Districts have used almost $190 billion in ESSER funds to help students recover from pandemic learning loss by implementing a wide variety of initiatives, including summer and after-school programing, tutoring, hiring school psychologists and social workers, and extending the school day. As the federal funds that helped to make these programs possible are set to run out in September, a new study by Erin Fahle, Thomas Kane, Sean Reardon, and Douglas Staiger examines how much districts have recovered from pandemic-era learning loss and what they can do as ESSER funding expires.
The research team measured pandemic-related losses by comparing student achievement on standardized tests from thirty states from the spring of 2019 to the springs of 2022 and 2023. They linked state scores to the NAEP test scale in order to compare scores across states, years, and grade levels. Between 2019 and 2022, the average student lost the equivalent of half a grade level in math achievement and nearly a third of a grade level in reading achievement. While few places had returned to pre-pandemic levels of achievement, by spring 2023, students recovered approximately 0.17 grade levels in math and 0.08 grade levels in reading.
Importantly, patterns of recovery varied by race and socioeconomic status within and among states and districts. Based on data from the twenty states that reported data by race, Black students (who experienced the most learning loss) recovered slightly more than White and Hispanic students. However, despite this recovery, the White-Black and White-Hispanic achievement gaps were both wider in 2023 than they were in 2019 due to pre-existing pre-pandemic racial achievement gaps. Similarly, differences in nonpoor and poor students (who also experienced greater learning loss) ultimately resulted in a widening between the poor-nonpoor achievement gap, despite varying across districts.
Some variations are tantalizing. In Alabama and Georgia, for instance, high-poverty districts experienced more learning loss than higher income districts during the pandemic but also recovered faster. In contrast, wealthier districts in Massachusetts and Connecticut recovered more quickly, while students in high-poverty districts actually declined from pre-pandemic levels of achievement. But overall, because poor districts had lost more ground during the pandemic, their progress was not enough to catch up to wealthier ones, resulting in a wider poor-nonpoor achievement gap. The researchers found similar trends among students within districts. In fifteen states that had available data, children from both poor and rich backgrounds in the same district may have had similar levels of learning loss, but children from wealthier backgrounds recovered more quickly.
Ultimately—and worryingly—the findings indicate that many students and districts are not on pace to recover before the expiration of ESSER funding in September. The researchers do, however, offer four promising recommendations for how to mitigate the consequences of the end in funding. They assert that: (1) schools should be required to inform parents if their child is below grade level in order to give parents time to enroll in summer learning before the end of federal relief; (2) schools should expand summer learning seats; (3) districts can extend recovery efforts by establishing tutoring and after-school programming before September; and (4) local government, the community, and employers should help schools reduce absenteeism. While the end of funding is a motivating factor behind the researchers’ recommendations, and hopefully a motivating factor for school leaders to implement them, it’s good advice regardless of the situation.
Missing from the recommendations, however, is that policymakers should consider making these programs opt-out instead of opt-in. Students who need to catch-up should be automatically enrolled. Research has found that those who would benefit the most are often least likely to enroll—and because of the fast-approaching funding cliff, these students can’t afford more of the status quo.
Source: Erin Fahle, Thomas Kane, Sean Reardon, and Douglas Staiger, “The First Year of Pandemic Recovery: A District-Level Analysis.” Education Recovery Scorecard: Center for Education Policy Research, Harvard University (January 2024).
