Remote classes made things worse

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Liz Willen Dear reader,

All the talk of so-called learning loss during the pandemic led us to America’s classrooms, the spaces where learning happens – and where it lags. I urge you to read our just published series ([link removed]) on our country’s reading problems, which grew ever-larger as Covid-19 raged. In this collaboration with seven newsrooms, we take you inside schools from California to North Carolina, not just to document the problem but also to highlight solutions that are working.

It's going to take patience. In Austin, Texas, shaky students started the year well ([link removed]) behind where they should have been, but by mid-autumn, Heather Miller’s first-grade students were becoming stronger writers, more confident and independent as they transitioned through the day’s activities.

Our middle schoolers, though, are also struggling ([link removed]) , as I learned by attending a recent virtual conference ([link removed]) of middle school educators. Speakers shared tips for helping this eye-rolling, head-shaking, serial-texting population adjust to masked, in-person learning, as they return with voices and bodies they may no longer recognize and lots of ideas for what they want from school.

We love to hear from our readers on these topics, as well as on our continuing look at various ways for-profit colleges ([link removed]) are leaving students in debt, with some behind-the-scenes help from companies. Get in touch!

Liz Willen, Editor

Main Idea


** America’s reading problem: Scores were dropping even before the pandemic ([link removed])
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Remote classes made things worse.



** States’ urgent push to overhaul reading instruction ([link removed])
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Delaware is one of several states that made revamping early literacy a priority, especially after the pandemic set kids further back.



** Retraining an entire state’s elementary teachers in the science of reading ([link removed])
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North Carolina passed a law to make every school replicate how reading is taught in its most successful classrooms.



** Masks, virtual instruction and COVID-19 challenges made it hard for kids to learn reading ([link removed])
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Here’s how one Texas district helps students.



** Battling pandemic reading woes through teacher support, training ([link removed])
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Trained paraprofessionals are key to an intervention plan in Alabama.



** “Guided reading” launched a district into one of California’s top performers ([link removed])
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A low-income Central Valley charter district increased the percentage of Hispanic students reading at grade level from 39 percent to 58 percent.

Reading List


** COLUMN: Surrounded by pandemic angst, what do middle schoolers want? A welcoming, safe place to learn ([link removed])
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The pandemic and political turmoil hit this age group hard; these students need more help.



** ‘The Reading Year’: First grade is critical for reading skills, but kids coming from disrupted kindergarten experiences are way behind ([link removed])
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After 18 months of untraditional learning, students are showing up at school lacking fine motor, academic and social skills.



** As enrollment falls and colleges close, a surprising number of new ones are opening ([link removed])
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Some focus on market needs, others on students who have long been overlooked.



** ‘It’s a shell game’: How under-the-radar companies help for-profit colleges stay in business ([link removed])
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Tuition-financing firms create another path for students to plunge into college-loan debt.



** COLUMN: What rational parents must do to combat education conspiracies ([link removed])
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‘Parents’ rights’ and ‘school choice’ have historically been rallying cries for the right, democratic terms used as cover for discrimination.
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