Research Shows Students Falling Months Behind During Virus Disruptions

This discusses newly found research that suggests by September, most students will have fallen behind where they would have been if they had stayed in classrooms/schools. Most of them lost the equivalent of a full school year’s worth of academic achievement. Which we all know has been damaging to these children’s ability to learn in school, along with keeping up with academic work. There was also talk of racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps, and how it will most likely grow because of disparities in access to computers, home internet connections and direct instruction from teachers. As we have seen, there has been harm to students since the growth of schools continuing to teach fully and partly online in this fall. The article considers that if schools did reopen it would be with significant budget cuts because of the economic shutdown. Researchers say high school dropout rates could increase, while younger children could miss out on foundational concepts in areas that prepare them for a lifetime of learning and working. Reading this article took me back a couple months when covid first hit. I was so afraid for the kids. I knew how this would not work, and how much kids would be affected as such. My heart was broken in the fact that kids would not have the resources they would need to achieve. Even with being at home, some kids don't have the luxury lifestyle that others have had. As a school counselor this goes right along with the profession at hand. It would be my job to check on these children, mentally and emotionally. But, as you see, there could be a big problem with reaching these kids, even with online access. Being a school counselor is about connectedness. It's hard to connect with people, especially children through a screen. There's things such as body language, and building rapport with students that you just can't get through a screen. Being able to love and care for your students is one of the biggest jobs as a school counselor. As you see that was taken away, in the drop of a hat. Which definitely changed some students' lives, very fast. Being a safe place and offering the love and support to my students through any direction is how I would go about it. Taking the extra mile with each student's needs, whether that be reaching out to each student and honestly just being that shoulder to cry on. That's what being a school counselor is about!