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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
⬤ THE EDUCATION ISSUE
9.13.20
and that engagement declined even further over
the course of the semester,’’ Matt Barnum and
Claire Bryan wrote for the education reporting
site Chalkbeat in June. ‘‘Teachers of low-income
students and students of color were much more
likely to report that their students were not reg-
ularly engaged in remote learning.’’
John B. King Jr.: McKinsey, the consulting
fi rm, did an analysis extrapolating from the
existing research on the impact of remote
learning. It projected an average of seven
months of unfinished learning, assuming
hybrid or fully remote learning continues off
and on through January 2021. That rises to nine
months on average for Latino students and 10
months for African-American students, given
issues underresourced districts have with ade-
quate access to the internet and devices and
supporting teachers with remote learning.
It’s safe to say there has been signifi cant
missed learning because of the unavoidable
closures this spring. Some districts and schools
were better positioned to make that transition
than others. And sadly, because of the fail-
ure of the federal administration to respond
appropriately to the pandemic, and the failureof Congress to act, we are heading into a fall
that is going to cause kids to lose even more
ground academically.
Bazelon: The losses aren’t expected to be uni-
versal. Another study of third to eighth graders,
by researchers at Brown University and the
University of Virginia, projected that the top
one-third of students would potentially makegains in reading. But on average, other stu-
dents would return to school this fall having
lost a third of the progress they would have
been expected to make last year and half of
the expected progress in math.
Noguera: The inequity of the situation is com-
pounded over and over again. And we’re going
to see the consequences of this for many years
to come.
Bazelon: There’s also a risk of higher drop-
out rates for high school students. And lower
educational attainment can translate later in
life to lower earnings, worse health problems
and shorter life spans.
King: Then there’s the social and emotional
impact on children who have been isolated
from their teachers and peers, or who are in
homes where there’s been trauma from Covid-
19 or trauma from the economic crisis. There
are kids aff ected by violence or addiction or
abuse who’ve been without the supportive
relationships they have at school. That’s going
to take a toll on our children that’s going to be
with us for a long time.
Susana Cordova: Last spring was so unplanned.
When we started moving to remote in March,Maya Henry, 14
Freshman, Girls Academic Leadership
Academy, Los AngelesI’m lost. Not in the class work, as school
has never been particularly hard for me,
but in the fi nding a reason to care. As
someone who has always struggled with
mental health and instability, seeing my
friends or certain teachers whose class-
es I loved was usually enough to get me
through the day, if not make me leave
with a smile on my face. There’s no way to
get such energy through a Zoom room.
I can’t whisper with classmates in the chat
or geek out about history in discussion
boards. It’s all so mundane, so repetitive. Lft dfll iDW d f Th NY kTiWinzler Children’s Center, Lafayette Elementary School, Winship Middle School, Eureka, Calif.
Kamryn, 3, Austin, 5, and Avery Bozzoli, 12, at home, where they are all doing remote learning.