ALBANY – Hindered by the pandemic, fourth-graders in New York lost twice as much ground in math and reading than the national average, according to a report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
During the 49 weeks of school before classes went back to being fully in-person, New York children only learned the equivalent of 19 weeks of schooling. Nationally, the results were half as bad, with the average student showing they didn’t master the content from about 15 weeks of schooling instead of New Yorkers’ loss of 30 weeks.
DiNapoli noted that COVID hit New York earlier than many other states, causing an earlier shutdown. But many other states also fully reopened for in-person school in September 2020, while in New York many schools offered hybrid or all-virtual instruction in 2020-2021. Districts elsewhere that tried to open had rolling closures due to COVID outbreaks that year, but were able to stay in-person most of the time.
Some parents demanded that hybrid instruction continue, on the argument that it would keep students safer, especially since young students could not get vaccinated until November 2021. But many school leaders refused to budge, saying that virtual education was not effective enough to continue.
DiNapoli urged New York school districts to use the rest of the $15 billion one-time federal pandemic relief funds to catch students up now, because they only have a year and a half before those funds must be spent or earmarked. So far, they have spent about 40 percent of the funds, DiNapoli said.
New York’s math test results showed a significant performance drop, and some school districts scored very poorly. In Schenectady, 12 percent of its third- through eighth-graders, and 4 percent of its Black students, passed the state math test that is offered in grades third through eight.
DiNapoli’s report was based on the results…
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