Avoid the Learning Gap with Online School

June 6, 2025

Traditional school systems and the way they’re structured may be contributing to the widening of learning gaps without even realizing it. Online school, however, can help narrow learning gaps–or prevent them altogether. Read on to find out how.

In recent years, particularly post-pandemic, you’ve likely heard the term “learning gap” (or “achievement gap”) when it comes to education. Learning gaps occur when student academic performance is below expected benchmarks. And while many paint learning gaps as a pandemic-specific issue, the truth is that student test scores, especially in reading and math, began to decline before any of us knew what social distancing was.

Sadly, learning gaps are still widening today. Public school leaders estimated that 44% of their students started the 2023-24 academic year behind grade level in at least one subject. And when the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, also known as the “nation’s report card”) released their 2024 test results earlier this year, they showed that average reading scores dropped by two points among fourth graders and eighth graders.

Compounding these losses is the fact that there had already been a three-point decrease during the last round of NAEP tests in 2022. The same NAEP results also showed that 40% of fourth graders and 33% of eighth graders read below NAEP basic levels.

Unfortunately, traditional school systems and the way they’re structured may be contributing to the widening of these learning gaps without even realizing it. Online school, on the other hand, can help narrow the achievement gaps, or prevent them altogether. Read on to find out how.

What Is a Learning Gap?

A learning gap is a discrepancy between what a student should know at a certain grade level and what they actually do know. These gaps can surface in different ways, such as:

• Knowledge gaps: When a student lacks the foundational knowledge or information necessary to understand new concepts.
• Skills gaps: When a student lacks the practice or mastery of a specific skill, even though they might understand the knowledge.
• Motivation gaps: When a student lacks the desire or engagement to learn. 
• Environmental gaps: When a student lacks access to a supportive or productive learning environment. 
• Communication gaps: When a student struggles with communication about their learning or expectations.

As you probably deduced from these more specific gaps, learning gaps are not always reflective of student performance or intelligence. In fact, many brilliant students struggle in traditional school environments because of factors (like some of those above) beyond their control.

For example, the rigid pacing that occurs in traditional classrooms does not fit all students, though that’s what it aims to do. Students who struggle with a certain lesson or concept often get left behind before they have the time to fully grasp the information. Why? Because the pace of the curriculum demands that teachers keep moving forward, regardless of how many students truly understand what’s being taught.

These students often require individual attention and timely support (reasonable asks) to fully learn specific topics or lessons. But that type of attention is hard to come by in a traditional school setting. There simply aren’t enough resources or hours in the day to provide it. And once those students fall behind, the confusion begins to snowball, and the learning gaps continue to widen.

What makes this situation even more difficult is that, unless the student surfaces the issue early enough, learning gaps can be challenging to identify until they’ve reached a critical point. And by then, these gaps are much more difficult to narrow.

Traditional School Models Can Create Learning Gaps

If you attended a public or private school, you know the drill. Seven-hour school day, broken into seven or eight periods, each period between 45 and 50 minutes. Curriculum taught to the masses, not individuals. Standardized testing that doesn’t always truly reflect a student’s intelligence level. Sure, technology and delivery have changed. But the typical brick-and-mortar school day is still about the same as it was when you went to school.

That’s not good enough anymore. Not when we know what we know today. Which is that all students learn at different speeds and in different ways. And that there are personal circumstances in students’ lives that impact their ability to learn in a traditional school setting.

As an example, some students struggle with math concepts. Yet they’re in a classroom with other students who don’t struggle with those same concepts. The problem is, they’re all taught the same thing at the same time. So, the students who do grasp those concepts understand the lesson and are ready to move on. But what about the students who have difficulty understanding the information? Does the teacher stop class to provide timely feedback or to work with those students until they’re caught up?

No. They can’t. School must go on, so struggling students are left behind trying to figure out concepts that others already have down. And that struggle compounds exponentially because those students don’t yet have the required knowledge that the next lesson is based on, and so on. So they keep falling further and further behind. That’s where the learning gaps widen. For students, it’s a helpless, endlessly frustrating feeling knowing that the class is drifting away from them, and they don’t know how to stop it.

But there is a way to solve that problem.

How Online School Can Help Prevent Learning Gaps

If you ever experienced that feeling of frustration and helplessness as a student, or if your child deals with that now, picture this scenario: An education tailored specifically to your abilities, learning pace, and passions. A learning environment flexible enough to provide the time you need to truly master a topic…with no fear of being left behind.

Welcome to online learning and its many benefits.

• A personalized, student-centered education: Online learning environments, such as Holston Academy, take each student’s needs into consideration when charting the course for their education. We work closely with each student to determine which courses are right for where they are in their academic journey. After all, students should enjoy learning.
• No student left behind: A huge advantage of online school is that students have the time they need to learn at their own pace. If they’re struggling with a particular concept or subject, they can take the time they need to revisit challenging material until they master it. No pressure whatsoever, no fear of getting left behind. Conversely, if your student quickly masters a topic, they don’t need to wait for the rest of the class to catch up. They can move right along to the next lesson!
• Timely one-on-one support: In brick-and-mortar schools, many of which are critically understaffed, students usually can’t get the timely feedback or guidance they need to succeed in a particular class. With online school, however, academic support is just a click or a call away. At Holston Academy, our teachers and Academic Coaches are ready to help students individually when they need it, not days or even weeks later.
• A variety of learning formats: In traditional school environments, learning typically occurs in the form of a classroom lecture, with some projects and group work sprinkled in. With online learning, however, students have the opportunity to learn in diverse ways. There are engaging instructional videos, interactive online lessons, live sessions in virtual classrooms, online study groups, and other ways for students to engage and immerse themselves in learning. All of these formats accommodate all types of learning styles. Plus, students often benefit from the effective reinforcement of class concepts through different methods.
• Real-time progress tracking: With online learning comes progress-tracking tools that allow students and their families to see, in real time, what their academic performance looks like. Should a student struggle, these tools ensure timely intervention so the issues are addressed immediately, not after a report card highlights the problem.

The bottom line is, traditional schools simply can’t deliver the same benefits that online learning can and does.

Building Confidence Through Supportive Learning

Given all the benefits of online learning, it’s easy to see how students can build their confidence. And confidence is critical when it comes to learning. When students struggle in school and feel that learning gap widening, it’s not just their academic performance that suffers, it’s also their motivation, pride, and self-esteem. That helpless feeling we referenced earlier begins to surface, leading students, many of whom are at a fragile age to begin with, to believe that they’re not smart enough to handle a certain subject.

We know that isn’t the case. But try telling that to a tween or teen. The negative mindset is difficult to reverse, and this type of thinking can increase stress while decreasing engagement in school. And once a student reaches that point, many different paths present themselves, none of them good.

On the other hand, when students are immersed in a supportive environment and at the center of their own education, it opens up even more paths, but these often lead to future success. These types of online learning environments help students feel seen and instill in them the confidence to learn. What does this supportive online learning environment look like? Think regular check-ins, consistent encouragement, and important goal-setting sessions that help students see their own progress, gain confidence, and build resilience. The approach of a good online school focuses on empowering students, not just instructing them.

Online School May Be the Solution to Narrowing, and Preventing, Learning Gaps

If your student struggles in a particular subject or has grown increasingly disengaged with traditional school, now is the perfect time to consider online learning. There’s no worse feeling for a student than knowing they’re falling behind and that catching up seems like mission impossible. And, unfortunately, many students in brick-and-mortar schools are dealing with that exact feeling right now. The structure and pacing of traditional education systems cater to the middle of the pack, not the struggling students. And by the time this comes to light, the damage may already be done.

Online school provides students and families with the necessary tools, flexibility, and support to close learning gaps, and even avoid them in the first place. If you can picture your student learning at their own pace, on their schedule, in a variety of engaging ways, and with real-time progress always at your fingertips, think about the switch to online learning.

Holston Academy is an accredited online school that offers all of these benefits (and more). We emphasize student-centered education that focuses on their strengths and interests, with support from our experienced online teachers and Academic Coaches for the duration of your student’s academic journey. Learn more about our approach to learning here, or call us at (833) 782-6922 with any questions.