Teacher's Take: how COVID affected third grade ILEARN scores

This summer, the Indiana state ILEARN scores were released, and I wasn’t surprised by the results. 

In fact, I had previously taught this year's third grade class- in kindergarten and in second grade- and it's evident the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on early education, taking away time we can't get back. 

I knew teaching third grade during the 2022-2023 school year was going to be difficult. These were the students most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, they were in kindergarten in 2020. 

I knew by the way principals kept saying, “This is a hard class,” with a knowing glance that I couldn’t fully comprehend at the time.

Was this class already batting at a disadvantage, having gone through something no class had done before? Was the game over before it began? Did we even have a chance at success?

Well, regardless, I made it my mission in the 2022-2023 year to help these kids succeed. 

But, I found myself in a unique predicament. In fact, I knew some of these students when I was their kindergarten teacher during 2020, navigating the uncharted waters of virtual learning together.

This is where our story began. 

In March 2020, I got called into my assistant principal's office. 

"We need two weeks of worksheets for language arts and mathematics by the end of the day," she said. 

At the time, that was it. That was all the information we had. No knowledge of how long this would go on or how exactly the COVID-19 pandemic would affect early education.  

Two weeks later our plan shifted. 

"We're sending home student computers," the school administration announced. 

At that moment, virtual learning began.  

We utilized pre-recorded lessons, planned out the week prior. Teachers would post videos and work on Google Classroom where we were able to see student engagement and measure how students were performing. 

Parents, such as Shannon Hodgens, had their own struggles. Her son Kyan was in kindergarten at the time. She struggled with working from home, caring for her baby and guiding her son through his lessons.   

“It was hard,” she said. “I had a baby in December 2019 and just went back to work on March 9.”   

Kyan, a social kid, lacked interaction with other kids his age. 

Virtual learning “made him lazy,” she said. “He was laxed and not motivated. It was a trying time for all of us, but it made us strengthen our bonds. After a while, it made our family stronger.”   

As educators we tried to incentivize students. We tried to make virtual learning fresh and exciting. We encouraged kids to give it the same care and attention as they would their in-school classwork. 

In my class, when a student completed an assignment, they would earn a smile on a chart, working towards YouTube videos, word searches or online coloring pages that I would assign. 

For some, it was a success. They were able to work at their own pace and succeeded, but for others, it was the opposite. 

Due to contrasting work schedules, lack of Internet access or time, so many lessons went unwatched, so many assignments were incomplete.  

This created a gap in their education where language arts and mathematics foundations were not mastered. 

For some, this gap continued to grow year after year. Students were carried over into the next grade, but were quickly falling more and more behind. 

We ended the year with a virtual graduation. The kids said goodbye to each other, and I wished them a happy summer.  

Two and a half years later, the 2022-2023 school year began, and started my second year as a third-grade teacher.

We dove right into memorizing multiplication facts and reading comprehension. Many were behind. 

The testing countdown began. 

In preparation for ILEARN (taken in April), every grade students received became useful data to determine their likelihood of passing in the spring.  

After seven years as a third-grade teacher, Liz Williams has learned how to refine her lesson plans with lessons targeted towards ILEARN questions.  

She used the ILEARN blueprints to know what third-grade skills are more prevalent and to focus on those Indiana standards with students. 

“I teach the high priority standards multiple times throughout the year, then loop in the low priority standards,” she said. 

Students were placed into three categories: green, yellow and red. 

The green kids picked up on lessons quickly.

The yellow kids, or “bubble kids” as we called them, needed a little extra support.

On the precipice of passing, I made sure to approach these students first after every lesson, making sure they felt supported and confident to complete the assignment on their own.  

They usually mastered the skill by the end of the week. 

The red students below grade level- some at an early second grade readiness level. 

When the green students were solving two-step word problems with multiplication and division, the red students were drawing nine sets of three on their paper to solve 9x3.  

No matter their readiness level, students were equipped with various strategies to help them solve the same problems. 

“I start with prior grade level examples and establish a routine,” said Williams. 

She also works with students one on one showing them different examples or reducing answer choices.  

According to an Indiana Department of Education analysis, the IDOE finds that, “Students who were not proficient in ELA and math prior to the pandemic are not recovering at the same rate as their peers.”  

This statement was evident every day with my red students. 

Some red students, with tutoring and daily extra practice, did close the gap.

Others were too far behind; they needed more time. Time the school year couldn't give them. 

According to the IDOE, statewide, 39.7 percent of grade three were proficient in English Language Arts. My school’s third grade class was found to be 35.2 percent proficient.  

“These kids came in overall reading below grade level,” says Williams. “Core foundations were missed out on and lacked practice. Reading fluency was not there.”  

Likewise, for mathematics, statewide 53.1 percent of grade three students were proficient, but at my school, we scored higher than the state average at 53.4 percent. 

One positive result of the pandemic for students, notes Williams, is that kids were way more tech savvy than previous years. 

“That was lovely,” she mused as more classroom time could be dedicated towards mastering skills rather than technology use.  

If you were to ask me what I’ve learned from my teaching experiences, it’s to not underestimate the little guy. At ages 9 and 10, my group of kids this year were so resilient, they kept going. 

Their effort, stamina and desire to always do their best was a contributor to their success.  

Being able to encourage students to do their best and seeing them grow with that driven mindset was my favorite part of being a teacher.