COVID-19 changed our public education landscape nearly overnight. Thousands of Texas schools and nearly 5.5 million students faced a school year like never before. Schools had to quickly develop tools and
resources that would support the pivot to a virtual classroom and had to shift to educating children in crisis, learning a whole new suite of software and skills all while grappling with a worldwide health crisis that has
not been experienced in the last 100 years.
When it became clear that schools would need to close for an extended amount of time, school districts quickly worked to develop solutions to prevent long-term impact to education and support services. Few
people could predict the amount of time that these solutions would need to be in place and the impact that a multi-year pandemic would have on our education systems and the education and care of Texas children.
In this report, CHILDREN AT RISK examines the impact of the pandemic on Texas children using a whole child approach. What became very clear during the pandemic was that schools are not only centers for
academic learning for Texas children, but that they serve as community social safety nets for many families: providing access to nutrition, preventative health screenings, childcare and mental health support. This report reviews data across various indicators of academic success including test scores, food insecurity, mental health outcomes, and others. By looking at education, health and well-being and poverty trends through 2021, the report presents a landscape view of these factors, the disparities across various demographics, and recommendations for how to move forward from the exceptional circumstances we found ourselves in the past two years. It is not unexpected that there will be gaps in learning from the up to 2 years of remote and interrupted learning, however with an intentional strategy and the right resources, we can continue to support districts and students as we move forward and prepare for the future.
MORE LIKE THIS
Supporting Opportunity Youth for an Inclusive Economy
Despite a decades-long drop in the opportunity youth population, which decreased from 5.8 million to 4.4 million between 2011 and 2021, the number of opportunity youth rose dramatically during the pandemic to more than 6 million. The term...
Access to Affordable High-Quality Child Care is Scarce
By Lauren Biegel, Early Childhood Education and Sara Moran, Center for Social Measurement and Evaluation (Note: The analyses in this post uses data on child care centers from September 2021) Across Texas, 60% of all child care providers accept...
TREC Hosts Sixth Rapid Round Table Focused on the Quest for Equity & Quality
Dismantling the systemic barriers to provider participation in Texas’ QRIS and increasing access to high-quality ECE for children and families of color. Media Contact: Rashena Flagg, 713.301.4577 On Thursday, May 12, CHILDREN AT RISK and the Texas...
Petro-Proximate Learning in Texas
Media Contact: Rashena Flagg, 713.301.4577 Research shows petrochemical plants within close proximity to schools negatively impact a child’s performance. On April 25, CHILDREN AT RISK released a new report analyzing the proximity of...
Increase Networking Opportunities for Child Care Providers
This post highlights a policy recommendation from our new report, The Quest for Equity and Quality Examining Provider Experiences and Participation in Texas Rising Star. This report, released 4/4/22, explores data from a statewide survey and focus...
2022 Kroger School Food Rankings
Across Texas, over 3.7 million students from low-income households qualify for free or reduced-price school meals through federal programs, such as the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. For many of these children,...