"School grades have plummeted over the past decade, totally erasing two decades of progress in reading and math academics. But why? And how can we fix this?" --Violet Hirsch, 6th Grade
School grades have plummeted over the past decade, totally erasing two decades of progress in reading and math academics. But why? And how can we fix this?
The first reason that grades are dropping dramatically are the effects and aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this time period, most schools shut down, some for good. The rest hosted online Zoom calls for all classmates, which seemed to be a good solution. But online meetings did not have the effect teachers were looking for. For almost all students, their grades plummeted.
Learning on Zoom rather than in person is much less beneficial. According to Berry College, “In-person students are less distracted and can often stay more disciplined. The ease of multitasking in the online environment can affect students' ability to listen and engage even in face-to-face digital environments.”
But when it comes to online learning, almost all of those factors are erased, making it hard to learn and remember things you’re supposed to know. When I asked if the pandemic affected people’s learning capabilities, Alice Stewart, a 7th grade Lit Arts student replied, "It affected it temporarily because I learn better when I can physically see a demonstration, but you can't do that online.”
Charlie McCasland, a 6th grade Lit Arts student, also said, “I feel like it affected my learning capabilities because you could get distracted so easily during online school.”
The Center for Education Policy Research states that “…the average American student is less than halfway to a full academic recovery from the effects of the pandemic.” Ms. Farmer, the 6th grade English teacher at OSA, says, “I am putting a lot more support structures in place but with high expectations of student output. I am willing to offer help for students, but I am expecting high quality work.” This proves that teachers are doing everything they can to ensure that students are working hard to back up their grade levels.
People who didn’t have access to supports in learning, like someone to help with their homework, or a computer that they could access the internet or Zoom calls on, fared worse than a lot of others. The National Center for Education Statistics say that people who had a computer, laptop, or tablet had a lot better scores on national tests than those who didn’t. They also state that people who had someone to help them with their schoolwork once or twice a week on average did better as well.
Pandemic aside, another reason for the sudden depletion of school grades is AI’s jump in popularity. But to understand why that’s bad for student grades, we have to discuss why students try to use it to cheat.
Students try to use AI to cheat on tests and assignments because they either haven’t studied, don’t understand the subject, and more. When using AI to cheat, it would usually give a correct answer, making the student’s grade go up unfairly. Because of this, the grade levels of the students who didn’t cheat would seem lesser in comparison.
The Office of Communications, College of Education says, “If AI is used to complete assignments or exams or write papers, it is unfair to the students who don’t cheat, and it undermines the education and learning process for those who do cheat.” This supports the claim that AI can be used unfairly to cheat among classrooms.
“I think it is because if kids have a thing that they can use to cheat right there, it's almost impossible to resist,” responded Lottie Mills, a 7th grade Lit Arts student.
Winnie Yuasa, a 6th grade Literary Arts student, replied, “It depends what it's being used for. If it’s being used for an essay or to do your work, [I think] it’s cheating.”
But now it’s time to talk about why AI also makes students’ grades go down. A lot of students who are trying to study for a test – or cheat on one – might use AI to do it. AI works by pulling information from various websites and deciding what to use in their answer. But sometimes, the websites that it pulls information from provide false answers. Then, the student would use that information that the AI provided, thinking that it’s true, and use it to study or cheat. Since this information is wrong, it would make their grades go down, without the students really knowing how to fix them.
So what shall we do with all of this information? We can’t go back in time to destroy the pandemic before it happens, and it’s really hard to ignore AI when their answer pops up right in front of you. But there are ways to change all of that.
You can start by paying even more attention while you’re in school, whether it’s taking down notes or not talking to your friends as much in class. If you are excited about learning, that can affect other people around you, which in turn makes them want to learn more too. This creates a ripple effect. Once enough people get excited to learn, grade levels will start to go back up. You can also spread the word about AI to not just your classmates, but your family, friends, teachers, and more! If you find it hard to ignore AI comments, you can find out if they’re real by comparing factual websites with it. All of this and more can help nation-wide grades finally get the jump back up to beneficial levels, helping our generation exceed the standards.
The first reason that grades are dropping dramatically are the effects and aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this time period, most schools shut down, some for good. The rest hosted online Zoom calls for all classmates, which seemed to be a good solution. But online meetings did not have the effect teachers were looking for. For almost all students, their grades plummeted.
Learning on Zoom rather than in person is much less beneficial. According to Berry College, “In-person students are less distracted and can often stay more disciplined. The ease of multitasking in the online environment can affect students' ability to listen and engage even in face-to-face digital environments.”
But when it comes to online learning, almost all of those factors are erased, making it hard to learn and remember things you’re supposed to know. When I asked if the pandemic affected people’s learning capabilities, Alice Stewart, a 7th grade Lit Arts student replied, "It affected it temporarily because I learn better when I can physically see a demonstration, but you can't do that online.”
Charlie McCasland, a 6th grade Lit Arts student, also said, “I feel like it affected my learning capabilities because you could get distracted so easily during online school.”
The Center for Education Policy Research states that “…the average American student is less than halfway to a full academic recovery from the effects of the pandemic.” Ms. Farmer, the 6th grade English teacher at OSA, says, “I am putting a lot more support structures in place but with high expectations of student output. I am willing to offer help for students, but I am expecting high quality work.” This proves that teachers are doing everything they can to ensure that students are working hard to back up their grade levels.
People who didn’t have access to supports in learning, like someone to help with their homework, or a computer that they could access the internet or Zoom calls on, fared worse than a lot of others. The National Center for Education Statistics say that people who had a computer, laptop, or tablet had a lot better scores on national tests than those who didn’t. They also state that people who had someone to help them with their schoolwork once or twice a week on average did better as well.
Pandemic aside, another reason for the sudden depletion of school grades is AI’s jump in popularity. But to understand why that’s bad for student grades, we have to discuss why students try to use it to cheat.
Students try to use AI to cheat on tests and assignments because they either haven’t studied, don’t understand the subject, and more. When using AI to cheat, it would usually give a correct answer, making the student’s grade go up unfairly. Because of this, the grade levels of the students who didn’t cheat would seem lesser in comparison.
The Office of Communications, College of Education says, “If AI is used to complete assignments or exams or write papers, it is unfair to the students who don’t cheat, and it undermines the education and learning process for those who do cheat.” This supports the claim that AI can be used unfairly to cheat among classrooms.
“I think it is because if kids have a thing that they can use to cheat right there, it's almost impossible to resist,” responded Lottie Mills, a 7th grade Lit Arts student.
Winnie Yuasa, a 6th grade Literary Arts student, replied, “It depends what it's being used for. If it’s being used for an essay or to do your work, [I think] it’s cheating.”
But now it’s time to talk about why AI also makes students’ grades go down. A lot of students who are trying to study for a test – or cheat on one – might use AI to do it. AI works by pulling information from various websites and deciding what to use in their answer. But sometimes, the websites that it pulls information from provide false answers. Then, the student would use that information that the AI provided, thinking that it’s true, and use it to study or cheat. Since this information is wrong, it would make their grades go down, without the students really knowing how to fix them.
So what shall we do with all of this information? We can’t go back in time to destroy the pandemic before it happens, and it’s really hard to ignore AI when their answer pops up right in front of you. But there are ways to change all of that.
You can start by paying even more attention while you’re in school, whether it’s taking down notes or not talking to your friends as much in class. If you are excited about learning, that can affect other people around you, which in turn makes them want to learn more too. This creates a ripple effect. Once enough people get excited to learn, grade levels will start to go back up. You can also spread the word about AI to not just your classmates, but your family, friends, teachers, and more! If you find it hard to ignore AI comments, you can find out if they’re real by comparing factual websites with it. All of this and more can help nation-wide grades finally get the jump back up to beneficial levels, helping our generation exceed the standards.
