Federal Pandemic Relief and Academic Recovery

Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, social scientists have been investigating the link between unequal school spending and gaps in achievement by race and income (see, e.g., Coleman et al., 1966; Handel & Hanushek 2023; Jackson & Mackevicius 2024). Over the decades, research has shown that certain interventions—such as pre-school, reduced class size in early grades, summer learning and high-dosage tutoring—do have positive causal impacts on student achievement (Harris 2009; Nickow, Oreopolous, Quan 2020). So, while there is no longer a question of whether more money for schools could improve student outcomes, there is still a question of magnitude: when given additional funds, how effectively do school boards and district leaders spend them to improve student outcomes and by how much? The recent influx of federal pandemic relief provides a fresh opportunity to test the relationship between spending and achievement.

Our results imply that the federal pandemic relief contributed to academic recovery during the 2022-23 school year, and that the impacts were in line with what would have been expected from prior research. Because the federal relief dollars were disproportionately targeted at low-income districts, they are contributing to narrowing the gaps which widened during the pandemic. We close by discussing ways that any additional aid—such as from states—could be structured to yield larger impacts on student achievement and close the remaining gaps.