Do you know what sound the ‘ea’ vowel blend makes? What about the “iu” vowel blend? Typically, kids will begin to learn how to string together sounds and words into sentences by the age of five. However, with the pandemic interfering with in-person learning times of the rising generations, current students around the age of nine are showing record-breaking decreases in their reading and math comprehension skills.
In recent studies conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), nine-year-olds had, “the largest score decline in reading since 1990.” With today’s date in 2024, that would be 34 years.
While nine-year-olds have demonstrated the largest decrease in this aspect, it does not deter from the fact that this decrease in comprehension is also largely seen in today’s middle school students.
The pandemic had brought an onslaught of difficult situations which changed the way they had to learn. Part of this decreasing trend in reading and mathematics comprehension could stem from a lack of access to a proper education during online schooling. Many students who fall into the category of below-standard math and reading skills are also the same students who did not have adequate access to a device, reliable internet, or even a quiet place to work during quarantine, according to data found by the National Center for Education Studies (NCES).
The fact is, the middle schoolers of today were the same elementary schoolers who learned online during the pandemic.
Overall, the situation proves that more needs to be done about the crisis, so much so that new government funds have been allocated towards the recovery of lost time in classrooms. For California specifically, the Public Policy Institute of California shares that the state had, “created the $4.6 billion Expanded Learning Opportunity (ELO) grant in 2021,”
Although an effort is clearly being made, it doesn’t change the fact that newer generations are also less likely to be engaged with learning as a whole. Reading as a pastime has also been shown to have decreasing numbers in almost every age group according to the Pew Research Center.
In an era where technology is becoming an increasingly larger part of our lives, it has been shown that our reduced attention spans are in part due to our online presence. Perhaps we can find a way to incorporate it into our path to recovery as well, such as reading a news article once a day or accessing an e-book.
Whatever we decide to do in response to this growing situation, it does not change that we may still have a long road ahead of us for academic recovery.
References
Gao, N.; Betts, J.; Fuller, B.; Hill, L.; Lafortune, J. (2022, Oct). What’s ahead for education recovery in California? PPIC. Public Policy Institute of California. https://www.ppic.org/blog/whats-ahead-for-education-recovery-in-california/
National Center for Education Statistics. n.d. Fast facts: long-term trends in reading and mathematics achivement. NCES. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=38
Schaeffer, K. (2021, Nov). Among many U.S. children, reading for fun has become less common, federal data shows. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/11/12/among-many-u-s-children-reading-for-fun-has-become-less-common-federal-data-shows/
Walton, E. (2023, Nov). Performance declines in basic mathematics and reading skills since the COVID-19 pandemic are evident across many racial/ethnic Groups. NAEP. https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/blog/pandemic_performance_declines_across_racial_and_ethnic_groups.aspx#:~:text=Nine%2Dyear%2Dolds%20had%20the,decline%20that%20began%20in%202012.
