Statewide tests show student math, reading scores have plummeted since the pandemic
SAN JOSE (KPIX) -- Newly released statewide education tests results have provided proof of what many parents suspected and feared about learning loss during the pandemic.
California's annual standardized education tests show significant declines in student performance in both math and reading compared to the results from 2019 before the pandemic.
"It's really unfair to them. And we can't just cover it up. And I'm really worried about their future -- really worried about their future," says Crystal Calhoun, a spokesperson for the San Jose Unified Equity Coalition.
Education advocate and grandmother to eleven school-age grandchildren, Crystal Calhoun says she was saddened but not surprised by the results of statewide tests showing students performing significantly worse in math and reading compared to before the pandemic.
Calhoun says school districts need to be laser-focused on helping student catch up.
"They need tutoring and different learning programs. And you can't just teach them as normal like 'You should have gotten this already," Calhoun said.
Many parents have been concerned that their children were adrift educationally during the pandemic while in-person classroom instruction was replaced by distance, online learning.
"The motivation went really down. I think everybody was also scared too," says parent Jennifer Johnson who has two children in middle school.
Johnson says her children utilized after-school, small-group tutoring to make sure they weren't falling behind.
Education experts say there's no way to close the learning gap overnight. Professor Heather Lattimer, Dean of San Jose State's College of Education, says it's going to take an investment of time, talent and money to design specialized programs to help children who are not performing at grade level.
"While certainly we are seeing that children aren't hitting some of these markers, it doesn't mean that it's too late. It doesn't mean that we give up on these children. We need to recognize that there is still an opportunity to learn," Lattimer said.