COVID set half of US kids behind

Half of the nation’s students began this school year a full year behind grade level in at least one subject because of COVID- 19 pandemic disruptions, new national data from the federal Education Department shows.

It’s as if students are doing the 2021- 22 school year all over again.

“We’re seeing that they’re starting the school year off about the same as they were last year,” Rachel Hansen, a statistician for the National Center for Education Statistics, said this week. “And I think overall, it means that we’ve got a long road ahead of us in trying to get kids to get back to grade level.”

Before the pandemic, about 36% of students started a typical school year that far behind, Hansen said. Federal officials want schools nationwide to roll back the increase – and then some.

How are schools coping?

Fifty- nine percent of the 1,026 public school principals surveyed said their schools are using some form of “tailored accelerated instruction” to combat the setbacks, especially in core reading and math, new data from the Education Department’s School Pulse Panel shows. K- 12 schools are experimenting with myriad strategies – such as social- emotional learning, high- dosage tutoring and individualized learning – to catch kids up.

Even with those interventions, students may have a long way to go.

“These data suggest that academic recovery will take time,” National Center for Education Statistics Commissioner Peggy G. Carr said.

Are disruptions over?

Although the height of pandemicrelated school closures is over, natural and human- caused disasters continue to disrupt instruction time.

Schools in Jackson, Mississippi, are grappling with a water infrastructure failure that has shuttered schools for days at a time this school year. California schools are recovering from a series of storms this winter. And schools in Puerto Rico are still dealing with the damage from Hurricane Fiona, which left thousands of students without electricity, water, internet access and essential services.

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JON CHERRY/ GETTY IMAGES A teacher instructs her students remotely at Hazelwood Elementary School in Louisville, Ky., early last year.