New Mexico students potentially lost more than a year’s worth of learning when schools were forced to close in the spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report presented Wednesday to the state’s Legislative Finance Committee.
The report implored legislators and education leaders to formulate a plan to help them make up the learning gap.
“Evidence from nationally available data during the pandemic indicates that remote learning is likely to compound socioeconomic gaps,” said Ryan Tolman, a program evaluator for the committee.
The results through the first quarter of the school year paint a disturbing picture.
In Santa Fe, half of the city’s middle and high school students had at least one failing grade, with rates at more than 60 percent for freshmen and sophomores and close to 40 percent among middle school students, according to separate data from Santa Fe Public Schools.
Española Public Schools reported that 40 percent of its high school students and 50 percent of its junior high students have at least one F, according to the committee’s report. In Pecos, the rate was 36 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
Also concerning is that 36 percent of high school athletes are failing at least one class. Overall, the failure rate of students was at 42 percent, based on data from 29 of New Mexico’s school districts.
Students across the state lost anywhere from four months to perhaps more than a year of learning when schools shut down in March, according to state-by-state projections from a Stanford University study on the subject.
The main culprit for the learning loss was the switch to a remote-learning model, which is considered less effective than in-person instruction, the report stated.
Tolman told legislators the achievement gap likely will widen for at-risk and average students, especially because remote learning has the biggest impact on families who lack internet access and struggle to find adequate learning spaces for their children.
Veronica García, superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools, said that was a big reason she pushed for the district to return to a modified hybrid model for elementary school students, particularly students with special needs and those who lack internet access.
“I think that children’s optimal learning situation is in face-to-face instruction in school,” García said. “Now, how can we be prepared to bring children back to school safely? I think that’s why I wanted to have this beta test of bringing kids back and assess how things are going and to do our best to provide services to those in need.”
