By Mandy Drogin and Ron Simmons
Few people will feel the long-term negative impact of the global pandemic more than Texas children. With most schools opting for virtual learning, at least in the early days of COVID-19, our children are now in a position where they are at risk of being left behind. As The Dallas Morning News reported in November, “half of all Dallas ISD students experienced learning loss in math during disruptions caused by COVID-19, and nearly a third slipped in reading, according to the district’s analysis of start-of-year assessments given to students in September and October.”
This tracks with research done by two prominent researchers at Stanford University who concluded that the impact of school closures nationally is dramatic and long-lasting. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, “Lost study time for children during the pandemic has the potential to do lasting harm not just to their own long-term prospects but to American prosperity in general.”