CINCINNATI — The pandemic has had a big impact on students’ education. During the first year of COVID-19, test scores dropped in Ohio and absences went up. Now, early signs suggest performance is starting to improve.
“It felt like we were playing catch up all year long to kind of meet those end of year standards,” said Juli Elder, a teacher at Kings Local School District.
Teachers all across the country have been at the frontlines of picking up the pieces left behind by the pandemic.
“It’s been like just solving a puzzle and trying to figure out, where do we need to go back and reteach? And how can we help these kiddos the best?,” said Kings Local School District teacher Amanda Wey.
Across Ohio, test scores dropped across all grades during the 2020-2021 school year. During that year, almost one in four students was listed as “chronically absent,” meaning they missed at least 18 days of instruction.
At Kings Local, teachers used more small group instruction and relied on data to track student progress. This summer, Kings Local teachers volunteered time to work closely with nonprofit Joshua’s Place, which serves students in the district.
“We help families and individuals that are struggling with barriers that cause instability,” said Susan Simendinger, the program director for Kings Local Schools at Joshua’s Place.
In total, the organization serves five local school districts by providing support out of the classroom. The nonprofit provides resources including tutoring and help with reading. During the pandemic, the need for services went up.
“We see that our kids have kind of fallen behind, and so how can we work with the schools to support them and give them more support than they've had in the past?” Simendinger said.
An official with the Ohio Department of Education said the pandemic impacted students differently.
“It was our most vulnerable students that had, that had the largest (performance) decreases,” said Chris Woolard, Chief Program Officer for the Ohio Department of Education. “So students who are economically disadvantaged, students in some of our urban districts, students that had been in remote settings.”
Early analysis of state data from last fall suggests test scores are improving. Scores on the fall grade 3 English language arts test improved substantially, but are not where they were before the pandemic.
“This is something as a state that we're going to be monitoring and tracking,“ Woolard said. “I think we fully expect this to have an impact for years to come.”
At Kings Local, teachers have hope.
“Last year, and the year before, we were kind of smoothing everything out and getting back into a routine,” Elder said. “But I feel like this year we'll pick up right where we left off.”
“It's finally starting to come back together,” said teacher Heather Combs. “So I think this is going to be a great year.”
If you’re searching for extra resources to help your kids catch up ahead of the school year, you can find several on the state’s department of education website.
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