FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — Schools across the country, and right here in Allen County, are still seeing a learning gap after COVID-19, even though the pandemic started a few years ago.

SACS superintendent Park Ginder said it seems like the older students who have since graduated were impacted less heavily academically than some of the younger students. That in turn has caused fewer students to apply for harder courses for the school year.

“But overall I would say a lot of our students still have not, and their families have not, made the transition to true academic intensity. We don’t have as many kids today taking AP and dual credits and honor courses, as we did before the pandemic. And that’s not because the adults in the buildings aren’t encouraging them, they’ve just sought out more simple ways of approaching their academics.”

Park Ginder, SACS superintendent

The Northwest Allen County Schools district is seeing the same. Even though those schools are still seeing a learning gap, superintendent Wayne Barker said it’s starting to close.

“I think we are starting to see that now rebound. We’re certainly seeing it rebound in our school district. So we’re excited about that fact we are really well beyond that I think now, and we’re back into the normal features of school.”

Wayne Barker, NACS superintendent

East Allen County Schools said they are still seeing it in some areas. Even though the first thought might be academics, the superintendent says they are also seeing it in students’ social skills.

“I would say we are definitely still seeing it. And some of it is social skills that we’re seeing with students. Whether it’s interacting with other kids, whether it’s… reading, math. We’re still seeing deficiencies in those areas.”

Marilyn Hissong, EACS superintendent

Like the other three Allen County districts, Fort Wayne Community Schools is also still seeing learning gaps since the pandemic. Even though they have seen improvement, they want to see more.

“Last year as we looked at our data, we had about a 6%, almost a 7% growth in our literacy. We need to ramp that up even more. Therefore the science of reading, therefore let’s focus truly on numeracy, and then let’s bring life skills to bare. I think we’re going to see some substantial gains over the next several years.”

Mark Daniel, Superintendent for FWCS