COVID-19 caused students to struggle, here’s how they can get back on track

• Aniya Faulcon
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Aniya Faulcon is The Spark Host/Producer for WITF. She has a passion for shining a light on unique people, experiences, and perspectives within the community.
  
  Previously she worked as the People and Social Trends Reporter/Video Anchor for LancasterOnline | LNPNews. During her time there, she created video packages, provided Facebook Live coverage at community events, and wrote data-driven stories with census data and feature stories on local leaders, non-profit organizations, events, and people with unique talents and experiences within Lancaster County.
  
  Aniya also worked at WMAR ABC 2 News as a Sales Assistant and at the AFRO American Newspapers as an Executive Assistant and Media correspondent. Aniya interned at WEAA Gospel Grace 88.9 and worked at her alma mater’s radio station, WWPJ at Point Park University, where she gained skills and a passion for radio.
  
  Aniya grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore School for the arts for high school with a concentration in acting. She continued to hone her skills and passion for storytelling and later graduated from Point Park University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Broadcast Reporting. Aniya is eager to continue her journey with storytelling in her role with WITF, as she aims to shed a light on real people and real stories within Pennsylvania in a variety of mediums.

 Lynne Sladky / AP Photo

A third grade student works on a lesson at iPrep Academy on the first day of school, Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, in Miami. Pennsylvania school districts will have to start enforcing the statewide mask order in their schools starting Sept. 7.

Airdate: August 12, 2022

As kids go back to school this year they are confronted with challenges like readjusting to in person learning, making new friends, and a new bedtime schedule after the summer; but a major challenge that some will face, due to COVID-19, is catching up academically to perform on their grade level.

According to a study by McKinsey and Company, the impact of the pandemic on K through 12 student learning was significant, leaving students about five months behind in mathematics and four months behind in reading by the end of the school year.

The pandemic widened preexisting opportunity and achievement gaps, hitting historically disadvantaged students the hardest.

Laura Overdeck, president and founder of Bedtime Math, said the solution to this educational crisis is not in teachers or tutors, but in parents.

“I don’t think the way we do school normally can really fix this because it wasn’t fully working for all children before the pandemic,” Overdeck said. “…And what we’re making clear is you, the parent, can do this. This is only elementary school math. And you did graduate from elementary school and you can dive in with your kid and really get comfortable with it yourself because you’re your child’s best advocate and really their best resource that they can get 100% attention from.”

Overdeck also said it’s important that parents don’t let their own anxieties, concerning their children falling behind, be contagious and that they find ways to build their children’s confidence as learners.

To learn more visit BePartoftheEquation.org.