In a revelation that will shock nobody with common sense, a recently conducted assessment shows how countries that mandated shorter school closures during the Covid pandemic recorded better math scores than those enforcing longer ones.
Published by the National Center for Education Statistics, the Education Department’s “primary statistical agency,” the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed that American students experienced a 13-point drop in their 2022 math scores “when compared to the 2018 [PISA] exam.” According to Axios, the average 2022 score “was not only lower than it was in 2012 but it was ‘among the lowest ever measured by PISA in mathematics’ for the U.S, per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.”
U.S. students performed above the OECD average in science and reading, however.
What’s notable about the 2022 PISA’s findings is the correlation between students’ math proficiency and how long their nation’s government locked them out of school in the name of Covid. As admitted by Axios, the report shows that a common theme shared by the 31 nations that “maintained or improved upon their 2018 math scores” was that they all implemented “shorter school closures during the pandemic and [had] fewer impediments to remote learning.”
In the years since the Covid lockdowns, studies emerged documenting the disastrous consequences wrought by state-enforced school closures. A 2023 analysis found that “elementary and middle schoolers in the U.S. need months of extra schooling to close pandemic-induced gaps.”
Meanwhile, data included in the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that “math and reading levels across the country have dropped to their lowest point in decades.” The report further disclosed that “remote learning” was not “effective.” Even globalist organizations such as the United Nations begrudgingly documented the harmful effects such policies have had on student learning.
It’s worth mentioning that children are the least at-risk age demographic with respect to Covid-19.
Despite feigning concern about U.S. students’ declining math proficiency, the Biden administration staunchly supported keeping children out of school in the months following Biden’s inauguration. As noted by The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board in August, the CDC under Biden “took dictation from [teacher’s] union chief Randi Weingarten for its reopening guidelines,” which permitted “unions in urban school districts like Chicago cover to delay the return to full in-person learning.”
Biden also neglected to use federal funds as leverage to push states and localities to reopen schools sooner.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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