A version of this conversation aired during Morning Edition on WVIA Radio.
Nearly five years after the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close, the impact of the virus and the response to it can still be seen in classrooms across Northeast and Central Pennsylvania.
WVIA’s Sarah Hofius Hall analyzed standardized test scores and visited schools across the region for a WVIA News special report.
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SCINTO: So in this report, we're using PSSA scores from 2019 — right before the pandemic — and scores from 2024 as a measure of how schools and students are bouncing back. And those scores really paint a picture of how much learning loss students went through during lockdowns and virtual learning. So what were some of the things that stood out the most to you as you were reporting on this?
HALL: So students in third through eighth grade take the English Language Arts and Math tests every year. And so I really wanted to see, yeah, are students bouncing back? Are schools, you know, eliminating that learning loss that happened during the pandemic? So I looked at 2019 scores, which was the last "normal" year before the pandemic happened, and then compared them five years later to the 2024 tests. I found that in most school districts, they have not reached those levels of proficiency that they had in 2019. There are some schools that have met and exceeded them, but that's pretty rare.
SCINTO: What are some of the reasons for this that, you know, have been either given to you by school districts or things that you're finding in the data that are contributing to this disparity? We're five years on. Most schools only were virtual for about a year, but we're five years on now, and what's going on?
HALL: The pandemic really did change education. I know I remember, you know, seeing those emails, you know, middle of March 2020, and schools were going to close down for a week, maybe two, and then their thought was that this virus would be done and it'd be safe to be back in school. But what we found was that some schools ended up being virtual for a year. Some schools did return in fall 2020, but were either a hybrid model or kids were wearing masks and sitting six feet apart. So it really disrupted education. And what we saw was that this early learning that happens, especially in elementary school...the reading that happens, the social skills that students pick up on, that was all really impacted by being away from the the typical classroom.
SCINTO: So your story does put a spotlight on the Bloomsburg and Scranton school districts in particular. So what were some of the ways you saw that they're getting their students back up to speed, and what's kind of working for them right now?
HALL: I enjoyed visiting classrooms in Scranton and Bloomsburg so much. I sat in on classes with really dynamic teachers. I saw, you know, really wonderful lessons and learning taking place. I could have sat in on these classrooms all day and been really happy. So just the chants and the engagement and the singing that was happening in one classroom that I was at at Willard Elementary School in West Scranton, the kids were so engaged, and that was really one of the things I saw in these schools. The level engage of engagement was up. There was a lot of individual attention paid to students. They were tracking their progress over the last couple years, and seeing, you know, where is the student? How can we help the student? They had small group instruction. I saw that at Bloomsburg where, you know, they knew what students needed help on the most. And so that's how they were kind of separating the students and making sure that, okay, this group of students maybe needs more help with telling time or counting money, and really making sure the kids got the attention that they needed.
SCINTO: It sounds like that attentiveness and that, you know, really close engagement, it feels like that's something parents have wanted out of education for years. So how are teachers in districts managing to do this when they're already managing so much else about their classroom and about their test scores and everything that goes on with the students?
HALL: I think now more than ever, teachers are juggling a lot. There's a lot of attention being paid to educating the whole student. Schools are now offering so many more mental health services, and, you know, trying to engage families more than ever, because as the pandemic really highlighted, learning is something that ... needs to happen at home too, and family involvement is so crucial to student success. So I think we've kind of seen almost a shift with many things in education, and it's really interesting to kind of track how this has all happened over the last five years.
SCINTO: Your full report is called the Pennsylvania School Report Card. If you had to, what grade would you give the Pennsylvania school system as a whole, all of the districts? Where are we right now?
HALL: Pennsylvania schools are definitely improving, and you can see that in the test scores. Of course there's a lot of room for improvement in many school districts, but we're seeing a lot of curriculum changes. We're seeing that small group instruction. We're seeing more mental health services and making sure students have what they need before they can even sit in the classroom and be ready to learn. So I think five years from now, it's going to be a different story, and we're going to be able to really track how all of that has improved education across the state.
SCINTO: Again, the special report is called the Pennsylvania School Report Card. Sarah, thank you so much for joining us.
HALL: Thank you.
