I’m sure we all remember the initial COVID-19 quarantine back during the once seemingly innocent spring of 2020. It was a mess. Businesses went bankrupt, toilet paper was a rare commodity and, most importantly, millions of lives were lost. However, we also must not forget the giant toll COVID took on education nationwide. It was a catastrophe for teachers and students alike.
Online learning became the new normal, and learning new and difficult subjects was almost impossible over Zoom. Many teachers resorted to fun projects to keep their students engaged and distracted from the tragic events happening around them. It was a long six months. When the quarantine ended, many celebrated. Unfortunately, our troubles didn’t end with the quarantine. This has quickly become apparent among educators and government officials across the world. This includes the United States. The problem? We as a collective student body are dreadfully behind.
How far behind we are continues to make headlines. According to a 2022 New York Times article called “Math scores fell in nearly every state, and reading dipped on the national exam,” by Sarah Mervosh and Ashley Wu, recent national exam results were devastating. The article states that “... the results were especially devastating, representing the steepest declines ever recorded on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card … and dates to the early 1990s.” In general proficiency, our young dipped overall in all core subjects. From fourth to eighth grade, there was a steep decline in understanding and capabilities of core subjects. The article goes on to state that readings already beginning to decline got even worse after the pandemic, and now, “... only about one in three students met proficiency standards.” This information is quite shocking to me. While I was aware of the setback online learning had on education, I was not fully aware of just how steep the consequences were.
Our methods of easing this crisis seem to be slow taking or unhelpful, however. Billions of dollars have been spent on helping students adjust to this setback, according to the article, but the article goes on to state that “... research suggests that it could take billions more dollars and several years for students to properly recover.” The problem with this is that time is not a luxury most students can afford — especially eighth grade students transitioning into more complex courses that build off the previous lessons learned. The article states that “... compared with 2019, fewer eighth graders could measure the length of a diagonal of a rectangle or convert miles to yards.” This is deeply troubling concerning our youths’ future in education. The major reason as to why this is isn’t so easy to pinpoint, unfortunately.
One would think that schools that reopened sooner would be doing better than those that reopened later, however, this is not the case. According to Mervosh and Wu, the trend and pattern on this question are hard to pinpoint. The authors give several examples to further explain this notion. For example, they state that “... Texas, where many schools opened sooner, held steady in reading but posted declines similar to national averages in math.” The authors continue by examining California and Florida as well. California's scores “declined slightly less than national averages … about in line with Florida.” The reason these two are compared is because there was a stark difference in how soon schools reopened. California was one of the last states to reopen, while Florida was among the first. Los Angeles was closed longer than most places in the country but was the only area “to show significant gains in eighth grade reading,” according to Mervosh and Wu. Even a professor at Stanford University who is researching this phenomenon is stumped.
Nebraska's results were interesting overall. According to a 2022 news release on the Nebraska Department of Education’s website titled “Nebraska students score among the best in the country in 2022 national math and reading assessments,” by David Jesperson, Nebraska was a leader in recent testing. While we dropped with the rest of the nation, our state still did better than most of the nation. The article states that “Nebraska’s 2022 fourth and eighth graders scored higher than the national average and higher than most other states across the country in math and reading. … No other state scored higher than Nebraska in fourth grade math. Only one … scored higher in eighth grade math. … Only three … outscored Nebraska in fourth grade reading and only seven … scored higher in eighth grade reading.” While our students were challenged, they held their own when it came to the rest of the nation's results.
While we don’t know for sure why Nebraska was still able to excel, I have a theory. I believe we did so well because Nebraska is such a tight-knit state. Our teachers worked endlessly to make sure students were understanding course material and, when school was back in session, Nebraska teachers gave a running start to help catch students up. While we were apart in distance, Nebraska bonded together digitally throughout the pandemic. When the quarantine ended, Nebraskans realized how much they missed those once tight bonds they had with their families, neighbors and coworkers alike. The opportunity to see each other became twice as valuable after the quarantine. This paired with our diligent teachers is why I believe Nebraska still excelled despite all our setbacks.
Nebraska demonstrated ways schools can help students struggling to catch up. We quickly adopted a Zoom policy to ensure not too much learning time was missed, and we educate our students on what was happening. In my school, we got updates in science class about the nation and world's fight against COVID. We also learned how vaccines were made and were educated on how the virus spread. Schools can help their students by keeping them educated and informed about COVID. Schools also can offer extra help for those struggling with certain concepts. Because of our size, my teachers in my school have a one-on-one relationship with their students and can work with struggling students individually. This strategy is a great help in assisting students in catching up.
Lastly, creating bonds with students is important to their overall success and well-being. The teachers in my school don’t just teach lessons. They are passionate about what they are talking about and treat their students with kindness and respect. They are understanding of hardships in students' personal lives, and they try their best to make sure every student is successful while also feeling as though they always have a trusted mentor they can talk to. Overall, I believe Nebraska's tight-knit community is truly what set us apart from the rest of the nation in our testing results.
To conclude, as a nation, we are quite behind in education. Our test results dropped. While tests don’t determine everything, the COVID-19 pandemic and long quarantine really set us back. However, Nebraska still thrived at the top of the nation's results, despite dropping scores as well. Times like these require us all to band together to succeed. Whether that is on Zoom, in person or in small groups, working together to push through any setbacks is what I believe puts us in the top testing scores in the nation. We continue to push forward in pursuit of a better future for all of us. It is critical that this ideology is not lost in the coming years. As a nation, our future just may depend on it.
