How much do you think the pandemic hurt your child academically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have research that suggests learning loss is a broad issue. Of course, a lot of the parents on DCUM might not have experienced this for their kids—frankly the fact that you are here means you are likely engaged with schooling and have time to do so.

We know that the kids who were already behind were disproportionately affected by learning loss. Some of the kids who were doing just fine before actually did better as a result of individualized attention that their parents were able to provide or pay for.

If your child wasn’t okay, I just want you to know that YOU didn’t do something wrong. It’s a societal problem and in many cases could not be addressed with individual solutions.

Thank you for this third paragraph. I keep feeling like it is my failure

Yes I hate people who blame individuals for societal problems (climate change is another one of these). Those people whose kids were fine may have had financial resources, family resources, etc. that others did not. Or they may have just gotten very lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have research that suggests learning loss is a broad issue. Of course, a lot of the parents on DCUM might not have experienced this for their kids—frankly the fact that you are here means you are likely engaged with schooling and have time to do so.

We know that the kids who were already behind were disproportionately affected by learning loss. Some of the kids who were doing just fine before actually did better as a result of individualized attention that their parents were able to provide or pay for.

If your child wasn’t okay, I just want you to know that YOU didn’t do something wrong. It’s a societal problem and in many cases could not be addressed with individual solutions.

Thank you for this third paragraph. I keep feeling like it is my failure

Yes I hate people who blame individuals for societal problems (climate change is another one of these). Those people whose kids were fine may have had financial resources, family resources, etc. that others did not. Or they may have just gotten very lucky.

+1. We made it through but it wasn't pretty. Money would have helped but wouldn't have fixed the difficulties my partner and I were also experiencing with our own remote work challenges.

[Anonymous]

My child didn’t have any learning loss, but the cost emotionally was devastating. I wish it was just academic.

[Anonymous]

Not at all.
The timing was okay for them, being in upper elem.

We just made sure they completed all the work. I had heard from them that many of their classmates didn't for various reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not at all.
The timing was okay for them, being in upper elem.

We just made sure they completed all the work. I had heard from them that many of their classmates didn't for various reasons.

My dyslexic kid completed all the work, did literally everything, we worked with him daily, and yet he still ended up two years behind because I am not a dyslexia specialist.

[Anonymous]

My kids were ok academically as I had been supplementing at home from the very beginning of their schooling. So, I had support in place. Also, I am able to teach Math and Science to my kids so academics was not a problem.

What got impacted? ECs got impacted big time. All competitions got cancelled, activities came to a standstill. Colleges were still asking for ECs.

Socialization got impacted, even though we mitigated it with family, pods, outdoors activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not at all.
The timing was okay for them, being in upper elem.

We just made sure they completed all the work. I had heard from them that many of their classmates didn't for various reasons.

My dyslexic kid completed all the work, did literally everything, we worked with him daily, and yet he still ended up two years behind because I am not a dyslexia specialist.

Yes I know. At our local board meeting, many parents with special needs kids noted their frustration. They really did suffer.

[Anonymous]

we've finally come out of the emotional/behavioral issues this year. It was very rough during the pandemic, and there were zero therapists available (since they were in such high demand). That was with a lot of attention, and trying to do whatever I could from books. I did what I could, but I couldn't provide social in-person interactions with other children, which is what my kid needed.

[Anonymous]

I've heard from both my kids' teachers that they're still seeing big issues with handwriting and social skills.

At the beginning of the year, a 4th grade teachers shared than about half of her students were still writing certain numbers backwards. This is likely due to reliance on tablets for math instruction during virtual and in the following year. The 4th grade teachers have reported lots of social issues too, particularly among the boys (who have been described as "wild" or "feral").

A first grade teacher shared that she was still teaching pencil grip and letter formation to her students this spring and that many were still very far behind in fine motor skills. She thought it was likely from missing years of preschool/daycare. She said she's still seeing social issues too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard from both my kids' teachers that they're still seeing big issues with handwriting and social skills.

At the beginning of the year, a 4th grade teachers shared than about half of her students were still writing certain numbers backwards. This is likely due to reliance on tablets for math instruction during virtual and in the following year. The 4th grade teachers have reported lots of social issues too, particularly among the boys (who have been described as "wild" or "feral").

A first grade teacher shared that she was still teaching pencil grip and letter formation to her students this spring and that many were still very far behind in fine motor skills. She thought it was likely from missing years of preschool/daycare. She said she's still seeing social issues too.

My 4th grader needs help with his pencil grip and his handwriting is large and looks like a kindergartners' handwriting. He can write sentences, paragraphs, but with bad handwriting. He started reversing letters last year (for the first time) but stopped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The spelling and grammar issues you noted aren’t necessarily pandemic related, depending on where she lives. Districts that haven’t taught phonics or spelling in the last 10-20 years have eighth graders who can’t spell or write properly. My 9th grader hasn’t written anything of substance since 5th grade! Writing is not something that FCPS seems to focus on, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that kids are terrible at it.

This. Those kids were in 5th grade when the pandemic hit. They were likely behind for years before

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it is just the pandemic’s effect. The truth is we also merged tech and education durinf the pandemic and it is still merged as many kids have mandated time in computers at school starting in Prek. If you know anything about dopamine levels during screen usage particularly a leveled game which most edutainment games use, you know these can be addictive. Not only are pandemic children coming off a major disruptive life effect they also are expected to be able to regulate their brain immediately after getting off of an old or electronic game. They really aren’t getting a chance to heal from covid because of the introduction of tech.

I’m not even mentioning the use of social media outside of school. There are 4 year olds watching YouTube and tik tok!

Thank you for posting this!

I think that the lasting effect of a year or more on heavy screens plus the fact that teachers are still heavily using screen based lessons even though kids are back in front of them are widely unappreciated and still largely unknown.

Pre pandemic attention spans and self regulation were already shrinking. The pandemic accelerated and magnified those effects.

[Anonymous]

My kids were fine. I SAH and we buckled down with home schooling and then heavily supplement once they did go back. My spouse was out of work due to shutdown for several months through the beginning of the pandemic. He was a home school extraordinaire- seriously he may have missed his calling. Between the two of us, they got a phenomenal education for those 2 years.

No issues socially either. They kept each other company and just carried on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The spelling and grammar issues you noted aren’t necessarily pandemic related, depending on where she lives. Districts that haven’t taught phonics or spelling in the last 10-20 years have eighth graders who can’t spell or write properly. My 9th grader hasn’t written anything of substance since 5th grade! Writing is not something that FCPS seems to focus on, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that kids are terrible at it.

what is up with MS not teaching writing?? I hear the same thing for DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The spelling and grammar issues you noted aren’t necessarily pandemic related, depending on where she lives. Districts that haven’t taught phonics or spelling in the last 10-20 years have eighth graders who can’t spell or write properly. My 9th grader hasn’t written anything of substance since 5th grade! Writing is not something that FCPS seems to focus on, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that kids are terrible at it.

what is up with MS not teaching writing?? I hear the same thing for DCPS.

Our MS focuses on writing but they don't give them the basic skills to write. They don't focus at all on reading, especially books.

But, these were issues not related to the pandemic. We supplemented a lot in ES.