Report Continues to Look at How Wisconsin Students Are Fairing After the Pandemic

Thursday, September 14th, 2023 -- 1:00 PM

(Natalie Eilbert, USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin) -Ethnic studies teacher Demetrius Rice was midway through a virtual lesson when he noticed one of his high school students log on.

According to Natalie Eilbert with USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin, the student was attending class in a Walmart breakroom. Before the end of class, the student logged out to return to his shift.

It was the 2020-21 school year, the pandemic was raging and many of Rice's juniors and seniors at Vincent High School in Milwaukee were taking on jobs, falling asleep in front of their computers, or giving up completely on their education.

Rice is one of more than a dozen educators around the state that USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reporters spoke with to understand how students are faring after the pandemic, and the shifting role teachers can play.

This reporting is launching a new focus for our Kids in Crisis series, which examined children's mental health and Wisconsin's high rate of teen suicides from 2016 to 2018. Future coverage will bring in the perspectives of students, to better understand their experiences.

Today's students are experiencing historically high levels of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. Wisconsin teachers said they're seeing that in their classrooms with the new generation of students, sometimes referred to as "Gen C" for COVID-19.

2023-24 marks the third full school year since the return to in-person learning, but the effects of COVID isolation and grief have been corrosive, rooting themselves deeply in young people who, even before the pandemic, struggled with mental health.

That damage continues to grow and ripple through the lives of students and the classroom. Math and reading test scores have plummeted, and test-score gaps between lower-income and higher-income students have grown even wider, according to the Brookings Institution.

When a student is struggling with their mental health, it often collapses any ability to absorb facts about math, history or grammar, educators say. That means it isn't just about finding new ways to teach the Pythagorean theorem or the War of 1812.

To ensure students are able to learn, Wisconsin teachers have realized they must work to improve their students' mental health and change their classrooms and their methods to respond to new behavioral challenges.

It's a major balancing act, said Linda Hall, director of the Wisconsin Office of Children's Mental Health, part of the state health department. And that pressure feeds into the larger issue.

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