Hi, this is Newt. Did you know that you can listen to my Newt's World Podcast on the iHeart app?

The team at iHeart has created several new features on the app I wanted to share with you.

You can now auto-download new episodes of Newt's World to your device and also get notified

when new episodes are published. All you have to do is download the free iHeart app from

the app store and you can start listening to my Newt's World podcast from anywhere.

iHeart Discover Music, Radio and Podcast Your Love.

On this episode of Newt's World, many school districts around the country kept school buildings

closed during the 2020-21 school year and offered virtual or remote learning instead in an

effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. Now, new studies are being to assess just what kind of an

impact the pandemic shutdowns of head on our school age children. Our recent July 2021 report

from a consulting firm McKinsey & Company noted that quote,

US students ended the pandemic school year four to five months behind. The report was based

on assessments taken by more than 1.6 million elementary school students who would return to

the classroom in the spring of 2021. The report also found that quote, students who attended school

where the average household income was less than $25,000 a year were seven months behind in math

by the end of the term compared with four months behind for schools where the average income was

greater than $75,000. Now, everything I've just cited was done by giving these kids academic

assessments. On Monday, June 14, the Oregon House of Representatives voted on Senate Bill 744,

which would suspend essential skills through the 2023-2024 school years. However, House Democrats

indicated that the vote to stop essential skills goes beyond the current COVID-19 considerations

and would be accompanied by an in-depth review of current diploma options and requirements by the

Oregon Department of Education. In a nutshell, at a time where America's school children have fallen

...