TOP TASKS

“Two years ago this month, schools closed their doors in 185 countries,” writes Anya Kamentz for NPR. “According to UNESCO, roughly 9 out of 10 schoolchildren worldwide were out of school. It would soon be the biggest, longest interruption in schooling since formal education became the norm in wealthier countries in the late 19th century.”

After a few months, most countries moved to reopen their schools by categorizing them as essential services, but America chose a different path. “In the United States, compared with wealthy countries in Western Europe and East Asia, schools were typically closed longer,” Kamentz writes. “A majority of Black, Hispanic and Asian students stayed remote through early 2021.”

It will take years to fully understand the consequences of this choice, but perhaps USC Professor Morgan Polikoff put it best when he wrote: “I don’t think even the most alarmist takes have really captured the scale of the catastrophe.”

A new story by Perry Stein for the Washington Post provides one window into this crisis. Using results from the DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) exams administered in fall 2019 and fall 2021, the Post reports that the percentage of Black students in DC schools scoring proficient in literacy dropped from 44% in 2019 to just 28% in 2021. By contrast, rates for white students dropped only three points from 73% to 70%.

Put another way, the Black/White literacy gap in DC jumped during the pandemic from 29 points to 42 points. You might think DC Council members would have a lot of questions about these shocking results. You would be wrong.

“The literacy scores were published last month as part of a large data dump ahead of the DC Council’s oversight hearings,” writes Stein. “The council questioned the DC schools chancellor for more than two hours about topics including school nurses, teacher recruitment and out-of-school programming, though never asked about the literacy scores.”

Stein did ask questions for her story. In response, Alison Williams, the deputy chief for content and curriculum at DC Public Schools, responded: “Our second graders hadn’t been in regular school since kindergarten. We know for a fact that in-person instruction is critical, and the results of that are seen in some of the data.”

Key Resources

Transcend shares a case study of the school redesign effort at Van Ness Elementary School in Washington DC with a focus on SEL and student well-being.

The 74 Million chronicles two years of Covid through a series of interviews with parents, educators, students and researchers.

The Grade’s Alexander Russo speaks with journalists about their reflections covering two years of schooling during the pandemic, and finds many still needing time to process their reflections.

CRPE interviews the leaders of five school systems to understand, in their own words, the challenges of responding to student needs through the pandemic.

The Urban Institute examines disparities in AP course enrollment and testing, finding that there is a gap between Black and Hispanic students relative to their white peers in every state in the country.

Brookings asks why education, unlike other industries, isn’t seizing upon technological advancements to disrupt and evolve learning even after the Covid-19 pandemic.