Online Learning Is Not Working

With schools moving to online or hybrid learning, our children's education is suffering! Data from NWEA, a Portland Oregon company behind the MAP Growth test, sees this happening everywhere. When the data began coming available in December of 2020, researchers found math scores were five to ten percent lower than students in the same grade last year. 

PNAS, the National Academy of Sciences, has done a very interesting study based on the concerns about learning during the lockdown. In their article, "Learning Loss During School Closures", they note that students made little or no progress while learning from home. The goal of these scientists was to find "whether learning stalled during lockdown and whether students from less-educated homes were disproportionately affected." (Engzell) I highly recommend this article to educators who are interested in seeing what effect this pandemic has had on students. Data on primary school performance was taken from a detailed study done in the Netherlands. 

The bottom line is that online learning is disrupting education and the resulting learning losses need to be addressed. Tutoring is a proven way to increase reading and math skills. Students who are tutored show significant gains from those who are not. If you are still undecided about tutoring please check out this article found at govinfo.gov. Evidence That Tutoring Works

Engzell, Per. Learning Loss Due to School Closures during the COVID-19 Pandemic, National Academy of Science, 27 Apr. 2021, www.pnas.org/content/118/17/e2022376118/tab-figures-data.