‘Harvard Thinking’: How far has COVID set back students?
In podcast, an economist, a policy expert, and a teacher explain why learning losses are worse than many parents realize
Samantha Laine Perfas
Harvard Staff Writer
May 8, 2024 long read
We’re now three academic years beyond the pandemic. A lot of families think things are back to normal. Thomas Kane disagrees.
“A lot of parents misperceive how much students have lost,” said the faculty director for the Center for Education Policy Research. “That has been one of the biggest things hampering the recovery, parents thinking things are fine now that kids are back in school.”
According to Kane’s research, on average students have lost about a half a grade level in math and a quarter of a grade level in reading. But that’s on average; individually, some schools are doing even better than before the pandemic, while others have lost as much as two grade levels in education.
Heather Hill, a co-director of the teacher education program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, said one thing she noticed was that students forgot how to “student.” Gone were skills in studying, sitting in classrooms, and taking notes.
“When teachers came back they said, ‘Wow, these kids have forgotten how to be students,’ and one of the things we saw pretty immediately was a rise in behavior issues,” Hill said. While a lot of those issues have been addressed, she said, others — like the rising absenteeism rates that are nearly double pre-pandemic levels — have not.
Stephanie Conklin, Ed.M.’06, a New York State Master Teacher who teaches math at Colonie Central High School, said educators are facing higher expectations than ever.
“We’re asked to be counselors, social workers, teach math, teach writing, and teach students how to be students,” Conklin said, pointing to rising rates of turnover and burnout. Guests talked about the need to better support teachers and what that might look like beyond pay raises.
In this episode, host Samantha Laine Perfas talks with Kane, Hill, and Conklin about post-pandemic challenges in the classroom and how to fix them.
https://player.simplecast.com/306116c9-79fa-4f43-9417-620b190482cc?dark=false Transcript
Recommended reading
- For students still feeling pandemic shock, clock is ticking by The Harvard Gazette
- Parents Don’t Understand How Far Behind Their Kids Are in School by The New York Times
- Turning Around Teacher Turnover by the Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Combatting Chronic Absenteeism with Family Engagement by The Harvard EdCast
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