Leaders in California and South Carolina find learning loss – especially in the early grades – but experts say the data is still ‘imperfect’

ÇWhen the main assessment providers released data in November on the pandemic-related learning loss, the news was not as dire as some had predicted.

But new attempts to delve into the results of two states now show that many students, especially those in elementary school, have progressed much less than they would have in a normal school year.

In California, the negative effects of school closings on academic progress appear greatest for English students and low-income families – the same groups that experts predicted would withstand the impact of distance learning. And in South Carolina, black students had less gains in reading and math in the fall of 2020 than in 2019, but the learning loss was even greater among white and Hispanic students.

The new research points to “the difficult work and opportunity that lie ahead in the public elementary and high school system,” said Margaret Raymond, director of the Center for Research in Education Outcomes at Stanford University. “We haven’t started the blame game yet, but I’m sure it will happen soon.”

In October, the Stanford center released estimates of learning loss in 19 states. Gloomy calculations ranged from students who were up to a year behind in reading and 232 days in math.

However, a month later, the reality didn’t seem as bad as some feared. Results from the Northwest Evaluation Association, or NWEA, as well as from two other assessment groups, Renaissance and Curriculum Associates, generally found little or no decline in reading, but revealed that students lagged behind in mathematics compared to where they would be out of school. closings.

The latest findings from California and South Carolina suggest that the November results on the harm of distance learning involved variations between educational levels, demographic groups and geographic regions. The results are in line with Raymond’s previous predictions about learning loss and provide more specific data for those planning recovery efforts at the state and local level.

California

To learn more, a network of California districts known as CORE analyzed Autumn NWEA and Renaissance results for students in 18 districts, including Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland, all of which serve a large number of English and Spanish students. low-income families.

Policy Analysis for California Education, a study group, wrote the results, noting that it was one of the first attempts to bridge the differences in learning during the pandemic according to family income and language status.

Fifth graders in the sample of 50,000 California students, for example, lost about two points on NWEA’s academic progress measures, or MAP, reading and math assessment, while in a normal year, they would have earned 10 points. In the Renaissance STAR assessment, sixth graders lost nearly 30 points in reading compared to normal progress, a gain of about five points.

The scores of disadvantaged fourth graders grew at a slower pace in the English language arts, while pairs of wealthier families earned more than they would in a normal year. Large reading gaps between English students and other students appeared on the fourth, seventh and eighth grade MAP tests.

It is important to examine data by race, family income level and language status “because we see different patterns,” said Libby Pier, research manager at Education Analytics Inc., a Madison, Wisconsin-based nonprofit that has worked with CORE.

Lawmakers are asking districts to measure the impact of the pandemic on student learning, but with officials seeking exemptions from the federal government in assessments required by the state for the second year, tests like the MAP serve as substitutes for tracking learning loss. There are significant limitations, however, at a time when many students did not even take the tests and the samples from those who did were not large.

NWEA and Renaissance experts agreed that it is important to look at the impact of school closures on student learning at the state and local levels. And Scott Marion, executive director of the Center for Assessment in New Hampshire, said the researchers are trying to “put some data in the questions that people have”.

But he cautioned that as long as remote learning interferes with typical assessment practices, researchers are working with “very imperfect and probably confusing data.”

South Carolina

The South Carolina sample is also a snapshot – about 95,000 students in 34 of the state’s 85 districts. In comparison with the NWEA, the South Carolina sample included higher percentages of black and Hispanic students.

The patterns that emerged varied from those seen at Pier in California. Pier found that while black students in fourth and fifth grades experienced some learning loss in reading in the MAP assessment, the decline was greater for students from other racial groups. In fact, from sixth to ninth grade, black students earned more than they would in a normal year.

The gaps between English students and other students were not as big in South Carolina as they were in California.

Ryan Brown, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Education, said the discovery that black students lost less ground than those in other groups was a surprise, as many attend school in high-poverty districts. But he added that in the mid-year data Pier is currently analyzing, it is clear that for “those students in a classroom, with a teacher, their earnings are greater”.

The state is currently asking districts to come up with plans on how they plan to address the gaps.

In California, Rick Miller, executive director of CORE, said that districts are also discussing strategies on how to extend the school year.

“It is still difficult, however, not to know where we will be in terms of COVID,” he said. “Much of the conversation is also based on trying to ensure quality, rather than just extending time.”

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