(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) In a recent interview with ProPublica, a board member of a Virginia teachers union defended the school shutdowns through the pandemic, claiming the learning loss made everyone “equal.”
“The whole thing about learning loss I found funny is that, if everyone was out of school, and everyone had learning loss, then aren’t we all equal? We all have a deficit,” said Melvin Hostman, executive board member of the Richmond Education Association, according to the Daily Caller.
When presented with data revealing even greater learning loss for students of color, Hostman said that was an obvious side effect “because our society is inherently unequal.”
He also noted that the morale of teachers declined after having to come back to school to teach in person.
The comments seemed to reflect the pernicious “equity” mindset that has infected many school system, particularly in urban, blue-led regions like Richmond, where equal outcomes are now given priority over student achievement and advancement.
At one of the state’s top-ranked school’s, an administrator faced controversy when it came to light that she had failed to notify students that they had qualified as National Merit Scholarship finalists for fear of excluding those who had not.
Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed last year that students incurred massive learning losses during the pandemic shutdowns.
Only 13% of eighth graders met grade-level expectations in the 2021-2022 school year, and all states saw a decline in math since 2019.
Civics test scores dropped, along with reading comprehension levels. Reading levels in K-12 schools dropped to levels not seen since the 1990s.
The learning loss has also cost schools millions of dollars as they work to recover the losses.
Seattle, Washington, schools lost an average of 17 weeks of math and 10 weeks of reading instruction, which could cost an estimated $105 million to recover.
Back in Virginia, Fairfax Public School District announced that it required $343 million to make up for the loss of 16 weeks of math lessons and 11 in reading.
The historic learning loss may also have an effect on the lifetime earnings of students. A study—based on math test scores—projected a total loss of $70,000 in lifetime earnings for students who attended school throughout the pandemic.
“The evidence on the labor market value of skills implies that the average student during the pandemic will have 5.6% lower lifetime earnings,” Eric Hanushek, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution of Standford University, wrote. “This figure compares the expected earnings given the eight-point loss in math achievement to what could have been expected without the pandemic.”
