The federal test, often called the “Nation’s Report Card,” showed that fourth and eighth graders both sustained unprecedented drops in math performance. Related Nation’s Report Card Shows Largest Drops Ever Recorded in 4th and 8th Grade Math And even after two years of doleful news about schools and learning, October’s release of NAEP results still managed to shock education observers. Reams of COVID-era research have shown conclusively that remote instruction led to disastrous learning losses in foundational subjects, with particularly steep declines in math skills. Their efforts, while often heroic, were insufficient. User minutes on the site grew steadily in 2020 while American students were largely learning in isolation from teachers and peers, and for a time, school systems across the country were attempting to recreate Khan Academy’s model on the fly. The organization’s mission grew during the pandemic, as traffic to the website surged amid widespread school closures. Among its English-speaking users, Khan’s gently probing voice has become the soundtrack to their efforts to learn algebra or geometry. Since its beginnings as a YouTube channel (which itself grew out of Khan’s early efforts to tutor his niece in math), the organization has blossomed into an internationally known learning tool reaching tens of millions students in over 100 countries. The 46-year-old entrepreneur and former financial analyst is the founder of Khan Academy, a nonprofit site offering thousands of free video lessons on a range of K-12 subjects.

īy some measures, Sal Khan is the most influential math teacher in U.S. See previous 74 Interviews: Economist Tom Kane on the challenge of reversing learning loss, education researcher Martin West on this fall’s NAEP results, and journalist Anya Kamenetz on what COVID took from a generation of American students. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox.

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