RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – Students are still struggling in academics after more than two years since the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools to shut their doors to in-person learning.
“They’re frustrated with academics. They’re trying to catch up,” says Rechelle Murillo, the Director of the Intervention Department at Washoe County School District.
According to the Nations Report Card data:
“The divide between higher- and lower-performing students, has grown wider than ever. Students with the highest scores outperformed their peers from two years ago, making up some ground lost during the pandemic. But the lowest performers are scoring even lower, falling further behind.
“If a student’s not there to learn, then it makes it that much harder for them to catch up on what they missed,” says Elementary Education Director Jenni Anderson.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel: students in Washoe County are seeing a gradual increase in their test scores. Educators want to keep the ball rolling, and encourage parents to have children in extracurricular activities, and to remind students that school is supposed to be fun.
“We’re trying to get students engaged in athletics and other really just fun extracurricular activities. and so, we just want to remind students that there’s things about school that is fun,” says Murillo.
And they remind us that school isn’t the only place for learning.
“Recipes are such a great way to engage directly with your children. having them cook with you and look at what the recipe says and talk about fractions and talk about how you convert that. You know, you drive up to a stop sign and you look at, okay, it’s a red stop sign. look at the four letters that are in it,” says Aderson.
WCSD has also started using new math and reading material to help in their education goals as well as implementing the i-ready application.
Copyright 2025 KOLO. All rights reserved.
English 
Français