âââ The COVID-19 pandemic has further lowered the ability of low-income and minority students in South Dakota, including Native Americans, to enroll in college, obtain a degree and gain the lifelong financial and upward mobility benefits that come with higher education. Education experts in South Dakota and around the country are increasingly worried that the COVID-19 pandemic has further expanded the long-standing educational achievement gap in which higher-income and white students do significantly better on standardized tests and in gaining access to higher education than students from lower-income and minority families. Katharine Stevens, a researcher with the American Enterprise Institute, called the pandemic âa catastrophe on top of a catastropheâ because learning losses, technology barriers and reduced access to education have been far greater among low-income and minority students at all age levels in America in 2020.