Posted on 03/10/22
| News Source: FOX45
The most recent state test scores show Maryland students experienced a stunning amount of learning loss from the Covid shutdowns. Education experts made dire predictions during the last two years, and it appears they were right.
The pandemic created a debate over education. On one side, some parents, and Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises, were saying students need to be learning in person.
“The gap is getting wider,” Amy Adams, a parent in Baltimore County, told Project Baltimore back in October 2020.
“We are not raising the bar. We are lowering the bar,” added Sara Russell, another parent in Baltimore County who spoke with Fox45 News in 2020.
During a news conference in January 2021, Santelises supported a return to the classroom, saying “To ignore that -- we do have families that want an in-person option -- would be irresponsible.”
But on the other side of the debate, were the teachers’ unions and those fighting to keep learning virtual.
“We don’t want anyone forced back into buildings until it’s safe,” Diamonte Brown, the president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said back in July 2021.
With students learning at home for more than a year, there were expected setbacks. Now, recently released state testing data shows just how far behind students have fallen. The scores Project Baltimore obtained are from the 2021 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, or MCAP, which is the first standardized state test students have taken since the pandemic began.