Students Continue to Lose Ground After Pandemic Restrictions

The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released its 2024 “Kids Count Data Book,” reviewing data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The publication highlighted a continuing decline in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math scores between 2019 and 2022, reflecting a significant setback in academic progress. The impact of pandemic restrictions has led to serious learning loss, exacerbating existing academic disparities among students. Also, high rates of chronic absenteeism persist, further hindering students' ability to succeed. 

In a blog post accompanying the report's release, the foundation argued that pandemic restrictions are not the sole cause of the sliding scores.  “Edu­ca­tors, researchers, pol­i­cy­mak­ers and employ­ers who track stu­dents’ aca­d­e­m­ic readi­ness have been ring­ing alarm bells for a long time. U.S. scores in read­ing and math have bare­ly budged in decades. Com­pared to peer nations, the Unit­ed States is not equip­ping its chil­dren with the high-lev­el read­ing, math and dig­i­tal prob­lem-solv­ing skills need­ed for many of today’s fastest-grow­ing occu­pa­tions in a high­ly com­pet­i­tive glob­al economy.”

The report recommends several actions, including wraparound services, intensive tutoring, expanding the school meal program, and improving attendance tracking.