For students still feeling pandemic shock, clock is ticking

New report shows some progress but persistent achievement gaps; co-author Kane urges action before federal aid expires

A new report from the Education Recovery Scorecard, a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard and the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, shows that some states, including Massachusetts, are still struggling to close academic achievement gaps that widened during the pandemic.

“The First Year of Pandemic Recovery: A District-Level Analysis” examined math and reading test scores in grades 3-8 in approximately 8,000 school districts in 30 states from spring 2019 to spring of last year. In a conversation about the findings, co-author Thomas Kane, an economist at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, urged school districts to invest remaining pandemic aid on academic recovery efforts before the funds expire in the fall. The interview was edited for clarity and length.

Read the interview at news.harvard.edu.