Parents fume about drop in national test scores over pandemic

Parents were left frustrated — but not surprised — when the results of a national test released Thursday showed just how devastating COVID-related learning disruptions have been to their kids.

“We didn’t need data to tell us this. We could feel it in our living rooms,” said Keri Rodrigues, a Massachusetts mom and co-founder of the National Parents Union.

“We have been screaming and crying about what we know,” Rodrigues told The Post, citing concerns ranging from learning loss to schoolchildren’s declining mental health.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress exam — known as “the nation’s report card” — showed a dramatic decline in the math and reading scores of 9-year-olds nationwide over the pandemic, according to the federal data released Thursday.

It marked the largest dip in reading scores since 1990, and the first decline in those for math since the test launched a half-century ago.

Nathan Brinkman, a parent of fourth and seventh graders in public schools from Arlington, Virginia, was likewise “not surprised” to see the scores decline.

For almost the full 2020-21 school year, his kids’ school district implemented a four-day week, and when students returned in person, the day was shortened, Brinkman told The Post. 

“The quantity of instruction was radically curtailed, and the quality of instruction was significantly degraded,” Brinkman said.

Parents also pointed to other impacts of the pandemic on schoolkids.

“There is no way a test can measure the impact that sickness, death of caregivers and other loved ones, and watching systems fail historically underserved populations has on any of us,” said Jody Drezner Alperin, a parent to a 10th grader and of a recent graduate in New York City. “Least of all, our youngest community members.”

One in every 200 children in New York City have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19, the nonprofit outlet The City reported this spring.

Yiatin Chu, whose daughter is entering the sixth grade in New York City, had one message for The Post — that “there’s catch up to do.”

“Am I surprised? No,” she said. “I think anyone that’s been paying attention expected a general decline in how our kids are doing academically.”

“When it’s confirmed in black and white like this, it’s about what we’re going to do next.”