Thanks to COVID-19, half of America’s kids were below grade level in at least one subject

Half of students across the country started the academic year below grade level in at least one subject, according to federal survey data released Thursday. The results add to other research that suggests many students face a halting climb back from the tumble of the pandemic.

The finding, estimated by school leaders nationwide, was virtually unchanged from a year earlier and 13 percentage points worse than the typical year before the coronavirus, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Education Department.

“It just means we’ve got a long road ahead of us ... to get kids to get back to grade level,” said Rachel Hansen, director of the center’s survey project.

Among schools that reported students below level, nearly all said at least some students were lagging in reading and math.

Eighty percent cited science and about 70% social studies.

“We’re not seeing the upward trajectory that we would need to see in order to have pandemic recovery,” said Dan Goldhaber, director of the Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research and co-author of a December study that found little evidence of students recovering lost academic ground last school year.

School leaders looked to familiar strategies to help children catch up. Nearly 30% of schools reported they were spending more class time on targeted subject areas, and almost 20% said they were using an extended school day. More than 1 in 3 schools said they hired more educators to provide smallgroup instruction.

Tutoring was a major focus of the findings. More than 80% of schools relied on tutoring but only 37% offered what researchers say is the most effective kind: “high-dosage.” According to the federal definition, high-dosage tutoring is done at least three times a week, one-on-one or in small groups, for at least 30 minutes per session; it is provided by educators or well-trained tutors.