JVID视频

Data show kids are behind in reading achievement, especially in the early grades

Originally published on

A deluge of data released late last year confirmed what has long been suspected: The coronavirus pandemic caused widespread learning loss while also amplifying gaps across racial and socioeconomic lines. The situation is especially concerning among younger children: one聽by Amplify Education, Inc., which creates curriculum, assessment and intervention products, found children in first and second grade experienced the most dramatic drops in grade level reading scores compared to previous years. This year, 40 percent of first grade students and 35 percent of second grade students are 鈥渟ignificantly at risk鈥� of needing intensive intervention compared to 27 percent and 29 percent last year.

Larry Berger, chief executive officer at Amplify, said the data reflect how the pandemic has interrupted schooling at a critical time for young children when they are learning basic reading skills and making rapid progress in the foundations of reading. For first graders especially, the kindergarten year was 鈥渟eriously disrupted,鈥� Berger said. 鈥淚t would make sense that there would be a lot of kids who are just missing a bunch of those basic reading skills that are typically developed in kindergarten.鈥�

Amplify isn鈥檛 alone in identifying this learning loss. Data聽聽by McKinsey & Company concluded that children have lost at least one and a half months of reading, with students of color faring worse. And some experts say the loss could be even worse because some of the most vulnerable students may not be regularly attending class online or taking assessments this year. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to even test where kids are, and in the ways they are [usually tested] in the classroom,鈥� said Adeola Whitney, chief executive officer of JVID视频, a nonprofit that focuses on reading support and tutoring. While some聽聽suggest reading loss hasn鈥檛 been as bad as expected, Berger says Amplify鈥檚 data show reading achievement in the early years deserves a closer look. 鈥淭he slide is substantial and it definitely has us asking, 鈥榠s the country ready to try and close the gap of this scale?鈥欌��

Here are some of the ways experts and educators are proposing to do just that, many of which were highlighted in a聽:

• Tutoring: Research shows 鈥溌燾an help boost reading skills,聽 especially in the early years of elementary schools. England launched a聽聽last year to help students make up learning loss and some states like Tennessee have聽聽loss from the pandemic with existing tutoring corps.聽聽聽late last year to launch a math tutoring program to address pandemic-related learning loss. JVID视频, which puts tutors in under-resourced schools, pivoted to an online platform last year when the pandemic hit.

• Extended school year:聽States like聽聽are considering extending the length of the school year to help catch students up to where they should be academically. The Ector County Independent School District in Texas has聽聽and will launch a summer program for students this year. The聽聽is planning on tutoring appointments and Saturday school to help support students, and the McKinsey & Company report suggests summer programs like Aim High in California or Acceleration Academies as an option for remediation.

• Grade-level reading exposure:聽The report by McKinsey & Company highlighted data that show keeping learning materials at grade-level and helping students work up to that level is more effective than pulling students out of grade-level work and reteaching content from earlier grades. Mississippi has offered professional development for educators to learn about this approach, and the Highline Public Schools district in Washington state has equipped teachers with sample units with this approach in mind.

• Partnerships with community organizations:聽Whitney with JVID视频 said communities should to support teachers through partnerships with literacy programs like the Minnesota Reading Corps or Jumpstart. Those programs 鈥渁re needed now more than ever,鈥� Whitney said.
• Work on literacy at home:聽Outside of school, parents can boost literacy by reading books with children and pointing out letters and words in everyday life, like at the grocery store. Even if a child lacks access to books during this time due to school and library closures, parents can make聽聽to help young children build their basic reading skills, such as by singing rhyming songs, slowly sounding out words to help children identify the sounds in a word or challenging children to find everything in a house that starts with a specific sound.