LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More students are spending their summers at Mathnasium St. Matthews. Manager Liz Warlick says she thinks enrollment is up because students notice they are struggling more with math since the pandemic.
Maggie Conover is one student getting extra help at Mathnasium this summer. She’s getting ready to head into her 7th grade year, and wants extra help so she is prepared.
“Math has always been hard for me, but it made it even worse when we went into quarantine. It made it harder,” said Conover.
While working on lessons, she finds she often hits roadblocks along the way on topics she first learned in her 4th and 5th grade years, when she was at home because of the pandemic. Warlick said that’s a common thing she is seeing with students. Even though they are back in-person now, if students didn’t master the lessons from the years they were online, it’s hard to move on to the next steps.
“Since math is sequential, if there is a hole there, it’s just going to stay there. They really need to go back, focus on their skills and hit them,” said Warlock. “Even if they are now past that as far as grade level goes, we are still going back going we need to hit those skills from that year to make sure you have those strong to keep moving forward without these gaps and struggles they are having.”
A U.S. Government Accountability Office survey finds more than half of teachers had their students start the 2020-2021 school year behind, compared to a pre-pandemic year. Nearly two-thirds of teachers say their students made less academic progress that school year compared to pre-pandemic times.
Usually with tutoring, it’s the parents signing the kids up. Warlick said she’s noticed a new trend with the students enrolled at her center.
“I don’t have as many parents having to force their kids to come in,” said Warlick. “The kids know it. The kids are even asking for it. I’ve had some that have said, ‘Mom, dad. I need help.’ They’re coming in here at the students’ request.”
Besides pandemic learning loss, the Kentucky Department of Education says children may lose up to three months of literacy and numeracy skills during summer break if they don’t practice what they learned during the school year. They often refer to this as the “summer slide.”
To prevent that, Warlick suggests getting some education in over the summer. With her students, the identify skills that need improvement and work through them, so students are prepared for the next school year.
“I actually have learned a lot from mostly the papers in my binder,” said Conover. “For heading to my new school, it’s going to be really helpful.”
KDE also has resources available for families wanting to keep their children’s minds active over the summer.