California

Press Release

February 11, 2025

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

California Ranks 11th Among States in Math Recovery and 18^th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024.

Average student achievement in California remains 31 percent of a grade equivalent below 2019 levels in math and 40 percent of a grade equivalent in reading.

Chronic absenteeism has risen sharply in California, from 12% of students in 2019 to 30% 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 California 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 California. Here’s what we found:

California ranks 11th among states in terms of the change in math achievement between 2019 and 2024, and 18th in reading.
Average student achievement in California remains 31 percent of a grade equivalent below 2019 levels in math and 40 percent of a grade equivalent in reading. In other words, the loss in math achievement in California is roughly equivalent to 31 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8. Some districts, such as San Bernadino City, Long Beach and San Juan remain more than half a grade equivalent behind in math.
Yet many California districts have made good progress. 31 percent of California students are enrolled in districts which are scoring above 2019 levels in math. 12 percent of students are in districts scoring above 2019 levels in reading, and 10 percent are in districts that have recovered in both subjects. Examples of districts which have recovered in math are Los Angeles, Compton, Garden Grove and Capistrano. Examples of districts which have recovered in reading are Oakland, Compton and Capistrano.
A rise of chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 12 percent in 2019 to 30 percent in 2022 (down to 25 percent in 2023) is slowing the recovery in many districts.
California received $23.4 billion in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $3,800 per student. (That is slightly above the national average of $3,700 per student.) Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery. In California, we saw that the dollars spent on academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring had a particularly large effect.

The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many California schools. States could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown to be effective. 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 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

Quick Links:

Press Release

District Fact Sheets