ROUND ROCK, Texas – Many students in Texas suffered significant learning loss during the pandemic. The Texas Education Agency estimates that COVID-19 erased years of academic gains.
Round Rock ISD returns to school on Aug. 17, but the push to get students up to speed has already begun.
“We had a few thousand students in summer learning this year,” said Ryan Smith, the chief of teaching and learning for Round Rock ISD. “And those students will also be working in accelerated learning groups throughout the fall.”
The accelerated learning program was part of House Bill 4545, which was meant to give extra help to students who did not pass the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test. State Rep. Harold Dutton, D-House District 142, sponsored the bill during last year’s legislative session.
“It became law, and it did help thousands of students all over the state,” Rep. Dutton said. “I think you'll see that when the new ratings come out.”
The next legislative session begins on Jan. 10. Rep. Dutton, who chairs the Public Education Committee, said he plans to address issues related to teacher shortages and school safety, in addition to learning loss. He said there are some things he wants to tweak in HB 4545, but it was a good start.
“The problem is that we don't do enough to help them catch up when they fall behind,” Rep. Dutton said. “One of the other problems is that we had a number of students that were at the bottom educationally before COVID happened, and what this COVID did is shoved the whole bunch of kids into the bottom wrung. And so now, if there's one thing that's positive about all this, is that we're now going to have to do something about those kids at the bottom.”
Students didn’t take the STAAR test in 2020. But data from 2019 and 2021 shows that Round Rock ISD students struggled during the pandemic. Before COVID-19 hit, a little over two thirds of Round Rock kids met expectations for their grade level or above. Two years later, just over half met expectations. Smith said there was a “significant” impact to students’ academic performance during the pandemic.
“We're not expecting two and a half years to be recovered within a year, so it's looking at a long term trajectory,” Smith said.
In addition to extra instruction and tutoring this summer, Smith said the district is training teachers and giving them resources so they can adjust their lesson plans as needed. Round Rock ISD is also banking on a stable school year, where students can learn in-school instead of virtually.
“I feel really confident that we're going to continue on a road of recovery,” Smith said.