 Dear reader,
It should come as no surprise that schools across the U.S. are scrambling to get students caught up in math, now that post-pandemic test scores have revealed the depth to their missing skills: According to one estimate, they are about half a school year behind where they should be.
So how can districts find effective ways to help, despite a shortage of math teachers and fears that additional federal funding will soon run out? The Hechinger Report will be seeking to answer that question in an ongoing series along with partners in the Education Reporting Collaborative, a coalition of newsrooms that includes AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, Idaho Education News, The Post and Courier in South Carolina, and The Seattle Times. The question of just how much ground students lost during lockdowns is one that researchers have been digging deep into as well, as Proof Points columnist Jill Barshay explains.
And in our continuing examination of the ways the pandemic has affected students, summer intern Rebecca Redelmeier takes us inside Jefferson Parish in Louisiana, which is coping with declining enrollment at a time when more than one million students nationwide did not return to public school after the pandemic.
The district decided to shut six schools that had large populations of Black and Hispanic students, leaving researchers and advocates concerned that the nation’s declining public school enrollment — and the school closures that will likely follow — will exacerbate inequities in public education, Redelmeier reports.
As always, we are eager to hear your thoughts and ideas.
There’s a lot more, so please take time with these stories and remind others who care about education to sign up for our free weekly newsletters – and become a member.
Liz Willen, Editor
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Main Idea