Home » NY Times Summary/Evaluation

NY Times Summary/Evaluation

Students loose school year to pandemic 

The article “Students Lost One-Third of a School Year to Pandemic, Study Finds” by Emily Baumgaertner discusses the significant learning deficits experienced by children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article highlights the most affected groups, such as students from low-income backgrounds and developing countries. It emphasizes the long-lasting consequences of these deficits and the need for targeted interventions to address the educational inequalities caused by the pandemic.

Based on the data from 15 countries reveals that students faced learning delays and regressions equivalent to about one-third of a school year. These deficits were most severe in developing countries and among students from low-income backgrounds. The analysis emphasizes that these setbacks worsen existing disparities and threaten children’s future educational and career prospects. The challenges of remote learning and other stressors during the pandemic were not adequately addressed when schools reopened. The article suggests that simply returning to normal is insufficient to recover the lost knowledge. The author quotes Bastian Betthäuser, a researcher at Sciences Po in Paris, who urges officials worldwide to provide intensive summer programs and tutoring initiatives that target disadvantaged students.

The article emphasizes the importance of immediate and aggressive interventions to prevent learning loss from becoming the pandemic’s longest-lasting and most inequitable legacy. Previous crises, such as the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2014 Ebola outbreak, have shown the long-term effects of school absenteeism. However, the scale of the pandemic’s impact on education is remarkable, with approximately 1.6 billion children worldwide missing significant classroom time. Moreover, the study’s findings reveal that the deficits were more pronounced in mathematics than reading, potentially due to the need for formal math instruction. In addition, students of lower socioeconomic status faced the most significant burden, likely due to noisy study spaces, limited internet access, economic turbulence, and students’ mental health challenges, including the need to relearn socialization skills and increased anxiety disorders. The author’s purpose is to inform readers about the severe learning deficits experienced by children during the pandemic and to emphasize the need for immediate and targeted interventions. The writing appears objective, presenting scientific findings expert opinions without overt bias and incorporating personal stories from educators and experts, providing a human perspective, and using quotes from various researchers and educators adds credibility to the presented information.

The audience of this article can be educators, policymakers, parents, and anyone interested in the long-term effects of the pandemic on education. As the general readership and does not assume prior specialized knowledge. Including statistics, expert opinions, and personal stories help engage and inform the audience effectively.The scientific data is presented and accessible providing an overview of the analysis and its key findings; it explains the reasons behind the disparities in learning deficits and offers potential solutions to address the issue. While the article does not search or provide in-depth scientific analysis, it effectively communicates the main points.

In conclusion, the article comprehensively summarizes the study’s findings regarding learning deficits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author’s objective writing style, including personal stories and expert opinions, and the clear presentation of scientific information contribute to a well-rounded and informative piece, and It effectively emphasizes the urgent need for targeted interventions to address the educational inequalities caused by the pandemic and prevent long-term consequences for children’s futures.

References
Baumgaertner E. 2023 Jan 30. Students Lost One-Third of a School Year to Pandemic, Study Finds. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/health/covid-education-children.html?smid=url-share.

Students Losse School Year to Pandemic Draft

Children lost a lot of knowledge and skills during the Covid pandemic, and it has been months or even years since they have not recovered. Learning delays and regressions were most severe in developing countries, among students from low-income backgrounds, and in children new to the school. These problems are likely to get worse if current disparities continue. As mentioned in the New York Times, the article Students Lost One-Third of a School Year to Pandemic Study Finds written by Emily Baumgartner. She explains that children from low-income backgrounds need help to learn and may have trouble succeeding later in school and their careers. Academic challenges caused by the pandemic still needed to be solved when school reopened. To help students advance, providing intensive summer programs and tutoring for students who need to catch up the most. Without this help, learning loss will be the pandemic’s most lasting and unequal legacy. Unfortunately, many kids missed school because of it.

Dr. Damon Korb, a pediatrician, found that many of the children he treated had trouble reintegrating into regular classrooms very quickly. These children often needed to relearn basic socialization skills. For example, it takes a lot more instruction to learn math than to learn to read. Reading comprehension generally improves as a child’s brain develops. However, because many children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds face obstacles like complex study spaces and spotty internet connections, they often need help learning math. In addition, nearly 1.6 billion kids missed many classes during the pandemic’s peak. The report found that global

education deficiency equal about 35% of a school year. Moreover, teenagers who returned to school often had anxiety disorders that were more severe than anything he had ever seen in his career. Dr. Korb said he is interested in studying the delays that some students experience when they cannot access aides or computers.

Countries with more significant deficits in their academic performance had low budgets. On average, students in schools lose a half year’s worth of learning in math each year, and 6% of students are in schools where they lose more than an entire year’s worth of learning. Students from disadvantaged schools lose more learning progress than wealthier schools when schools are closed for a year, and this is because disadvantaged students need more distractions, such as their parents losing their jobs. In contrast, parents of wealthier students are busy doing other things. If all the students in a classroom where to stay caught up at the same time, it would have little effect on their ability to learn. However, when the students falling behind are different from the other students, this can lead to inequality in adulthood for the whole group. Teachers have to move faster or stay in school longer, and traditional interventions like private tutoring do not usually work well for the most disadvantaged groups. There might be severe consequences if the labor market gets creative later. The costs to society could be much higher than we thought, and this study’s findings challenge the views of many parents who believe their children have not lost any schooling during the pandemic.

References
Baumgaertner E. 2023 Jan 30. Students Lost One-Third of a School Year to Pandemic, Study Finds. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/health/covid-education-children.html?smid=url-share.

Peer Editing Worksheet