The recent NAEP report revealed continued declines in reading scores for fourth and eighth graders, raising concerns for educators. Martin West, an education policy expert, highlighted how chronic absenteeism has doubled since the pandemic but noted that reading skill declines predate COVID-19, tracing back to 2015. He suggested that the rise of social media and relaxed test accountability standards since 2010 have compounded these challenges. West emphasizes the need to address underlying educational issues that have persisted for years to see real improvement.
Chronic absenteeism has more than doubled nationwide amid the pandemic and has been very slow to come down, but declines in reading started before the pandemic.
The decline of students' reading comprehension skills is a consequence of a decade of steady declines, rather than solely due to the pandemic.
The rise of social media and screen-based childhood effects since the 2010s and softening of test-based accountability policies since 2010 are significant factors affecting reading achievement.
While the pandemic exacerbated issues within education, it's critical to recognize that the foundational problems in reading had been developing years prior.
Collection
[
|
...
]