For all those who assured us that students would do just fine by staying home and watching a computer screen, the NAEP report for 2022 showed a 5 point drop in scores for reading and 7 points in math, that being the first time ever that math scores had dropped. Predictably, the lowest performing students suffered the most, dropping 9 points in reading and 13 points in math.

Black students suffered the most in math, showing a 13 point overall drop in scores. Is racism alive and well among the liberal-led "keep em home" crowd???

Thank you to all of the Biden-led liberals who precipitated this mess.

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2022/

Instead of learning the 3 Rs today's kids learn CRT .Their levels weren't high to begin with compared to children of other nations we compete with now and in the future. It is no surprise to me that if you take away what little control teachers had in a classroom environment that grade levels would suffer . The libs will argue that the solution is to dumb down the curriculum to achieve "equity " .

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The libs will argue that the solution is to dumb down the curriculum to achieve "equity " .

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Quite likely true. Or they might argue that we need to do away with testing since minority kids chronically perform less well than group.

Students must learn/memorize times tables up to 12, be able to sit quietly and listen to whoever is speaking (including raising hands, taking turns, etc.), thus be respectful of each other, must learn how to manage money (e.g., shopping, a checking account, etc.), and learn so much more -- beginning in pre-K and kindergarten. Other teachings can be wrapped into and around each other. Every subject is connected to all the others.

Herr Doctor is still suggesting that there is a possibility that schools could be closed again due to covid outbreaks .

It's hard to imagine how much more evidence a person would need to see that going remote is a disaster so far as learning goes.

The covid policies are going to be a permanent stain on the country .

More proof about remote learning being a disaster is in the exploding absentee rate .

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Some 29.7 percent of the nation’s students, nearly 14.7 million, were chronically absent in the 2021-2022 school year — missing school at least 10 percent of the time, according to federal data. About 6.5 million more students fall into this category than before the pandemic, according to analysis from Johns Hopkins University and the education nonprofit

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Chronic absenteeism is up across the country. School leaders are trying to address why | PBS NewsHour

Why does it matter ?

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Evidence from several state-specific studies suggests that, even as early as preschool, chronic absenteeism is related to lower academic achievement.7 Students who are chronically absent in kindergarten and first grade are much less likely to achieve reading proficiency by third grade.8 By the sixth grade, chronic absenteeism becomes one of the primary indicators that a student will drop out of high school;9 a study in Utah showed that students who were chronically absent for any year between eighth grade and twelfth grade were more than seven times more likely to drop out.10 The consequences of chronic absenteeism can persist through higher education and adulthood. High school dropouts are more likely to experience poverty and diminished health, and have an increased risk of being involved in the criminal justice system.11 Beyond high school, chronic absenteeism can predict lower levels of persistence and success in college.12

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Chronic Absenteeism: A key indicator of student success (texas.gov)

Absenteeism underlies much of what has beset young people in recent years, including falling school achievement, deteriorating mental health — exacerbated by social isolation — and elevated youth violence and car thefts, some occurring during school hours. But schools are using relatively little of the billions of dollars that they received in federal pandemic-recovery funds to address absenteeism. The issue has also attracted surprisingly little attention from leaders, elected or otherwise, and education coverage in the national media has focused heavily on culture-war fights.

To Fight Absenteeism, Schools Turn to Private Companies — ProPublica

All very true. Possibly the key to understanding the problems absentee students have is to ask WHY they are absent, and all too often it is the result of a less than serious attitude towards school. The gross over-reaction to Covid, spurred on by a near nation-wide panic fostered by a news media desperate for market share, will hopefully be a lesson for the future for us.