ENGL202 - PORTFOLIO PROJECT FINAL
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Bryant & Stratton College *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
202
Subject
English
Date
Apr 3, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
7
Uploaded by ColonelOtter2485
1
Career development research paper
Alexus Robinson
Bryant & Stratton College
ENGL202
Professor Lauren Kerzee
November 2023
2
COVID-19 has affected early education in grade levels Kindergarden-8
th
immensely throughout the two years that the pandemic caused schools to shut down and transition into remote learning across the nation. According to Eden David, “Children lost out on about one-
third of what they usually would have learned during the academic year from 2020 to mid-2022, according to a new analysis published in the journal Nature Human Behavior” (David, 2023). This means students are lagging academically and will most likely perform below grade level. COVID-19 has affected early education in grade levels Kindergarden-8th across the United States for the worse because students’ loss the advantages of the in person academic environment
for several years.
According to Emily Tate Sullivan, “One near-universal finding of the studies that Weiland and her colleagues evaluated was the sharp decline in program enrollment during the pandemic, persisting well beyond the initial weeks and months of the crisis” (Sullivan, 2021). Due to the terror and the proceeding threat of COVID, parents were not taking the initiative to enroll their children into preschool or other early childhood programs. Some parents just did not see any usefulness in remote learning for children so young, while others did not want to expose their children to potential threats of the virus. This is a basis of missed learning opportunities for children which is partial evidence of why students have developmental and educational delays. Students that were actively enrolled pre pandemic experienced a complete change in their learning environments due to new COVID restrictions. In the article “The Pandemic Was Disastrous for Early Childhood Education—And Both Kids and Adults Are Feeling It,” Emily Tate Sullivan explains “… the amount of time spent on learning activities each week declined as in-person teaching became either unsafe, undesirable or unavailable.”(2021). The timeline from when COVID was first introduced to the US and becoming a global health emergency was very
3
minimal, so students had to adjust very quickly to the transitions of making learning a safe environment to be in. People were becoming infected more and more as the days went on and learning activities in person became a huge issue as teachers were trying to integrate learning plans and navigating how to make classrooms a safe space for themselves and students as masking and social distancing was mandated into the public. This caused more interruptions to keep up with throughout the school day because more time was spent cleaning classroom supplies in between learning times to prevent infections and possible contact in the schools, having to ensure children are abiding mandates, including wearing masks inside buildings, and keeping everyone six feet apart for the entire seven-to-eight-hour school day. Learning environments quickly went from intimate to a space of isolation. Schooling models were affected by COVID, which has a direct effect on the negative impact on early education. Once The United States started to get into the eye of the pandemic, school districts started to turn to a virtual learning model for all students. Coursera (2023) defines virtual learning as “… an environment where students study a digital-based curriculum taught by instructors that lecture online via video or audio (2023). Multiple studies have shown a
decline in students in pass rates in early education that took on virtual learning versus in person. According to Santiago Pinto, “Exploiting within-state variation in schooling mode, the paper shows that districts that offered the most schooling in person saw substantially smaller drops in student test scores compared to the districts that offered the least” (Pinto, 2023). Studies show that in person learning has a better effect on students’ academic achievement than virtual learning. Virtual learning has many downfalls, especially with younger children trying to navigate a way through it. With COVID causing school districts to adapt to a virtual learning model, students have suffered academically because virtual students are not in the environment
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
4
physically to ask questions or to keep focus on what is being taught. In some cases, students do not have the courage to speak up when they have questions and professional educators can see and feel when children are grasping information or when one becomes confused or not confident in learning material before there is a test or graded material given, virtually this makes the connection harder to determine. Emily Sullivan explains “… in one study, families reported two hours of learning per day, down from about six in pre-pandemic schooling” (Sullivan, 2021). Virtual learning has caused constant breaks in lessons. Students need more breaks, going from sitting in a classroom to sitting in front of a computer screen for a whole school day. The study explains two hours of learning was accomplished per day with virtual learning which is cut about
four to five hours per day for students due to COVID. One of the biggest effects of virtual learning on students is social isolation. In an article titled "
Isolated Students May Struggle to Stay Mentally Healthy” Carolyn Curtis states, “The Covid-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on many students’ mental health. In a May 2020 survey, seven out of 10 teens reported mental health struggles, …” (2020). In early childhood education grade levels, these are usually the years that students begin to experience socializing, making bonds and friendships with other people. The concept of virtual learning due to COVID has stomped the mental growth of children due to the isolation of being at home only speaking to teachers and other students through s computer screen. This has led to mental health struggles beginning at such a young age due to minimal interactions with other people. Anyone’s mental health, not to mention children, can affect their ability to complete school assignments as they can feel like they don’t have a way to get help due to isolation. This goes back to the fact that teachers cannot always be attuned virtually to be able to help or direct students to counselors
trained to help students who are going through mental health issues. Virtual learning seemed to
5
be a convenience during COVID in continuing the schooling in effort to help students and teachers, but it did not seem to have positive effect academically on students. Research shows that children did not start to show such a decline in test scores until the start of the pandemic of COVID. Laura Camera states, “An overwhelming majority of states saw
significant score declines among fourth- and eighth graders in math and reading between 2019 and 2022, with students posting the largest score declines ever recorded in math, according to new federal data that provides the most comprehensive evaluation to date of the impact of the pandemic on academic achievement” (Camera, 2022). The largest decline in test scores in a significant number of states was seen within the years of the pandemic. These results show students were not learning at grade level due to the lack of face-to-face interactions in the classroom because of COVID. Compared to pre COVID school districts have seen a significant and concerning decline in academic setbacks with students scores as Laura Camera recalls, “At the time, Carr called the results “some of the largest declines we have observed in a single assessment cycle in 50 years” (Camera, 2022). COVID was the most significant health challenge
that the world has been through in several decades. There have been different seasons of spikes in viruses throughout our lifetime, but COVID has had the biggest and most detrimental impact on early childhood education. Laura Camera reports, “That report showed average math scores declined 7 points since 2020, with the lowest performing students posting a 12-point decline compared to the highest-achieving students, who posted just a 3-point decline. Meanwhile, average reading scores declined 5 points from 2020 to 2022, with the lowest-performing students
posting a 10-point decline compared to the highest achieving students, who posted just a 2-point decline” (Camera, 2022). This explains that even the highest-achieving student has shown a decline in their academic achievement during the years of 2020-2022 which was the height of
6
COVID. Having declines reported in double digits is a point that demonstrates that the decline was detrimental. There is a clear decline in test scores compared to pre pandemic. “As we reach the two-year mark of the initial wave of pandemic-induced school shutdowns, academic normalcy remains out of reach for many students, educators, and parents.” (Kuhfeld, et al, 2022). Covid has affected early childhood education in a way that we are still trying to recover from. Students are academically at a lower grade level than they are enrolled in,
and we are still navigating how to recover and get students back on track. From the reduced amount of time that students were actively learning to the mental toll that it has taken on children, it is clear that COVID has affected children mentally and academically negatively.
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
7
References
Camera, L. (2022, October 24). Pandemic Prompts Historic Decline in Student Achievement on Nation’s Report Card.
U.S. News
.
https://www.usnews.com/news/education-
news/articles/2022-10-24/pandemic-prompts-historic-decline-in-student-achievement-on-
nations-report-card
David, E. (2023, January 30). COVID-19 may have impacted our children’s learning progress in school: Where do we go from here?.
ABCNews
.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-19-
impacted-childrens-learning-progress-
school/story?id=96763525
Kuhfeld, M., Soland, J., Lewis, K., Morton, E. (2022, March 3). The pandemic has had devastating impacts on learning. What will it take to help students catch up?.
Brookings
.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-pandemic-has-had-devastating-
impacts-on-learning-what-will-it-take-to-help-students-catch-up/
Pinto, S. (2023, August). The Pandemic’s Effects on Children’s Education.
Federal Reserve Bank
of Richmond
. https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2023/eb
_23-29
Sullivan, E. T. (2021, July 2). The Pandemic Was Disastrous for Early Childhood Education—
And Both Kids and Adults Are Feeling It. Edsurge
. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-
07-02-the-pandemic-was-disastrous-for-early-childhood-education-and-both-kids-and-
adults-are-feeling-it