First, the good news: Despite temporary disruptions to how and where students learn, the COVID-19 pandemic has ignited a new emphasis on relationships in school communities and the use of agile school models, according to a report released Tuesday by the Center on Reinventing Public Education.
Now, the bad news: Because of interrupted in-person learning, the average American student who attended school during the pandemic is less than halfway to a full academic recovery. Most concerning, the report's researchers said, is data that shows stalled progress for the youngest and oldest students, along with widening academic gaps and other challenges for students with disabilities, English learners and those experiencing homelessness.
There hasn't been enough discussion about how the pandemic affected vulnerable student populations and the targeted strategies needed to help them, said Robin Lake, CRPE director, during a Monday press briefing. "I think that's a really needed conversation."
Next March will mark five years since COVID forced schools to abandon in-person learning and recreate lessons to be delivered remotely. Some districts held remote lessons for a few months, while others didn't fully reopen in person for about a year.
While much work has been done to boost learning recovery, bolstered by Congress’ allocation of $189.5 billion to help schools recuperate from pandemic setbacks, the work is ongoing, Lake said.
"COVID may have left an indelible mark to some degree, especially if we don't shift course," she said.
The CRPE report is based on multiple sources of data and studies, as well as parent interviews. It is the third in a series of reports from the center examining the impact of the pandemic on students in the U.S.
Special education population rising
Of particular focus in the most recent report is how students from special populations are struggling. English proficiency scores for English learners in 2023, for example, fell below pre-pandemic averages, according to WIDA assessment data. The number of students experiencing homelessness is increasing, and this population has a disproportionate rate of chronic absenteeism. WIDA, based at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is an educational consortium that provides research-based language standards, assessments, professional learning and educator support.
In addition, the number of students identified with disabilities has been rising since 2021 after dipping in 2020. There were about 7.5 million students with disabilities in 2023, according to federal data cited by CRPE.
Lake said it is unknown why the special education population is increasing. It could be a natural course-correction after special education identifications slowed in the first year of the pandemic. Or it could be due to pandemic setbacks, including mental health challenges, leading to a qualifying disability.
Many questions remain unanswered here. "Are they being funneled into special education as a solution, or do they really have a disability that needs to be addressed in special ed?" Lake asked. "Is special ed equipped to deal with this influx? What are the funding implications and the staffing implications here? So, a lot to discuss on that front."
Potential solutions
The CRPE report also highlighted promising practices for addressing challenges such as staffing shortages, academic progress for English learners, absenteeism and more.
For example, the DC Bilingual Charter School, a public charter and English-Spanish immersion school in Washington, D.C., showed three consecutive years of improvement in test scores, resulting in its highest-ever levels of English language proficiency.
In Rhode Island, a statewide coalition of mayors, business leaders, hospitals, state leaders and other organizations is working to reduce student absenteeism. A state-created website shows the percentage of chronically absent students in every public school every day. Local school districts, businesses and community organizations have collaborated to develop programs and solutions.
CRPE's report calls for immediate steps for improvement, as well as systemic reforms, including:
- Partnering with parents. Based on interviews conducted for the report, CRPE said parents felt blindsided in hearing how far behind their children had fallen academically. Some parents told researchers they had difficulty getting information from their child's school.
The report also noted that some parents said their children thrived in remote learning because of enhanced communication from schools and the appeal of independence and self-motivation in their learning, the report said.
The center recommends that schools provide parents with clear and transparent status updates on their child's progress and help parents support their child's learning at home. - Tearing down systems that sort students into silos. Schools that use flawed or outdated systems to identify students needing additional support should strive to create programs that can serve a wide range of student needs, including the most complex ones.
- Prioritizing accessibility. By designing school schedules to accommodate tutoring and targeted small group instruction for all students who need the support, schools could reduce the stigma associated with the extra attention and prevent situations where participating students miss out on other classes or school activities.
- Demanding accountability and transparency. Another recent CRPE report gave many states low marks because they lacked accessible and user-friendly school-level student performance data on public websites. Improved transparency could help educators, families and policymakers better understand what's needed to support and measure student outcomes, CRPE said.
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