A new study revealed that young and low-income students in California have been hit the hardest by pandemic-related school closures, showing a significant drop in test scores that has researchers worried the gap may be hard to overcome.
“We found that there has been substantial learning loss, especially in the earlier grades, in both ELA and Math. But most importantly, we show that the pandemic and its related disruptions to schooling in California have disproportionately affected low-income students,” the study noted. “Average learning loss estimates mask the reality that some students in California are suffering much more during this time than are others.”
The study, conducted by the PACE research organization, found there was a “substantial learning loss” overall in subjects such as English and math. Perhaps more troubling, the researchers found that the average numbers “mask the reality that some students in California are suffering much more during this time than are others.”
The most pronounced difference was with low-income students, where one fourth-grade group showed a 7% decline in the normal rate of learning. Wealthier students actually showed a 5% increase in learning over the normal rate, creating a 12-point gap.
A larger gap was found in one fifth-grade group learning language arts, with wealthier students showing a 10% drop in learning rate while low-income students showed a 30% drop, a 20-point gap.
“Most California schools have been physically closed since Spring 2020, and students in these groups have been doubly disadvantaged by distance learning,” the researchers noted. “Low-income and rural students may not have reliable access to computers or Wi-Fi, making it difficult to access online instruction. Others do not have appropriate conditions for learning at home and struggle with food or housing insecurity or with limited adult support. Distance learning is harder to implement for students in certain groups, including students in the youngest grades, students with disabilities, and students learning English.”
The study compared fall 2020 standardized test scores with scores from fall 2019 for 50,000 students who ranged from fourth grade through 10th grade.
Researchers believe it will take “aggressive action” to overcome the learning losses brought on by the pandemic.
“Without aggressive and bold actions, these students may never catch up; any funding or support designed to mitigate learning loss must be targeted specifically to the students who need it most,” the study concluded.
