The Academic Math Slide

The results from impromptu spring remote learning were significantly worse than normal in-person learning, and for many classes and grading policies, a huge disruption altogether. Educators anticipated a 30%-50% loss of material during this “COVID slide.” With many schools having continued online learning into the fall and expected to continue with online learning this upcoming spring, this loss isn’t being mediated with a transition back to in-person learning.

These losses aren’t evenly distributed. The subjects that build on themselves, like Math, are where students are losing valuable in-person instruction time. Creating a strong foundation in Math is necessary just to get to the next level, and kids are starting to feel the one-two-punch of covering less material in their Math classes on top of having less one-on-one support during distance learning.

The NWEA releases information on student improvement each year based on the results of the RIT assessment for Math and Reading. For the 2019-2020 school year, students showed a massive decline in Math competency with the beginning of online learning. 

The data show a measurable decrease in scores for Math at all age levels, with the decline most severe in the foundational stages of Math learning in 3rd to 6th grade. Their model predicted that students would improve until the last day of school year, with a slow decline over the summer. Instead, we see that the switch to online learning rapidly dropped Math scores three months earlier than expected. More concerning, the data display that student Math competency scores at the end of the school were lower for some grades than at the start of the year. Students didn’t simply lack improvement after the transition to online learning, they actually lost some of the skills they started with.

This Math loss is taking many forms. There are students earning 100’s in class but now not learning anything new, students who struggled a little with the first round of online learning but are now far behind due to a lack of support, and students who have the potential to do well online but no longer have the after-class or in-person opportunities to get their questions answered, leaving the questions to pile up until it becomes an urgent need. 

While it may be easy to dismiss this gap as another accidental happenstance of COVID-19, the true worry is that these students may not be able to catch back up on what they’ve missed. This brings up a new, important question: if schools don’t have the medium to effectively teach Math and parents don’t have the training to guide their child through their Math material, how are these students going to progress?

There are endless books available claiming to help students improve in Math, and for some students, that may be enough to get them caught up. However, books, online videos, and practice questions can’t get a student motivated, engaged, or answer questions with specificity. For students who do need focused attention, books and prerecorded videos may not be enough. 

Individualized tutoring is consistently shown to have the highest benefit for students as an educational intervention, as students are able to focus on their specific needs with the help of a trained and supportive expert. This doesn’t just provide them with a place to ask questions if they have them, though it is a big benefit one-on-one tutoring; it also provides the space to be able to work at their own pace while still following their in-school curriculum. The students who are ahead but stagnating are pushed toward more challenging topics, and students who are behind can clear up confusion with a tutor who will teach to the students’ learning style and expand upon examples.

The Math slide is widening the learning gap for students, and without educational intervention, they’re only going to fall farther behind.  Ultimately, it’s important to remember that this doesn’t mean those currently behind in Math will not be able to catch up, but instead that they are severely in need of educational support and challenge that they would otherwise be receiving during a normal school year.