Even now, periodically some people get into a tizzy on social media complaining about physical school closures during the height of the COVID pandemic.

This despite substantial evidence that the closures were not a major cause of learning challenges experienced by many students.

We’re still fighting about pandemic-era school closures — but do they still matter?, by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat provides a good overview, and I think the kicker is highlighted in the above textbox.

Many decades of research show that at least two-thirds of the factors that impact student academic achievement occur outside the schoolhouse walls.

I just don’t understand why some people still don’t get that a societal upheaval like the COVID epidemic – beyond physical school closures – is primarily to blame for academic issues….