Pandemic Highlights Importance of Giving Children an Early Head Start

By: Glenys Young 

Students who were performing ahead of their classmates when schools went remote are likely still ahead, and those who were behind are probably further behind.
As the fall semester starts, schools across the country are welcoming students and assessing just how much of what students learned last year was lost over the summer. Known as the "summer slide," it happens every year. But in a year when summer break effectively lasted five months, educators are especially concerned.

Some experts suggest students may have lost as much as a full year's worth of education since the coronavirus pandemic forced closures nationwide in March. Students from lower income families are typically among the hardest hit by the summer slide and, likewise, the transition to online learning throughout the spring was more difficult for families without the necessary technology for it: those that don't have multiple computers for children and parents learning and working from home, those without home internet, etc.

While current education has many uncertainties, one thing is sure: students who were performing ahead of their classmates when schools went remote are likely still ahead. And those who were behind are probably further behind now.

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tags: Briefs, Discoveries Fall 2020