Global Courant 2023-05-09 16:42:26
SAT ranks lowest since 2016 post-COVID
Alexandria Hoff of Fox News reports on students’ academic, social and emotional “catch-up” after the pandemic as they return to the “structured” school.
WASHINGTON – The lasting impact of COVID-19 on education can be seen in students from middle school through elementary school. Learning loss, social and emotional development, and college acceptance standards have all changed since the start of 2020.
This past weekend, students across the country took the SAT exams, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools that went test-optional decided to keep it. Some experts said this has led to inequality in the admissions process.
“You’ll see 87% of freshmen have submitted test scores,” said Colleen Paparella, the president of DC College Counseling. “What that means is probably not that 87% of applicants just happened to have them. It means the school isn’t taking in a lot of kids who don’t have test scores.”
For students who view their SAT score as the most important part of their application, it has become more difficult to stand out.
“You look at some of these schools and what their new testing range is, and it’s just not in line with reality,” Paparella said, “because it’s not the reality. It’s not the reality of the situation in terms of who signs up. It’s this very select group.”
During the pandemic, about 1,600 colleges and universities went test-optional when students were unable to take the exams. All SATs were canceled in Spring 2020 and some resumed in August of that year. However, many test centers operated at reduced capacity and in certain states, making it more difficult for students to register for an exam.
The lasting impact of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic is becoming increasingly apparent. (iStock, file)
Schools like William & Mary in Virginia went test-optional during the pandemic and recently announced they’ve decided to keep that policy.
“As we have discovered over the past few years through our optional testing pilot program, we continue to enroll highly qualified students – with or without a standardized test score – who are able to succeed academically and contribute to the William & Mary community,” said Associate Vice President of Enrollment and Dean of Admissions Tim Wolfe in a statement to Fox News. “We’ve also seen – both here and nationwide – that this flexibility enhances our ability to attract talented students who otherwise wouldn’t introduce themselves to college, including those who may be the first in their families to attend college. “
Harry Feder, Fair Test’s executive director, said the optional testing policy has benefited students.
“I think COVID accelerated the trend,” Feder said. “I would hope that the test-optional movement is part of a greater realization in our education system that these types of standardized tests … are a poor replacement and a very poor incentive structure for how we should view education as a whole.”
His group has long believed that standardized tests are not a good snapshot for assessing a student’s ability to succeed in college.
“These aren’t really good proxies for what we want in our workforce, in our citizens,” Feder said.
However, some schools have decided to require SATs again. One of them is MIT.
In a blog post on the admissions page, the school cited fairness as one of the reasons it wanted to reinstate the testing requirement.
SCHOOLS IN US CONSIDER GETTING BACK TO FIGHT THE GROWING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE AMONG STUDENTS
“Our research shows that standardized tests help us better assess the academic readiness of all applicants, as well as help us identify socioeconomically disadvantaged students who do not have access to advanced coursework or other enrichment opportunities that would otherwise demonstrate they are ready for MIT” , the post said. “We believe that a requirement is fairer and more transparent than a test-optional policy.”
Scores in 2022 fall to lowest level since test score was reformatted in 2016, according to data analysis from BestColleges. The SAT average was 1050 in 2022, down from 1060 in 2021 and down from 1068 — the all-time high — in 2018.
However, it’s not just older students struggling with the new norms in post-COVID learning.
Younger students, many of whom have been out of school for many years, continue to struggle with their social and emotional development.
In Alexandria, Virginia, public schools added a class to the beginning of the day called SEAL, which stands for Social Emotional Academic Learning. Fox News observed a SEAL lesson in a third-grade classroom, where even today, the teacher said her students said they felt alienated and isolated.
FIGHTING ‘WOKENESS’ IN SCHOOLS A TOP PRIORITY FOR GOP TOWARDS 2024
“If kids don’t have that structure, if they don’t know what’s coming next, it creates a lot of anxiety,” says Lauren Cummings, who teaches third grade at William Ramsay Elementary School. “And I think fear was an emotion that was really hard for them to explain. So it often came off as hopeless, isolated, because those were more tangible.”
Cummings tracked her class — meaning she taught them as second graders last year and third graders this year — and said when students first returned, emotional learning was a primary concern.
“We certainly saw a lot of social and emotional needs that were atypical for lower levels,” she said.
When it comes to academic learning, students are still playing catch-up.
William Ramsay principal Michael Routhouska said students who started their academic careers with virtual learning had more catching up to do than students who were in the classroom before the pandemic.
“Those who had a base and reading that maybe slowed their growth slowed down during the pandemic — we’ve been able to catch up with them,” he said.
However, success in overtaking depends on the subject. For reading and math, Routhouska said the school did well in keeping students largely on track. However, other areas were more challenging virtually.
BIDEN SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL’S LARGEST TEACHERS, SUPPORTING COVID SCHOOL CLOSURES
“Reading and math, you know, we all kept kicking ass during COVID,” he said. “I would say, other skills, like social studies and science and writing, those things are really ramping up now because they weren’t getting attention during COVID.”
Cummings said the challenge for teachers during COVID was to stay connected with the students.
“We get our joy from the kids. From seeing the kids and interacting with the kids. That’s why we got into this profession,” she said.
COVID-related school closures came under fire at a hearing on Capitol Hill last month, as teachers’ unions — who have taken much of the public blame for extended school closures — defended their position.
FAUCI, WEINGARTEN TRY TO REWRITE HISTORY ON Disastrous COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS: ‘Show Me A School I’m Closing’
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said before the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that her group puts students’ needs first.
“We know that children learn best in person, so opening schools safely – even as the pandemic intensified – has guided every action taken by the AFT,” she said.
Republicans, however, pushed back, saying it was unions that pressured the federal government to keep schools closed.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“The Biden White House and the CDC should have completely ignored all suggestions made by your politically motivated and corrupt organization in your mind,” R-Texas Representative Ronny Jackson said at the hearing.
The subcommittee examines school closures and the role of the union in long-term closures.
Sally Persons is a senior producer for the Fox News Channel. You can follow her on Twitter, @sapersons.
