Stories about declining test scores among North Carolina students have filled news media outlets. The statistics were bleak not only in North Carolina but across the nation.

North Carolina was among 30 states that saw statistically significant declines in average reading scores in the fourth grade from 2019 to 2022. North Carolina was also among 33 states with declines in eighth-grade reading scores.

No state or jurisdiction saw gains in reading in the fourth grade, and only Department of Defense schools improved in eighth-grade reading scores.

North Carolina was one of 43 states that also lost ground on their fourth-grade math scores and one of 50 states and the District of Columbia with declines in eighth-grade math scores. No state or jurisdiction showed a gain in math in either fourth or eighth grade.

While COVID certainly played a role in producing these declines, the pandemic was not the only reason. For students in this part of the state, we need to go back a year before 2019.

On September 14, 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall just south of Wrightsville Beach as a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 90 mph and a central pressure of 956 mbar. The hurricane’s lumbering movement produced widespread and catastrophic rainfall throughout North and South Carolina.

Maysville received 23.14 inches of rainfall; Morehead City, 21.2; Kinston, 18.88; and New Bern, 16.65. Schools across southeastern North Carolina were either flooded or impressed into service as shelters.

In a rare show of bipartisan support, the North Carolina legislature passed Senate Bill 2. That bill included several provisions for hurricane relief. Two measures were: Educators and employees will be compensated the same as if they had worked any scheduled instructional days deemed completed by the public-school unit during September and October of 2018, and Flexibility in the school calendar.

So eastern North Carolina students had to deal with Florence in 2018 and then cope with COVID from 2019 through 2021. For the better part of three years – or more – our students have seen their schooling repeatedly disrupted.

COVID brought its challenges. Virtual learning was a bust for far more students than anyone is willing to admit. When homes do not have adequate internet bandwidth, then “virtual learning” is literally non-existent. At the end of the year, school systems rarely had to gumption to fail students who were unready for advancement. Students essentially experienced social promotion on a grand scale.

After being in and out of formal schooling for the better part of a year and a half, many students brought to the classroom decidedly unsocialized behaviors when they returned. Disruptive behaviors and violence became far more common than most public school systems were willing to admit. For the sake of good “numbers,” many incidents went unreported. Even today, school violence is more common than it had been for many years.

The pressures of “virtual instruction” also impacted teachers – many had little experience implementing online teaching methods. Holding students accountable for completing their work was challenging. Tracking participation was a nightmare. The result was teacher burnout of epic proportions.

When this school year started, schools faced severe teacher shortages. Often, school systems employed long-term substitute teachers to fill classes – but the burden fell on regular teachers to plan lessons for the subs – and grade the stacks of papers from the substitutes’ classes and those from their students.

The past four years produced a perfect storm for poor performance on these standardized assessments. We will not undo four years of academic disruption in a few months or even an entire school year.

The only way to remedy this situation is to admit students and teachers have faced extraordinary difficulties and begin rebuilding our students’ academic skills. Genuine accountability must become the norm. Parents and administrators must expect students to learn and achieve. They also must reinforce the efforts of the teachers by stressing the importance of showing respect and working hard in the classroom.

Anything less perpetuates failure.

Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.