Research: Learning Recovery Has Stalled, Despite Billions in Pandemic Aid

One researcher likened the effects to the ‘tsunami following the earthquake,’ with just 6 percent of districts recovered in both math and reading.

More than five years after the first appearance of COVID-19 on American shores, 94 percent of elementary and middle schoolers live in districts that still have not returned to pre-pandemic levels in math and reading, according to a new report from a group of internationally recognized education experts. The authors find that the average pupil is still half a year behind in each core subject compared with children in 2019.

Released Tuesday morning, the analysis is the latest dispatch from the Education Recovery Scorecard, a data project led by a team of researchers at Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford, and the testing group NWEA. In two studies released last year, the consortium unearthed evidence of lagging academic growth in high-poverty areas since 2020, along with slight gains resulting from billions of dollars in federal assistance to K–12 schools. 

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