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Dive Brief:
- About a third of schools have recovered in either math or reading following the pandemic, but far fewer have recovered in both subjects, a new NWEA study reports.
- In fact, only 1 in 7 schools have recovered in both math and reading, according to NWEA, an assessment and research company. Schools with smaller initial declines were more likely to recover.
- Schools serving higher-poverty and historically marginalized students were less likely to have recovered, but were the ones showing the largest gains since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic that caused widespread disruptions to learning.
Dive Insight:
The NWEA study defined “recovered” as schools whose students’ average achievements in fall 2024 equaled or exceeded their pre-pandemic levels from fall 2019.
“Our findings show there was not a single path to recovery,” said Emily Morton, lead research scientist at NWEA in a Feb. 24 statement.
Even some schools with deep losses in academic achievement were able to rebound, the study found. “These ‘Rebounder’ schools offer critical lessons about the practices and investments that can help students regain lost ground and continue moving forward,” Morton said.
The analysis is based on test scores from more than 5 million students across 9,326 public schools nationwide.
Based on their observations of the rebound schools, researchers provided recommendations for local education leaders, in addition to state policymakers, as they continue to plan for post-pandemic recovery:
- Prioritize schools with the largest remaining gaps in achievement to sustain recent gains and make further progress.
- Use realistic timelines and benchmarks for recovery by taking into account schools’ initial pandemic-era declines and recent growth.
- Prepare for future crises by adopting policies that reduce instructional disruptions and allow for continuity of education, especially for schools that experienced larger pandemic-induced achievement declines.
- Align supports with individual schools’ recovery trajectories and needs, rather than applying the same supports across all schools.
The researchers also suggested that state leaders track recovery trajectories at the state level.
The company, which administers the MAP Growth assessment, estimated in 2024 that the average student would need about 4.8 additional months of schooling in reading and 4.3 months in math to catch up to pre-pandemic achievement levels.
Last year, NWEA found that attending summer school — which districts have depended on as one tool to recover from the pandemic — helped modestly increase students’ math achievement in 2022 and 2023 but had no impact on reading.
Based on those findings, the company recommended that school leaders extend summer learning programs in both duration and intensity to at least four — but ideally five to six — weeks. The programs should provide at least 90 minutes of math and 120 minutes of reading instruction each day. And to further boost the impact, schools should aim for a 75% or higher daily attendance rate, NWEA said.
