National Assessment of Educational Progress data is showing a decline in testing numbers across the country.
“You can’t be out of the classroom and not have scores that drop,” said composer, arranger and educator Roger Emerson.
That’s the sentiment felt by many educators as schools continue to rebound from the pandemic.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me that the nation, and Connecticut, did decline,” Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
Both Rabinowitz and Emerson are referencing recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, showing a decline in math and reading scores in public schools compared to pre-pandemic numbers.
“It may take a while. Four or five years, but we have good teachers, we have people who care, and I think it’s going to come out fine,” Emerson said.
Local
According to NAEP, national math scores tested in grades 4 and 8 were their lowest since 1990, while reading also suffered.
In Connecticut, percent proficiency in those areas fell at a higher rate than the national average compared to 2019, but overall, the state still remains above the national average.
“We’ve done the best we possibly could with remote learning, but there’s no substitute for in-person learning,” Rabinowitz said.
And since returning to the classroom, Connecticut’s state administered tests have been more promising, with Smarter Balanced and Next Generation Science assessments scoring higher than last year.
“Already, we’re seeing the signs that our children are recovering and recovering well,” Rabinowitz said.
In a statement, the Connecticut Education Association echoed the challenges of the pandemic, but said tests are a “snapshot in time,“ and must be viewed “alongside other indicators that tell us about student learning conditions and life experiences.”
“There are bigger issues as far as I’m concerned, and that’s the social, emotional learning of kids,” Emerson said.
“You can see test scores recover, but that’s not everything. That social, emotional part is so, so important,” said Jack Zaino, former Watertown teacher.
