“A few more weeks of spring break.” A thought that ran through thousands of students,  parents’, and teachers’ minds when COVID-19 first made its way into the world. Two years later and now the whirlwind of chaos that took hold of the world, has seemingly died down. But now, we are left to manage the devastating effects the pandemic had on society that are more prevalent than ever. Most people want to leave COVID-19 in the past – saying things like, “It happened”, and “Can we please move on from it now and stop talking about it!” But the truth is that COVID has left us out in the open, face to face with new and rising problems, specifically within the education system. A once consistent system seems to have been uprooted by the virus and with it millions of students. The pandemic seemed to overwhelm the functioning of the routines of the education systems—most of which were already stressed in many aspects.

In early spring 2020, as the pandemic was hitting its first peak, the virus confined nearly over 55 million U.S. students under the age of 18 to stay in their homes. Around 214 million children globally (1 in 7 students) missed more than three-quarters of in-person learning. Not only did these children lack daily access to school and the basic support schools provide, but they also lost out forming connections, socializing, and at least trying to engage in learning. Specifically. Most  public schools, we found, did not have contingency plans in place to support them through a shutdown of this magnitude. These schools very quickly were shown that their programs were lacking in certain arenas. For example, not being able to provide the safety nets or support that many children receive in school, or be able to provide learning experiences that extend beyond what can be assimilated through a screen.  (Specifically, we found out that public schools did not have contingency plans to handle this type of shutdown. They learned some of the things that were missing, like not being able to  provide the safety net of support that many children had previously received from the schools’ resources, nor provide effective learning experiences out of online learning (i.e. not having a computer), or most importantly understand how to support the mental health of social isolation.) These types of unsettling situations left students struggling with depression and a lack of ability to find their own internal motivation to learn, a natural trait most humans are actually born with, but that we now clearly understand since Covid, has been lost in the education world of grades and external rewards.  

The bottom line is that the pandemic affected everyone in so many different ways, it’s difficult to really say where its reach stopped, through research however, it is clear that According to many educational analysts and researchers,  the pandemic widened pre existing school support opportunities and achievement gaps, hitting historically disadvantaged students hardest. For reference, found by McKinsey & Company, students in majority Black schools ended the year with six months of unfinished learning in math subjects, and students in low-income schools with seven. Students in highschool had increasingly higher rates of dropping out or not going on to college. (stat) compared to pre pandemic. Students taking part in standardized testing in 2021 were about 9-10 points behind in reading than previous years, showing how Covid affected standardized testing and how students couldn’t make the same scores as before Covid.  

The increase in students opting out of the education system has left us with so many questions, one of them being; why is school not really working anymore? 

Something that did come out of mandatory isolation and at home learning, was that students, for the first time, were forced to take control of their own lives. How they applied themselves, the amount of work put in to keep up, and so many other aspects were now being controlled by the students. This has opened the door for so many people to look for other options, outside of the system. (and to begin to question the old ways of the 200 year old education system itself.  

The virus not only affected test scores, it impacted the well being and mental health of thousands. In a different article published by McKinsey & Company, they found that more than 35 percent of parents are very or extremely concerned about their children’s mental health. Found by the CDC, more than one in three high school students (37.1%) experienced poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, 44.2% of students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, almost 20% seriously considered suicide, and 9.0% attempted suicide during the 12 months before the survey was taken. These alarming statistics show the lack of connection during the pandemic affects mental health. When students struggle with their mental health, it is challenging to focus on/have the energy to focus on all the projects, tests and papers that are due. Especially when returning to the now apparent broken system, students were more aware that this type of learning and environment was not going to cut it.  

I was a sophomore in highschool when COVID – 19 began, and I saw first hand the decline in mental health in myself and others. I turned to social media a lot more to see what my peers were up to and experienced a lot of FOMO because I really missed being with my friends. I had a car and could connect some which helped. But my peers who were truly stuck at home for various reasons suffered the most. Having to leave my friends, and my peer community, was one of the hardest transitions I’ve ever experienced.  I also developed an increased lack of motivation to do anything academic. 

Even though COVID – 19 is no longer preventing communication and social lives at the level it once was, I still notice the divide that it created between my peers and I. Having a stable source of support, such as a school environment, is a crucial part in students’ lives. That is why it is important to emphasize building a safe community centered around and with students. 

Since COVID – 19, it has been observed that students’ motivation and desire to learn has decreased. Suspensions, absences, and gaps in education increased with the pandemic, and show that there was a lot more happening under the surface that was affecting students trying to navigate a new way of learning. As the National Association of School Psychologists has predicted, the pandemic has sparked a substantial increase in behavioral problems inside the country’s schools. However, psychology tells us that students who have “behavior” problems usually are dealing with an underlying factor, such as mental health effects from covid. Live, in person, socializing is a crucial part of what constitutes our humanity, and is the backbone for connection. Without that, many people can feel alone and misguided, ultimately ensuring a decline in mental health. With the evident increase in absences and suspensions, it shows that once students were exposed to a new way of learning/new structure, they did not want to return to the way things once were. 

While there is still significant repairs to be done within the social fabric, it begs the question of; what do we do now? Many people believe there has been a significant increase ithe “learning gap,” meaning thousands of students are behind in their education because of Covid. Found by McKinsey and Company, students learned only 67 percent of the math and 87 percent of the reading that grade-level peers would normally have learned by the fall. According to them, this means that students lost around three months of learning in mathematics and one-and-a-half months of learning in reading. And when they analyzed it deeper, they found that the learning loss was especially high in schools that predominantly serve students of color. Scores were 59 percent of the historical average in math and 77 percent in reading. Their concern, as well as other educational minds’ concern, is how much the pandemic took a toll on students’ development in their education, and how many students suffered with keeping their education in alignment with expectations.

When looking closer at this “gap,” it brings forth the question of what exactly students are behind in. The standardized way? There are all of the statistics proving that students have fallen behind. Testing scores from the year before, comparing other countries’ scores, are superficial ways to measure intelligence, showing the surface level of what students have actually accomplished/learned. What if the way we measure learning through grades and standardized testing is not an effective way to show learning? What if the students were finally let out of the tight grip of learning that the school system demands and began to learn in a different way. Students got a taste of this, when they were out of school during the pandemic but they weren’t able to see any other learning because they have been programmed to only think they are learning by test scores. For example, during my time in online school, if a teacher had given me the opportunity to expand my interests, I would have been able to develop new skills in a productive way. Personally, during the pandemic, my mental health did not suffer because I had access to these things that I loved and I felt I had more time to focus on myself. However, coming back to school I wondered if there was a way that I could have integrated more of the things I like. We are not in an achievement gap but a belief gap. If we believe that we are behind and something is wrong with us, then it stresses us out and we feel we can’t make it, unless we get all the projects and grades up. It is crucial to open our minds and perceptions of how to measure learning, because it is not always black and white. 

Prioritizing social-emotional learning and mental health are critical to limiting the gap in education that many students are currently facing. Learning did not stop during the pandemic, instead it took on new forms, most of which support the opportunity for personalized and connected ways of education. Taking the information learned during COVID -19, and utilizing it in a new way to reshape education is the first step to ultimately decreasing the mental health crisis, learning gaps, and closing other breaches in the system. These new ways of learning and teaching could turn this “gap,” into something beneficial for both educators and students. For example, more one-on-one teaching, meeting students where they are at, forming connections, engaging material, etc.. UM-Dearborn Associate Professor Dara Hill, in an article published by The University of Michigan -Dearborn, stated that, “We have to assess where kids are at the start of next school year, preferably in person. And then we have to keep focused on informed instruction for where kids are functioning instead of where they ‘should’ be according to standard grade-level benchmarks.” A more individualized approach to teaching and learning is a perfect example of the new form of education that is emerging from the pandemic. Being in school throughout the pandemic, I have experienced this first hand. Seeing many of my peers returning to school feeling behind, and not receiving the resources to catch up fully. I have also experienced this when I had covid and missed two weeks of school, returning to missed tests and assignments that I had to get done. It was one of the most stressful weeks I have ever been through, and I can see how many students decided it was not worth their energy. Hopefully, reaching a balance between catching kids up academically in engaging ways, while maintaining their social networks intact. The pandemic, while devastating, gave way for an evolving education system to come forth, showing different sides and ways of teaching and learning. 

What did you learn from Covid about learning? How do you think education can shift to become more engaging and personable?

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