By Rachel Nostrant
(Reuters) – U.S. students have not caught back up to pre-COVID levels of learning in math and reading, a study released on Tuesday showed.
The analysis by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) highlights the continuing toll on education from the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to prolonged school closures and remote learning for millions of school children.
Nearly $200 billion in federal money has been allocated to address pandemic-related learning loss. Schools have used the funds to bolster tutoring programs and summer school options, in addition to other recovery efforts.
But an evaluation of test scores from 6.7 million public school students in third through eighth grades showed they had not made the same progress during the 2022-2023 school year as their pre-pandemic counterparts, according to NWEA, a national education research organization.
“Even though this is disheartening, we can’t look away and we can’t just accept that this is our new reality,” Karyn Lewis, a co-author of the study, said.
Third graders proved to be an exception, with above-average growth in both math and English, but it was unclear why, Lewis said.
Slower growth was seen in fourth- and fifth-graders. Regarding reading and math, fourth graders saw a 1% decrease in their progress overall. The reading gains of fifth graders fell by 8%, and math advances fell by 15%, making them the lowest performers, the study found.
The most difficult grades for students to advance were six through eight. With a 19% decline in reading gains and a 6% decline in math gains, sixth graders performed the poorest in reading. For seventh graders, reading and math growth dropped by 16% and 10%, respectively. The reading performance of eighth graders also struggled, with reading scores falling by 18% and math gains falling by 7%.
The extended loss of education could cost students $70,000 in potential earnings throughout their lifetime, according to a December 2022 study by Stanford University.
The NWEA study found that across the U.S., students on average would need more than an additional four months of instruction in math and reading to catch up to pre-pandemic levels.
The organization said the extra schooling would require a sustained effort over several years, and even longer for Black students.
“While schools are taking steps in the right direction, the reality is that the depth and breadth of the crisis demands an even more comprehensive, intensive, and sustainable approach if we are to truly mitigate the long-lasting impacts of the pandemic on students,” the study authors said.
(Reporting by Rachel Nostrant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Sandra Maler)
