Mathematics Enrichment through Accelerated Learning to mitigate learning loss due to COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a social and economic disruption around the globe. This affected 90% of the world’s school children and caused the shutdown of schools in more than 190 countries; in the US, the school closure of K – 12 schools affected 55.1 million students in 124,000 public and private schools during the 2019–2020 academic year. This caused a transition to virtual/remote teaching and learning with little or no preparation for teachers and students. K-12 school enrollment dropped by 2.9 million from 2019 to 2020, widening pre-existing disparities in access and technological opportunities. Students in high-poverty schools were hit hardest in areas of math and reading. Black and Latino students lost 6 months in math compared to their counterparts. This has resulted in a lot of “unfinished learning” from the past years. The latest NAEP results show that on average, nationwide math and reading scores for thirteen-year-olds are the lowest in decades. Due to the pandemic, today’s students may earn $49,000 to $61,000 less over their lifetime when they enter the workforce, and this could cost the US economy $128 billion to $188 billion every year especially because they lack the skills, behaviors, and mindset to succeed in their workplaces.