ACADEMIA Letters A Wake-Up Call in the Pandemic of Education Genella Matthews Spencer Teachers are not facing anything different during this covid-19 pandemic (Cutler & Summers, 2020) compared to the academic problems that they have already been addressing for decades. Student’s test scores have been on the decline since the 1960’s – White student’s test scores have declined, Black student’s test scores even more. The problems that researchers surmised involved racial inequality in the school system, a lack of parental involvement, teacher inadequacies, students not doing their part, and more. (Barshay, 2018; McGeever, 1983; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Waters, 1981). This article does not focus on those repetitive contentious problems. Yes, they are real and yes, they all have an impact on student’s test scores but the covid-19 pandemic opened a deeper revelation – a “Wake-up Call” – in the systematic logistics of public education in the United States. Research shows what was done before did not work and the new thing being done now does not work, online instruction (Mandel, 2020). Regardless of how the students are receiving instruction (online, person-person, or a combination of both) test scores are still declining. Online learning is a new way of receiving academic instruction for most students (Mandel, 2020). Another name for online learning is remote learning. Both students and teachers that are customarily used to being in a classroom located in a mortar and brick building have been compelled to make adjustments by talking to a monitor. A monitor with a variety of cartoon images and profile photos representing a copious number of students. Most teachers never have seen their students unless their school mandated that video cameras be turned on during online-learning instruction. The advantage of online learning is the comfort of students learning in an environment of their choosing which is most likely home (Gautam, 2020). Some students of high school age work outside of their home and learn while on the job (Heap, 2017). Students can take a Academia Letters, April 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Genella Matthews Spencer, gsp72encer@gmail.com Citation: Spencer, G.M. (2021). A Wake-Up Call in the Pandemic of Education. Academia Letters, Article 821. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL821. 1 food break or a bathroom break without the inconvenience of the teacher intervening. Most conveniently, students are not confined to synchronous assignments with piercing eyes from teachers determining if they are working or goofing off. A disadvantage to teachers of course. Not all students learn the same way. Many school systems today believe student engagement is the key to quality learning but studies have shown that this is not the case with many students (Gray & DiLoreto, 2016; Spencer, 2020). Some students like the confinement of online learning because it allows them to concentrate and work at their own pace. Fleming (2020) stated, “Though remote learning has brought many challenges, some students seem to be thriving in the new circumstances” (p. 1). On the contrary, some students opinionate online learning as a disadvantage of socialization depriving them of developing into productive societal individuals, which is deemed questionable by some (Medlin, 2006). Children have been learning outside of the classroom for decades in the environment of their homes before the 19th century when public education began evolving into today’s system (Chen, 2020). Does that mean our nation consisted of unproductive societal individuals before the 19th century? The advantage and disadvantage debates of online learning versus person-person learning can go on forever but the problem of low-test scores will continue to persist until a change is made by those that innovated the education for every child in our nation. The problem does not start at the bottom of the totem pole inadvertently voiced by the overseers on the top – demand more training for teachers, add more required professional development hours to their certifications, constantly observe their actions in the classroom, evaluate their methods of instruction because those of us with a higher position who passed a second exam know best. Ironically, the student’s test scores are still declining (Camera, 2019). Teachers could not become teachers if they did not meet the requirements of an education degree and pass the formalized teacher’s exam mandated by their state’s education department. Somehow though, the fault of students’ low-test scores is the fault of those on the bottom of the totem pole as those on the top wash their hands of being responsible. Teachers are doing it all wrong for some and all right for others. This is the message that hard-working dedicated teachers feel they are receiving from their administrators, school districts, and states’ education departments (Hirsch, 2016). Many teachers have noticed that most academic achievers do well regardless of where they are taught, online or person-person, and the underachievers not so well in both situations (Paul & Jefferson, 2019). The solution must start from the top: Those that have the authority to make a change in the ways and methods that guarantee our students are learning what they are being taught. Each state’s education department is the backbone to the decline of our student’s test scores which in retrospect reflects on each school district. One of the roles of a state education department Academia Letters, April 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Genella Matthews Spencer, gsp72encer@gmail.com Citation: Spencer, G.M. (2021). A Wake-Up Call in the Pandemic of Education. Academia Letters, Article 821. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL821. 2 is to support academic improvement by creating appropriate standards for each subject and grade level as well as providing efficacious assessments (Weiss, J & McGuinn, 2017). If the students are not learning, then the curriculum standards proposed to guide the instructional learning are inadequate that may not align with the academic assessments. A reformation is in dire need for the restoration of this nation’s public education system. The many other roles of a state education department that effects the outcome of our students’ test scores cannot be overlooked at this time of the widespread pandemic. The “Wake-up Call” is now in place. The past and present structured establishments on how our students are being educated have proven and demonstrated that it is not working. A finalization of implication proposes the authoritarians to answer the call, accept the message, and do something about it before it is too late. Academia Letters, April 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Genella Matthews Spencer, gsp72encer@gmail.com Citation: Spencer, G.M. (2021). A Wake-Up Call in the Pandemic of Education. Academia Letters, Article 821. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL821. 3 References Barshay, J. (2018). National test scores reveal a decade of educational stagnation. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved from https://hechingerreport.org/national-test-scores-reveala-decade-of-educational-stagnation/ Camera, L. (2019). Across the board, scores dropped in math and reading for U.S. students. U.S. News. 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The test score decline: A review and annotated bibliography. Human Resources Research Organization. Retrieved from https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/ a103091.pdf Weiss, J & McGuinn, P. (2017). The Evolving Role of the State Education Agency in the Era of ESSA and Trump: Past, Present, and Uncertain Future. CPRE Working Papers. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers/14 Academia Letters, April 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Genella Matthews Spencer, gsp72encer@gmail.com Citation: Spencer, G.M. (2021). A Wake-Up Call in the Pandemic of Education. Academia Letters, Article 821. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL821. 5