Black and Latinx Students’ Grades Are Disproportionately Suffering From School Closings

The pandemic has affected the nation’s most vulnerable classrooms

An analysis of tests given to 4.4 million U.S. students from third to eighth grade found that test scores are lower across the board in 2020 but that Black and Latinx children are among those impacted the most.

“The public health, education, and economic damages inflicted by Covid-19 are likely to exacerbate long-standing inequities disproportionately affecting Black, Latinx, and Native American students, as well as English learners and students with disabilities,” the report from NWEA Research said.

This points to more work needed from schools, the report said, to connect with students and families and provide additional instruction and support.

The authors of the report warn that this data is incomplete because one in four students who typically take the test every year wasn’t able to this year.

Here’s how NBC News’ Erin Einhorn described the situation, which in itself shows the difficulty of online testing:

Students might not have been tested because they couldn’t connect with their online classes on test day. They might have been absent from school because of illness or quarantines. They might attend schools that decided not to test at all this year, given the many new challenges schools face because of the pandemic. Or the students missing from NWEA’s data might not be in school at all.

Read more at NBC News:

When Covid-19 closed schools, Black, Hispanic and poor kids took biggest hit in math, reading