Only one state – Utah – showed no significant change in the period. No states showed improvement.”

Politicians like Kim Reynolds aren’t doing the State of Iowa or the country any favors by trying to turn NAEP chicken shit into chicken salad.

And, Governor Reynolds, and many of her Republican gubernatorial allies, would be wise to look at how their black, brown, and poor kids are doing within their states, especially inside city school districts like Iowa’s Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Waterloo. That news is worse than anything shared in this article.

What’s the remedy to all this? The traditionalists will tell you the country needs to double-down on how current schools and school districts operate – improved curriculum, better teachers, more testing, more tutoring.

Like Andrew Rotherham points out, some of this country’s learning rot existed long before COVID-19. We need to be careful not to lump all our dysfunction and failure into the pandemic basket, especially when it comes to black, brown, and poor learners.

To me, the traditionalists are just wrong, and I used to be one of them. It’s time for a new system of learning. And, according to the NAEP data just released, our future depends on it.

I’ll be away until November 1^st. Happy Halloween! SVB