Who's to Blame for Historic COVID Setbacks for Students?

With the "nation's report card" registering historic lows for students after a year or more of coronavirus-related classroom closures, parents are blaming education activists and the politicians who championed lockdowns over keeping schools open.

The grim findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which tested hundreds of thousands of fourth and eighth graders across the country this year for the first time since 2019, gave the first clear picture of what students have – or haven't – mastered amid the throes of pandemic policies that involved masking in classrooms, COVID-19 testing protocols, and extensive stints of virtual learning.