When Congress sent tens of billions of dollars to schools — an unprecedented sum — to battle the coronavirus pandemic, it seemed like reopening campuses was going to be the toughest thing.
The federal government sent nearly $200 billion to U.S. schools in the past few years to help address Covid-era learning challenges. Now the first studies are out showing what the money accomplished—and hinting at what could happen when it goes away this fall.
The federal government invested $190 billion in pandemic aid for schools; the largest chunk, $122 billion, came in 2021 to help students recover. Altogether, it was the largest one-time federal investment in American education, but it came with a major question: Would it work?
America’s schools received an unprecedented $190 billion in federal emergency funding during the pandemic. Since then, one big question has loomed over them: Did that historic infusion of federal relief help students make up for the learning they missed?
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.