Prairie State Wire

U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Salvi blames pandemic shutdowns for causing students' reading and math scores to fall sharply.

She pledged "to give teachers and families in Illinois the necessary means to help these students to not just catch up, but get ahead,” when she defeats Democrat opponent and current U.S. Sen. for Illinois Tammy Duckworth in November.

“Studies have shown our students fell behind dramatically during the unnecessary and extended school lockdowns during the Pandemic,” Salvi said. “Now, our children are racing to try and catch up.” 

She added that while the pandemic has been hard on everyone, the "government exasperated the issue by forcing children to learn at home rather than in a classroom where they belong.” 

“Now we are seeing the effects of those problems," Salvi said. "This study is truly disheartening.” 

The Republican U.S. Senate candidate stressed that this problem cannot be allowed to continue. 

"Our politicians in Washington – including President Biden and my opponent Tammy Duckworth, now need to correct the wrongs and do whatever is necessary to help parents and teachers give our children the education they deserve,” Salvi said. 

A recent study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) showed that, in math, "the average score for 9-year-old students fell 7 percentage points between 2020 and 2022," CBS News reported. While the reading average score for reading dropped by 5 points. NCES' special administration of the NAEP long-term trend (LTT) reading and mathematics assessments also revealed that "reading scores saw their largest decrease in 30 years, while math scores had their first decrease in the history of the testing regimen behind the study."  According to CBS News, all regions saw a decline in math, noting that the decreases "were slightly worse in the Northeast and Midwest compared with the West and South. Outcomes were similar for reading, except that the West had no measurable difference compared with 2020."

The study examined student achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Nation's Report Card.

Salvi accepted the first forum invitation of the 2022 general election from WTTW, WBEZ, and the Chicago Sun-Times.  Apart from it, she "challenged Senator Duckworth to two additional debates – for a total of three statewide debates, the same total that Duckworth and then-Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) participated in during the 2016 campaign," according to her website.