My Predictions About Student Results During COVID

It’s safe to say that this year has been a year like no other. Students and teachers alike have had to adapt to the “new normal” such as face masks, partitions, “zoomies,” and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning all day every day.

Last year when I left for Spring Break, we were told to bring home our laptops “just in case” we weren’t coming back. Well, I didn’t believe that school would ever close. I mean, who does that? But it happened. As administrators, we were notified on day 3 of Spring Break that we were pivoting to virtual learning – and we needed to have a plan – FAST! Thankfully, I’m part of a huge network of brilliant people. By Tuesday after Spring Break, we were up and running again. Our students only missed 1 day – when the district schools around us were delaying their start while they figured it out.

So 4th quarter was all completed virtually, and we survived. There was no accountability – no state tests to measure our effectiveness during a pandemic. Parents learned that 4th quarter wouldn’t “count” against retention so students (and parents) didn’t focus on education. Instead, some took an extra 9 weeks summer vacation, only to return the next year further behind and promoted to the next grade. We all agreed at the end of the school year that we did the best we could with the time we had to prepare. We all thought we would be good for the start of school in August, but then we were notified in July that school start would be delayed and when it did open, it would never be the same.

The school district delayed the start of school. Teachers, staff and families were all scared – no one knew what to expect and the media did a great job of reporting the ugliness that is COVID 19 (also known as SARS-2). As administrators, we spent hours and days remotely planning for the unknown. Then we were finally able to get back into the building and we continued to plan, adjust, modify, and transition to whatever the plan was for the time being. We started school 2 weeks late, but will finish on time, because in order to get all the required academic days completed by June, the district took away all of the Professional Development days. (Of all the years that we need them, too.)

School started with 3 models of instruction – in school all day every day, from home all day every day “zooming” into class to be with their classmates, or some variation of in school and out of school – whatever we needed to do to make our parents feel safe and secure with their children’s health needs. At the beginning of the year, we had more students out of school than in, which brought about a whole new challenge. Our teachers were coming off of an “extended” break from their classrooms. The usual routines and expectations were changing. They had to learn to teach all over again, and now to a physical and virtual audience simultaneously. They had their own “Covid Slide.”

As soon as we finished the first 9 weeks, we had a wave of parents who were finally able to go back to work and so their students would be returning to the building. What we also found was that our students who stayed home during that first 9 weeks were failing – either at attendance, grades or both. Still fearful of what to expect in the building, we accommodated whatever parents we could, but we didn’t push for students to all return.

Thanksgiving break brought a new round of challenges. Prior to this, we had very few “cases” of COVID in our building and every time it was because someone in the family had been exposed, and sometimes contracted, the virus. All from situations outside of school. During Thanksgiving week, people were in desperate need of socialization and family connectedness – that in December, we had a spike in cases. Again, none of the cases came from student to student, teacher to student, or student to teacher transmission. When Winter Break came, we looked at our data. It was bad – our students who weren’t coming to school were falling farther and farther behind. We had almost half of our students who had already missed more than the allowable school days for the year. Grades were terrible. Engagement was horrible and our benchmark assessments were abysmal. It was decided – they could all come back (and should) right away.

But deciding that we need to see them all right away and getting them there is an uphill battle. Even though our teachers love the idea of having all students face to face (it’s easier to teach them in either face to face OR remotely, but not both at the same time), we still have a battle with parents who are scared – and I get it. COVID is a scary thing.

We’re now in our 4th 9 weeks. This is the time that our students get one final push before all the state tests. We’re going above and beyond to reach our students who need the most help, but it still might not be enough.

I believe that our students will show there is a dip in learning. I believe this dip could be exacerbated by the possibility that their scores might not count this year. Don’t get me wrong – the accountability system needs work, but taking away accountability means we are taking away our checks and balances. Accountability shows if our students (and teachers) take education seriously and try. Some try and don’t succeed – and that’s ok, but when you put it out there that they might not count, then people take their focus away from student learning and it gets to be all fluff.