Press Release

PRESS RELEASE
February 11, 2025

Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342

Alabama Ranks 1st Among States in Math Recovery and 3rd in Reading Between 2019 and 2024

Hoover City and Dekalb are now scoring more than one-third of a grade equivalent above their 2019 means scores in both subjects. 

Chronic absenteeism has risen sharply in Alabama from 11% of students in 2019 to 18% in 2022, significantly slowing recovery efforts in some districts.

(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 Alabama 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 Alabama. Here’s what we found:

Alabama:

• Alabama ranked 1st among states in terms of recovery in math and 3rd in reading between 2019 and 2024 (behind only Louisiana and Hawaii).
• Yet, even in Alabama, 52 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 Montgomery and Dothan City, remains approximately a third of a grade equivalent or more below their 2019 mean achievement in math.
• Reading is more of a concern in Alabama than math, with 77 percent of students in districts with average reading achievement below 2019 levels. (The literacy gap is evident 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 Birmingham has nearly recovered to 2019 levels in both reading and math. And some districts such as Hoover City and Dekalb are now scoring more than one-third of a grade equivalent above their 2019 means in both reading and math.
• A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 11 percent of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 18 percent in 2022 and 2023 is slowing the recovery in many districts in Alabama.
• Alabama received $3.1 billion in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $4,200 per student—which is more than the national average of $3,700 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 Alabama schools. Even without federal relief dollars, the state 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 in tackling the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.

One of the project leaders, Professor Tom Kane at Harvard, said: “Tackling absenteeism is one of the few things that mayors, employers and other community leaders can do to help students recover.”

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