"We Can't Reward Those Who Didn't Do Anything": Media Representations of the COVID-19 Learning Loss

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: The "Distance" Between Us: COVID-19 and the Politics of Education During a Pandemic (Table 14)

Abstract

Studies have identified “learning loss” for students during the pandemic. To understand this discourse, critical discourse techniques are used to analyze newspaper articles (N = 51) published between January 1, 2019 and May 1, 2021, obtaining the phrase “learning loss”. Findings include pathologizing depictions of students, which labeled, conveyed deficits, and justified a need for enhanced standardized testing as a mechanism for evolved support and reform. A few articles alluded to skills learned during the pandemic, including critical thinking, social justice and health advocacy, digital technology, and online learning. These positive representations of student resilience were often truncated or overshadowed by the dominate fear-based narratives framed in advocacy for corporate interests in educational reform. Implications and considerations conclude this paper.

Author

• Brandon Mitchell, University of Louisville