On Thursday, the White House seemed to blame Republicans and the late President Donald Trump for a drop in children’s reading and math test results during the COVID-19 epidemic.
The remarks were made during the White House briefing on Thursday. According to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the pandemic caused 9-year-olds in the United States to lag behind their peers in arithmetic and reading.
According to the research, the average reading and math scores for 9-year-old kids fell 5 points and 7 points, respectively, between 2022 and 2020 — the highest average reading score fall since 1990 and the first ever score decline in mathematics.
The reporter questioned Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, on what the Biden administration intended to do to remedy this serious learning loss and whether it had any responsibility for failing to advocate for schools to reopen as soon as possible.
Insinuating that the epidemic was poorly handled by the Trump administration and Republicans, Jean-Pierre pointed out that six months into the Biden presidency, almost all schools were still open.
According to Jean-Pierre, the fact that the economy, as well as schools and businesses, were shut down demonstrated how poorly the pandemic was handled and the effects that management had on the development and academic well-being of the children.
She promised that the Biden administration will undo the harm caused by the previous administration and that the American Rescue Plan’s funding would go to those who are most in need.
Throughout the epidemic, Republicans and former President Trump pushed for schools to restart face-to-face instruction, but Jean-Pierre made no mention of this. Democratic leaders and, in particular, teachers unions, opposed such initiatives at every stage, claiming that going back to school would endanger both teachers and pupils, in defiance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) advice.
The third-largest school district in the country, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), disobeyed the city’s directive to have students return to classroom instruction earlier this year.
After a winter break, 73% of the CTU said that they will continue teaching online courses until the present increase of COVID cases significantly decreases, garnering them temporary derision from both sides of the political aisle.
The California Teachers Association (CTA), a staunch supporter of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, dragged its feet on the resumption to classroom instruction during the outbreak.
