Title 1 middle schools have always faced unique challenges. Students belonging to families with low socio-economic status and financial stress have to overcome various barriers before they are academically successful and ready for college, career, and life. The COVID-19 pandemic forced students to engage in education outside of traditional school settings, which resulted in students and families struggling to access proper resources such as technology, food, shelter, safety, and consistency. Since the reopening of brick-and-mortar schools, educators and researchers have found that there are significant academic gaps, especially in Title 1 school settings due to a lack of traditional schooling. This research aims to understand teacher perception of potential gaps in student social-emotional skills and development, with a focus on interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, and adolescent aggression. Experienced Title 1 middle school teachers were asked to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses, similarities, and differences of students from 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 to establish themes of perceived change and gaps. Through the use of thematic coding, it can be established that Title 1 middle school teachers have perceived a decline in social-emotional skills and adolescent development, as well as an increase in aggression due to an inability to handle conflict. The experienced teachers feel unprepared and inadequate to address these needs and feel pressure from state, district, and school accountability to focus solely on academic proficiency, despite the perceived need for increased time spent on social-emotional skills in the classroom. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]