‘Instructional loss’: New state test scores show impact of COVID-19 in schools
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - New testing scores released by the South Carolina Department of Education Tuesday show how South Carolina’s students are doing in Math and English.
The scores allow educators to compare students’ pre-pandemic performance to post-pandemic performance.
The Director of Governmental Affairs for the Palmetto Teachers Association, Patrick Kelly, said the COVID-19 Pandemic showed that instructional time with a quality teacher matters, and when children don’t have that their academic performance will suffer.
“I never really liked the term learning loss, because it implied that children were losing something they already had,” Kelly said, “What we’re seeing, because kids were progressing to the next grade level as we were moving through COVID is we’re seeing kids suffering from instructional loss.”
The percentage of tested third through eighth graders that met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts, or ELA, are as follows:
- 2022-2023- 54%
- 2021-2022- 47%
- 2020-2021- 42%
- 2019-2020- N/A
- 2018-2019- 45%
For ELA, the percentage of tested third through eighth graders meeting or exceeding expectations has surpassed pre-pandemic scores after taking a slight dip in the 2020-2021 school year.
The percentage of tested third through eighth graders that met or exceeded expectations in Math are as follows:
- 2022-2023- 41%
- 2021-2022- 39%
- 2020-2021- 37%
- 2019-2020- N/A
- 2018-2019- 45%
Click here to see assessment results from students in Lowcountry schools
When it comes to math, student’s scores haven’t climbed back from pre-pandemic scores, with only 41% of tested third through eighth graders meeting or exceeding expectations.
What we’re seeing with math scores in South Carolina is mirrored at the national level, Kelly said.
He said he’s not surprised that 40% of 8th graders did not approach the academic standard because they were in middle school when the pandemic hit, right as students start getting into math that’s hard to learn at home.
“We really need to redouble our efforts there and put our resources into math instruction,” Kelly said.
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