Student behavior in the classroom took a turn for the worse after the nationwide lockdowns seen during COVID-19, according to educators.
The effects of remote learning, isolation, and stress during the pandemic three years ago are apparently still taking a toll on America’s youth.
A recent survey from EdWeek Research Center found that 70% of educators say that student misbehavior is a greater problem now than in the fall of 2019. This share has slightly increased from 66% since the center’s last survey conducted on the subject in late 2021.
In both surveys, only 7% of educators reported that students were misbehaving less than before the pandemic.
Poor morale and a lack of motivation among students were also reported by respondents to the latest survey, despite a separate poll conducted among students showing stronger feelings of optimism between 2020 and 2022 from 69% to 82%.
Nonetheless, experts in pediatric health continue to raise concerns for the emotional well-being of America’s youth after sounding the alarm last year.
For instance, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on children’s mental health, and the Hopeful Futures campaign released “America’s School Mental Health Report Card” assessing how each state’s leaders were addressing this need.
In Texas, the report estimated that of 363,000 children experiencing severe depression, 255,000 were not receiving treatment. Moreover, while high marks were achieved for Texas’ school-family-community partnerships, poor ones were given for the absence of mental health professionals at schools as well as life skills education for children.
Today, teachers like Rodney LaFleur, a grade 4 teacher at Nystrom Elementary School in California, struggle to maintain order in the classroom due to emotional outbursts, fidgeting, and nonstop chatter.
“Sometimes I wonder if I complain too much about student behaviors. Am I being too critical of their actions, too zealous of my pursuit of an orderly classroom?” LaFleur told USA Today. “But at the same time, the stakes are so high for many of my students. So many of them are not proficient at grade-level standards and a large portion are several grade levels behind.”
Student achievement scores logged last year in Dallas Independent School District (DISD) point to similar struggles, with only 41% of students scoring at grade level on the STAAR exam, as The Dallas Express previously covered.
LaFleur told USA Today that he is considering giving up teaching due to the high levels of stress he is experiencing in the profession.
Teacher retention is yet another problem faced by the educational sector nationwide, leading to several initiatives by school officials to keep teachers on board through, for instance, moving to a four-day week.
Yet there are several specific issues facing certain districts, including that of safety and leadership.
At a DISD board of trustees meeting held earlier this year, one district instructor named Elizabeth Farris cited a culture of “denigration and disrespect” toward public school teachers as the “primary contributing factor[s] for the teacher shortage rampant across the country,” as The Dallas Express reported.
Educators and lawmakers alike have scrambled to find a solution to the growing levels of misbehavior in the classroom.
For instance, as The Dallas Express reported, Senate Bill 245, authored by Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), allows teachers to remove a student from class for repeatedly rowdy behavior that interferes with teaching and negatively impacts other students’ learning.
“Kids are just angrier these days,” Perry said, according to The Dallas Morning News. “We just have a different kid today than what we’ve had in the past.”
“Not all kids belong in the classroom anymore,” he added.
Approaches to classroom misbehavior have ranged from harsh discipline to mediation.
According to Celeste Malone, president of the National Association of School Psychologists, educators and students alike need more tools for managing their social and emotional well-being, USA Today reported.
Third-grade teacher Daisy Andonyadis in Virginia teaches her students math alongside emotional management.
“Sometimes I want to stop academics to focus on the social-emotional piece,” Andonyadis told USA Today. “It’s more being a therapist than sometimes a teacher.”
Similarly, Wendy Gonzalez, who teaches grade 4 in California, noted, that her students lacked social skills due to having spent their formative years learning remotely during COVID-19 lockdowns.
“They don’t know how to talk to each other. They don’t know how to communicate. They’re always arguing, fighting, yelling,” Gonzalez told USA Today.