Students half a grade behind pre-pandemic levels in math, reading: Study

The average student in 2024 remained nearly half a grade level behind pre-pandemic achievement in math and reading, according to a study released Tuesday.

The 2025 Education Recovery Scorecard, based on spring 2024 data, combines the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results with state test results. It provides a district-level look into the academic recovery of students in grades three through eight across 43 states. Certain states are omitted “due to data limitations.”

The study reveals significant disparities in academic recovery at the district level. Although no state scored higher on the NAEP assessment in 2024 than they did in 2019, certain districts outperformed their 2019 results.

In 2024, 17 percent of students were in districts with mean math achievement above that of 2019, 11 percent were in districts with mean reading scores at least on par with 2019 results, and 6 percent of students were in districts where the scores have recovered in both subjects.

Highest-income districts were nearly four times more likely to have recovered in both subjects than the lowest-income districts, according to the study.

The disparity in math scores among students in high-income and low-income districts has grown by 11 percent since the start of the pandemic, and the disparity in scores among students in predominantly nonminority districts and predominantly minority districts has grown by 15 percent, according to the study.

The researchers made several recommendations to hasten the academic recovery in the coming years.

The researchers point to “widespread” absenteeism — especially in high-poverty districts, but also in high-income districts — as contributing to a slower academic recovery. They say mayors, employers and other community leaders can help address this issue through public information campaigns, extracurricular activities at school and solving transportation issues.

The report notes that federal relief funds have helped prevent larger academic losses in the highest-poverty districts, but going forward, the researchers say states and districts will need to “double down on academic catch up efforts previously funded by federal relief.”

They recommended states redirect funds to programs that they know to be effective, including tutoring and summer learning.

The researchers also said many parents are not aware when their children are falling behind academically and said teachers “must inform parents” when this happens.

“Parental perceptions are central to many of the challenges districts face. If they are to help lower absenteeism, sign up for summer learning and increase reading at home, parents need to know when their child is behind,” according to the report.

The report notes that many states have launched their own programs to tackle academic recovery issues, and the report encourages states to learn about what’s working.

“Such policy innovation can be a strength of our federal system–but only if we learn which of those efforts are working (and which are not) and spread the most effective solutions," according to the report.

The Education Recovery Scorecard, in its third year, is a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, and faculty at Dartmouth College. It includes data from 8,719 school districts with either math or reading achievement data across 43 states. Test results account for roughly 35 million third through eighth grade students between 2019 and 2024.

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