Many students have been impacted by schools closing and the rapid transition to distance learning. Decreasing focus and motivation can increase loss learning and weakened study skills for many students during these unprecedented times. Without consistent practice on their academic skills, students will face difficulty in retaining school concepts leading to the fall semester. Many experts predict severe and long term effects of early school closures, and are calling this eduactional impact the COVID slide.
While cases vary from one student to another, all students will have received three additional months onto their traditional yearly break. This valuable time would have been spent in a traditional classroom receiving consistent instruction. Teachers and school districts did their best to transition students as quickly and effectively to distance learning during this time. During this transition, there were several weeks in between the last day of school and the first virtual day of distance learning.
Research and data show that during summer vaction, students traditionally lose up to two months of their hard earned foundation and skills. This year with the COVID slide, students are estimated to lose almost a full school year of foundation by the time they return in the fall.
The COVID slide will affect all students, and especially students that were previously struggling and have foregoing gaps from the previous school year or semester. Students will be expected to begin the fall with new concepts that will be a continuation and should have been retained from the previous years. Any potential gaps with this severe learning loss will result in more struggle on school tests, quizzes, assignments, and to feel confident in themselves and their academic abilities.
Students who were doing well and testing above grade level are also expected to have an impact in their confidence when returning in the fall. Their learning loss will set them at adisadvantage for next year's advanced curriculum since it is taught at a faster pace than traditional classes.
For middle school and high school students where their math classes build upon foundational geometry and algebra concepts covered the previous years, there will be major gaps making it harder to transition into the new curriculum in the fall. For elementary school students, their foundational skills like computation, place value, and problem solving may suffer if they are not practiced. These foundational gaps can affect their retention and understanding of more advanced concepts like decimals, fractions, and pre-algebra which are areas of difficulty for many students.
Creating a structured schedule at home along with supplemental practice will optimize your students distant learning experience. Due to social distancing guidelines, many students have more free time at home and this time can be taken advantage of to ensure that your students foundation and upcoming school year isn't affected by the COVID slide.
For more information on our virtual learning experience from home using Mathnasium @Home, see our related blog at https://www.mathnasium.com/miramesa/news/mathnasiumhome-faqs
Call us to learn more about Mathnasium @Home and schedule your FREE Trial today at 858-800-4284.
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