New York Times Reporter: Studies Show That School Closings Seriously Harmed Children -- And Were Driven By Partisan Democrat Politics

We knew both of these. It's a bit shocking that the second is being admitted.... by the New York Times, of all partisan propaganda mills.

John Sexton digests the study of school closures in Michigan, comparing schools that closed and schools that stayed open, and schools in Republican dominated areas and schools in Democrat dominated areas.

Because all schools closed for at least part of the two year period of the pandemic, all students saw some level of learning loss.

But those who mostly had in-person schooling only saw a 20% learning loss in math, while those who mostly had "remote learning" saw 50% learning loss.

And the remote learning took place in Democrat dominated areas.

Many of these [high poverty] schools are in major cities, which tend to be run by Democratic officials, and Republicans were generally quicker to reopen schools. High-poverty schools are also more likely to have unionized teachers, and some unions lobbied for remote schooling.

...

Partisanship played a much stronger role in local decisions than state decisions. We analyze local district reopening plans and public opinion on reopening in the politically competitive state of Michigan. Partisanship was much more associated with district reopening plans than COVID-19 rates. Republicans in the Michigan public were also far more favorable than were Democrats toward in-person learning. States' decisions to leave reopening plans to their districts opened the way for students' experiences to be shaped by their area's partisanship.

...

Were many of these problems avoidable? The evidence suggests that they were. Extended school closures appear to have done much more harm than good, and many school administrators probably could have recognized as much by the fall of 2020.

Though the New York Times doesn't dare spell it out this clearly, John Sexton helps them along:

Democrats and their pet teacher's unions are responsible for making pandemic learning loss twice as bad as it had to be for millions of students.

More than twice as bad -- 50% as compared to 20%.

And of course Democrats, as they often (but not always) do, principally harmed their own voters.

Which might be among the reasons black voters are finally beginning to abandon them.

Democrats have lost 15 points of support from black voters. This is partly because blacks identifying themselves as "conservative" -- who have nevertheless traditionally voted Democrat -- are finally shifting to voting Republican.

The piece wraps up by noting that in the past even conservative Black voters have tended to vote for Democrats but after 2020 there's some indication that could be changing. Hillary won self-described conservative Black voters by 58 points in 2016. But in 2020 Biden won them by 20 points. If that pattern continues the majority of Black voters will still side with Democrats but the margin may shift enough that Democratic advantages in some close races could evaporate.

posted by Ace at 04:36 PM

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