{"id":712309,"date":"2023-08-02T09:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T13:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=712309"},"modified":"2023-08-02T16:59:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T20:59:30","slug":"pandemic-emergency-may-be-officially-over-but-educations-long-covid-continues","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/pandemic-emergency-may-be-officially-over-but-educations-long-covid-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemic Emergency May Be Officially Over, but Education\u2019s Long COVID Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The COVID-19 public health emergency officially ended this spring. Unfortunately, the educational emergency coming out of the pandemic is far from over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest research<\/a> from my colleagues at NWEA<\/a>, COVID’s impacts continue to reverberate through the American school system. Researchers Karyn Lewis<\/a> and Megan Kuhfeld<\/a> analyzed test score data from approximately 6.7 million students in grades 3 to 8 in 20,000 public schools who took MAP Growth reading and math assessments<\/a> last academic year. They then compared the rates of growth for students throughout the 2022-23 school year against typical, pre-pandemic rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They found that, in nearly all grades, achievement gains last year fell short of pre-pandemic trends. Because students are behind<\/a> where they were before the pandemic, they would need to make greater-than-ordinary progress to get back on track. NWEA data show that isn\u2019t happening; over the course of the 2022-23 school year, older students\u2019 movement toward full recovery stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The graph below shows the results in reading (blue) and math (magenta). Third graders showed some sign of rebounding, meaning they had above-normal achievement gains, but students in grades 4 to 8 all gained less quickly last year than what had been the typical pace prior to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NWEA Research<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NWEA researchers now estimate that on average, students will require interventions and support equivalent to 4.1 months of additional schooling to catch up to pre-COVID levels in reading and 4.5 months in math. Middle schoolers are particularly far behind relative to where their older peers were performing just a few years ago \u2014 needing the equivalent of an extra 9.1 months of learning in math and 7.4 months in reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progress for students of all races and ethnicities grew at paces that fell short of pre-COVID averages in 2022-23, but the problem is pronounced for historically underserved students. Given the disparate amounts of unfinished learning that remain as of spring 2023, NWEA researchers estimate that Hispanic and Black students still need an additional 6.4 and 6.2 months of math instruction, respectively, to get back on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this time last year<\/a>, NWEA data showed some signs for cautious optimism. But progress has stalled for many learners, suggesting the road to recovery may be even longer than expected. The recent NAEP scores<\/a> corroborate just how far students have fallen behind in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n