Has it occurred to anyone that student test scores are tanking

[Mme. Defarge]

because it’s too f*cking scary to be in school? Why aren’t we seeing ads from the Democratic Party promoting responsible gun safety legislation if Democrats win a majority in both houses?

[sakabatou]

1. I thought it was due to remote learning wasn't good as in-class.

[jimfields33]

6. That is the one and only reason.

I almost wish they had made every student in the country. Repeat the grade instead of trying to advance to the next grade without being ready. If every student was held back, it wouldn’t have made a difference.

[MichMan]

21. I agree with the exception that some students did learn the appropriate amount of material

I dont know why we allowed students to learn 50% of the class material in something like Algebra I, and then thought promoting them to the next grade was appropriate.

How could they possibly succeed in Algebra II without mastering the pre requisite material ?

[jimfields33]

25. Absolutely true.

As far as those students, who did the work enough, I don’t think it would work unless we did everybody. There’s still stigma with being held back.

[Orrex]

35. That is indeed a favorite target, but the one and only reason? Please.

Unless you can explain how every other factor is irrelevant, it is dishonest and self-serving to blame a single cause.

I agree that repeating a grade might have helped, but it’s also false to say that keeping everyone back a year wouldn’t have made a difference.

[ProfessorGAC]

41. It's Such A Mixed Bag, Jim

With me having subbed math, grades 7-12, I've seen a huge number of kids at grade level or better, over 27 schools & 13 districts.
They wouldn't want to set them back, but then the "angry parent brigade" of every kid that didn't get pushed forward would create an administrative nightmare.
I think it was truly a rock vs. hard place situation for the schools.
Not sure there was a good choice.

[JT45242]

23. But... Large urban schools that went all remote did better

It is more about disruption than remote, perhaps.

But large urban districts like LA that quickly made sure that all students had access to high speed internet and Chromebooks or similar showed less problems than the underfunded usual suspects, like WV, OK, and other red states.

It was an interesting webinar, and scary, to watch as someone who was a teacher for 20 years and work in assessment research now.

[former9thward]

37. Several rural states did much better than CA

Including one which you slurred. The top 5 were South Dakota, Oklahoma, Idaho, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. CA is way down the list.

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2021/covid-by-the-numbers-how-each-state-fared-on-our-pandemic-scorecard/

[Ocelot II]

2. A significant cause of lower test scores is due to the pandemic

because kids couldn't attend normal in-person classes and many didn't have decent internet access. I don't know if it's possible to definitively attribute lower scores to kids being afraid to go to school because of shootings.

[ck4829]

5. Can we really say it's not a factor?

Terrorized by shooters, learning disrupted by lockdowns, drills, and threats… we are going to reap all the ‘benefits’ of our country’s gun culture.

[Ocelot II]

7. Not without data.

Have there been any studies or surveys indicating that because of the fear of shootings parents don't want to send their kids to school now that schools are open again, or that the kids themselves are too afraid to go? I'm not suggesting this couldn't be a factor, but we get nowhere with that argument unless there are data indicating that it is.

[Hortensis]

18. Bingo. Leave this stuff to the Republicans. They don't lose votes

from people disgusted by their behavior.

I'm sure fear's a factor in tanking scores for at least as many parents as I have fingers. Many more, I have my doubts.

[GenXer47]

3. it's both of those

[ck4829]

4. Good point

[W_HAMILTON]

8. You haven't seen ads from Democrats on gun violence?

Do you live in America?

[AkFemDem]

9. If you work or volunteer in a classroom you already know the cause

The academic and behavioral problems that teachers are dealing with post-shut downs are unprecedented and paralyzing. There is zero surprise that standardized test scores are reflecting that. Even if your child isn’t one who is struggling, they’re still suffering because they’re in a classroom full of other kids who are.

Yes things like school shootings, hostile parents, politicized school boards, general American apathy, etc all contribute to classroom conflict and less optimal education- but the pandemic shut downs aftermath can be uniquely pinpointed due to a very traceable timeline.

[asiliveandbreathe]

20. Absolutely ..and yet..in some districts, due to poor test results, the teachers

will be blamed, have been blamed, and their compensation takes a hit..such a poor excuse by some to demean teachers further...blame teachers..when so many kiddos are struggling against forces that you mention..

The test scores should NOT be used, or included, in a teacher's annual appraisal..

[AkFemDem]

44. 100% agree!

[Model35mech]

10. I think the verb should be past tense: Scores tanked between recent past and the deeper past

that's how survey data works. It's never really current, the survey is always some period in the past. Shallow or deeper, but always in the past. We read about it becase it's been analyzed and interpreted and that's always something that also is ended, notwithstanding that surveillance can be an on-going process, the data-set closes then the statistics and consideration are done.

If scores in year C are lower than scores in a previous period say, year A or B, the events/conditions that lowered the scores took place between year A or B and year C.

As mentioned in earlier responses than mine it's likely due to so combination in loss of the motivation and loss of supervision of in-person classrooms including the reality that although computers are now common, computer access is nowhere near universally available to -each- child.

Some homes don't have them, and some homes that do have them have multiple kids who must share time on a single device

I taught university level courses when internet courses and class support came into being. Back in the late 90's we noticed meaningful participation of course work was less well done on-line than in person. That isn't to say that well motivated students can't do as well or better, because some certainly did, during my experience. But in-person classrooms have a different dynamic than on-line exercises

I've been retired from that for roughly 10 years, I would have thought some of this would be figured out by now. I know back then we struggled to figure it out.

I would have thought that 'zooming', which we didn't have, and other immediate feedback loops that allowed more open communication between students and instructors might have helped overcome some of the problems.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. Who is surprised by this?

Our student's education has been disrupted for the last two years.

[live love laugh]

24. ✔️💯

[JCMach1]

12. When you don't 24-7 teach to the test, test scores drop

Who knew...

Someone really needs to rescue education from politicians and quants.

[ProfessorGAC]

42. Where Do They Do That?

I've been subbing 4 years now.
27 different schools in 13 districts, covering over 20,000 students.
In science & math (which is all I do), I've seen zero evidence of teaching to the test.
Unless we're defining that differently, you're calling out a cause I have not seen at all.

[sarisataka]

13. My single data point

Of anecdotal observation is the effect of afraid to go to school on attendance is approximately 0.0%.

My high-schooler has never heard anyone express such.

[cachukis]

14. Without delving too deeply, the average IQ score is 100.

It turns out that half the population is below average. A certain measure of those above average are barely above average.
Expecting those students to become well above average is the exception rather than the rule. I looked at the scores on the NAEP scale, and while they did drop some, scores in other eras were not all that good either.
Twenty percent of our students just need guidance and they will do very well.
Twenty percent of our students, sadly will struggle and need extra care. Sixty percent of our students make up the just below average to the just above average.
The school systems are expected to take middling average students raised by middling average parents and overcome the middling.
Perhaps we should examine this as an outsider and see the big picture.
When leadership in this country is allowed to slide and works very hard to hide their own malfeasance, how can you expect a society not to follow that example.
Remember, half the brains in this country are below average.

[iemanja]

15. It was due to remote learning during COVID

That's not even a question.

[MichMan]

19. Even when remote learning was provided and kids were engaged

It wasn't given for 6 hours a day like is done in a normal school day

[ProfessorGAC]

43. It Was Here

At all the schools I substitute, they used a hybrid model. Some kids there, some remote. The school day was the same for both groups of kids.
A couple schools are in very modest income ranges. Some families didn't have the internet speed to do online, Some didn't have the money to not work so they could be home during the school day. So, half or more of the kids were present, beginning October 1 2020. The hybrid model was a must.
My daily plan from the regular teacher almost always involved questions to the online students to keep them engaged.
I obviously can't know how it worked everywhere but, I also wouldn't have thought this area would be unique.

[fierywoman]

16. Another factor: my (violin) students tell me that there are a significant number of kids

in their classrooms who attend classes and listen to their music (in their ear pods) and not the teacher.

[malaise]

17. This is a global problematic

and suggests that Covid devastated the education system.
This will take years to fix with these trickle down morons pushing their ideological agenda rather than fixing the problems

[stopdiggin]

22. No. But I do think we could use a big banner

"Home Schooling - Writ Large !"

"Great for the kids! And anybody can do it! Just send for your colorful packet today!"

[SheltieLover]

26. Difficult to tell in red hellhole TN as education & TN are oxymoronic.

[bucolic_frolic]

27. We have entered the Dark Ages again

[Rebl2]

28. Good observation that it's

scary being in school. It just seems like shootings have gone way up the last few years. In the metro area I am in, since school started in August, several kids have brought guns to school. They haven’t used them thankfully.
The pandemic didn’t help. Zoom school and how many were paying attention. I don’t know for sure, but I bet school days were shorter. Some may have lost parents and other loved ones during pandemic.

[Pisces]

29. My kids aren't scared to be in school. Test scores are down because kids don't care as much as befor

Covid. Many are way behind and teachers are still allowing late homework just to help kids out with no mark down for late work. Being out of school has taken a toll and we need to be honest about it. Kids should have been in school earlier with masks on. Handing out kn95 masks should have been what all the PPP money should have used for.

[brooklynite]

30. I can give you an actual academic answer...

(I serve on the Board of a private school).

This is a worldwide phenomenon, not something limited to schools in the United States with gun risks. Taking students OUT of school for an extended period meant that their attention span dropped; it became a lot easier to fidget with a phone or open a web browser on your computer when you were studying remotely. Taking standardized tests requires attention for an extended period.

[Lasher]

31. I was just about to post this same idea, but not as eloquently as you did.

Worldwide pandemic had worldwide impact.

[Lonestarblue]

32. The pandemic is a partial cause, though it certainly highlighted the digital haves and have nots.

A friend works for an educational company, and they purchased thousands of Chrome books to give to students who had no access to a computer for remote learning. I’m sure other companies stepped in also, but many poor families lacked Internet access and kids had to go to public places (though many were closed) to use the Internet.

What the data showed also was that there was no significant difference between student performance in red states that sent kids back to school in 2020 and blue states that kept schools closed longer, though kids in blue states did slightly better, probably because the education was already better in those states.

What the data highlighted also was that minority kids dropped more than white kids, probably because more minority parents worked throughout the pandemic and had less time to monitor or help with their kids’ homework.

And now with the Republican attacks on teachers and what they can say or teach in the classroom, more schools are facing teacher shortages. That means remaining teachers have much larger classes, and that has been shown to be detrimental to learning. Republicans have tried to kill public education for decades. They just may pull it off.

[Rhiannon12866]

33. Excellent point!

I am grateful every time I pass my former public school that I'm not in school these days. I don't know how current students (and teachers!) are able to concentrate on anything with all the dangers facing those in schools today.

[honest.abe]

34. Yeah, but I suspect they will recover in a few years as long as we dont have another COVID lockdown.

It is COVID I believe and not related to gun safety imo.

[Demsrule86]

36. Gun safety is not yet a voting issue but it will be soon IMHO. We need to run on Roe.

[MarcA]

38. Students and Parents with more Resources

and students more engaged in the subjects being taught certainly have an advantage when it comes to learning and the teach-to-test scores whether it's formal or informal groupings or at home. A student with a well educated parent has a distinct advantage.

[IronLionZion]

39. The Texan plan is to store DNA records to identify children's' bodies

er...an armed society is a polite society. Good guy with a gun. The answer is more guns.

[czarjak]

40. Rejoicing Republicans don't care about any reasons. THAT, I will tell you!