“It is not only that students fail to make up for each other, but that students continue to late,” said one of the authors of the report, Tom Kane de Harvard.
This line of reading trend raises important questions about the speed with which states can expect to see improvement after many laws adopted to improve the teaching of literacy.
The data suggests that it can be too early to expect an improvement, or that the adoption of a law is easier than to really improve the teaching of literacy. Or both.
2. 100+ School districts were carried out above the pre-countryic levels in mathematics and reading
While no state has returned its mathematics And By reading the scores at pre-countryic levels, the dashboard is able to highlight at least 100 individual districts which have returned in shape.
In fact, just a quick glance in Louisiana’s data, a state that led, or almost led, in mathematics and reading, the recovery shows both certain districts, including the parish of Lafayette and the parish de Terrebonne, which represent three -quarters of a school level – or more – before their reading levels of 2019.
3. The realization differences have been widened
According to the dashboard, the highest high income districts in the country were “almost 4 times more likely to recover” in mathematics and reading than the least received districts.
Since the start of the pandemic, the disparity of mathematical scores, in particular, has increased by 11%.
A score disparity between students in mainly non-minority compared to minority districts also increased by 15%.
Sean Reardon, director of the Stanford educational opportunity project and co-author of the study, calls these results of the results of “pernicious inequality”.
4. Federal emergency money prevented greater losses, but how It was spent on things
In response to the Pandemic COVID-19, the congress paid $ 190 billion into the country’s schools.
“In the spring of 2021, when the American rescue plan passed, the emphasis was placed on the opening of schools,” said Kane de Harvard. “And therefore the districts should only spend 20% on academic recovery.“”
Many districts have priority by adding mental health support to students or improving aging institutions, including CVC. The dashboard does not argue that these were bad choices, but it is not realistic to expect this kind of expenses to improve learning, for example, a tutoring program can.
According to the report, “the results of the students have increased more in the districts which spent more in academic interventions, such as tutoring or the summer school.”
5. Chronic absenteeism: it is difficult for students to catch up if they are not at school
“If the pandemic was the earthquake,” says Tom Kane, “we are still dealing in the tsunami of chronic absenteeism which slows the learning of students.”
Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing more than 10% of the school year, was already a problem, but has skyrocketed after the disruption of the public education pandemic.
The dashboard includes absenteeism data for 20 states until the spring of 2024. In these states, while chronic absenteeism continued to fall, more students lack even more school than they do were in 2019.
Research has demonstrated a clear link between the missing school and the realization of the lower students. Not only that, but the absence of a student can also affect the success of their peers, teachers being forced to spend more time going back and repeating the teaching.
6. Dashboard prescription
The dashboard offers some orders for educators, administrators and legislators:
- Without more federal aid, states and schools should concentrate as much of their own funding as possible on academic recovery.
- Communities should draw their attention to talk about the importance of the daily attendance of schools. This type of messaging should not be left to schools.
- Research suggests that parents do not always know when their student is struggling, so the dashboard encourages teachers to communicate directly with families.
“Parents should know if their child is below the school level so that they can register for summer learning or ask for a tutor,” explains Kane. “If they do not know, they will not ask for help.“”
Finally, more research is necessary to study the range of reforms, including new laws concerning the improvement in teaching literacy, as well as efforts to prohibit the mobile phones of schools.
