Even with the prospect of widespread COVID vaccination next year, the pandemic's impact on education will persist, most noticeably for underprivileged students in neighborhoods.
Though one analysis finds COVID learning loss wasn't as severe as expected, the absence of underrepresented students from the data has transformative policy implications for the education system.
As the scope of COVID learning loss becomes clearer, educators are quickly implementing strategies to prevent students from falling behind in math and reading.
But a significant number of students—generally from low-income and other vulnerable groups—did not participate in testing because of connectivity problems or other issues.
The COVID learning loss predictions were dire, and several organizations are now releasing data tracking how students have actually performed this fall.
During the disrupted school schedules of COVID, micro-credentials are having another moment as a more flexible and personalizable form of professional development.
