The NY Times published a piece on “learning loss” today headlined The Pandemic Hurt These Students the Most.

Fortunately, the article also included some pushback on the narrative (see textbox above) and this line:

Contrary to images conjured by phrases like “learning loss,” almost all students made gains during the pandemic, just at a slower rate than normal.

Listen, I don’t dispute that some students didn’t learn as much academic content as they might have during “normal” times. But I am afraid that, at least in many schools, more harm than good will come out the reactions to a dire “learning loss” narrative – reducing the number of electives, double periods in core classes – in other words, increasing the time spent on already existing strategies that haven’t been working in the past (see Trying To Bring Research, Sanity, Teacher Expertise & Student Voice To The “Learning Loss” Discussion).

For what it’s worth, I’ve previously written in The Washington Post about The kind of teaching kids need right now in the face pandemic challenges.