Our Youngest Learners Are In Trouble

We are still struggling with learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but this time the loss is infecting those kids who weren’t even in school when COVID appeared back in March of 2020.

This past summer, The New York Times reported that,

“The pandemic’s babies, toddlers and preschoolers are now school-age, and the impact on them is becoming increasingly clear: Many are showing signs of being academically and developmentally behind.”

“Interviews with more than two dozen teachers, pediatricians and early childhood experts depicted a generation less likely to have age-appropriate skills – to be able to hold a pencil, communicate their needs, identify shapes and letters, manage their emotions or solve problems with peers.”

“A variety of scientific evidence has also found that the pandemic seems to have affected some young children’s early development. Boys were more affected than girls, studies have found.”

“’I definitely think children born then have had developmental challenges compared to prior years,’ said Dr. Jaime Peterson, a pediatrician at Oregon Health and Science University, whose research is on kindergarten readiness. ‘We asked them to wear masks, not see adults, not play with kids. We really severed those interactions, and you don’t get that time back for kids.’”

“The pandemic’s effect on older children – who were sent home during school closures, and lost significant ground in math and reading – has been well documented. But the impact on the youngest children is in some ways surprising: They were not in formal school when the pandemic began, and at an age when children spend a lot of time at home anyway.”

“The early years, though, are most critical for brain development. Researchers said several aspects of the pandemic affected young children – parental stress, less exposure to people, lower preschool attendance, more time on screens and less time playing.”

“Yet because their brains are developing so rapidly, they are also well positioned to catch up, experts said.”

“The youngest children represent ‘a pandemic tsunami’ headed for the American education system, said Joel Ryan, who works with a network of Head Start and state preschool centers in Washington State, where he has seen an increase in speech delays and behavioral problems.”

“Not every child is showing delays. Children at schools that are mostly Black or Hispanic or where most families have lower incomes are the most behind, according to data released…by Curriculum Associates, whose tests are given in thousands of U.S. schools. Students from higher-income families are more on pace with historical trends.”

“But ‘most, if not all, young students were impacted academically to some degree,’ said Kristen Huff, vice president for assessment and research at Curriculum Associates.”

“Recovery is possible, experts said, though young children have not been a main focus of $122 billion in federal aid distributed to school districts to help students recover.”

“’We 100 percent have the tools to help kids and families recover,’ said Catherine Monk, a clinical psychologist and professor at Columbia, and a chair of a research project on mothers and babies in the pandemic. ‘But do we know how to distribute, in a fair way, access to the services they need?’”

…

“It’s too early to know whether young children will experience long-term effects from the pandemic, but researchers say there are reasons to be optimistic.”

“’It is absolutely possible to catch up, if we catch things early,’ said Dr. Dani Dumitriu, a pediatrician and neuroscientist at Columbia and chair of the study on pandemic newborns. ‘There is nothing deterministic about a brain at six months.’”

“There may also have been benefits to being young in the pandemic, she and others said, like increased resiliency and more time with family.”

“Some places have invested in programs to support young children, like a Tennessee district that is doubling the number of teaching assistants in kindergarten classrooms next school year and adding a preschool class for students needing extra support.”

“Oregon used some federal pandemic aid money to start a program to help prepare children and parents for kindergarten the summer before.”

“For many students, simply being in school is the first step.”

“Sarrah Hovis, a preschool teacher in Roseville, Michigan, has seen plenty of the pandemic’s impact in her classroom. Some children can’t open a bag of chips, because they lack finger strength. More of her students are missing many days of school, a national problem since the pandemic.”

“But she has also seen great progress. By the end of the year, some of her students were counting to 100, and even adding and subtracting.”

“’If the kids come to school,’ she said, ‘they do learn.’”

We’ve never done a good job in this country with our youngest learners, especially those who are black, brown, and poor. Today, we continue to struggle with offering pre-K learning opportunities across America.

The saddest part of this story is that those kids – primarily black, brown, and poor – who show up needing support the most, are the ones who are destined to attend some of the worst schools we have to offer in our public school system.

So, when the Michigan preschool teachers says kids learn if they come to school –

I wonder.

Friday News Roundup tomorrow. Til then. SVB