WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — This year, because of the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic, parents got a unique opportunity: lawmakers allowed them to choose whether to have their kids redo a grade level.
“I completely understand it. Parents, educators, everyone being concerned about that gap, you know we already see that gap over summer months just not getting the experience through no one’s fault," said Suzanne Galella of Wilkes University's undergraduate education department.
Education experts believe that decision has created a lot of issues, including giving school leaders a lot less time to make administrative and staffing decisions before the first day of school and coping with changing class numbers at the last minute.
“Building a schedule is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle that absolutely could cause some issues," said Diane Holben of East Stroudsburg University's professional and secondary education department.
Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill last month, allowing parents to make that call about their kids’ education. They had until July 15 to notify their school districts of their decisions.
“It’s really scary because it is going to cause really difficult challenges for districts," said Galella.
As kids return to classes this fall, many school leaders say there will be widespread reassessment to see just how much COVID-19 affected individual student learning last school year.