Just when we thought we were in the clear, the long arm of COVID-19 is dragging us back into confusion and chaos at the opening of a new school year. Precious months and years are slipping away with sub-par learning lowering the future trajectory of an entire generation of students.
As Governor Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn reported on August 2nd, scores on the Spring 2021 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program were down statewide. COVID’s negative impact on learning rages on. But, if there is anything the pandemic has taught us, it is that schools should not return to “normal.”
Clamoring for school as it was wastes the teachable moment that COVID-19 forced on an unwitting nation. Changes that would have taken decades at a pre-COVID pace are now possible at some fraction of before.