American students’ academic performance in reading and math declines as COVID relief funding dwindles

The educational advancement is taking a negative turn in the years post-pandemic. Students are falling even further behind as schools anticipate losing COVID-19 relief funding intended to aid their recovery from significant setbacks in math and reading.

Recent research released on Tuesday reveals that over four years since the pandemic began, eighth graders are a full year behind in math and reading. The average American student requires more than four months of schooling to reach pre-pandemic achievement levels, according to the study.

“Progress has decelerated to fall below pre-pandemic rates, leading to widening achievement disparities that now exceed what was considered the lowest point previously,” as per the report by NWEA. The report scrutinizes recent test scores of third- to eighth-grade students in 22,400 public schools nationwide.

The study indicates that marginalized students remain predominantly lagging behind.

The research discovered that little progress has been made by children compared to the previous school year or the year before. USA TODAY previously highlighted the struggle of schools to help third and fourth graders catch up to pre-pandemic reading and math levels. Higher absenteeism, disruptions in student behavior, and a multitude of staff departures and absences hindered the schools.

Karyn Lewis, one of the study authors and the director of research and policy partnerships at NWEA, expressed disappointment over the lack of progress from the previous school year to the most recent one. The escalating achievement gaps in sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade reading levels are particularly alarming, according to her. The research demonstrated that students’ reading achievements in those grades dropped below pre-pandemic averages.

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At the commencement of the 2022-23 school year, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona denounced the pandemic-induced academic setbacks revealed in the federal Nation’s Report Card as “inadmissible.” The test scores exposed drastic declines in math and reading scores among the nation’s fourth and eighth graders, illustrating how pandemic-induced disruptions impeded American students’ learning.

Cardona encouraged schools to utilize the billions of dollars allocated by the Biden administration through the American Rescue Plan to combat the regression in academic advancement.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund financial support is scheduled to vanish by the end of September. Districts must allocate their funds by that due date.

As the skills deficit persists, there will be reduced federal funding to propel student accomplishment in the ensuing years, as emphasized by Marguerite Roza and Katherine Silberstein in a contribution to The Brookings Institution.

“Although the amounts differ among districts, on average, this translates to a decline in spending of over $1,000 per student annually,” as stated by Roza and Silberstein.