Something to consider about K-12 education during a pandemic, or any time really.

[lindysalsagal]

4. I don't know at what point that teacher made those assertions: Week 5, 10, but

As a retired K-12 teacher, I beg to differ.

This graduating class will see significant losses across the board when their final data scores are compared to previous cohorts.

And it's not just the content:

They're losing self-efficacy every day they're not challenged to strive beyond their baseline skills.

They're losing practice in being individual, autonomous selves. School is a middle ground where they get to practice self management in a framework where they can watch it modeled by the other students. Parents actually can ask too little of children and it's too exhausting to keep demanding independence. It's easier to cave in and let them be lazy.

Even if they're acquiring new content in a home setting, the processes are actually more important, and navigating the school interface is necessary. Accessing and interpreting information and validating the competency of sources is the new education, rather than 19th century memorization.

Writing and reading will suffer. They just will, especially for anyone with personal learning challenges. Those students must have other student work around them constantly to pull them along. Working alone with a limitation is a brick wall.

Sure, there will be individuals who will be fine. But as a class, this is a disaster.