Yuma School Superintendent: Education has suffered because of pandemic

Overall grades in Yuma County dropped during quarantine - News 11's Arlette Yousif reports

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - As uncertain times still surround us through the pandemic, students have also suffered a loss. A loss of education, camaraderie, and an environment of endless possibilities. Thankfully, students are back in the classroom but that lost time is apparent.

Yuma County School Superintendent Tom Tyree, says the last true standardized test results are from the 2019 to 2020 school year and that students were not subject to the test last year, due to COVID. However, students did take the standardized test for this last school year, 2020-2021.

"What we know is that generally that those assessments indicate or show that learning did not take place at the, to the extent that we'd like for it to be," says Yuma County School Superintendent Tom Tyree.

While some students maintained their grades throughout remote learning enough to show a slight improvement, many did not.

"Is it great? Absolutely not. Are kids on, are kids on track where we need them to be? Not yet," explains Yuma School District One Associate Superintendent Duane Sheppard.

But school officials are working to get our students back on track now that they have a compass to follow once again.

"We just were not sure where we were in this whole, in this whole year. What a very, very different year," says Sheppard.

Once school districts received the green light for in-person learning, they did all they could to re-open.

"School districts and schools very, very quickly had to adjust to the in-school direct instruction model to one that was virtual," explains Tryee.

A school official from Yuma School District One says it is simply not a fair or accurate assessment to judge student and teacher performance during the pandemic, and that those numbers will not be released to the public.