There is no question that the global COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the academic outcomes for children across the U.S. Over the past three years, the data shows that students, especially Black children, have fallen further and further behind academically and socially. And the stresses of teaching in such challenging times has added to the turmoil in schools.
Judith Berry, Ph.D., associate vice president of strategic initiatives at Lansing Community College in Michigan, says that the students who were considered “low achieving,” had even more sizeable declines in literacy and mathematics, due to the time lost in the classroom during the pandemic. The digital divide is real“Most school districts weren’t prepared to go from in-person teaching to online instruction, almost overnight,” says Berry, who adds that adults’ and students’ lack of access to computers and the internet at home contributed to the already existing academic declines. “Few homes had dedicated online learning spaces, especially with parents also having to work from home.” The pandemic’s toll on socialization Any educator will tell you students’ inability to mingle with their school friends in person had an impact on their mental health, as well. According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the pandemic negatively affected the mental health of school-aged children and adolescents. The CDC’s report revealed that nearly one in three high school students experienced “poor mental health,” and there were significant increases in teen hopelessness and even thoughts of suicide. During school closures, there was much debate among teachers, administrators and the communities about whether the health risks of COVID-19 outweighed the short- and long-term impact on students’ mental health. “Students missed meeting at school functions and meet-ups in the community, such as at the mall, church and visiting friends’ homes, “Berry says. The impacts were even greater for students who did not have cellphones and other devices used to socialize with friends. When schools reopened, Berry says, “Most students were unaccustomed to face-to-face socialization.” Students and school faculty had to adjust to the new normal of being back in school.” In fact, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, violence and bullying in schools increased at tremendous rates. Impact far beyond the present According to a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the pandemic not only had a negative impact on the academic progress for Black and Hispanic students today but will have major impacts on their future earnings. The NBER report used testing data from 2.1 million students in 10,000 schools in 49 states and Washington, D.C., investigate the role of remote and hybrid instruction in widening gaps in achievement by race and school poverty. The report calls for schools to close the academic gaps by using the bulk of their pandemic-related aid to help students recover academically. According to Berry, once schools slowly reopened, districts had to go into overdrive to get ready to bring them back safely and effectively. “Fortunately, they had access to the Cares Act funding to upgrade their infrastructures, including installing secure internet services in the schools, and helping to provide low or no cost internet access for students at home,” according to Berry. Students and families are not the only ones who have suffered during the height of the pandemic and beyond. Teachers were already dealing with staffing shortfalls and overcrowded classrooms and playing catch up on student achievement, but COVID-19 seemed to be a tipping point for education as a profession. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, more than 300,000 teachers left the field between February 2020 and May 2022. A National Education Association poll conducted in early 2022 found that 55 % of teachers said they would leave education sooner than planned, up from 37 % in August 2021. If these projections are true, they will have an impact on the academic performance of Black students especially in science, math, special education and early childhood education. Heightened stress for Black educators Siobhan Flowers, Ph.D., a licensed therapist in Dallas, Texas, works exclusively with Black educators at the intersection of mental wellness and education. Much of her work is specifically related to stress reduction and burnout prevention among teachers.
Flowers says Black teachers and administrators typically experience more chronic stress and burnout than their white counterparts. “Some of them have even crossed over into anxiety and depression, and are barely hanging on,” she adds. “A lot of these kind of symptoms were already present in teachers even before the pandemic, but it brought these issues to the surface.”According to Flowers, it is impossible to address the low student performance in this country without addressing what’s happening with Black teachers. Moving forward, Flowers says that interventions such as smaller class sizes, small group instruction, and structuring the day to allow educators more time for planning and preparation of lessons, can help. “Teachers have hit a wall, and they’re also finding that once they leave the profession, their anxiety, depression and their overall mental health has improved tremendously, which for me, speaks to more of a systemic problem rather than kind of placing the responsibility on the individual,” according to Flowers. She says providing more mental health services in schools for both teachers and students is important. Flowers calls for “more empathy and understanding extended towards educators and students of color because of what she refers to as racial battle fatigue.” The psychosocial pressures of just being a part of a marginalized group in society, she asserts, “does add extra work, emotional labor, that other educators don’t have to deal with.”
First published in Black Mental Health Today, Winter 2023 (Vol. 6).