I-Team: Schools see double digit pandemic performance decline

COLUMBUS — Nearly one year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ohio students to change the way they attended class, an I-Team investigation revealed online learning has caused certain Miami Valley school district’s performance to decline by double digits.

As the I-Team first reported last week, the new Ohio Department of Education data has confirmed concerned Miami Valley family’s repeated fears their children’s education was suffering since Gov. Mike DeWine, R-OH, announced the online learning shift on March 12, 2020.

The agency’s COVID-19 learning impact report showed, in general, recent standardized tests scores are lower, suggesting the state’s most affected are its’ most vulnerable, with Black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students seeing the largest score declines this past fall.

In all, 87 percent of districts saw declines.

Third graders, the most substantial group tested during the pandemic, showed overall proficiency rates falling eight percent, as compared to 2019, more pronounced, “among students learning in districts that used a fully remote education model.”

Miami Valley district data, the I-Team examined, showed the Fall 2020 third grade downward testing trend was clear in many of the region’s largest school districts.

Results show while fewer students scored at the highest benchmark, more Miami Valley students scored at the lowest level. The number of students meeting expectations – or proficient – showed nearly universal percentage drops: Dayton Public Schools: 10.9 percent; Kettering Schools: 14.9 percent; Trotwood: 12.2 percent; Miamisburg: 9.3 percent and Centerville: 11.4 percent.

Kettering School leaders acknowledged the pandemic learning difficulties during a Jan. 26 presentation at a Board of Education Meeting.

“We do have a large number of students, much more than normal, who are receiving failing grades due to their online work,” Kettering City Schools Assistant Superintendent Dan VonHandorf told the board.

Centerville City Schools acknowledged the concern, as well, to the I-Team.

“We have found that students are still struggling with the ongoing stress caused by the global pandemic and transitions between remote and in-person learning,” Centerville City Schools Community Relations Specialist Sarah Swan wrote the I-Team. “For some students, that has resulted in lower grades than in the past, including failing grades.”

These learning loss trends and concerns are present in numerous school districts across the country.

“The findings are chilling,” Stanford University researchers concluded in a recent learning loss report.

“Recovery of the 2019-2020 losses could take years.”

“We understand that there’s a gap,” Dayton Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli said in an interview with the I-Team’s Sean Cudahy. “I think we’re going to see a very large gap in the majority of our learners I reading and math understanding. And I think it’s going to be our responsibility to close that gap however we can.”

Parents Have Been Concerned

For Dayton Public Schools parent Brittany Harris, it’s been an exhausting routine over the last 11 months or so. She returns from her overnight healthcare worker shift, to see to it her children make it out of bed, get to the kitchen table, and log on to their laptop computers for class.

From that point on, it’s a juggling effort between parenting, getting things done around the house, helping her children learn during class, and, whenever possible, getting some rest after working all night.

“It’s like multi-tasking all day,” Harris said. “You have to be a teacher, a mom, all day long. It’s a lot.”

Back in the fall, Harris first shared her concerns with the I-Team about online learning continuing past summer break. With Dayton Public Schools only having some in-person classes early in the school year, Harris is proud of her children for working through nearly a year of online learning. But she knows it’s not the same.

“Long term, I’m scared of them falling behind,” she said. “It’s not the same as being in a classroom setting with the teacher.”

The I-Team heard from numerous Miami Valley families while investigating this story in recent months, sharing Harris’ concern. On social media, parents used words like “frustrating,” “exhausting,” and “detrimental” to describe online learning.

Last month at Oakwood High Shcool, WHIO reported on someone leaving a vulgar graffiti message about their remote learning frustrations on the front of the building.

For schedule consistency some parents who would prefer their children attending in-person school, and who have a choice, have opted to keep students home.

Franklin parent Melissa Trent told the I-Team she does not want her kids to have to deal with quarantining and potential routine upheaval.

“With staying remote, we already know what we’re doing,” she said.

State Urging Solutions As More Students Return

Since December, Gov. Mike DeWine has targeted Ohio districts returning to physical classrooms on March 1.

“It is time” the governor has said on numerous occasions.

It’s a large part of why the state has included teachers and adult school employees in districts planning to return in-person, as part of Ohio’s Phase 1B vaccination program, underway since the start of Feb.

However, experts acknowledge even when students and teachers are back together, the pandemic’s learning impact will not go away.

“I’m sure there’s a long term impact, but we can’t accept that that’s OK,” Lolli said.

It’s that determination to close gaps, Lolli said, that has Dayton Public School leaders extedning the school year to June 29. DPS will also be holding optional, but highly recommended, summer educational camps, as part of an effort to keep students engaged.

This week, DeWine called on Ohio school districts to come up with learning gap plans by April 1, identifying concerns and setting up plans.

Ohio Department of Education spokesperson Mandy Minick told the I-Team, because Ohio is a local control state, it is ultimately up to local school districts to chart a path forward. Minick went onto say state leaders stand ready to provide guidance and advice.

“Stiving to meet the needs of the whole child and ensuring students and staff are healthy, safe and successful each day,” Minick said in a follow up e-mail to the I-Team.

Lolli said she expects students, and their families, to be prepared for a rigorous return to learning. Critical, in her view to making learning gains. DPS already has plans in place for accelerating students during the next three years.

“It can’t just be the school. It can’t just be the parent. It has to be a team approach,” she said.

What About College?

The I-Team reached out to some Miami Valley universities and colleges, seeking to find out whether acceptance processes are changing as schools evaluate the pandemic’s impact on high school students.

Both University of Dayton and Cedarville University spokespersons reported taking a holistic approach to evaluating the what they called ‘whole student.’

At Cedarville, a university spokesperson added, students will not be required to submit standardized test scores through 2022-2023 school year. University leaders will also not penalize applicants lacking extracurriculars, many of which have not been possible during the pandemic.

Families, School Leaders Ready for Normalcy

Recent months of the COVID-19 pandemic have been filled with an eagerness for a return to normal.

That’s especially true among students, parents, and teachers.

Nearly every school official the I-Team contacted as part of this months-long investigation spoke of pride and gratefulness for how teachers have worked to keep students engaged during an unprecedented situation.

“Our teachers have been working very hard to keep learning moving forward by focusing on student engagement and growth,” Swan said of Centerville’s teachers.

Lolli added the strategies teachers and school staff have learned during the pandemic will forever be with them. She hopes Ohio can use the last year’s lessons to its advantage.

“We can actually revitalize our public education system if we’re very thoughtful and careful about that,” she said.

Meanwhile, for many parents, it remains a waiting game to see when students can return to class.

“I would love for them to get back in school, if it’s safe,” Harris said.

In the meantime Harris, like countless Miami Valley parents, is not letting frustration or fatigue over nearly a year of COVID-19 remote learning get in the way of making sure each day brings her children progress.

“Sometimes I get so frustrated, but I know this is my kids’ education and I can’t give up on my children. So I just keep going,” Harris said. “That’s all we can do.”

Cox Media Group