Trending Hard Stop on “Learning Loss”
Anyone that knows me understands that I believe in the power of language and rhetoric. How we speak to PJ Caposey
each other and label things matters. The emphasis on language has manifested itself in schools in many ways and is supported by sociological studies, but the clearest example may be in the very common-sense approach we take to referring to “students with disabilities” as opposed to “disabled students”. That simple shift in language detailed above matters, and as an educator, it should serve as a constant reminder that language matters—ALWAYS.
...I fear that districts and schools may be rushing into solving a problem that we are not entirely sure exists at this point. This is why I am so bothered by the term “learning loss”. First, an examination of the data shows that it is factually inaccurate. Very few students regressed during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This means that learning did occur. Now, to be transparent, learning may not have occurred at the levels we are accustomed to seeing—but learning was not lost. If anything, perhaps it was delayed. 8
