A blistering new report has pointedly accused American schools of falling short in meeting the needs of the “COVID generation,” with older students still grappling to recover their academic footing following years of disruptions.
Published on Wednesday by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with Arizona State University, the report suggests that “three years after the onset of the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to disrupt learning but in more subtle and concealed ways.” It emphasizes that despite students returning to school, the situation remains far from normal.
The research paints a grim picture of diminishing academic performance, persistent absenteeism, and ongoing mental health challenges faced by American students.
For instance, the average ACT score has reached a 30-year low, according to Morgan Polikoff, a professor at the University of Southern California and one of the report’s authors. He and fellow researchers referenced data from the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), indicating that math performance for the typical 13-year-old is as low as it was in 1990.
Data released last summer by the National Center for Education Statistics, cited in the report, revealed that nearly three-quarters of schools witnessed an increase in chronic absenteeism in the post-pandemic years. Furthermore, a Gallup poll mentioned in the report stated that in 2023, one-fifth of students rated their schools poorly in terms of mental health support.
Despite rising high school graduation rates, college professors have reported that students are arriving unprepared, as highlighted by Polikoff during a press call on Tuesday.
Robin Lake, the director of CRPE, expressed, “It’s clearly a concerning situation. We believe many students have already graduated without acquiring what they need, and this trend will persist unless we adopt a different approach.”
According to Lake, one of the primary concerns of the group is the scarcity of tutoring services nationwide, which has allowed learning deficits to persist. Researchers at the University of Southern California found that only 2% of American parents believe their children receive high-quality tutoring at school, despite billions in federal funding allocated for this purpose. Lake described this shortfall as a “significant missed opportunity.”
“We are not implementing enough of the proven strategies with the available resources at our disposal,” she asserted.
Similar research released the previous week indicated that both college readiness and overall K-12 enrollment have been declining since the pandemic.
White House Rushes to Address Setbacks
Interestingly, the report coincided with the White House unveiling and summarizing a series of targeted reforms designed to tackle pandemic-related learning losses. These reforms include $50 million in new federal grant funding aimed at helping states improve reading and math outcomes.
During a press call on Tuesday, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona highlighted President Joe Biden’s initiative launched last summer to bring a quarter-million new tutors into schools by 2025, noting that this benchmark has nearly been achieved.
However, as the virus resurfaces in classrooms this fall, he acknowledged that the achievement gaps that widened over the past few years have yet to narrow down.
“As a nation, we have become accustomed to these disparities,” he conceded.
