Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on Thursday that the pandemic is having a “severe impact” on schoolchildren in the country, and after a new report showed that a 9-year-old’s test scores in the United States had dropped, he urged communities to “encourage students.” raise the bar for Dramatically in 2020 and 2021.

In an opinion piece for USA Today, Cardona highlighted the many steps the Department of Education and schools across the country are taking to meet the challenge, but urged states and counties to do more, saying: We can’t take our feet off the gas.”

“This data should serve as a further call to action for states, districts and communities to use these funds quickly and effectively and to take action on the strategies we know work,” he wrote. I’m here. “To use data responsibly, we all need to take responsibility. We need to be able to direct resources to the communities and schools that need them most.”

The National Center for Education Statistics released the data on Thursday as a preview of the upcoming National Assessment Report of Educational Progress, known as the National Report Card.

Data show that in the first two years of the pandemic, reading scores dropped 5% to their lowest level in 30 years, while math scores dropped 7 points before registering their first-ever drop.

Test scores reveal sharp racial divisions among schoolchildren across the country. Mathematics scores dropped 5% for him among white students, but 13% among black students.

The pandemic has brought about major changes to the country’s schools, including mask-wearing, social distancing guidelines and a renewed shift to virtual schools during the peak of the health crisis.

At the same time, state and local leaders in some states have taken steps to restrict racial issues and gender identity and sexuality education.

Americans are unhappy with the K-12 public education system. Only 42 percent of Americans approve of the quality of K-12 schooling, the lowest level in 20 years, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday.

The clerk said a “substantial portion” of students who are below grade in at least one subject in 2021 have made it in time for summer vacation this year.

At the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, about half of the students were behind their grade in at least one subject, but that number had fallen to 36% by the end of the school year.

“This progress proves that our educators and school staff can make a lasting impact in helping students catch up academically and developmentally,” Cardona said. I am writing.