Students Suffered Big Setbacks in Pandemic

See Learning Loss Hit the U.S. Hard. It’s as Bad or Worse Across the World by Matt Barnum of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"The most comprehensive global look at test scores since the pandemic shows learning loss is a stubborn worldwide problem, with American 15-year-olds experiencing similar or slightly less severe setbacks compared with peers in other countries. 

Economically developed nations saw substantial drops in reading and math on international exams, according to new data released Tuesday. U.S. scores also declined sharply in math but held roughly steady in reading."

"“Learning loss due to the pandemic was a global phenomenon,” said Martin West, the academic dean at Harvard Graduate School of Education. “We’ve never seen, in an international assessment, consistent declines across a large number of school systems in the way we see here.”"

"U.S. students’ math scores fell by 13 points between 2018 and 2022, compared with a decline of 15 points for the typical country in the OECD. Twenty points is roughly equivalent to a year’s worth of learning. 

In reading, OECD countries fell by 10 points on average"

"National exams in the U.S. since the pandemic have shown declines in both reading and math for fourth- and eighth-graders. U.S. schools that were closed for longer tended to experience bigger declines in test scores"

"West said that it is too soon to say whether the extra money for schools, including $123 billion in the Biden-backed American Rescue Plan, has helped students recover."