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With scores down, teachers try to get students back up to speed

Saint Paul Public Schools says teachers are changing their lesson plans to get students caught up, including opportunities for more interactive classes.

ST PAUL, Minn. — The Nation's Report Card is out and shows history scores dropping.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, just 13 percent of surveyed eighth graders were considered proficient last year.

About a decade ago, 18 percent were proficient. 

Educators say a history-making time is what is setting history scores behind.

"The pandemic definitely did a number on all of us," said Carrie Newman, a seventh-grade history teacher at Murray Middle School in Saint Paul.

Newman said the results aren’t surprising. 

History and civics scores are the lowest they’ve been in about three decades. 

"We're just kind of putting all the pieces back together for what happened," said Sofia Patronski. 

Patronski and Patrick Tennison are Murray Middle School students who are advancing to a national history competition.

But even these champs say there are holes in their knowledge.

"There's almost nobody that's going to be fully caught up with everything from distance learning," Tennison acknowledged. 

"A downward projection is not something we want," said Chong Xiong. 

Xiong is the K-12 social studies coordinator for Saint Paul Public Schools and says they’re changing what they teach and how.

"What are they interested in learning what their ethnic background is, and to really see that they can find themselves in the curriculum, and to really see that they belong in history," said Xiong.

The district is putting an emphasis on making classes more interactive.

But fall results from The Nation's Report Card shows math and reading skills are also down. 

"If you struggle with reading and comprehension, it is really hard to understand something like historical documents," said Xiong. 

"Our democracy depends on voters who do research and are informed," said Newman.

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