Addressing student learning loss is one of our biggest needs

Regaining lost learning should be combined with steps to revitalize public education to ensure future American prosperity

Homelessness, housing affordability, drug addiction and overdoses are serious social problems with long-term consequences that deserve strong, coordinated and informed responses. So does another issue with long-term consequences – the cumulative learning loss of American schoolchildren.

Pandemic-era school closures affected 50 million American school-age children, including in Oregon. Data suggests their absence from classrooms could be the most damaging disruption to education in the nation’s history, setting back student progress on reading and math by as much as two decades and widening the educational achievement gap between rich and poor.

This setback inside classrooms has been aggravated by increased chronic absenteeism from classrooms. Post-pandemic absenteeism has doubled to as much as 30 percent of students. It is even worse in school districts serving low-income students. Missed school days put students further behind and at risk of performing poorly on standardized tests. Chronic absence from school is an early predictor of a school dropout.

A monthlong teacher strike affecting more than 40,000 Portland students didn’t help, either.

Public Education Already Sputtering
These are blows to a U.S. public education system that already lagged international levels of learning in math and science. A Business Insider report in 2018 said U.S. student math scores ranked 38^th out of 71 countries and 24^th in science. As early as 2015, 4^th grade math proficiency scores by American students began to decline. Those aren’t the marks of a superpower.

The pandemic left other scars beyond learning loss. Isolation led to increasing student mental health issues. With less opportunity to socialize with classmates, students became more addicted to computer or smartphone screens. Some experimented with and possibly became addicted to nicotine or illicit drugs in the absence of credible addiction prevention counseling.

The learning loss is uneven. Students of color, English-as-second-language students and students with disabilities face a steeper hill to climb without culturally sensitive instructors, bilingual and special education teachers and tutors and other learning assistants. Children from families with means were more likely to have at-home computers and hire online tutors to sustain their educational progress.

School closures during teacher strikes add to learning disruption, especially for students already struggling to learn to read, the most basic skill necessary for higher-level skill acquisition.

Pandemic School Aid is Ending
The problem of learning loss didn’t go unnoticed. President Biden’s American Rescue Plan included $130 billion in federal assistance to help schools reopen safely, put more teachers in classrooms, hire social workers and counselors and provide tutoring. Many school districts used federal aid to intensify summer learning programs, which results suggest had a positive impact on math and reading proficiency. However, pandemic federal funding expires in 2024, leaving a precarious budget hole to fill that could require staffing reductions.

Public school budgets are already under pressure from inflation and demands by school employees for cost-of-living salary adjustments. Fixed funding levels are based on revenue formulas, not on providing the money needed to overcome learning loss, address heightened student stress levels or help educators and school districts keep pace with inflation.

Money isn’t the only missing element. There is an overall teacher shortage, particularly for special education, students requiring individualized instruction, and math and science instructors, not to mention behavioral health specialists. Teacher burnout is high, often caused by large class sizes, unruly students and the lure of better-paying jobs elsewhere.

Solution Demands More Than Money
Like homelessness, housing affordability and drug addiction, the solution to student learning loss requires more than just money. There must be leadership, focus, clarity and a commitment to effective strategies. The stakes are too high to just wing it or, worse, hope it all works out in the end.

People fall into homelessness or drug addiction for many reasons. Likewise, there isn’t a single reason why students lag behind. There could be family pressures, lack of motivation or undetected learning disabilities. Solutions can’t be one-size-fits-all.

What can make a difference is a broad, collective commitment to overcome learning loss and find every feasible way for students to get on their own footing and find their own way. If there ever was a time for educational enlightenment, it’s now. Our national light bulb should be shining on every credible way to reverse learning loss and promote learning gain.

Effective Remedies Exist
The good news is that it may not require rocket science to identify or institute ways to address learning loss. There is evidence that extended school years, longer school periods and days, after-school programs, acceleration academies and summer schools are effective. Using technology tools smartly is also important, especially for individual student learning and exploration.

All those ideas require more money. Just as important, they demand committed teachers, counselors and tutors who can motivate as well teach students, backed by equally committed school administrators and board members. To recruit and retain the best teachers, counselors and tutors will mean offering competitive or better salaries and benefits. This will require revamping public attitudes about teachers, and teacher attitudes about their profession. It also means rethinking how schools are funded to attack learning loss and promote learning opportunity for all students.

Really, No Student Left Behind
“No Student Left Behind” shouldn’t just be a bumper sticker or political talking point. It needs to be a bipartisan national priority.

Investing to reverse learning loss shouldn’t come at the expense of dealing with homelessness, housing affordability or drug addiction. All are vital to community-restoration and nation-building. They all deserve urgent, thoughtful and committed efforts. They all affect the lives of Americans and the long-term potential of America itself.

Gary Conkling has been a newsman, congressional aide and public affairs professional for more than 50 years.