Parents across the nation are growing increasingly anxious with schools closed for months as education experts begin to warn of a possible "COVID Slide" for students heading into summer break.

Drawing on existing data from roughly 5 million students in third through eighth grade, Megan Kuhfeld, a research scientist at the northwest evaluation association, has been using learning losses typically seen in the summer to forecast how extended school closures could cause significant backslides for students currently struggling to adapt to remote instruction.

Kuhfeld says students may not be able to retain what they are learning at home come the fall time.

She predicts that for the students working through the toughest conditions now, come fall, they could have retained as little as 70% of their reading progress and only 50% of gains they'd made in math, potentially serious, secondary consequences of COVID-19 which could widen the achievement gap between wealthier and lower income students.

Already, teachers like Jill Marangoni, a special ed teacher in New York, says she already sees signs of students falling behind.

While the full extent of any "COVID Slide" remains to be seen, parents like Kristen DiCarlo, say she hopes teachers are ready to adapt to learning losses whenever classrooms finally reopen.