World News: The cost of COVID school shutdowns

Thursday, September 29

About 100 school buses are parked at the Arlington County Bus Depot, in response to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 outbreak on March 31, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. - Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have decided to close schools in response to the coronavirus pandemic, affecting nearly 55 million students and seven US states have closed school for the remainder of the year, as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the country. (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

Parents now know true cost of school shutdowns. It's not pretty.

Good evening. Today's newsletter starts with a column about how the pandemic school shutdowns hurt the education of our children.

You can't say we didn't warn you.

In 2020 and 2021, parents across the United States said repeatedly and passionately that keeping schools closed because of the pandemic would hurt student achievement. Now, the results are in – and they're not good.

The National Center for Education Statistics recently released its assessment of reading and math scores for America's 9-year-old students. This year, average scores fell 5 points in reading and 7 points in math compared with 2020. It's the largest decline in reading scores in three decades and the first drop in math ever recorded.

It didn't have to be this way.

- By Mary Vought

Our journalists are living the hurricane they're also covering

By Nicole Carroll

Local reporters, photographers and editors from Fort Myers and Naples, Florida, met in a hotel parking lot Thursday to plan their coverage of Hurricane Ian.

Editors Wendy Fullerton Powell, Cindy McCurry Ross at the forefront. In the background is Mark Bickel Giving directions to our colleagues from the Palm Beach Post who just arrived, Hannah Morse and Andreas Lieva.

Wendy Fullerton Powell, USA TODAY Network

They knew they'd lose power and phone service at their southwest Florida homes, so planned to meet at noon at an inland hotel to regroup. But when they got there, the hotel had lost power too, so the meeting moved to the parking lot.

There are about 30 journalists between the two newsrooms, both part of the USA TODAY Network. Many of them were already deployed, some embedded with emergency responders, some walking the roads and beaches that were safe, others trying to book boats and helicopters to get closer to the barrier islands hardest hit. Read more...

Real quick, sign up to get our alerts

Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? It's free and available in your app store.

Once you have the app, go to the settings and add "Commentary & Analysis" to make sure you don't miss out.

Discover more with our newsletters: Get the latest headlines, things to do and more in your inbox. Sign up here.