In 2020, COVID-19 forced all schools to temporarily teach virtually, which caused many to acknowledge that several kids have fallen behind in their learning and are struggling to catch up. While some are a year delayed, others have shown to be two or even three years behind as a result of unsuccessful virtual learning throughout the pandemic.
“I do think they’re not being in class, face-to-face, 100% of the time, shows, and it does add to the learning regression,” said Dr. Lynn Cato, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for McDuffie County schools. “There was a huge difference in the achievement of the students versus last year simply because they were at home, that being face-to-face with the teacher is very important. It promotes engagement for the students.”
Gov. Brian Kemp recently announced funding for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief to help teachers and other organization that support education deal with the COVID-19 regression issues.
Kemp pledge $37.4 million for various organizations around the state to “support learning recovery initiatives and programs as educators and students continue to confront the learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to an Aug. 22 news release from the governor’s office.
Kemp said he recognized a need for more work to be accomplished in “recovering from pandemic-driven learning loss in our classrooms” which is why he felt the need to invest more funding towards K-12 education and make it a state priority.
In addition to COVID-19 learning loss, summer regression can already have a strong impact with those who are not behind, but be an even bigger detriment to those who are already at the rear of their learning goals after the pandemic.
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To prevent further regression, teachers and other educators encourage parents to work with kids throughout the school year and over long school breaks to reduce learning loss and keep them prepared for future successful school years, according to Cato.
Outside learning programs in surrounding counties, like Sylvan Learning Center, also hold the belief of COVID-19 having a negative impact on learning,
“There are drawbacks to [last minute] online learning; kids need a little bit of structure. When there’s not that structure happening, you see a lot of kids getting lost between the cracks and COVID very much increased the amount of children that were left to their own devices- literally,” said Kat Lariscy, Center Director of Sylvan Learning Center of Augusta.
Lariscy, who was teaching high school when the schools shut down, said it was a “mad dash” to transfer lessons online and try and meet the needs of all students.
“It was really hard to make sure that every kid was meeting [the standards] they needed to in order to pass the same way they would if they were in class. It’s just been a major impact on everybody in education. COVID definitely made people shake a little,” she said.
Lariscy also communicated the importance of parents helping their children to get back on track and preventing learning regression.
Even though kids may not be thrilled with the idea of continuing their learning or working hard to catch up, Cato said McDuffie makes summertime and afterschool programs a priority because it’s important for parents and students to understand the necessity of continued learning.
“We hope we are preparing them to be ready for the world of work with a strong work ethic and the skills they need to apply to the job,” she said.
Lariscy said parents have to be consistent and dedicated to helping their children, in some way, to “get them back to where they need to be.” Even though it might be time consuming, the payout is worth it in the end. “Being able to see these kids grow and look at their progress over time – it makes me so happy,” she said.
Lariscy stressed the importance for parents to focus on reading, “reading is the basis for every other subject there is. You can’t do anything without the ability to read. If they’re not confident in their reading abilities, they don’t want to read.”
Both Cato and Lariscy highlighted the necessity for parents to instill and foster a love of learning within kids to encourage development. Parents can achieve this by doing easy activities, like reading road signs or turning on captions for television programs, to bigger ventures, such as completing workbooks or field trips.
Lariscy suggested an activity she often did with her nephew when he was learning to read, “we would make pudding and we’d put it on a baking tray, and we would spell out words. We’d do simple words like puppy, dog, dad, bat. Those beginning words are super important.”
Lariscy also said she often sees kids trying to shortcut or skip through important learning skills and how this should not be encouraged by parents or teachers.
“I have a lot of kids that are very obsessed with time while reading, and I think that’s fostered by competition in the classroom setting. Get them to slow down – it does them a world of good to understand that you don’t have to be the fastest reader in the world. That’s never the point. It’s much more about the quality of reading than the speed,” she said.
As a result of COVID-19, unproductive competition, and learning regression, Lariscy said some children are in dire need to refresh and relearn past skills.
“Learning is never linear. Sometimes, in order to go forward, we have to go backwards a little. Build up foundational skills in order to get those specified skills,” Lariscy said.
Lariscy tells every parent “consistency is key” and how every child is different. Learning should be individualized and enjoyable for children because no one truly progresses without encouragement.
Organizations receiving the governor’s funding include The Georgia Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs; Georgia Alliance of YMCAs; the Georgia Department of Education; Department of Early Care Learning and the Georgia Public Library Service.
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com.
