Unprepared in College; Sinking Scores Due to Pandemic

21Apr
by Desiree Martinez

Remote learning was a challenge in many ways. However, the challenge isn’t over as the fallout reverberates throughout the higher education landscape. The Hechinger Report found many first-year college students are showing up woefully unprepared for college-level coursework:  

“Many students whose last years of high school were disrupted by the pandemic are struggling academically in the foundational college courses they need to succeed later in their academic and professional careers. Professors and students say the remote learning that students were stuck with during the pandemic wasn’t as good as what they would have had in person. The students were also often distracted — trying to learn while grappling with health, financial, and family stressors. Now, after two years of cobbled-together pandemic learning, many college students not only are less prepared than they should be, they’ve forgotten how to be students.

And more underprepared high school graduates are likely to be coming right behind them, putting unprecedented pressure on faculty, counselors, and advisers.” 

While funding has been dedicated to closing the pandemic achievement gap, we’ll be following exactly how it’s being spent and if the programs are proving beneficial as students move forward in their education. 

Do you feel like your child is caught up? If not, how do you think schools and additional programs can best help?

What do you think?
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Desiree Martinez

Desiree Martinez is a proud native from South Central Los Angeles and LAUSD alumna. She is a first-generation college graduate from UCLA where she completed her BA in Sociology with a minor in Education Studies. Upon experiencing the lack of representation of students of color in higher education, she developed a passion fighting for social justice in k-12 education. A child’s zip code should not determine their education attainment, yet this is the challenge many students face today. Her experiences in her community propelled her to fight for social justice in educational equity work with Students for Education Reform (SFER). Desiree leads the organizing work for SFER in Los Angeles where she works and trains college students to advocate for better schools in marginalized communities and eliminate the belief gap.

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