The Place for Jersey City News
Log In / Register
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Jersey City Times
  • News
  • Food and Fun
    • Food And Drink
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Other Fun Stuff
  • Education
  • Business
  • Neighborhoods
    • Downtown
      • News
      • Guide
    • Heights
      • News
      • Guide
    • Journal Square
      • News
      • Guide
    • Bergen Lafayette
      • News
      • Guide
    • Greenville
      • News
      • Guide
    • Westside
      • News
      • Guide
  • Opinion
  • Columns
    • Eye Level
    • Mamarama
  • Obituaries
  • Event Calendar
  • Support our Mission
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Gauging the toll remote instruction has taken on NJ students

Gauging the toll remote instruction has taken on NJ students

Jersey City Times Staff
December 8, 2020/0 Comments/in header, Latest News, News
by Jersey City Times Staff

There’s little disagreement that the state needs to determine how much ‘learning loss’ has occurred. The argument is about the best way to collect data

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

In the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic and with more New Jersey schools being forced to go to remote instruction, worries about so-called learning loss among students have become commonplace.

Most agree it’s a concern: Will students suffer academically — and irreparably — during this extraordinary year?

But how to define that loss and, just as importantly, how to address whatever damage is done are proving far harder to agree upon.

That was evident Monday in a lively hearing of the state Senate Education Committee, where lawmakers heard testimony on a bill requiring the state to determine and examine what damage the pandemic has inflicted on student learning.

Few at the online hearing disagreed with the good intentions, but what was a bit unexpected was how the proposal met resistance from some expected allies about how to attain that goal.

State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), the influential chair of the committee, has pressed for the accounting and has called for the state Department of Education to complete a report that determines the level of potential loss in the past eight months. Her bill would require the department to report back to the Legislature within the next 30 days.

Ruiz said it shouldn’t even require legislation.

“The (state Department of Education) should be doing this on their own accord,” she said. “But when the administration is not doing this, the Legislature needs to step in.”

But while in accord about the end, the state’s main education groups representing teachers, administrators and school boards were far less in agreement about the means and the bill’s short timeline.

One after another, representatives of the various groups raised concerns about how student performance — or the lack of performance — would be measured in the middle of a pandemic when even basic school operations have become a test.

“We need to balance this with the current reality on our schools,” said Debra Bradley, lobbyist for the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association. “Our members tell us the top concerns right now is keeping our students safe.”

A representative of New Jersey Education Association, the state’s dominant teachers union, said it supported the idea but also didn’t want “students and staff burdened” with additional tasks and assessments.

“We also worry about the term ‘learning loss,’ because it sounds like kids learned something and then lost it,” said Francine Pfeffer, an NJEA lobbyist. “Unfinished learning or learning delay is a much better term for this.”

But that touched a nerve with Ruiz, who has been most critical of the Murphy administration in addressing gaps in education during the pandemic. That includes technology access; 30,000-plus students are still without tools and internet access.

“Learning loss is extraordinarily real thing, and I will not move away from that,” she responded to Pfeffer. “It does happen and it has happened.”

Ruiz pressed on, saying the data on student performance is critical right now in gauging the impact of the pandemic, She noted that while other state departments have been collecting information, the education department has provided little.

“This should have started months ago,” Ruiz said.

“We need to have that data, and as we know there will be only certain amount of money, how do we have a blueprint to bring every child up to speed?” she said.

“Let’s have a reckoning with truth so it helps policy for every child,” Ruiz said. “Not about punishment or withholding funds, but programs like summer extension. How do you have that discussion without collecting data.”

 

Header:  Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Jersey City, US
8:57 am, July 3, 2022
76°F
broken clouds
Wind: 9 mph
Pressure: 1016 mb

Latest Articles

Forget the Whale
July 02, 2022 /

Rogue Waves July: Six Concert Picks in Jersey City

Raisa Nosova "Uprooted"
July 01, 2022 /

Muralist Raisa Nosova Raises a Distress call for Ukraine

Dickinson High School Jersey City 16x9
July 01, 2022 /

Former Dickinson High School Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault

NJCU
July 01, 2022 /

NJCU Acting President Kroll Issues a Statement on Social Media

United States Supreme Court
July 01, 2022 /

We Must Amend the New Jersey Constitution to Include a Right to Privacy

CONTACT US

    ADS/INFO

    For information on advertising opportunities, please contact - ads@jcitytimes.com

    For information on writing opportunities, please contact - info@jcitytimes.com

    Download our media kit here

    ABOUT US

    About Jersey City Times

    Contact Jersey City Times

    Social

    Archives

    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    Copyright © 2020 JCityTimes.com. All Rights Reserved - powered by Enfold WordPress Theme
    COVID-19 Vaccine Coming as NJ Plans for Who Gets it First Vaccination State Health Officials Call COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Safe and Effective’
    Scroll to top