As we near the end of this challenging academic year, we’re going to start hearing a cacophony of year-end reviews panic-hyping the inevitable learning loss. The doom refrain — students are behind; students have lost learning — will be on replay all summer. I heard it from parents, teachers, administrators and education researchers before the end of the fall term, before data was even available to study.

There likely will be learning loss compared to previous years, particularly for those who struggled with connectivity and mental health issues. However, the loss in content is not and will not be permanent, and before we lower our expectations for a generation of students, consider this:

They can hear you.

In 1968, Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobsen gave students at a California elementary school an IQ test; they then identified certain students as “intellectual bloomers” due to exceptionally high scores. At the end of the year, all students were given another IQ test, and data showed the intellectual bloomers had made significant gains, far beyond those of other students. However, the ruse of the study was that the so-called intellectual bloomers were chosen at random. This and other studies like it have identified a proportional relationship between positive expectations and performance.

If you keep telling students that they’ve lost essential learning and the loss is or will be devastating to their futures, they are going to start living down to your expectations. At the very least, please wait until the long-term research supports it.

I understand that, given specific learning goals from previous years, many students this year are not hitting the same targets. This may be particularly distressing for parents and educators of elementary school students who worry about practical, necessary skills like literacy and arithmetic.

My niece is 8 years old. Like many elementary-aged kids, she struggled with online learning. She fell behind in reading and math. There were tears and tantrums and, more importantly, a heartbreaking loss of self-confidence. But my niece returned to in-person learning for the second semester and now she’s back on track. Kids are resilient. They’re also sponges and soak up whatever you give them, good and bad.

My juniors are also not behind academically. Even though I made concessions on deadlines due to new tech, Wi-Fi availability and the myriad distractions of home learning, I never lowered my expectations. Now, at the end of Quarter 4, they’re meeting academic standards at rates commensurate with students from previous years. And the ones who aren’t, the ones who struggled with anxiety and depression, are told it’s OK. Because it is OK.

One of the ways these students have lost out this year isn’t academic but social and emotional. Please go easy on them. Compassion is not telling people to “find the silver lining” or “be grateful” for what they have. Compassion means staying away from judgment and recognizing emotions in others.

Rather than constantly reminding students that they have lost something, let’s move forward with practical, compassionate solutions.

For example, focus on strengths. Make this a summer of strengths. Research has shown that focusing on the negative does not lead to that positive result you hoped for. Studies indicate that when we focus on our strengths (and celebrate the strengths in others), we are happier, report lower levels of stress and anxiety, feel healthier and more confident, and experience faster growth and development.

For elementary students, that may mean reading and math games over the summer, or maybe it’s prioritizing playtime. Maybe it’s a summer reading list for middle and high schoolers, or club sports and athletic tournaments. Maybe it’s hanging out with friends who they’ve missed this year. They know what they need; listen to them.

One area where these kids have not fallen behind is resiliency. Don’t count out the COVID Generation; they are the ones who learned how to persevere.

Brooke Nasser is an English and news-writing teacher at Kalani High School; she also is a freelance filmmaker and journalist.