Though COVID-19 school closings and hardships caused students to fall behind in their learning, the declines would have been worse without the unprecedented infusion of federal pandemic emergency funds, according to two studies released in June.
Still, both studies point out that while the $189.5 billion provided through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program helped post-COVID learning recovery, there is still much to do to close gaps.
"Many are likely wondering whether the ESSER aid truly helped students recover. Our results suggest the spending did have a positive impact on achievement," wrote the authors of a study by the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University.
But, the study said, the full effect of ESSER-supported learning recovery won't be known until districts have spent all remaining funds. The obligation deadline for American Rescue Plan funds — the last and largest of the ESSER allocations — is Sept. 30, and the spending deadline is Jan. 28, 2025. School districts had to reserve 20% of ARP funds to support academic recovery.
The researchers examined the connection between federal pandemic relief spending per student and the change in average student achievement between 2022 and 2023.
For student outcomes, one component researchers included were district average scores based on state standardized tests in math and reading in grades 3-8, from 2016-2019 and in 2022 and 2023. The final analysis sample included 5,812 districts in 29 states.
The other study — by the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, also known as the CALDER Center, and the American Institutes for Research — found that for every $1,000 increase in per-student ESSER money in 2023, there were statistically significant increases in district math scores and similar but less notable increases in English language arts scores.
CALDER researchers estimate schools would need to spend an extra $9,000 to $13,000 per student after 2023 for a full academic recovery from the pandemic. Nationwide, that would add up to between $450 billion and $650 billion.
The CALDER study also points out that unaddressed pandemic learning loss could result in additional expenses in the future due to lower wages or lost productivity for impacted students.
"Our analysis suggests that ESSER funding helped address some of the academic decline students experienced during the pandemic. It also suggests that full recovery could require significant additional resources," the CALDER study’s authors wrote.
Both studies, however, couldn't explain the exact ways ESSER funds have contributed to learning recovery. The CALDER report said that's because reports on ESSER spending are vague, and because Congress gave districts much freedom in how they spent the money, researchers wrote.
The Harvard/Stanford study said that what is still unknown is how districts spent their remaining ESSER funds in 2023-24 or if they continued the same strategies used during the 2022-23 school year.
The CALDER study reviewed student test achievement data from more than 5,000 school districts across 30 states.
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