Florida Test Scores Plummet After Pandemic Closes Schools
A Long Way to Go
It’s been almost five years since schools were closed down and students needed to do online learning during the pandemic. Now, there is a post-COVID-19 report card for student performance nationwide and in the Sunshine State.
Pandemic Disruption Still Being Felt
New data from the nation’s report card shows that students have a long way to go. In Florida, reading and math scores dropped to their lowest point in 20 years. Eighth graders did poorly on the national math test, and middle school reading scores also plummeted.
Methodology Questioned
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz questioned the methodology used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to record the results in a letter to the U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday.
A Silver Lining
One positive note was that Florida continued to do better than the national average for fourth-grade reading. The scores show it has been a struggle to regain the ground that was lost during COVID and the importance of teachers.
Parent Reaction
Several parents reacted to the findings of the study. Dr. Julia Baldwin, whose eighth-grade son James was having difficulties in math, took the extra step by taking him to tutoring at the Sylvan Learning Center. “Within eight months, he’s made leaps and bounds of years and years of schooling,” she said. “So if I leave it up to the state, and the system, the educational system that we have in Florida is not enough.”
Other parents shared their concerns about the drop in scores. “It’s hard to be at home trying to teach them extra things to make it better when you don’t know what the test is about,” Rakeesha said. “It’s really shocking because I didn’t know that was still going on,” Carleae Moore said. “I thought everything had caught back up.”
School Board Reaction
Even though Miami-Dade County Public Schools is an “A” district, school board member Steve Gallon weighed in. “Obviously, this data is very concerning because right now, we’re looking at declines that are at 20-year record lows. One of the things that we do consider is that the NAEP scores reflect a sample. So for example, in Miami-Dade, that represents about 5,000 students. So we’ve tried to find a silver lining in Miami-Dade County Public Schools that we still, despite the decline that we share with the state in our reading and in our math, in certain areas we’re still above the state average. We recognize the decline, which was anticipated but we still have a ways to go.”
National Trends
Nationally, fourth and eighth graders performed worse than before the pandemic.
Conclusion
The scores show that it has been a struggle to regain the ground that was lost during COVID and the importance of teachers. Parents and school officials are working together to find solutions to improve student performance.
FAQs
* What was the main finding of the report?
The report showed that Florida reading and math scores dropped to their lowest point in 20 years.
* What was the methodology used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to record the results?
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz questioned the methodology used by NAEP to record the results.
* What was the positive note in the report?
Florida continued to do better than the national average for fourth-grade reading.
* What is being done to improve student performance?
School officials and parents are working together to find solutions to improve student performance and make up for lost ground during the pandemic.
