I think that it's more than a little neurotic to sweat a little over 1/10 of a percentage point in the context of a human beings lifelong capacity to learn.
It's is a microscopic price to pay.
As a teacher I'd also mention that these articles never talk about the role bad curriculum plays in learning loss. We were using a now debunked method of teaching literacy then and have replaced it with one that is even more against what we know about child development.
Students are struggling because there is a strain of thought in education today that we should teach very young children much harder stuff, much earlier. There is no benefit to that. They will still be 12 years early to the job market if we teach things when it is developmentally appropriate.
Thank you. This is absolutely correct. The standards are very difficult to teach to young children, and the curriculum isn't helping matters much, yet it is all supposed to pass as "rigor." It's as if education has completely lost sight of developmental appropriateness. Looking forward to retiring soon.
