Early Monday morning, the latest findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress went live showing student test scores tanked to their lowest levels in two decades due to the mentally crippling lockdowns imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. But when it came to sharing this startling fact about America’s next generation with viewers, CBS Mornings and NBC’s Today saw zero reason to mention it.
Instead, CBS Mornings spent nine minutes and 21 seconds obsessing over Bob Woodward’s audio book of his taped conversations with Donald Trump. And over on NBC’s Today, they had a 28-second news brief on astronaut Scott Kelly joining a team at NASA to study possible UFO sightings.
In contrast, the usually superficial ABC’s Good Morning America showed up with two minutes and 10 seconds of coverage (minus a tease) split across their two-hour show.
“Falling behind? Students across the country suffering one of the worst setbacks at school. What the nation's report card reveals this morning,” said co-host Robin Roberts in one of the show’s opening teases.
Co-host George Stephanopoulos opened the first segment with the same verbiage, warning “students are suffering setbacks across the country” with “math test scores dropping dramatically.”
Correspondent Stephanie Ramos called it “alarming news” from “the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which serves as a kind of a national report card” with “declines...seen among high and lower-performing students in fourth and eighth grade in both math and reading.”
“The scores fell to levels not seen in two decades. Math scores for eighth grade fell by eight points from 282 in 2019 to 274 this year and the sharpest decline recorded in more than half a century of testing,” she added.
As for why that’s the case, Ramos painted it as a sob story for teachers as opposed to the students themselves, the parents who had to grapple with children attending school via Zoom, and the mental health for both:
[W]hen students returned to in-person classes last year, educators — they scrambled to manage COVID surges, quarantines, mask mandates, and staffing shortages. They also are facing increasing mental health needs. Now, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters that the report is an urgent call to action.
In the second hour, Ramos largely rehashed the first segment, but lamented that students are still suffering despite the “historic $122 billion” doled out to schools in President Biden’s American Rescue Plan meant “to help schools safely reopen and stay open, combat learning loss, and address student mental health, but clearly the damage was already done.”
Back on August 1, Fox News Digital’s Jessica Chasmar wrote that “[t]he Democrats responsible for keeping public schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic have faced zero repercussions more than two years after the lockdowns that left millions of children behind and in crisis.”
Chasmar cited an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) study that “found...nearly 1.3 million students have left public schools since the pandemic began, and schools that stayed remote longer saw even more students leave.”
She found that was backed up by a working paper in October 2020 via Brown University that revealed “partisan politics and teachers union strength in a particular area had far more influence on schools reopening than science or local health guidance.”
She added (click “expand”):
Evidence shows the main drivers behind the school closures were teachers unions, which donate almost exclusively to Democrats. The American Federation of Teachers has donated 100% – a total of $2,674,719 – to Democratic candidates in the 2022 election cycle, and the National Education Association (NEA) has donated 98.4% – a total of $1,941,045 – to Democratic candidates this cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org.
"School closures were always more about politics and power than safety and the needs of children," Corey A. DeAngelis, a school choice advocate and the national director of research of the American Federation for Children, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. "Meanwhile private schools, daycares, grocery stores, and other businesses were able to figure it out from the get-go."
(....)
Teachers unions have been targeted by critics for having had a hand in keeping schools closed. Infamously, the AFT and the NEA were discovered to have corresponded with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year to make last-minute changes to school reopening guidance, which included a phased reopening approach for K-12 schools based on coronavirus cases in the area.
Communications obtained by the New York Post through a Freedom of Information Act request by conservative group Americans for Public Trust showed numerous emails between top CDC officials and the AFT just days before the Biden administration released the school reopening guidelines in February 2021. The lobbying efforts were a reported success, as the Post found at least two instances when "suggestions" were used nearly word-for-word within the CDC’s guidelines.
The CDC had been prepared to allow in-school instruction regardless of transmission rates, but at the suggestion of the union, the guidelines were adjusted to include a provision that said, "In the event of high community-transmission results from a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new update of these guidelines may be necessary."
To see the relevant ABC transcript from October 24, click “expand.”
ABC’s Good Morning America
October 24, 2022
7:01 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Falling Behind?; New Student Setback]
ROBIN ROBERTS: Falling behind? Students across the country suffering one of the worst setbacks at school. What the nation's report card reveals this morning.
(....)
7:35 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New This Morning; Falling Behind? “Nation’s Report Card” Shows Dramatic Drop in Test Scores]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We’re going to turn now to a new report showing how students are suffering setbacks across the country. Math test scores dropping dramatically in the wake of the pandemic. Stephanie Ramos has the details. Good morning, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE RAMOS: George, good morning. This morning, alarming news about test scores declining across the country. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which serves as a kind of a national report card, declines were seen among high and lower-performing students in fourth and eighth grade in both math and reading. The scores fell to levels not seen in two decades. Math scores for eighth grade fell by eight points from 282 in 2019 to 274 this year and the sharpest decline recorded in more than half a century of testing. Now, as we’ve reported, when students returned to in-person classes last year, educators — they scrambled to manage COVID surges, quarantines, mask mandates, and staffing shortages. They also are facing increasing mental health needs. Now, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters that the report is an urgent call to action. Guys
ROBERTS: It certainly is. Stephanie, thank you.
(....)
8:04 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New This Morning; Falling Behind? “Nation’s Report Card” Shows Dramatic Drop in Test Scores]
STEPHANOPOULOS: Now to the new report showing how students are suffering setbacks across the country with math test scores dropping dramatically in the wake of the pandemic. Stephanie Ramos back with the details. Good morning, Stephanie.
RAMOS: Hey there, George. Good morning. Really unfortunate news about test scores declining across the country. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which serves as a kind of a national report card, declines were seen among high and lower-performing students in fourth and eighth grade in both math and reading. Math scores for eighth grade fell by eight points from 282 in 2019 to 274 this year, the sharpest decline recorded in more than half a century of testing. Now, as we’ve reported, when students returned to in-person classes last year, educators — we know scrambled to manage COVID surges, quarantines, mask mandates, and staffing shortages. These results come after Biden's American Rescue Plan provided a historic $122 billion in funding to help schools safely reopen and stay open. combat learning loss, and address student mental health, but clearly the damage was already done. T.J.
T.J. HOLMES: All right, Stephanie, thank you.
