Press Release
February 11, 2025
Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342
North Carolina Ranked 26th in Math Recovery and 43rd in Reading Between 2019 and 2024
North Carolina’s recovery in math from 2022 through 2024 has been much stronger, ranking 12th nationally.
Average student achievement in North Carolina remains almost half of a grade level below 2019 levels in math and three quarters of a grade level below in reading.
(February 11, 2025) In its third year of reporting on the pace of academic recovery measures in districts nationwide, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.
The latest report also provides the first high resolution picture of where North Carolina students’ academic recovery stood in Spring 2024, just before federal relief dollars expired in September. While the National Assessment of Educational Progress described changes in average achievement by state, we combine those scores with district scores on state assessments to describe the change in local communities throughout North Carolina. Here’s what we found:
- North Carolina ranked 26th among states in terms of recovery in math and 43rd in reading between 2019 and 2024, but their recovery in math from 2022 through 2024 has been much stronger, ranking 12th
- Average student achievement in North Carolina remains almost half of a grade level below 2019 levels in math (.46 grade equivalents) and three quarters of a grade level below in reading (.75 grade equivalents). In other words, the loss in math achievement in North Carolina is equivalent to 46 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8.
- In North Carolina, 82 percent of students are in districts whose average math achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels. The average student in some districts, such as Gaston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and Harnett, remains nearly a full grade equivalent below their 2019 mean achievement in math.
- Reading is more of a concern in North Carolina than math, with 97% percent of students in districts with average reading achievement below 2019 levels. This is true in many other states, with 89 percent of students in districts nationally below 2019 levels in reading, and only 11 percent above.
- Still, there are bright spots: mean achievement for students in Johnston has fully recovered and are now scoring above 2019 levels in both reading and math. And some districts such as Wake are now scoring above their 2019 means in math.
- A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 16 percent of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 31 percent in 2022 (down to 27 percent in 2023) is slowing the recovery in many districts in North Carolina.
- North Carolina received $5.6 billion in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $3,600 per student (on par with the national average of $3700 per student.) Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery, especially when targeted at academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring.
The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many North Carolina schools. Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning. State leaders, mayors, employers and other community leaders should join schools to redouble efforts on the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.
One of the project leaders, Professor Tom Kane from Harvard, said: “Unless state and local leaders step up now, the achievement losses will be the longest lasting– and most inequitable– legacy of the pandemic.”
For the national press release and findings click here.
About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University
The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.
Contact: Sam Stockwell, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu, (617) 495-0342