During its September 15th meeting, the East Longmeadow school committee discussed some troubling data from a recent survey of the district’s kindergarten through second grade teachers.
The survey asked teachers to evaluate their students’ social and emotional abilities. The results showed a drastic, across-the-broad decline in our children’s development.
The table below shows the percentage of kids who, in their teachers’ opinion, possess a normal level of development in each of the surveyed areas. It also shows the decline in that percent from fall 2019, prior to the implementation of COVID lockdowns and related restrictions.
| Emotional Regulation | 79% | decline of 5% |
| Social Awareness | 69% | decline of 9% |
| Classroom Effort | 64% | decline of 9% |
| Engagement | 62% | decline of 12% |
| Self Management | 52% | decline of 10% |
| Social Perspective Taking | 52% | decline of 12% |
An additional survey given directly to students in grades 6 to 12 found that an alarming 40% of East Longmeadow’s middle school and high school students are experiencing “challenging feelings.”
Similar data was recently collected and published by the US Department of Education. For more see my recent post Dept. of Ed Study Shows “Unprecedented Decline” in Students Mental Health.
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