Pandemic school closures upended U.S. education. Many students lost significant ground, and the federal government invested billions to help them recover.
Overall, average test scores improved for both poor and nonpoor students in the 15 states for which researchers had economic data. But the improvements were larger for students who were not from poor families. As a result, the gap in achievement based on income grew.
Student test scores are on a path to recovery nearly four years after the pandemic wreaked havoc on K-12 academics, extensive new data analyzed and released by a group of education researchers this week indicate.
Harvard researcher, Tom Kane, speaks with Megan Clarke about the challenges that students are facing in academic recovery.
Between 2019 and 2023, Massachusetts was among the states with the largest widening between high and low-income districts in both math and reading.
Despite massive infusions of federal COVID dollars into the state’s poorest schools and a return to normal schooling, the gap between math scores in rich and poor districts – which widened significantly during the pandemic – continues to grow.
New Jersey students will need until the 2026-7 school year to get back to 2019 achievement levels in math, according to a report released Wednesday showing data from 30 states.
Tom Kane joins show to talk about Michigan students slow recovery from pandemic.
Nationally, the research found that while students in many states, including Michigan, did advance in math and reading between 2022 and 2023, the gains hardly make up for losses sustained between 2019 and 2022.
More than three years after the pandemic shuttered schools and brought learning to a near standstill, Louisiana students have fully recovered in reading and made major strides in math.