Study: Extended School Closures Have Been Even More Damaging for Kids Than Initially Thought

Lockdowns have led to a dramatic loss in learning among America’s children, according to a new report that calls for getting children back into schools.

“The recommendation is to open schools and bring kids back into the classroom as quickly as possible,” said John Bailey with the American Enterprise Institute, one of the sponsors of the report, according to Fox News on Thursday.

The report examined the results of 130 studies in an effort to calculate the damage from what has been, for some students, a year of no in-person classes.

“It is vitally important to weigh the public health benefits of school closures against the academic and social-emotional costs suffered by students, families and society as a whole,” the report said.

The report said it did not take long for remote learning to go wrong. It said that in one analysis by Boston Consulting Group and Common Sense Media, by May 12 — roughly two months after mass closures hit — “parents reported only 4.2 hours of live virtual contact between their children and teachers ​over the previous seven days.”

In a December study, “22 percent of households earning less than $22,000 reported no live contact with their teachers,” the report said.

Citing a model developed by the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, University of Amsterdam and Yale University, the report shared that group’s conclusion that “learning gaps grew during the pandemic. Our model also predicts that wider achievement gaps will persist until children finish high school, suggesting that children’s long-term prospects are at risk.”