DEVASTATED EDUCATION

School Closures, distance learning, and mask mandates have taken their toll on Minnesota students. The learning loss is so significant that Schools are currently offering recovery services to students. Gov. Walz decided to close schools, order distance learning, mask our students, and sacrifice their future to accommodate fear.

“About 48% of Minnesota third-graders scored as “proficient” on standardized reading tests last year, down from 57% five years ago”. (Minnesota Reformer, Rilyn Eischens, 5/3/2022)

“… test-score gaps between students in low-poverty and high-poverty elementary schools grew by approximately 20% in math … and 15% in reading …, primarily during the 2020-21 school year. Further, achievement tended to drop more between fall 2020 and 2021 than between fall 2019 and 2020 … indicating that disruptions to learning have continued to negatively impact students well past the initial hits following the spring 2020 school closures. (The pandemic has had devastating impacts on learning. What will it take to help students catch up?, Brown Center Chalkboard, Megan Kuhfeld, Jim Soland, Karyn Lewis, and Emily Morton Thursday, March 3, 2022)

“Losses are up to 60% larger among students from less-educated homes, confirming worries about the uneven toll of the pandemic on children and families”. Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, Per Engzell [email protected], Arun Frey, and Mark D. Verhagen https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2746-0309Authors Info & Affiliations

Edited by Florencia Torche, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved February 26, 2021 (received for review October 26, 2020) April 7, 2021

“Mandatory face coverings on children are very harmful to the child: learning is inhibited; critical interactions among students and between student and teacher are fractured; and face-covering is Counterproductive, as kids will naturally touch their faces, thereby contaminating their covering. This new normal that many are advocating may well lead to a spike in childhood behavior problems such as learning disabilities, anxiety disorders, and depression, to name a few.  (Why a Mask is Not Just a Mask, Global Mental Health Programs, Columbia University, April 17, 2020. https://www.cugmhp.org/five-on-friday/why-a-mask-isnot-just-a-mask)

“In March, we will mark two years of COVID-19-related disruptions to global education. Quite simply, we are looking at a nearly insurmountable scale of loss to children’s schooling,” said Robert Jenkins, UNICEF Chief of Education, 1/24/2022.

“Schools Closures During the COVID-19 Pandemic
A Catastrophic Global Situation”

The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal: “…early in the pandemic, the international community realized that COVID-19 infection represented a significantly lower risk for children than adults, and that children seemed less important vectors for SARS-CoV-2 transmission than for previous respiratory virus pandemics. A growing body of evidence subsequently showed that children were not super spreaders, and it became clearer than the harms related to school closures outweighed the benefits. Unfortunately, the global decision to get back to school did not mirror the rapid decision to close them. Whereas school closures was almost a unanimous step, its reversal was not, and millions of children are still not attending their optimal learning environment.”

https://journals.lww.com/pidj/Fulltext/2021/04000/Schools_Closures_During_the_COVID_19_Pandemic__A.10.aspx