Charter Public Schools Are Tackling Learning Loss Head-On
Recent LA Times Analysis Finds Learning Loss is Real Amid the Pandemic
By Myrna Castrejón, President & CEO, California Charter Schools Association
About this time last year, the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) released a report called Portrait of the Movement: The Transition to Distance Learning Amid COVID-19 which looked at ways charter public schools were mitigating learning loss in the wake of a state-issued directive to close all schools to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
The report found that while many traditional public schools remained at a standstill trying to determine how to implement distance learning programs and negotiating with labor union leaders the amount of school hours teachers should teach, California charter public schools relied on their autonomy, flexibility and innovation to transition to remote learning and get students back to learning quickly.
A recent analysis by the LA Times has given us a window into how LAUSD district schools are faring today, and sadly the news is cause for alarm. The analysis shows that while overall elementary student reading scored dropped by 7 points, the decline was more severe for Latino, Black and English Learning students. Disparities in grades between Black and Latino students and their white and Asian peers, which we already saw pre-pandemic, widened to as much as 21 points.
These results are in direct contradiction to the recent claims made by the President of the Los Angeles teachers union in Los Angeles Magazine who said, “There is no such thing as learning loss … Our kids didn’t lose anything.” The article added that “She went so far as suggesting ‘learning loss’ is a fake crisis marketed by shadowy purveyors of clinical and classroom assessments.” Those claims are not only tone-deaf and out-of-touch but irresponsible and disrespectful to the thousands of students that are being left behind.
When we published our report last November, experts were warning that the average student would enter this academic year having lost a third of their projected progress in reading and up to a half in math. Now — almost two years after our education system was so dramatically altered — charter public schools continue to meet the moment and find ways to help students not only gain academic ground but succeed in school.
For example, Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, which serves 3,000 students across five campuses, recognized the need to transition children back to in-person learning and held a kick-off event in September. Teachers and supportive staff created lessons to introduce student behavior expectations, behavior posters, student reward systems and students engaged in social-emotional activities in the classroom.
As a result, school administrators were able to engage faculty in data-driven conversations using student behavior data collected. Vaughn has set a goal of being preventative rather than reactionary regarding student behavior, using data to identify potential hotspots and incidents that could hinder their ability to provide students with a safe school environment.
California’s charter public schools are not perfect, but we are certainly not in denial. We are rising to the challenge by taking honest assessments of students’ progress and sharing best practices with other leaders. And parents are taking notice.
The pandemic has shown parents in LAUSD that they have more than one public school option for their child to get a high-quality education. As they look at what offering is best for their child, more are finding charter schools, which are free, public, nonprofit and open to all students regardless of zip code or academic ability.
In the past year, support for charter public schools has increased statewide to its highest level since 2015 and support increased among Democrats and Republicans. According to CCSA’s most recent public opinion poll, 52% of voters in California favor charter public schools including 56% of parents. In the Los Angeles region, 51% of voters support charter public schools. Additionally, 78% of voters believe parents should have the ability to choose a charter public school if they think it is better for their child, and 60% of percent of parents statewide would consider enrolling their child in a charter public school.
The learning loss we are witnessing will take years to overcome. Minutes, days and weeks our students lost on campus will not be made up by sticking our heads in the sand and calling it a fake crisis. It is incumbent on all education leaders to rise to the challenge and battle learning loss head-on. We should all work together to recognize the problem for what it is and share what is working to best serve our students. It’s not only an investment in our state to have an educated workforce in a global economy, but it’s the morally correct thing to do.
You can learn more about California’s nonprofit charter schools by following CCSA on Twitter @CALcharters.
