鈥淗eart-wrenching.鈥� 鈥淐atastrophic.鈥� 鈥淪cary as all get-out.鈥�
Those were the words experts used on Monday as they weighed in on the severity of the first post-pandemic results of the main Nation鈥檚 Report Card, which from 2019 to 2022 showed the largest deterioration in math achievement on record in the assessment鈥�5 points in grade 4 and 8 points in grade 8鈥攁nd a smaller but still severe 3-point reading slump in the same grades.
One word that no one used to describe the results was 鈥渟urprising.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 no way of ignoring the crisis condition. And most disheartening is the fact that kids that were in crisis prior to the pandemic are in deeper crisis today, with some exceptions,鈥� said Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of Los Angeles Unified school district鈥攖he only district of the 26 participants in NAEP鈥檚 Trial Urban District Assessment to show improvement in reading this year, in 8th grade.
National education leaders and policy experts gathered at the Education Department鈥檚 鈥淣AEP Day鈥� symposium in Washington Monday to discuss how K-12 can change to help students regain ground.
Tom Kane, an education and economics professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and faculty director at the Center for Education Policy Research, said the magnitude of learning loss is too large to counter with individual programs. He noted, for example, that the size of Baltimore鈥檚 dip in 8th grade math, 21 points on a 500-point scale, is roughly the inverse of the effect of providing high-dose tutoring to every student in the district, not just the bottom 5 percent or 10 percent.
Kane argued that districts need to develop comprehensive improvement plans that use interventions aligned with the number of students needing them, and then monitor the plan to make sure students actually use them.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen a single district鈥檚 plan that if we were to multiply鈥擮K, what percentage of kids are getting tutors, what percentage of kids are going to summer school鈥攊f we were to do that math, it would add up to [make up for] the magnitude of loss that we鈥檝e seen,鈥� Kane said. 鈥淭he sooner we do [more systemic interventions], I think the better off students will be.鈥�
Beyond the academic disruptions to schools and the economic and mental health damage to students and their families during the last three years, the pandemic accelerated existing problems, particularly for students who were already disadvantaged or struggling in school.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 speak to other states, but I can speak to Virginia,鈥� said the state鈥檚 education Commissioner Aimee Guidera, noting that the Old Dominion saw some of the biggest declines among states. 鈥淭his is heart-wrenching, this is catastrophic, this is completely game-changing. We are on the cusp of losing an entire generation of children and we are taking it very seriously.鈥�
Carvalho said he believes urban districts generally鈥攁nd his own Los Angeles district in particular鈥攁cademically weathered the pandemic a little better than the nation as a whole because many were already prepared for virtual instruction when pandemic lockdowns forced schools to close in 2020.
鈥淯rban America probably pivoted in the pandemic towards more-effective levels of connectivity, engagement, and attendance, because additional work had been done prior to the pandemic in terms of one-to-one empowerment,鈥� he said.
He suggested state and district leaders seek out better-performing peers with similar demographics or resources, to find ways to improve.
Carey Wright, former Mississippi state education chief, agreed with Carvalho鈥檚 advice.
鈥淏ehind every data point is a face, and if you don鈥檛 know who that face is, you鈥檙e missing the boat. Because there is not a one size fits all for African American children. There鈥檚 not a one size fits all for students with disabilities,鈥� Wright added. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to drill down to that individual child. And that鈥檚 where your state data and district data really can come to the fore. Teachers and leaders need to be gathering around tables right now, data charts in front of them, identifying children that are in need of service.鈥�
More funding sought
Harvard鈥檚 Kane made a case for targeting spending to help students recover lost academic ground.
鈥淚f these 8th grade NAEP scores, if this [8-point decline in math] loss were to become permanent for students, that would represent about a 1.6 percent later in life,鈥� he said. 鈥淎dded up across 48 million kids in K-12 education, it鈥檚 almost a trillion dollars. So unless we figure out ways to close these gaps鈥攁nd fortunately school districts have a lot of resources right now from the federal government to help with this catch up鈥攗nless we use that money to effectively catch up over the next couple of years, there will be dramatic consequences for students.鈥�
One recent analysis of pandemic-era learning loss by the nonprofit assessment group NWEA estimates it will take a minimum of three more years to catch up elementary students from the disruption, and potentially much more time for secondary students, who have so far shown less of a bounce-back from the pandemic.
鈥淭hat timeline extends past when federal recovery dollars will be available to schools, so urgency really should be at the top of everyone鈥檚 mind,鈥� said Karyn Lewis, the director of the Center for School and Student Progress at NWEA.
But Kane cautioned that school and district leaders should not try to downplay the academic declines to parents, as recent surveys suggest , even after the pandemic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 up to school leaders, teachers, but also superintendents and state commissioners to be honest with parents about where we are,鈥� Kane said. 鈥淚t is going to be really hard to ask for the hard things that we鈥檙e going to need to do if parents seem to think that everything is fine.鈥�
