America’s school children are falling behind. They have been trailing their European and Asian counterparts in grade school for some time, but our nation’s management of Covid-19 has widened the gap further. One study from McKinsey and Company estimates that by June students will have lost on average 5 to 9 months of learning by June.
The situation in high poverty areas is even worse. According to a Rand Corporation study, 33 percent of teachers in the highest-poverty schools said that their students were significantly less prepared than last school year.
And while the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines offer some hope that we will eventually return to normalcy, their impact will likely not be enough to save the current school year.
But we can act to help our schoolchildren catch up—and give parents some needed relief—by offering free summer school for children grades K through 8.
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