America’s Schools Struggle to Recover from Pandemic
Progress Slow and Uneven
On one side of the classroom, students circled teacher Maria Fletcher and practiced vowel sounds. In another corner, children read together from a book. Scattered elsewhere, students sat at laptop computers and got reading help from online tutors. For the third graders at Mount Vernon Community School in Virginia, it was an ordinary school day. But educators were racing to get students learning more, faster, and to overcome setbacks that have persisted since schools closed for the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago.
Nationally, students made up one-third of their pandemic losses in math during the past school year and one-quarter of the losses in reading, according to the Education Recovery Scorecard, an analysis of state and national test scores by researchers at Harvard and Stanford.
But in nine states, including Virginia, reading scores continued to fall during the 2022-23 school year after previous decreases during the pandemic.
Clouding the recovery is a looming financial crisis. States have used some money from the historic $190 billion in federal pandemic relief to help students catch up, but that money runs out later this year.
“The recovery is not finished, and it won’t be finished without state action,” said Thomas Kane, a Harvard economist behind the scorecard. “States need to start planning for what they’re going to do when the federal money runs out in September. And I think few states have actually started that discussion.”
State Action Needed
Virginia lawmakers approved an extra $418 million last year to accelerate recovery. Massachusetts officials set aside $3.2 million to provide math tutoring for fourth and eighth-grade students who are behind grade level, along with $8 million for literacy tutoring. But among other states with lagging progress, few said they were changing their strategies or spending more to speed up improvement.
Virginia’s Approach
Virginia hired online tutoring companies and gave schools a “playbook” showing how to build effective tutoring programs. Lisa Coons, Virginia’s superintendent of public instruction, said last year’s state test scores were a wake-up call.
“We weren’t recovering as fast as we needed,” Coons said in an interview.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has called for states to continue funding extra academic help for students as the federal money expires.
“We just can’t stop now,” he said at a May 30 conference for education journalists. “The states need to recognize these interventions work. Funding public education does make a difference.”
Mount Vernon, Virginia
At Mount Vernon, where classes are taught in English and Spanish, students are divided into groups and rotate through stations customized to their skill level. Those who need the most help get online tutoring. In Fletcher’s classroom, a handful of students wore headsets and worked with tutors through Ignite Learning, one of the companies hired by the state.
Worrying Gaps
More worrying to officials are the gaps: Among poorer students at Mount Vernon, just 24% scored proficient in math and 28% hit the mark in reading. That’s far lower than the rates among wealthier students, and the divide is growing wider.
Conclusion
Failing to get students back on track could have serious consequences. The researchers at Harvard and Stanford found communities with higher test scores have higher incomes and lower rates of arrest and incarceration. If pandemic setbacks become permanent, it could follow students for life.
FAQs
Q: What is the Education Recovery Scorecard?
A: The Education Recovery Scorecard is an analysis of state and national test scores by researchers at Harvard and Stanford.
Q: How much federal pandemic relief has been used to help students catch up?
A: States have used some money from the historic $190 billion in federal pandemic relief to help students catch up, but that money runs out later this year.
Q: What do states need to do to continue supporting students?
A: States need to start planning for what they’re going to do when the federal money runs out in September and recognize that funding public education does make a difference.
