U.S. School Closures Leave Students Behind.

Since the Civil War, the president’s party has had a net loss of seats in 36 out of 39 midterm elections. However, this year could be different. With the Supreme Court’s decision to repeal a women’s right to choose, Democratic voters have become increasingly energized. That, combined with a slate of extremist Republic candidates, has increased the odds that Democrats will hold the Senate and turn what was expected to be a red wave in the House of Representatives into a drip.

But if Democrats want to further strengthen their chances in the Senate and the House, they will need to restore parent’s trust in all our schools.

As Will Marshall, founder and president of the Progressive Policy Institute recently noted, faith in public schools is approaching a nadir. Less than 30% of Americans have confidence in their children’s schools, and since the onset of the pandemic, 1.4 million children have left the public school rolls.

Republican Glenn Youngkin was able to tap into the growing frustration with schools to win the governorship of Virginia, a state that had been moving increasingly into the Democratic column and which Joe Biden won over Donald Trump by 8 percentage points. The source of much of this frustration — the reflexive closing of in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data from UNESCO, American schools were closed to in-person instruction more than almost any other developed country. As the chart below shows, American schools were more willing to shift to online/virtual learning — and stick with it — than our allies in Europe and Asia. And although nationally, U.S. schools avoided closing completely (though in some school districts that was not the case), it was not till February of 2021 that all American K-12 students were able to return to the classroom in-person.

COVID-19 school closures (partially or fully) by country

• Australia—46 weeks
• Canada—52 weeks
• France—12 weeks
• Germany—38 weeks
• Japan—11 weeks
• United Kingdom—27 weeks
• United States—77 weeks

The result — math and reading test scores for K-12 students in the U.S. has declined significantly. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), math scores slipped for the first time in history while reading scores declined 5 points, the largest drop in 30 years.

The study also showed that the nation’s most vulnerable students were hurt the most. Underperforming students saw math and reading scores drop 10 to 12 points compared with high performing students who experienced a much smaller decline — 2 to 3 points.

Unlike the U.S., other countries were more aggressive about restoring in-person teaching for all students. In Germany, schools re-opened in September of 2020. While schools closed in mid-December for approximately two months due to a second wave of COVID-19 infections, schools reopened again in the early spring.

In Japan, schools closed only completely for a mere three weeks, and partially shut their classroom doors for another eight.

Both Republicans and Democrats deserve blame for mismanaging schools during the pandemic. Republican officials enabled anti-vaxxers and those who opposed common sense precautions like wearing face masks, to politicize and make our schools unsafe. But in states where Democrats were in control of school districts, elected officials often ignored what other countries were doing and kept virtual instruction the norm for way too long.

So, before voters start to cast ballots, Democrats should acknowledge their mistake and commit to getting schools fully opened after future health pandemics. This includes embracing innovative solutions that were ignored during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as shifting to outdoor classes, creating summer semesters and extending the winter break, and providing waivers for retirees with advanced degrees to work in the schools either as teachers or teaching aides to help reduce class size and exposure.

By restoring confidence in our schools, Democrats may be able to save not only their majorities in Congress, but our democracy as well.