4 Strategies to Combat Unfinished Learning

It should surprise no one that there continue to be gaps in learning following the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfinished Learning — meaning skills or concepts that students were in the process of learning or never had the chance to learn — is where many are pointing the finger.

Background of Unfinished Learning

Major news outlets like CNN and educational outlets like Chalkbeat alike are sharing data that students are indeed behind. For starters, fourth- and eighth-graders fell behind in reading and had the biggest drop-off ever in math, plus notable declines in reading achievement.

These stats are from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the Education Department. Further, these results affected everyone, including students in every state and region of the U.S. The most recent 2022 test scores were compared to the pre-pandemic times of 2019. We see you unfinished learning.

State Recognized Issue

What’s more, the NAEP isn’t an isolated incident. State and national reports on unfinished learning show that months of remote schooling during the pandemic interfered with learning for several public school students. According to the analysis of assessments taken by more than 1.6 million elementary schoolchildren at the end of the 2020-21 school year, they were, on average, five months behind in mathematics and four months behind in reading.

The analysis, completed by consulting firm McKinsey & Company, explained how the pandemic “widened preexisting opportunity and achievement gaps, especially among historically disadvantaged students.”

So what now? Educators and parents are all so burned out (and rightfully so) after shouldering more work and challenges thanks to remote and/or interrupted learning. Here are some simple strategies for combating unfinished learning at school and home so we can close some of these educational gaps.  

Unfinished Learning Strategies for Success in the Classroom

According to a recent EdWeek article on unfinished learning, prioritizing acceleration over remediation is a current strategy that’s seeing great success. Acceleration is pressing on with the content at hand and revisiting missed concepts when needed, while remediation is attempting to cover everything missed before moving forward with the new subject matter.

It can feel unnatural for educators to allow any gaps in learning; however, attempting to cover everything missed during a period of time is unrealistic and unproductive. Instead, look at the subject at hand. What concepts were missed that are essential to teaching the new skill? An example of this in practice could be parlayed into any subject. Let’s try grammar lessons.

For instance, second-grade students are expected to learn how to use collective nouns and names for a collection or number of people or things. These are words like group, herd, flock, and so on. However, before students can grasp the new “collective nouns” understanding, they must know how to use and define common nouns like students, cattle, or birds. This helps them create key phrases like a “group of students,” “herd of cattle,” or “flock of birds” to pull together the learning of collective nouns.

#1 Recognizable Issues 

The key is addressing the knowledge gap when necessary and not spending time going back to re-teach missed material for the sake of covering all missed grammar lessons from first grade.

What’s incredibly important for educators is to set ambitious yet attainable goals for all students.

An excerpt from EDTECH DIGEST best reveals why this is so important and the path toward implementation:

Research from TNTP shows students make greater learning gains when teachers hold high expectations about their ability to meet grade-level standards… To support appropriately-challenging growth goals, educators need assessments that guide grade-level instructional priorities, as well as clear grade-level benchmarks and scaffolds to address underlying unfinished learning. Once high expectations are in place, incremental goal setting and monitoring progress are a natural next step in attaining grade-level proficiency.”

A few other quick strategies to combat Unfinished Learning include:

• Extended Learning: Examples include private instruction, online courses, internships, or community service.
• Tutoring: This doesn’t have to be the standard vision of a teacher tutoring their pupils. This can be breaking up into partners to have students who have mastered content try to help their peers. Additionally, older students could do community service and tutor struggling students their junior. School staff should also work together to identify the best tutoring programs and services in the area too and enlist a budget for after-school support.
• Small-group Instruction: Breaking up into groups to cover content that specific students are struggling with or still need to learn.

Unfinished Learning Strategies for Success at Home

There are numerous realistic ways parents can help their children fill in the gaps from Unfinished Learning.

#2 Connect with the Educator     

It’s important to start with the teacher, asking what gaps exist and what the top priorities are. There’s only so much time in a day, month, and year, so make sure you’re targeting the concepts in the highest need for your child.

It seems obvious, but parents should ask their child’s teacher what they recommend to do at home. Simple, brief conversations can save everyone time in the end. This connection between parent and educator should deepen to regular feedback for your child, which means – report cards or any other observational data that might be available. Don’t wait until late in the year to ask for this. Begin chipping away as soon as possible and at least quarterly on any feedback from the teacher. Most importantly, check your student’s work whenever possible and at least in subjects, they struggle most.

#3 Incorporate Learning in Play and Routine

Recently, my preschool daughter desperately needed to work on writing her name and penmanship. Initially, it was impossible act for me to get her to even try writing her name outside of the classroom. We started small; I wrote her name in pencil on lined papers. Then, I asked her to trace with colored pencils to make a beautiful rainbow design. Soon, I stopped tracing the letters.

Later, we made name tags for a special dinner with our relatives, where she traced my letters and decorated each card. She loved being involved in the process and having a clear purpose that these name cards would be used as actual decorations and denote seating.

Help in the kitchen is the perfect way to have kids improve their math skills, be it counting, fractions, etc. Inviting them for the grocery trip before allows them to be involved with budgeting and problem-solving to get the best deals. What brand is most affordable? Should we buy two cartons of blueberries to get one free?

#4: Find Supplemental Resources

Visiting your local library is a free way to engage with your child’s learning. Whenever students can see their own cultural experiences reflected in the subject matter, it’s much easier for them to feel connected and invested in learning. For my toddler daughters, a book where the main character is named after them or looks like them instantly enthralls them. For instance, when children learn about historical events, dig into your archives to share relevant relatives who served in World War II or were alive during major political events. Having a 1:1 conversation with these individuals who experienced the content, they’re learning about brings the curriculum alive.

Now that educators and parents are equipped with strategies for combating Unfinished Learning, it’s important to note that just because remote learning is (mostly) over with the Covid-19 pandemic ending, Unfinished Learning isn’t going away. For a deeper dive and more causes of Unfinished Learning.