Recent research by Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), which she runs, analyzes students’ “pace of learning” (POL) in 16 states. Low-POL students “gain less than a full day of learning” for every day of instruction, Raymond writes. They gain less from tutoring and from summer school, if they go. There are lots of them.
The average student lost 90 days of learning due to the pandemic, CREDO estimates. Less than two-thirds of students will reach average reading and math levels by the end of high school on our current course. With much more learning time, the numbers go up, but not dramatically. With five more years of schooling, which is impossible, only three-quarters hit average reading and math levels. …
If we’re not willing to make “deep” changes to our K-12 public education, she concludes, the alternative is mass failure.
[The norm these days is mass failure. We’re only now beginning to recognize it. These children get failed by a system that prioritizes political and cultural doctrines over basic education. — Ed]
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