Are Your Child's Math Skills Weak? How Parents Can Help Academically Post Pandemic

Should you be concerned about your child's skills in math?

According to the Education Reporting Collaborative, a coalition of eight newsrooms from the United States, US elementary students’ math knowledge is about half a school year behind.

Their study was published on August 29, 2023, saying that there is a decline in American students’ math skills across the board, worsening the racial and socioeconomic inequities in math performance. 

Though the study was done in the US and as a post-pandemic survey, the decline in math skills was already seen in the Philippines pre-pandemic. Based on the results of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics 2019 (SEA-PLM), only 10 percent of students in the Philippines met the minimum reading standard and 17 percent met the minimum mathematical standard expected at the end of primary education.

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This means that most Grade 5 students in the Philippines and its poorer neighbors do not have the minimum reading and mathematical skills expected at the end of primary education.

The average score of Filipino Grade 5 students in mathematics assessment was 288, indicating that they can generally apply number properties and units of measurement, but only 17 percent had the ability to perform mathematical operations, including fractions, and interpret tables and graphs.

The pandemic's effect on education

Aside from the decline, American students aren’t bouncing back as quickly as educators hoped, which sparks worries about their future performance in high school, and whether these students will be ready for science, tech, and medical fields. 

The Collaborative is composed of AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, Idaho Education News, The Post and Courier in South Carolina, and The Seattle Times. 

According to the data from the US National Assessment of Educational Progress, over the past year, fourth and eighth-grade math scores slipped to the lowest level in about 20 years. 

“It’s a generation’s worth of progress lost,” said Andrew Ho, a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

RELATED: Don't Blame Kids For Not Learning Well: How Parents Can Help With Students' Learning Loss

One major component of the decline in American students’ math skills is virtual learning during the pandemic years. 

The study said, “Children lost ground on reading tests, too, but the math declines were particularly striking. Virtual learning complicates math instruction, making it tricky for teachers to guide students over a screen or spot weaknesses in problem-solving skills. Plus, parents were more likely to read with their children at home than to practice math.”

American students showed problems in two-digit subtraction, fractions, and other basic math concepts. 

In order to solve the gap, some schools in the US used the pandemic relief money to add math coaches and tutors to aid students. They piloted new curriculum and approaches to make sure there is academic recovery. 

These coaches help teachers learn new and better ways to teach students. According to federal data, about 1 in 5 public schools in the United States have a math coach.

The efforts appear to be paying off: State testing shows math scores have started to inch back up for most of the Jefferson County middle schools.

Learning loss in the Philippines

In another report released in November 2021 by the World Bank, 9 out of 10 Filipino children aged 10 cannot read. The report further showed that the Philippines has a 90 percent learning poverty which means that children cannot read and understand simple text by age 10.

According to this previous Smart Parenting article, the only way we can address learning loss: "As astounding and dumbfounding the problem... [is,] there is only one sure way to get around it—inch our way towards actionable solutions the soonest we are all able."

One tip for parents, given by Therese Pelias, an educator who authored the same article, is to build up on foundational skills whenever you can. "Catching up on basic literacy and numeracy skills are so critical in catching up on learning loss. If your kids are still young, read aloud to them as much as you can. If your kids are older, carry conversations with them that allow them to think critically."

Read more about how parents can help address learning loss here.

With additional reports by Ronna Bonifacio.