Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more of the school year, has reached historic levels in the past few years. While the policy world often treats this as a statistical trend to be managed by administrators, the reality is that schools cannot solve this crisis behind closed doors.

To turn the tide, there must be a radical shift in how schools, districts and states share information. At the state level, that means disaggregated chronic absenteeism data that helps educators peek behind the curtain of statewide averages. But there also needs to be school-level transparency that empowers the most important stakeholders in a child鈥檚 life: their parents and caregivers.

For too long, attendance data has been treated as a compliance metric, a number reported to the state to secure funding. But for a parent, knowing that their school has a 30% chronic absenteeism rate isn’t just a “stat.” It is an urgent signal.

Many parents are surprised to learn that missing just two days a month adds up to chronic absenteeism. They may see their own child鈥檚 absences as isolated incidents, unaware that their school is struggling with a systemic culture of disengagement. When schools provide clear, accessible, and frequent data on current rates and how those rates have shifted over time, it strips away the normalcy of the empty classroom.

Transparency builds awareness about the consequences. tells us that by third grade, chronically absent students are less likely to read on grade level. By middle school, it is a primary predictor of high school dropout rates. When parents see the data, they aren’t just looking at numbers; they are looking at the foundational health of their school community鈥檚 future.

Transparency isn’t just about showing a single percentage; it鈥檚 about providing the context necessary for decision-making. Parents deserve to know how their school compares to others with similar demographics or within the same district.

If School A has a chronic absenteeism rate of 40% while School B, just three miles away with similar resources, sits at 15%, that data tells a story. It suggests that School B may have found a successful recipe for student engagement, transportation solutions or mental health support that School A could learn from.

When parents have access to comparative data, they can move from being passive observers to active advocates. They can ask the right questions: What is School B doing differently? How can parents support teachers to implement those strategies here? This isn’t about shaming schools; it鈥檚 about using data to identify bright spots and scale what works.

has long helped families compare and choose schools based on factors that matter most to them. Understanding attendance patterns alongside traditional performance measures offers families a more detailed view of the overall school experience. That’s why GreatSchools recently introduced on school profiles in nearly 20 states (with more to come) 鈥� focusing the display on simple language (鈥�81% of students are present nearly every day鈥�) that would resonate with families.

Indeed, how we frame attendance data to families matters. Among the most significant barriers to solving chronic absenteeism is the “us versus them” mentality that often develops between families and front offices. When a school hides its struggles with attendance, it misses the opportunity to ask for help.

True transparency creates a bridge for partnership and builds trust. When a school leader stands before parents and says, “Our data shows that 25% of our students are missing critical instruction, and our biggest spike is on Friday mornings,” it invites a community-wide solution.

• Parents can coordinate carpools or “bike/walking school buses.”
• Students can voice the specific barriers 鈥� whether it鈥檚 bullying, a lack of belonging, or family obligations 鈥� that keep them from going to school.
• Schools can realign resources to provide the specific support families actually need, rather than what administrators think they need.

We have seen firsthand through our work in education innovation and leading schools that when you give parents high-quality, actionable data, they don’t just consume it 鈥� they act on it. They become partners in the “why” behind the absences. Is it a lack of reliable transit? Is it a chronic health issue? Is there a disconnect between engagement with the curriculum and its real-world application? 

This last one hits home, as from Edmentum in 2024 shows that personalization and engagement might be among our best solutions yet. In their research, a district featured in the study already had a strong Multi-Tiered System of Supports framework in place. Flexible, personalized digital curriculum was one component within that broader system of supports, not a standalone intervention. The district was actively examining attendance data and deliberately selecting tools to re-engage students.

The TL;DR: Schools and parents cannot solve these problems if they aren’t looking at the same map.

The “post-pandemic” era brings a new reality where the bond between home and school has been both strained and redefined. To strengthen that bond, educators must treat parents as the sophisticated decision-makers they are.

We call on district leaders and policymakers to make school-level chronic absenteeism data a centerpiece of their public reporting. This data should be:

• Real-time: Not a post-mortem delivered six months after the school year ends.
• Hyper-local: Broken down by school site.
• Accessible: Translated into multiple languages and presented in a way that is easy to digest and can spark a conversation.

The empty desk is a symptom of a larger disconnection. By pulling back the curtain on attendance data, schools do more than just count heads; they build a culture of accountability, care and partnership. It鈥檚 time to stop treating attendance as a private administrative burden and start treating it as a shared public priority. Our students cannot learn if they aren’t there, and they won’t be there unless we all 鈥� parents, educators, and community members 鈥� are looking at the truth together.

But that short-term focus on the averages loses sight of what鈥檚 happening at the tails 鈥� the top performers and the weakest 鈥� and how things have evolved over longer periods of time. 

To zoom out, I worked with Eamonn Fitzmaurice, 蜜桃影视鈥檚 art and technology director, to build the time-lapse tools below. 

The first one shows you the evolution of 12th grade math scores. This particular test was first administered in 2005 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. When the 2024 scores came out in September, 蜜桃影视 wrote about the declines overall and for the lowest-performing students.

The reading scores for 12^th graders are even more depressing. They haven鈥檛 gotten as much attention as the math scores, perhaps because the averages scores haven鈥檛 followed as dramatic of an up-and-down rollercoaster as the math scores have followed.

These graphs show the scores of 12^th graders in math and reading, but it鈥檚 likely that other grades and subjects would show similar patterns. It鈥檚 not just that average scores have declined across a wide range of tests, grades and subjects; we also have a lot more low-performing students than we did in the past. 

While the data presented here are at the national level, any state, district or school leader could see how things are changing in their community. At the classroom or school level, increased variability in student performance makes it harder for teachers to personalize their instruction and for school leaders to design systemwide supports. To get things back on track, policymakers should pay special attention to how their lowest-performing students are faring.

Teachers are most likely to report a shortage of 鈥減eople resources,鈥� with two-thirds saying they don鈥檛 have enough teaching assistants, aides or paraprofessionals. 

This 鈥渉as a huge impact in the classroom in what teachers are able to do,鈥� said Andrea Malek Ash, a senior research consultant at Gallup who led the survey.

Ash stressed that even as teachers struggle to access fundamental resources, they still expressed a desire to improve their practices through professional growth opportunities.

鈥淪o it’s like this hierarchy of needs,鈥� she said. 鈥淭eachers really have to come at it right now from both ways: They’re trying to improve themselves, and they’re still dealing with not having enough furniture. That’s something that really stood out to me.鈥�

A dearth in resources has long plagued educators, with as many as having to reach into their own pockets to buy materials for their students and many relying on to solicit help from private donors. According to the amount teachers spent climbed during the pandemic, according to , though schools were also able to spend emergency COVID funding on supplies and furniture. And this year, a typical assortment of back-to-school supplies will cost an average of , at least partially due to the Trump administration鈥檚 tariff policies.

School staffing, too, has remained a persistent challenge for public schools: as of June 2025, an estimated positions were either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments. Yet, the number of educators nationally saw a steady increase between potentially due to the emergency relief funding. With that money sunsetting just over a year ago, it鈥檚 not yet clear what impact that might have on combatting ongoing shortages.

Teachers reported that professional growth opportunities and materials are two of the most important factors when it comes to job satisfaction: 77% of teachers who have adequate resources report being satisfied at work, versus 44% of those who do not.

Gallup surveyed thousands of teachers from the RAND American Teacher Panel over the course of one school year: 1,989 teachers were surveyed between October and November 2024; 2,046 in January 2025; and 2,167 between April and May 2025. 

The report is part of a led by Gallup and the to study Gen Z and youth perspectives, especially as they relate to education. Since teachers play such a large role in a student鈥檚 engagement and success in the classroom, researchers said it was important to learn about their needs as well and will gather their views over the next few years.

Across the country, teachers overwhelmingly reported a shortage of school-based staff: almost two-thirds said their school didn鈥檛 have enough teaching assistants, aides, paraprofessionals or behavior intervention specialists and 62% said they didn鈥檛 have enough mental health resources or special educators.

Jessica Saum is a special education coordinator, former special education teacher and the In her current role, she works to ensure students鈥� receive the special education services they need and supports educators in various K-12 settings. Saum said she sees these shortages reflected in classrooms across her district 鈥� especially among paraprofessionals.

鈥淭he paras are typically doing some of the hardest parts of those jobs with the least amount of education and training,鈥� she said, leading some to decide not to go into teaching or leave their jobs altogether. 

A shortage of paraprofessionals makes the general education teacher鈥檚 job 鈥渕uch harder,鈥� Saum said. 鈥淎s a special educator, I depended on my para educators to complete that classroom support. I needed them to be able to help me meet the needs of all the students.”

While 72% of teachers either agreed or strongly agreed that they had the equipment needed to teach effectively, 24% said they didn鈥檛 have enough classroom furniture, 25% didn鈥檛 have enough laptops or classroom computers and 35% didn鈥檛 have adequate printing supplies. Funding is likely one barrier to access, said Ash, but bureaucracy appears to be another: 1 in 3 teachers said the process they need to go through to order materials is 鈥渧ery鈥� or 鈥渟omewhat difficult.鈥�

Even if school leaders don’t immediately have the budget to buy requested materials, Ash said, just being aware of teachers鈥� needs and making the acquisition process easier creates a better experience for educators.

Some of these trends held true across schools, regardless of family income. For example, teachers who work in wealthier schools 鈥� where less than a quarter of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch 鈥� were just about as likely (23%) to report not having enough classroom furniture as those who work in a school where up to 100% of students qualify (25%).

And teachers in these wealthier schools were actually more likely (68% vs. 64%) to report a shortage of teaching assistants or paraprofessionals, according to additional data from the study provided to 蜜桃影视 by Gallup.

Yet, when it came to technology, that flipped. Teachers in low-income schools were significantly more likely to report not having enough laptops (34% vs. 18%) or printing resources (43% vs. 28%).

The survey also found that about half of teachers say their professional development is not grounded in students鈥� needs or learning. They cite collaborative planning as the most valuable kind of development and 43% report observing other teachers as the most worthwhile activity 鈥� though just 1 in 3 teachers say they get that opportunity.

鈥淪o the most beneficial ones were the ones that we鈥檙e also missing,鈥� said Ash.

The Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to 蜜桃影视.

Now? Rising average temperatures and extreme heat waves, ferocious storms, droughts, floods and increasingly prolonged smoke seasons that bring respiratory issues and airborne diseases mean the gift of outdoor play can no longer be taken for granted. 

To get a picture of how these extreme weather events are affecting parents of young children, researchers from the asked California parents with children under 6 about their family鈥檚 economic resources, their stress levels, and other aspects of well-being, including their experiences with extreme weather. The project, based in the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, summarized the responses in its , which complements a national RAPID on parents鈥� and child care providers鈥� experiences with extreme weather. 

Together, the two reports paint a clear portrait of families profoundly affected physically, emotionally and financially by increasingly concerning weather. Rising temperatures and extreme weather events are disrupting access to clean water, food and safe living conditions, affecting children鈥檚 health and development and putting stress on parents and providers alike, the surveys report. 

鈥淭his is not tomorrow鈥檚 issue,鈥� says Joan Lombardi, who chairs RAPID鈥檚 National Advisory Council. 鈥淭his is today鈥檚. I work both domestically and internationally, and these results are for children around the world. They鈥檝e experienced flooding. It鈥檚 hot. They live in cities with poor air quality; urbanization is increasing around the world.鈥� 

One of the most striking findings from the national survey is that more than three in five parents had experienced at least one extreme weather event in the past two years. An even higher percentage of parents surveyed (69%) say they worry about the possibility of extreme weather events and how they might affect their children. More than half of child care providers reported experiencing at least one extreme weather event. 

The net effect is that three-quarters of parents and more than half of child care providers say they now spend less time outdoors with children due to extreme temperatures and weather. A significant percentage of parents (84%) say extreme weather negatively affects their physical health and well-being, and more than half report that their children鈥檚 physical health or emotional well-being is negatively affected.   

In both the California and the national survey, abnormally warm weather was the top concern of parents and providers alike. They have reason to worry. According to , children are more vulnerable to the effects of heat stress. They perspire less than adults and have a higher metabolism, so they overheat more quickly. They spend more time outdoors for play and other activities, which puts them at greater risk for heat exposure. Children are less likely to take a break and rehydrate, which can be dangerous and even fatal in excessive heat. 

Heat hits some children harder than others: Children who have asthma, which disproportionately affects , or who are overweight are especially sensitive to heat. According to , a map of tree cover in the U.S. is often a map of income and race; low-income populations are more at risk because they have less access to shade and to climate-controlled housing. 

In some of the largest U.S. cities, temperatures in the urban core can climb to a scorching 20 or more degrees higher than neighborhoods with trees and green spaces. found as much as a 10-degree difference between the shaded and unshaded parts of playgrounds. On a 90-degree day, that鈥檚 the difference between 鈥渆xtreme caution鈥� and 鈥渄anger鈥� levels for risks of heat illness, according to the . 

In addition to the health effects and safety worries, extreme weather stresses parents and providers financially. More time indoors 鈥� at home or in care 鈥� means higher utility bills for already-struggling individuals to try to mitigate the heat or cold, or filter air polluted by smoke or airborne particulates. 

鈥淲e find again and again that the rates of hardship among families and the early education workforce are higher than most people are aware of,鈥� says RAPID founder Philip Fisher, faculty director of the Stanford Center on Early Education. 鈥淚n our recent surveys, we found that 40% of families around the country are having difficulty in any month paying for basic needs like food and housing. Upwards of 70% of people who are providing care for other people鈥檚 children are struggling to make ends meet each month.鈥�

Lombardi says providers need resources to mitigate challenges that go beyond increased utility costs. Some need to renovate their facilities to allow for increased indoor play time, to add air conditioning, heat pumps or air filters, or to increase shade in their outdoor areas. Some are dealing with damage to their facilities from weather events, but are challenged to find money for repairs. 

鈥淭he child care workforce is already stretched beyond the limit,鈥� Lombardi says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not able to take care of their own family needs and when you add these increasing utility and facility costs, it鈥檚 an untenable situation. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of interest in the early childhood field in dealing with the issue, but no resources to do it 鈥� and what was available is shrinking.鈥� 

The first step in addressing these issues is to face them, the researchers say. The RAPID survey results make it clear that the effects of climate change and a warming planet aren鈥檛 just an issue for future generations: It鈥檚 here, it鈥檚 now and it鈥檚 not going away. Frederica Perera, author of 鈥�,鈥� writes that children born after 2020 will experience up to seven times more extreme heatwaves in their lifetimes on average than people born in 1960. 

The focused action needed from national, state and local entities to address the changing climate may seem out of reach for parents and providers trying to do the best for their children in the here and now, but these caregivers do have an important role in helping young children cope. Their most important contribution, Lombardi says, is nurturing care, which, according to the , comprises: good health, adequate nutrition, responsive caregiving, security and safety, and opportunities for early learning. 

Additionally, families, providers and communities must prepare ahead for emergencies, which are becoming unfortunately commonplace.

鈥淒ecades of high-quality research shows that the thing that can help children most 鈥� is their buffering and nurturing relationships with adults,鈥� Fisher says. 鈥淲hen we think about climate, we need to be thinking about not just the well-being of children but the well-being of the adults around them. If the adults are OK, they鈥檙e going to be in a better position when we have these kinds of [extreme weather] events.鈥�

鈥淥ur goal was to bear witness to what households with young children were experiencing during a time when nobody knew what to expect,鈥� says RAPID founder Philip Fisher, faculty director of the Stanford Center on Early Education. 鈥淲e developed a plan that allowed us to get data on a very frequent basis from a large number of families around the country, which we felt was necessary to document things that were so volatile at the time.鈥� 

Now celebrating its fifth anniversary, RAPID is still chronicling the well-being and needs of families and child care providers throughout the country with surveys that ask parents and providers about their economic resources, stress levels, ability to use healthcare and child care, plus questions on specific areas of interest such as screen time or the effects of extreme weather. 

So far, RAPID has sent out 169 family surveys, gathering data from 60,000 parents of young children, and 122 workforce surveys that have been completed by more than 13,000 providers. Originally sent weekly, the surveys now go out monthly to participants who respond via smartphone, tablet or computer. In the state of California alone, the survey is available in eight languages. Respondents receive at least $5 for their participation. 

A parallel national survey that goes to the early care and education workforce has been running for four years, asking additional questions about workplace conditions, workforce compensation and other issues relevant to the early care workforce. In addition to the national surveys, RAPID sends state-based and local surveys called Community Voices. More than 60,000 parents and 15,000 providers have responded to these surveys.

The result is one-of-a-kind research that is vetted for accuracy by a research advisory group, then shared in a monthly fact sheet that鈥檚 available to policymakers, researchers, members of the press and the survey participants themselves. The surveys are posted on RAPID鈥檚 , newsletter and social media channels.  

Academia historically has relied on scientific journals to disseminate information, relying on peer reviews and rounds of editing that can take years. What makes the RAPID surveys unique is the priority of disseminating results quickly in a format that is accessible and usable, so stakeholders have a real-time view of critical issues.  

Though the pandemic has abated, Fisher says RAPID will continue to monitor the significant issues that affect young children and those who care about them. With many federal early childhood programs threatened with funding cuts, timely, actionable information is more crucial than ever.

鈥淵ou can expect us to be around for at least a few more years,鈥� Fisher says. 鈥淎nd unless things turn around soon, the need for what we鈥檙e doing is just going to increase.鈥�

For example, teachers in districts with the highest concentrations of poverty are almost three times more likely to be early in their career, with less than three years of experience. And students in these districts are 16 times more likely to learn from a teacher with temporary or emergency credentials than their peers in Michigan鈥檚 wealthiest school districts.

鈥淭he teacher shortage crisis that we hear a lot about here in Michigan is far worse for our students with the greatest needs,鈥� said Jen DeNeal, director of policy and research at EdTrust-Midwest and lead author of the report. 

DeNeal noted that research shows that novice, not fully credentialed teachers are generally less effective in the classroom.

While the national teacher shortage in certain subjects has been as an intractable issue that鈥檚 worsened since the pandemic, the EdTrust study released last month uniquely zooms in on district-level data and demonstrates the scope of the problem.

鈥淗aving gaps is, of course, not a surprise,鈥� said Michael Hansen, a senior fellow at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. 鈥淗aving gaps of this magnitude is pretty stark.鈥�

DeNeal and her team at EdTrust, which advocates for educational equity with a focus on children who have been traditionally underserved, spent two years analyzing educator workforce data from public and non-public sources, conducting focus groups and reviewing previous research.

They used Michigan鈥檚 a state funding formula passed in 2023 that includes an index for concentrations of poverty, to divide school districts into six bands. Band one includes districts with fewer than 20% of students living in concentrated poverty while band six includes districts where 85% to 100% of students live in these conditions. 

Researchers then looked at how highly qualified teachers 鈥� defined as those who were fully certified with more than three years of experience teaching in their certification or more refined speciality areas 鈥� were distributed across these districts.

They found that in the 2022-23 school year, more than 16% of teachers in high-poverty districts were teaching a subject or grade not listed on their license 鈥� that鈥檚 twice the state average. These districts accounted for more than a third of all out-of-field educators in the state, despite only employing 13.5% of Michigan teachers. 

While out-of-field teachers are typically a stop-gap resource preferable to a revolving door of substitutes, they may lack the content knowledge and skills needed to effectively teach, and students who learn from them tend to have in that subject. Those with emergency credentials are also able to fill teacher vacancies when more qualified ones aren鈥檛 available, though they鈥檙e more likely to be rated as when compared to other new teachers.

Hansen noted that being trained and fully licensed makes a teacher more likely to provide quality instruction in the classroom, but 鈥渋t鈥檚 no guarantee.鈥� And while these findings do likely point to a 鈥渕ore effective teacher workforce in these more affluent settings, and 鈥� a less effective workforce in the high-needs settings, it’s probably not the case that it’s going to be 16 times more effective.鈥�

Yet, 鈥渙f all these different factors and characteristics that they鈥檙e highlighting in this report, experience is the number one that鈥檚 documented to show an impact across multiple studies and multiple grades,鈥� he added.

Persistent vacancies may be particularly hard to fill in Michigan, where teacher attrition is slightly worse than the national average, and teacher turnover is far higher for students living in poverty. For example Black students, who account for only 18% of the statewide student enrollment, make up 45% of where teachers were most likely to leave.

In districts where a majority of children are Black, students were nearly four times more likely to learn from an out-of-field teacher, four times more likely to learn from a teacher with emergency credentials and nearly twice as likely to learn from a beginning teacher than in districts serving primarily white students.

In focus groups, teachers pointed to a number of factors contributing to the shortage, including the pandemic, discipline challenges and chronic absenteeism. They also reported that their classrooms are overfilled, they have less one-on-one time with students and less planning time because they鈥檙e being called on to substitute teach. One issue, though, came up again and again: pay.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not competitive regionally and we鈥檙e not terribly competitive nationally,鈥� DeNeal said.

Between Michigan鈥檚 inflation-adjusted teacher salary fell more than 20%, representing the second-largest teacher salary decline in the country. First-year teachers in Michigan earned, on average, about $39,000 a year, rendering it 39th nationally and last among Great Lake states. And researchers found that teachers in the wealthiest district are paid, on average, about $4,000 more annually than those in the poorest districts.

This is exactly the opposite of what the pay structure should look like, according to Dan Goldhaber, an education researcher at the American Institute of Research and the University of Washington. He argued that teachers in more challenging environments should be paid more than their peers to compensate for the additional hurdles.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think this is an issue where we need a lot of research to know that this problem exists and to know at least what some of the potential solutions are,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is an issue where the politics I think make it challenging to implement at least some of the solutions.鈥�

DeNeal said that although these challenges are 鈥渢roubling and extremely persistent, they are not insurmountable.鈥�

The report put forward five recommendations, based on teacher focus groups and previous research: prioritize fair and equitable funding; improve state education data systems to increase transparency; provide greater support for school administrators; focus on making teaching an attractive and competitive career and increase access to high-quality professional development for teachers.

Thomas Morgan, spokesperson for the Michigan Education Association, emphasized the importance of incorporating teacher voice in the solutions.

鈥淲hen you want to know what to do to fix our schools,鈥� he said, 鈥渢he first people you should talk to are people working on the front lines: those teachers working in our schools. They see things, they live it, they breathe it and they should be consulted.鈥�

Duplicative counting is one of the issues that have long bedeviled Thomas and her fellow researchers. Let鈥檚 say a particular 4-year-old boy simultaneously participates in the and . Is he being counted once or twice in the IECAM database? In evaluating the efficacy of these state programs, Illinois鈥檚 newly formed , among other public and private bodies, needs to know the answer when determining the impact of each program.

Illinois is not alone in grappling with data on programs and services for families with young children. The newly formed Big Ten Early Learning Alliance (Big Ten ELA) was designed to address issues that span research and policy, like the challenges facing the IECAM team. Led by Ohio State University professor Laura Justice (who also heads the ) and Rutgers University professor W. Steven Barnett (who founded and co-directs the ), the alliance is open to researchers from Big Ten universities, which comprises 18 higher education institutions across 14 states. Members collaborate on research that addresses important early childhood issues and work together to champion and disseminate solutions to the field. The states involved collectively have nearly 5.8 million residents aged 5 and under, according to , a recent brief published by Big Ten ELA 鈥� and the alliance is dedicated to improving their early learning experiences and lifetime outcomes.

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鈥淔or these nearly six million children, it is crucial that their states provide high-quality early childhood education to ensure that these children experience optimal environments and interactions in the earliest years of life,鈥� Justice and Barnett wrote in the brief.听

鈥淪tates are increasingly taking the lead in enacting policies that affect early childhood,鈥� Justice says. 鈥淥ne of our goals in establishing this alliance is to ensure that science underlies these decisions by state policymakers. We also want to leverage the expertise in early childhood at our Big Ten universities. Bringing researchers together through this alliance will ease collaboration and allow us to advance our understanding of crucial issues in early childhood by engaging our diverse research perspectives.鈥澨�

Critical Data Solutions

Why is data critical to service delivery, and why did the Big Ten ELA鈥檚 zero in on data solutions? 鈥淧art of the rationale for many investments in early childhood programs,鈥� Justice and Barnett explain in their report, 鈥渋s to capitalize on the potential return on investment of preschool participation, such that for every dollar put into the system, dividends are returned in the future.鈥� If the data can鈥檛 be trusted, policymakers might balk at the price tag. Improving early care and education depends on a sophisticated understanding of demographics, services received, program enrollment and learning outcomes.

While IECAM has been tracking aggregate data for early childhood programs and demographic data for young children and their families since about 2006, the (ILDS), a project staffed by Northern Illinois University (NIU), tracks which early childhood services the state鈥檚 children are receiving over time and the outcomes of receiving them. The longitudinal data is designed to answer questions about which programs can be credited for increasing wages and income mobility.听

Benjamin Boer, senior director of data for Education Systems Center at NIU, notes that the complexity of data poses challenges and opportunities. 鈥淚 don’t think people understand all the different programming that goes on,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here are prenatal programs, early childhood programs, home visiting, Medicaid-funded screenings for special needs and so on.鈥� Boer hopes to establish correlations between participation in these various programs and third grade assessment data. (If you鈥檙e keeping score at home, NIU is not part of the Big Ten, but Boer appeared on the Alliance鈥檚 webinar, and their collaboration with University of Illinois makes them honorary members.)听

Recently, the partnered with ILDS to study the flow of children through the education system. 鈥� which comprises the state鈥檚 quality rating and improvement system along with education training and referral functions 鈥� is also using the data resource.听

鈥淥ther states may want to use data for accountability 鈥� justifying the expense 鈥� but our goal is ensuring that children get the services that they need,鈥� Boer says.听

Sarah Clark, senior director of strategy and development for Education Systems Center, refers to the longitudinal project as 鈥渁 space where researchers can collaborate and build upon each other’s work. And that’s critical because it’s not just from university researcher to university researcher, but also back to state agencies, who have such limited capacities.鈥�

As Big Ten ELA continues to promote best practices on data systems, a more recent webinar in December examined two landmark studies on the effects of early childhood education 鈥� the , which began in the 1960s and followed students through age 40, and the , which has been ongoing since 1986. According to Barnett, both studies 鈥渟how the full potential of longitudinal data systems to inform science and policy on early childhood education.鈥�

Thomas sees promise in the 鈥渙pen dialogue going on between advocates, researchers, and other stakeholders who are invested in knowing more about young children and about the early childhood landscape.鈥� Ultimately, this work will lead to what she envisions as 鈥渁 public portal that will be used for a lot of our integrated data.鈥澨�

鈥淲e’ve been talking about these data issues for years,鈥� Thomas acknowledges, 鈥渂ut I really feel like this is the closest Illinois has been in decades. And now we actually can see鈥� maybe not the end of the tunnel, but I can see that little light.鈥�

Nearly five years after the emergence of COVID, the pandemic鈥檚 after-effects still ripple through schools and communities, with student learning persistently failing to reach levels seen in 2019. Just under $200 billion in federal assistance to states, which was used to keep districts afloat during the crisis, expired in September 鈥� with no further help visible on the horizon.

Increasingly, though, the kids filling American schools have only dim memories of quarantines or virtual instruction. Their experience is instead defined by a rash of trends and technologies that sprang up, or became much more common, during the period when schooling was scrambled: a massive build-out of tutoring programs; the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence as a tool of both academic achievement and academic dishonesty; a rise in student despair and anxiety, which some experts attribute to the spread of smartphones; and, for adolescents, soaring recreational marijuana use under newly permissive state laws.

Tomorrow is coming faster than ever, and its contours will be shaped by new leadership in Washington. After a fervid campaign season, President-elect Trump has already vowed to essentially terminate the federal government鈥檚 role in setting education policy by eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. 

But before turning to the future, 蜜桃影视 is taking a look back at 2024鈥檚 biggest discoveries from the world of education research. Welcome to the year in charts.

Federal Funds Lifted Learning 鈥� But Not Enough

Two papers released this summer by the Education Recovery Scorecard and the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research attempted to quantify the effects of the federal government鈥檚 , which channeled $190 billion to schools and districts over the last four years in response to the pandemic. Their findings showed that the money has helped, but came nowhere close to filling the academic hole left by COVID.

ESSER鈥檚 benefits were relatively modest (measured in math test scores, each $1,000 spent yielded about 10 percent of what is generally considered a medium-sized effect in education research) and distributed unequally, as different school districts received wildly divergent amounts from Washington. Assuming a similar bang for the buck, Congress would have to appropriate between $450 and $900 billion in further legislation in order to bring learning back to where it was in 2019, the researchers estimated.

That鈥檚 almost certainly not going to happen; ESSER funds officially dried up this September, and no effort has been made to renew them. If no further assistance is coming, the program鈥檚 legacy will have been helping to spur an incomplete learning recovery: According to released by the leaders of the Education Recovery Scorecard, students across the country had only made up one-quarter of their lost progress in reading, and one-third of their deficits in math, by the beginning of this year.

Students Are Still Hurting

The full picture of learning loss remains discouraging, particularly for those who were in their foundational years of schooling when the pandemic threw their education into chaos. 

According to by the testing group NWEA, eighth graders in 2024 were still a full school year behind in both math and reading compared with similar students from five years prior. Derived from the scores of 7.7 million students on the organization鈥檚 MAP Growth measure, that assessment also pointed to racial achievement gaps that have only grown wider in the 2020s, with Hispanic students falling the furthest behind in both elementary and middle school.

While academic damage has been especially scarring for those in middle and high school, even elementary schoolers are making slower academic progress today than in previous years. A separate report, released in March by the curriculum provider Amplify, showed that students from kindergarten through the second grade are making less progress toward literacy than they did during the 2021鈥�22 and 2022鈥�23 school years. In other words, growth has even slowed down since the immediate post-COVID period.

The Disappearing College Freshman

Colleges and universities face punishing demographic challenges in the years to come, as smaller birth cohorts and shrinking high school classes leave institutions to fight over a diminished applicant pool. Even more worrying, data suggests that rising numbers of potential college-goers are reconsidering their future plans and heading . 

The end result is a surprising erosion in the numbers of rising college students. According to by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, freshman enrollment has declined by 5 percent since last year, with 18-year-old freshmen falling by 6 percent. What鈥檚 more, that drop comes after a 3.6 percent decline just last year.

Much of the shrinkage was concentrated in particular student demographics and institutional types. For example, the number of white students 鈥� who constitute a healthy majority of all college attendees 鈥� fell by 0.6 percent this year, while their non-white peers continued to tick upwards. Most striking of all, both public and private colleges that enroll high percentages of Pell Grant recipients saw double-digit losses in freshman enrollment. 

Charter Schools Boost College-Going, If Not Test Scores

Charter schools have long enjoyed an uneven reputation based on geography. While those located in cities 鈥� often built on a 鈥渘o excuses鈥� framework that emphasizes high standards and tough discipline 鈥� can achieve incredible results, their suburban and rural counterparts traditional public schools.

But a paper authored by University of Michigan researcher Sarah Cohodes added a striking addendum. In an experiment based in Massachusetts, where Boston-based charters post anywhere in the country, she discovered that non-urban charters also manage to significantly increase students鈥� chances of enrolling and graduating from college. Paradoxically, however, they do so even as those same students perform worse on standardized tests than their peers in nearby public schools. 

It鈥檚 an open question how children鈥檚 achievement could decline even as post-secondary outcomes improve. Cohodes allowed for the possibility that families in suburban and rural school districts might enroll their kids in charters that focus heavily on areas like arts programming or social-emotional instruction, rather than elevating achievement in core subjects like math or English. 

鈥淭he whole premise of test-based accountability is that test-scores predict longer-term outcomes,鈥� Cohodes told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淏ut this situation shows it is not always the case, and other things are going on in schools.鈥� 

AI Could Get the Most out of Tutors

Tutoring programs exploded in the last five years as states and school districts searched for ways to counter plummeting achievement during COVID. But the cost of providing supplemental instruction to tens of millions of students can be eye-watering, even as the results seem to taper off as programs serve more students.  

That鈥檚 where artificial intelligence could prove a decisive advantage. circulated in October by the National Student Support Accelerator found that an AI-powered tutoring assistant significantly improved the performance of hundreds of tutors by prompting them with new ways to explain concepts to students. With the help of the tool, dubbed Tutor CoPilot, students assigned to the weakest tutors began posting academic results nearly equal to those assigned to the strongest. And the cost to run the program was just $20 per pupil. 

The paper suggests that tutoring initiatives may successfully adapt to the challenges of cost and scale. Another hopeful piece of evidence appeared this spring, when Stanford University researchers found that a 鈥渟mall burst鈥� program in Florida produced meaningful literacy gains for young learners through micro-interactions lasting just 5鈥�7 minutes at a time. If the success of such models can be replicated, there鈥檚 a chance that the benefits of tutoring could be enjoyed by millions more students.

Teachers Aren鈥檛 Happy

K鈥�12 educators have had a tough few years. While there鈥檚 strong disagreement about just how many of them actually walked off the job during the worst years of COVID, a combination of public health fears and worsening conditions in schools has led many to consider leaving the field since the pandemic began.

A published this fall by Brown University economist Matt Kraft put those fears into a much larger context. Using polling data going back decades, he found that public esteem for teaching 鈥� as measured by how many people called it a prestigious career, compared with other professions 鈥� is now at the lowest level seen in half a century. Fewer than half of all teachers said that the stress of their job was worth the effort, compared with over 80 percent in the 1970s.

Those numbers are bad enough, but they also appear to be turning off potential teaching candidates. The number of newly licensed teachers fell by one-third between 2006 and 2020, indicating that the reputational problems facing the K鈥�12 workforce came about long before the pandemic. Interest in teaching as a career path among high school seniors and college freshmen has also dropped substantially since 2010.

Even with a precipitously shrinking number of K鈥�12 students, schools will have a hard time coping if this generation of educators is replaced by a smaller, more demoralized cohort of successors.  

The Culture Wars Are Coming to a School Near You

One likely reason for lower job satisfaction among those toiling in the classroom? Disputes over politics and culture, which have recently grown far more contentious.

released by the RAND Corporation in February first publicized what many school employees have complained about for years. Lawmakers in 18 states passed legislation restricting classroom discussion of some topics, whether related to politics, history, race, gender, or sexuality, between 2021 and 2023. Those states are home to approximately one-third of all American teachers.

Strikingly, however, a full two-thirds of all teachers polled by RAND said that they self-censored or otherwise curtailed dialogue with students about hot-button issues. The authors dubbed that trend a 鈥渟pillover鈥� between school communities, often driven by groups of particularly vocal parents who may not reflect the attitudes of their neighbors. In the end, more than half of all teachers working in states with no statutory restrictions on classroom discussion still self-censored to one degree or another, the poll indicated. 

Notably, those findings dovetail neatly with other research showing that clashes over culture war issues can be and potentially harmful to student learning. 

Screentime Is On the Rise. So Is Depression

This year will likely be remembered as the period when concerns over children鈥檚 smartphone use, both inside schools and out, came under a microscope as never before. An increasing number of schools in the United States and around the world have moved to restrict the use of phones in the classroom, with many complaining of both disengagement during lessons and an atomized culture brought about by technological distraction.

But a growing scientific literature suggests that young people may be profoundly impacted by phones and social media during their hours at home and with friends. In , British academic Danny Blanchflower 鈥� a labor economist who has also specialized in the study of public happiness over decades 鈥� demonstrated a close correlation between the steep increase in youth exposure to screens and a concurrent upswell in self-described feelings of despair, worry and self-doubt. 

In 2022, Blanchflower and his colleagues found, over one-in-ten young women said they鈥檇 experienced a bad mental health day every day over the previous month, tripling the rate they鈥檇 reported in the early 1990s. At the same time, the percentage of young women who absorbed more than four hours of screen time each day jumped nearly eightfold.

Arguments about the effect of information technology on youth mental health are hotly contested, with skeptics observing that the evidence for a firm casual relationship between smartphones and depression is still quite tentative. But Blanchflower believes the downside risk of unfettered screentime is too great for policymakers not to act.  

鈥淲e could fart around about causality, but the potential cost of not doing something is so much greater than the cost of doing something and being wrong,鈥� he told 蜜桃影视.

Catholic Schools Might Need Vouchers to Survive

Since the beginning of the charter school explosion in the late 1990s, denizens of the policy world have speculated that the birth of a new educational model could escalate the decades-long decline in Catholic schooling. While increasing secularization has likely driven much of , the more recent emergence of free, easily accessible schools of choice in virtually every major American city seemed like the equivalent of throwing an anvil to a drowning man. 

In , Boston College professor Shaun Dougherty offered persuasive evidence that charter expansion had indeed come at the expense of the Catholic sector. Relying on data collected from over 25,000 K鈥�12 institutions, the study calculated that between 1998 and 2020, an average of 3.5 percent of Catholic school students disenrolled within two years of a charter opening in the vicinity. Given the thin margins in Catholic education, those declines made full-on closures significantly more likely. 

In a telling wrinkle, those trends were considerably muted in 10 jurisdictions that offered some form of private school choice, which provides families with money to spend on tuition or other educational expenses. That suggests that, with the spread of education savings accounts and similar policies, the multi-generational eclipse of Catholic schooling may begin to slow or even reverse. But, as Notre Dame law professor Nicole Stelle Garnett told 蜜桃影视, it could be too late for the Church to reverse its losses.

鈥淚f we鈥檇 gotten this much of private school choice in 1999, instead of 25 years later, we might have a lot more kids in Catholic schools today.鈥� 

School鈥檚 In, So Is Crime

As community hubs attracting large numbers of young people, schools are somewhat unavoidably linked to violence and antisocial behavior. Previous research has shown that when low-performing schools in Philadelphia were permanently closed in the early 2010s, the surrounding areas saw a pronounced reduction in violent crime.

But released this fall gave a much more sweeping overview of the link between schools and disorder. Using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, the authors found that criminal activity among children from the ages of 10 to 17 鈥� whether as perpetrators or victims 鈥� peaks during the school year, particularly during the autumn and spring. That鈥檚 an exact inversion of the pattern for older offenders, who are much more likely to commit crimes during the summer months.

Across more than 3,000 school districts, the school calendar was linked to a 41 percent increase in youth arrests and a 47 percent increase in reported crime, with the surge mostly occurring during school hours and during the week rather than the weekend. Much of the lawbreaking even occurs in schools themselves. 

鈥淚n poor and rich counties; well-resourced school districts and poorly resourced school districts; and rural and urban counties, schools are a primary driver of criminal activity involving children,鈥� the authors conclude.

For High Schoolers, Weed is Everywhere

One form of vice is particularly prevalent among older adolescents: marijuana use. According to published in March, over 30 percent of seniors reported using weed over the past year. 

That figure reflects a few coalescing trends, most importantly the legalization (or decriminalization) of weed . Three-quarters of Americans now live in a jurisdiction where the drug is available for either medicinal or recreational use, though age restrictions still make it illegal for almost any high schooler to do so legally. What鈥檚 more, the development of kid-friendly gummies and vape flavors makes marijuana more accessible to young people than in decades past. 

That鈥檚 especially concerning given the elevated potency of new cannabis items, which are far stronger on average than the common street product of even a few decades ago. Youth marijuana use to inhibited brain development and increased risk of psychological disorders in later life.

鈥淭he biggest consequence that we think about in the field of child development 鈥� is that using substances that are potentially psychoactive and addictive and have effects on development,鈥� Columbia psychiatrist Ryan Sultan told 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Amanda Geduld. 鈥淭he younger you are, the more problematic they might be.鈥�

Pre-K Helps Families’ Bottom Lines

Early childhood education has been shown to be an effective tool for improving students’ near-term academic performance, though research is unclear on can be sustained over time. In the hopes of reaching students before the K鈥�12 years and combatting gaps in readiness and achievement, a growing number of states and cities have their public pre-kindergarten offerings in recent years.

A paper released in October found that one such expansion brought considerable benefits to participating families 鈥� but for a somewhat surprising reason. When New Haven, Connecticut, established a pre-K program in the 1990s, enrolled students saw only ephemeral improvements to their test scores, school attendance, and likelihood of being held back in school, with effects essentially disappearing by the time they finished the eighth grade. But by participating in the program, which provided 10 hours of instruction and supplementary programs each day, those children allowed their parents to work more during the day. On average, caregivers earned 22 percent more, or nearly $5,500 per year for each year their kids remained in pre-K.

Even better, the same parents went on to earn 21 percent more in the six years after the program ended, likely because of their increased experience and job continuity, and their higher income dwarfed the costs of implementing the program. In other words, even if it contributes little in long-term academic gains, pre-K may generate huge value purely as a childcare benefit.

These tensions escalated last year when a teacher disagreed with the superintendent’s decision to follow the advice of the school district’s lawyer and honor a transgender student’s request not to share their transition with their parents. The teacher went public and the results were swift and intense.

Hundreds of people descended on the next school board meeting. A local talk radio host said the superintendent wanted to 鈥渋ndoctrinate their children and 鈥� make them become gay and transgender.鈥� Community members verbally accosted the schools chief in public saying, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e gonna go to hell. You never read the Bible.鈥� 

The fiscal consequences were also considerable, forcing the district to divert funds from planned professional development. Ultimately, five educators left their jobs in response to the spreading unrest.

This small community鈥檚 turmoil is one of many accounts included in a new , which tries for the first time to put a dollar amount on the costs of the culture war conflicts that have consumed school districts over the past several years. The researchers estimate that the nation鈥檚 public schools spent approximately $3.2 billion in 2023-24 dealing with divisive public debates over race, gender and sexual orientation, forcing them to spend money on legal fees, security, public relations and employee hours responding to misinformation, disinformation and public records requests. 

And although the researchers said their figures don鈥檛 account for the emotional and social toll on educators and students, their numbers do include a significant and related expense: staff turnover.  

鈥淭here are many different costs that are really consequential and are undermining the ability of educators to support student learning and well-being,” said John Rogers, a professor at UCLA鈥檚 School of Education and Information Studies and the report鈥檚 lead author.

Data from the report comes from a national survey of 467 superintendents across 46 states conducted during summer 2024, followed by interviews with 42 superintendents across 12 states. Of those interviewed, 12 had taken the survey and reported moderate or high levels of conflict; the remaining 30 hadn鈥檛 taken the survey and were identified through professional leadership networks.

School districts were categorized as having either high, moderate, or low levels of conflict based on a series of questions about the nature of conflict related to culturally divisive issues, the frequency of and topics associated with personal or professional threats to superintendents and district staff and the financial and human resource costs.

Moms for Liberty, a high-profile parental rights group, was named specifically in the report in relation to board members they supported and other far-right groups accusing a western school district of indoctrinating students around sexual health issues. That superintendent cited having to spend roughly $100,000 to hire 鈥渁rmed plainclothes off-duty officers鈥� and more than $500,000 in legal fees. Superintendents and school board members being attacked as pedophiles, groomers or sexual predators was a common refrain in the report.

Moms for Liberty did not respond to a request for comment. Closely aligned with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the group鈥檚 influence over school board elections is seen as waning even if battles over curriculum content and library books are still being waged.

Of the districts surveyed, roughly one-third experienced low levels of conflict, just over one-third experienced moderate levels and just under one-third experienced high levels. About 2.5% of superintendents reported no conflict. Overall, Rogers said those surveyed 鈥渓ook a lot like superintendents from the entirety of the (national) pool鈥� in terms of their race, gender and whether they lead urban, rural or suburban districts.

Half of the schools chiefs reported that they experienced at least one instance of harassment in the 2023-24 school year. One in 10 said violent threats were directed toward them and 11% experienced property vandalism.

In order to calculate the overall fiscal costs, researchers asked superintendents about direct expenditures during the 2023-24 school year that were above and beyond what they previously would have spent for resources such as legal services or security; indirect costs, such as redeployed staff time; and employee turnover costs. 

To determine the cost of redeployed staff time, researchers took the number of hours that superintendents reported across these different activities and assigned them a dollar figure based on average district administrator wages from the . For each staff member that left the district, researchers assigned a dollar figure related to recruitment and new staff training based on research out of the .

Rogers noted that 鈥渢here鈥檚 a certain imprecision鈥� when it comes to calculating the cost of staff turnover because 鈥測ou鈥檙e asking superintendents to draw upon the knowledge that they have to make this determination鈥� of why educators and administrators left their positions. Follow-up interviews, he added, helped to bolster the reliability of these figures.

The researchers, who also include Rachel White of the University of Texas at Austin, Robert Shand of American University and Joseph Kahne of the University of California, Riverside, estimated that in their entirety, the conflict-related costs were more than enough to expand the national school breakfast program by 40% or hire 鈥渁n additional counselor or psychologist for every public high school in the United States.鈥�

Beyond the dollar figures, when speaking with superintendents, Rogers said he was particularly struck by the ways in which violent threats were playing out and how frequently it appeared there was a 鈥渃oncerted effort to disrupt, to foment conflict for the sake of fomenting conflict.鈥�

For example, he heard from a number of superintendents whose districts spent an immense amount of time fulfilling public records requests they felt had been filed in bad faith. Once the materials were compiled, they often went unused, Rogers said.

The lasting implications of these in-district battles 鈥� beyond the fiscal costs 鈥� still remain unknown and appear to be shifting with the changing landscape. Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of the History of Education at The University of Pennsylvania, recently on his previous work around the culture wars鈥� impact on history teachers, writing, 鈥淚t seems like I might have exaggerated them.鈥� 

But, he noted in an interview with 蜜桃影视 this week, the effects on other educators and administrators are ongoing. Within the culture wars, he鈥檚 noticed less of a focus on race and critical race theory and more on gender and sexuality, hypothesizing that this may mean history teachers feel a lesser impact than English teachers, who might be more likely to teach directly about gender.

His sees the report as a reflection of the country’s 鈥渂rittle and abusive鈥� political culture. 

鈥淭his is the school politics chapter of a much broader story about the way that politics is conducted in America,鈥� he said.

It appears that even as some of these more divisive players move on or are voted out, their political agendas may persist. That鈥檚 been the case in Pennsylvania鈥檚 Bucks County, one of the most closely watched regions for these debates. 

According to recent New York Times , despite Democrats sweeping the last school board election, not all contested books have been returned to school library shelves nor have teachers been allowed to display identity markers, like rainbow flags. Nearly a year after the Moms for Liberty-backed candidates were ousted, their presence is still felt. 

Historically, the majority of this funding was only available to students who were low income, had special needs or attended poorly performing public schools. 

Over the past three years, that鈥檚 shifted: Today, at least 33 states offer private school choice programs, and of those 12 are 鈥渦niversal,鈥� meaning any student, regardless of income or need, can apply for government funding to subsidize private, religious and 鈥� in some cases 鈥� home schools. 

Comprehensive analysis of the scale of these initiatives and their implications 鈥� both for students and state budgets 鈥� has been sparse. But a released earlier this month by , a research think tank based at Georgetown鈥檚 School of Public Policy, looks to change that. 

Policy Director Liz Cohen and analyst Bella DiMarco studied the evolution of established or emerging universal programs during the 2023-24 school year across eight states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. 

Their research comes on the eve of an election where school choice measures are on the ballot in three additional states and when disagreement continues to spark over whether these programs give freedom and choice to families who have been historically locked out of private schooling or are part of a larger movement meant to undermine and defund public schools. 

FutureEd鈥檚 major finding about how universal choice has played out so far? 鈥淧olicy design really matters,鈥� Cohen said, in an interview with 蜜桃影视.

While all of the studied programs are universal in that anyone can apply, whether families end up actually receiving money, how much they receive and what accountability measures the participating schools are held to varies greatly state by state. 

They calculated that in total, 569,000 students received subsidies across these states, representing 55% of the students attending private schools with public funding and costing taxpayers an estimated $4 billion. About 40% of the nation鈥檚 50 million elementary and secondary students are now eligible.

Here are five key takeaways.

鈥淯niversal鈥� is not necessarily universal, and no two states鈥� policies look the same. 

鈥淲e talk about [universal programs] as such a monolithic thing,鈥� said DiMarco. 鈥淚 expected there to be more similarities between the programs and to see more similarities in the data. But that just wasn’t necessarily the case.鈥� 

In Ohio for example, families receive funding on a sliding scale based on need, private schools can鈥檛 charge low-income families more than what they receive from the state and participating private schools must use the same graduation requirements.

On the other end of the spectrum, in Florida and Arizona no student who applies for funding is turned down and participating private schools don鈥檛 need to be accredited. 

鈥淚f you listen to the sort of politically charged descriptions of these initiatives you get one fairly stilted perspective鈥� both from proponents and opponents of these,鈥� said Nat Malkus, the deputy director of education policy at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. 鈥淎nd when you look at them piece by piece, there鈥檚 a good bit of daylight between the arrangements from one city to the next.鈥�

But there are a few overarching themes, some of which shouldn鈥檛 come as a surprise.

All states give participating families similar amounts of money, with the average award amount coming in at around $7,000, which is approximately 90% to 100% of state per-pupil funding. 

Most states require some sort of accountability testing 鈥� but not all. And most of the students who received the funding across all eight states were already attending private schools.

For example in Arkansas, 64% of students who received funds through the Education Freedom Act in its first year, the 2023-24 school year, were already enrolled in private schools. The majority were students with disabilities. 

鈥淪o much of the attention in general has been paid to the fact that the majority of kids are already in private school,鈥� said Cohen. 鈥淏ut that’s actually the expected outcome if you are giving money to kids to go to private school, and anyone can get it.鈥�

She said the bigger question moving forward is examining if that pattern will persist beyond the first wave of funding.

Josh Cowen, education policy expert and author of said he doesn鈥檛 anticipate the demographics of participating students to shift much over time, meaning he isn’t expecting an exodus of low-income students from struggling public schools to private school alternatives..

鈥淧ut me down for projecting that the next version of this [report] is going to find something very similar and even more stark鈥� [because] no policy that isn鈥檛 directly targeted toward at-risk children or families, will remain primarily benefiting at-risk children or families.鈥�

The income level of participating families is murkier than people think: Well-to-do families are signing up, but so are more modest ones.

While these programs continue to serve predominantly lower- and middle-income families, the researchers found that participation among higher-income families increased last year, in every state where eligibility expanded and data was available.

鈥淥ne of the big sort of headlines you keep seeing around these programs is that it’s all affluent families,鈥� said Cohen. 鈥淎nd I just think the nuance to that is that that’s not actually accurate.鈥�

While it鈥檚 true that there are many more affluent families than in previous means-tested programs, there are still significant numbers of lower-income families who are entering these programs. She pointed to Florida where 30% of families participating are low income. 

DiMarco said they saw a lot of middle-income families taking advantage of the funds who were 鈥渟ort of just above the line鈥� under previous, means-tested programs.

Impacts of funding on state budgets remain unclear.

Because the majority of families who took advantage of this funding were not coming from public schools 鈥� and therefore not bringing their per pupil public funding with them 鈥� these subsidies represent a new state-level cost.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e new expenses,鈥� said Cohen, 鈥渨hich could ultimately down the road 鈥� if state lawmakers don鈥檛 really think this through 鈥� end up [putting] states in a position where they have to say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e not going to build this highway 鈥� because we have to pay the bill on this private school choice thing.鈥欌��

Goals of the programs are rarely 鈥� if ever 鈥� clearly stated, making accountability tricky. 

Some states, like Arizona and Oklahoma, have no standardized testing requirements or other performance metrics, making it, 鈥渘early impossible to gauge how much learning is taking place under the state鈥檚 private school choice programs,鈥� according to the report.

Other states do have more stringent requirements, although Florida is the only state the researchers studied which has mandated funding to evaluate academic performance of participating students.

鈥淭he step it feels like a lot of these states skipped is identifying a clear goal for the program and then a clear metric of how you鈥檒l know if you achieved your goal,鈥� said Cohen. 鈥淎nd without stating those things up front, what are we even trying to measure?鈥�

Malkus sees more of an effort to track student outcomes, though he emphasized additional data would help parents make better-informed choices. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the testing requirements are as strict as some people would like them,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut the idea that there鈥檚 zero accountability for these isn鈥檛 true either. It鈥檚 somewhere in the messy middle.鈥�

(Correction appended November 7, 2024)

Massachusetts mom Shelley Scruggs says she鈥檚 spent the last decade thinking and worrying about standardized testing 鈥� specifically the three exams her son would need to pass in order to earn a high school diploma.

A junior at a technical high school in Lexington, her son, who has ADD and an Individualized Education Program, has always found greater success with interactive, hands-on learning and is now studying plumbing.

Last spring, he took the English, science and math exams. While she believes it鈥檚 important to assess how kids are doing in school, a frustrated Scruggs sees the exam requirement as forcing teachers to teach to a test, narrowing curriculum, putting undue stress on students and making the most vulnerable feel bad about themselves.

Her son is one of the approximately 70,000 10th graders who sit for at least one of the three Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams each year. Based on state policies, students must earn a passing score on all three exams to earn a diploma. Those who don鈥檛 can try again at least four times and some students are able to participate in an appeal process or an alternative pathway. Ultimately, the vast majority of students 鈥� about 99% 鈥� meet the requirements.

Scruggs said her son鈥檚 experiences motivated her to try and repeal the state鈥檚 graduation requirement. She drafted a ballot initiative last year and began collecting signatures, ultimately joining efforts with the Massachusetts Teachers Association. After collecting 170,000 signatures, the union got the question officially certified on the Nov 6 ballot, where it will appear as Question 2.

Lexington parent Shelley Scruggs, who initiated the ballot question to end the MCAS grad requirement, told legislators: This test 鈥減enalizes students like my son who are just not good test-takers.鈥�

鈥� Massachusetts Teachers Association (@massteacher)

The measure does not propose eliminating the administration of the MCAS exam, but rather its role as a statewide graduation requirement. If it passes, students in Massachusetts would still need to meet the state’s course requirements of gym and American history and civics, along with locally determined requirements set by the roughly 300 school districts.

Scruggs recently got a call from her son鈥檚 guidance counselor: He passed his math and science MCAS exams, but failed the English exam by one point. Describing it 鈥渁s the best phone call I ever got in my life,鈥� she remains staunchly opposed to the graduation requirement and is campaigning alongside the union in favor of Question 2.听

The statewide teachers association has spent more than on the effort.  MTA President Max Page told  , 鈥淲e鈥檝e long  believed that this fixation on this one test does not help us understand how a student or school is doing.鈥� 

Page, and other union representatives, did not respond to 蜜桃影视鈥檚 multiple requests for comment. 

Those who want to keep the requirement and see the ballot measure defeated 鈥� including Gov. Maura Healey, Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler and The National Parents Union  鈥� argue that the MCAS is a high-quality assessment that is necessary to hold schools accountable, communicate progress with students and their parents and establish consistent academic expectations statewide.

According to the conducted between Oct. 2-6 by Suffolk University and the Globe, 58% of the 500 Massachusetts residents surveyed plan to vote 鈥測es,鈥� on Question 2, eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement, and 37% plan to vote 鈥渘o.鈥�

The state education department recently released the which predictably dropped in the pandemic鈥檚 wake and following the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education鈥檚 decision 鈥� implemented for the first time this spring 鈥�  to for what鈥檚 considered a passing score.

Statewide, 10th graders exceeded or met expectations on the English exam, 48% on the math exam, and 49% on the science one.  Historically, only of students 鈥� around 700 total 鈥� ultimately miss the requirement, the majority of whom are English language learners or have a disability.

Massachusetts resident Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union and the parent of five kids, one of whom receives special education services, believes that getting rid of the requirement in the name of kids with disabilities is 鈥渞eally offensive.鈥�

鈥淸My son] absolutely took and passed the MCAS 鈥� Kids like Matthew are capable not only of proficiency,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut excellence.鈥�

Rodrigues argued that the data collected from MCAS scores actually contribute to equity, rather than detracting from it.

鈥淭he idea that we would just toss away data and call it social justice,鈥� she said, 鈥渋s just 鈥� it’s wild to me鈥� we need more data and information on our kids so that we can be better equipped to help them and figure out what the challenges are.鈥�

Massachusetts as a bellwether

The MCAS graduation requirement goes back to the 1993 Education Reform Act; it鈥檚 been used since 2003 as part of the graduation standard. Before that, the only state requirements were a U.S. history course credit and gym classes.

And what happens in Massachusetts, ranked the top state for public education nationally, matters greatly, said James Peyser, former state education secretary.

鈥淚 think Massachusetts in many ways is a bellwether for what goes on around the country鈥� If a question like this succeeds here, I think it’ll send a signal to policymakers and to union leaders and educators 鈥� around the country that maybe it’s time to abandon the whole exercise,鈥� he said.

As election day nears and the debate intensifies, neither side wants to focus on the high passing rate, according to Evan Horowitz, the executive director of at Tufts University who authored on the ballot measure. He found that those who don鈥檛 pass the MCAS typically don鈥檛 meet district requirements for graduation either.

Those in favor of the exam insist it鈥檚 a rigorous standard and those opposed insist it鈥檚 an unfair hurdle, 鈥渟o there’s sort of no constituency to the argument that actually this test might be too easy to really matter, certainly too easy to have a big, statewide fight over,鈥� he said. 

John Papay, director of the at Brown University and lead author of on the MCAS exam, said both test scores and course grades predict longer-term student outcomes and test scores can tell us something beyond grades about how well high schoolers are prepared for college and career. 

He remains concerned about how well vulnerable student groups are being served overall. 

鈥淭he question about the exit exam is a little bit of a red herring around this bigger, critically important question about, 鈥楬ow are we ensuring that English learners [and] students with disabilities, are getting the skills that they need out of the Massachusetts public education system?鈥欌��

Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the reach of the ballot proposition. The measure proposes the elimination of the MCAS听exam as a statewide graduation requirement. If it passes, students in Massachusetts would still need to meet the state鈥檚 course requirements of gym and American history and civics, along with locally determined measures, set by the roughly 300 school districts.听

Bronx Principal David Liu did not notice an abrupt change in attendance when students returned to in-person learning three years ago after pandemic campus closures. Instead, the problem became clearer to him as the year progressed.

Students and staff at Gotham Collaborative High School became fatigued by five-day school weeks. Child tax credits and supplemental unemployment benefits also , forcing parents back into the workplace and requiring students to take on more responsibilities at home.

鈥淭he grind of what school was started to hit students at different times of the school year,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when chronic absenteeism became kind of more like this slowly growing thing in our school.鈥�

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Now, the school has begun to crack the code on chronic absenteeism, a problem challenging school districts . Administrators implemented a data system to better track students鈥� attendance and leverage staff and community organizations to counsel those at risk of chronic absence. The school even offers incentives to get students to show up, such as early-morning breakfast raffles or day trips.

Schools across New York City have introduced new initiatives to address the longstanding issue. Some have started to use restorative justice as a guiding principle in group interventions that target chronically absent students, rather than resorting to more punitive measures. Increasingly, schools are enlisting other students to encourage their friends to attend school regularly.

Most districts, including New York City, consider a student chronically absent if they miss at least 10% of the school year, whether those days are considered excused, unexcused, or part of a suspension. With a 180-day academic calendar, that is 18 missed days of school.

The citywide chronic absenteeism rate stood at about 25% before the pandemic. Once students returned to in-person learning in 2021, the city鈥檚 share of chronically absent students jumped 15 percentage points. While schools have made progress to lower that rate over the years, citywide chronic absenteeism still hasn鈥檛 returned to what it once was. Nearly 35% of public school students were chronically absent last school year, according to data recently released in the .

Though higher-poverty schools began closing the gap on chronic absenteeism in 2022-23, that gap still hovered about 14 percentage points higher than their counterparts. As a result, more and more schools have found themselves addressing issues that exist beyond the school鈥檚 environment, such as students鈥� access to health care, child care, and .

That is why some teachers and school administrators say tackling chronic absenteeism is so challenging 鈥� it often requires a deeper knowledge of the students and families that they serve. In its 2022-23 , Gotham Collaborative cited 鈥渘ot knowing our students well鈥� as the root cause of the school鈥檚 chronic absence problem.

And while data collection often serves as a first step to addressing chronic absenteeism, creating plans that lead to improvement requires people, said Kim Nauer, an education fellow at The New School鈥檚 Center for New York City Affairs who has looked at .

鈥淓very single one of those numbers needs to be a kid and a name and a parent and a person attached to them,鈥� she said. 鈥淥therwise you鈥檙e not going to make progress in any sustained way. Like robocalls [are] useless.鈥�

Using data to target specific student groups

Gotham Collaborative High School, which served a little over 300 students last school year, had already viewed chronic absenteeism as an issue worthy of intervention before the pandemic. The school鈥檚 pre-pandemic chronic absenteeism rate was already higher than the average, at about 56%, and it then grew to 61% in 2020 when the pandemic forced school closures across the city.

During the 2022-23 school year, however, the high school鈥檚 rate of chronically absent students dropped to roughly 29%, its lowest in years.

Tackling the issue has taken years of targeted work and has relied on a data system the school created, grouping students into four buckets according to their absences. Each group receives certain interventions depending on the severity of their record. Those are provided through several support teams that might include peer mediator ambassadors, school counselors, and a social worker.

Sometimes intervention looks like an in-depth, individualized assessment of a student and their needs, or a home visit with a student and their family. But other times it may look like a school social for students who feel that they don鈥檛 have a strong network of friends, or an early-morning breakfast raffle.

Addressing the needs of students whose attendance and academic performance didn鈥檛 raise warning flags was critical, Liu said. Before introducing the new system, he said, the school identified only a small selection of students 鈥� those who came in the least, or about half of the school year, and those who had near-perfect attendance. Changing their focus helped shift the school toward lower instances of chronic absence, he believes.

鈥淭his was a main 鈥榓ha鈥� moment for us,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese are our students that are coming 80% of the time, four out of five times a week, they might be B-average students. It sparked a lot of conversations about how do we show them that what they鈥檙e doing is not meeting what they can be doing and their potential?鈥�

Many schools with a high share of chronically absent students use some variation of Gotham Collaborative鈥檚 data tracking system.

New York City schools receive weekly automatic that list students who have missed five or 10 school days. Schools can also print additional reports that show all students who have missed school five or 10 times, or chronically absent students from the previous school year. The reports are most effective when schools create workflows to immediately address what they are seeing in the data, said a spokesperson for the education department.

Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works, a national and state initiative to address the issue, also noted that early intervention is important. When she and other researchers began using the current, widely adopted 10% rule, she said one of its main purposes was to serve as an early-warning metric. So if a student misses two days of school in a month, she said, that should alert teachers and staff that a student is in need of support.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want you to wait til 17 days to notice that things are a challenge,鈥� Chang said, in reference to annual absences. 鈥淥r even in the first month, if it鈥檚 10 days, that鈥檚 a problem.鈥�

Using peer-to-peer support to overcome chronic absenteeism

Researchers like Chang and Nauer often examine chronic absenteeism among younger students because it is more representative of families鈥� circumstances. A 5-year-old, for example, isn鈥檛 missing school on their own accord, Chang said.

But for teens, chronic absenteeism comes with its own set of complexities. Liu has noticed that some of his students may miss school due to working long hours or having to bring younger siblings to and from school. Some may choose not to show up to avoid conflict with friends, he said.

And because the conversations that staffers have with students inevitably look different than those that students might have with people closer to their age, Liu is now focusing on tapping students鈥� ability to deeply connect with their peers to curb chronic absence.

鈥淓very year we get older, but the kids stay the same age,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o every year the staff gets one year removed from being generationally, culturally relevant.鈥�

At The International High School for Health Sciences 鈥� where all students are newly arrived immigrants 鈥� students may also grapple with other hurdles that affect engagement, such as learning English for the first time, or preparing for standardized tests unfamiliar to them, according to administrators at the school. Yet the high school鈥檚 chronic absenteeism rate during the 2022-23 school year fell to 29.5%, nearly cutting its rates from the previous two years in half.

In 2018, the school began using restorative justice 鈥� a practice that the school has used in lieu of other disciplinary measures since it opened over 10 years ago 鈥� to address chronic absenteeism, administrators say. A chronically absent student 鈥� typically in their final year of high school 鈥� sits down with a group of their closest friends, a teacher that they have a strong relationship with, and the assistant principal. The group discusses the student鈥檚 strengths, reasons for why they don鈥檛 show up at school, and how others in the group can support them moving forward.

International High School also receives extra support from staff at Queens Community House, the school鈥檚 community-based partner. Now in its third year, the partnership is funded through NYC Community Schools, a grant-based program that extends to of the city鈥檚 more than 1,500 schools.

Queens Community House provides services such as tutoring outside of regular school hours 鈥� particularly during Regents season 鈥� and events that range from self-care workshops to game nights. Communicating with families, however, is one of its primary functions, said the school鈥檚 Community Schools Director Lizbeth Mendoza.

鈥淭he framework for a lot of these conversations is building relationships,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 actually the person that sends out the message letting a parent or guardian know that their student was absent at the end of the day.鈥�

At the High School for Teaching and the Professions in the Bronx, groups of older mentors and younger mentees start pairing together in October. The mentors, typically 11th or 12th graders, receive training in their own classes on how to support their mentees, whether that be through engaging in activities together or talking through the mentees鈥� experiences.

鈥淭hey go in and they really create this bond,鈥� said Principal Roberto Hernandez. 鈥淎nd what I found within the last two years was a sense of ownership that our mentors are having for their mentees.鈥�

This sense of commitment has trickled into other areas of focus for the school, like attendance, Hernandez said. For some students, it has also created a sense of commitment to the school at large: Two of the high school鈥檚 guidance counselors are former students. Now that the school has a designated guidance counselor for every grade level, Hernandez said it is easier for the administration to connect with individual students.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just teaching, it鈥檚 getting to know them and letting them get to know you, and they love it,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I think that鈥檚 all contributing to where we are today.鈥�

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at . 

According to the  national results, low-income fourth graders read an average of two to three grade levels below their higher-income peers. 

It鈥檚 not new that students in poverty have lower scores on reading tests than more affluent students. Housing prices, parent perceptions and online school ranking websites all focus on those raw, unadjusted scores, which ignore the fact that some schools and districts simply have a harder job. 

But poverty is not destiny, and some schools and districts hugely outperform what might be expected of them based solely on which students they serve. 

Working with Eamonn Fitzmaurice, 蜜桃影视鈥檚 art and technology director, I set out to find districts around the country that succeed with the students they actually serve. We calculated each district鈥檚 expected reading proficiency rate, based on its  rate, and compared it to its actual third grade reading scores. This methodology helped us identify districts that are beating the odds and successfully teaching kids to read.  

Select from the menu below to find the high fliers in your state. 

INTERACTIVE

Third Grade Reading Proficiency

Steubenville City, in the Rust Belt along the very eastern edge of Ohio, topped our rankings. It has a very high poverty rate 鈥� greater than 96% of districts nationally 鈥� yet 99% of its third graders were proficient in reading last year. (For more on how Steubenville achieves such impressive results, see this 2012  and this .)

Every state has its own pockets of success (represented as gold circles in the graphs). These “exceptional districts” are in the top 5% of their state, in terms of outscoring their expected reading proficiency rate. For example, Worcester County in Maryland serves about 7,000 students along the Atlantic coast. Worcester falls in the middle of the pack in terms of poverty, but it has by far the highest third grade reading proficiency rate in the state.

We found positive outliers in every state. Among these are some higher-income districts like Maryville, Tennessee; Mountain Lakes, New Jersey; and Bainbridge Island, Washington, that are exceeding already lofty expectations. They also include lower-income communities, like Dearborn, Michigan, and Neshoba County, Mississippi, that are helping students achieve results that 鈥� although maybe not high in absolute terms 鈥� should still be considered achievements, given the poverty the schools and students are facing. 

In some states, poverty has more of an effect than it does in others. Given the correlation between income and test scores, readers might assume that every state鈥檚 graph looks like Rhode Island’s, where poverty is highly correlated to district reading scores and districts are tightly bunched around those expectations. 

The diagonal line in the graph is called the 鈥渂est fit鈥� line. It is meant to go through the middle of all the points on the graph, and the closer the points are to the line, the stronger the correlation is. After Rhode Island, Connecticut, Alabama, Massachusetts and Alaska have the strongest relationship between a district鈥檚 poverty rate and its third grade reading proficiency. 

But not every state has such a tight relationship. For example, contrast how tightly districts are bunched around the 鈥渂est fit鈥� line in Rhode Island with the same graph (below) for Virginia. In Virginia, the relationship between poverty and reading scores is much weaker.  

States like Nebraska, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Dakota and especially Nevada have weaker relationships between district-level poverty and reading outcomes. The number of districts a state has, how students are sorted across districts and differences in the state tests themselves can all affect this relationship.

But without controlling for poverty, a 鈥済ood鈥� school district may receive credit for student learning that it actually had little part in. This issue is especially misleading in reading. Unlike math, where learning is more closely tied to school-based instruction, reading skills are multi-faceted, and they鈥檙e more closely tied to language skills and background knowledge that children acquire at home. 

As a result, some wealthier districts may show high (raw) reading scores even though their students are picking up their skills at home 鈥� or, worse, from private tutors that families with means are able to afford out of their own pockets. Meanwhile, districts doing a good job serving low-income students have a harder time showing the same proficiency rates. But some truly are beating the odds at helping kids learn to read, and their leaders deserve praise and celebration. 

Methodology and Limitations: The data for this project come from two sources. Poverty rate data comes from the 2022 district-level figures from the . Third-grade reading scores were downloaded from , an initiative from ParentData.org and Brown University to compile state test scores and make them  publicly available. 

Because the poverty rate data from SAIPE is reported at the district level, we could not look at results for individual schools. The data also do not include standalone charter schools, so these are included when they are part of a district but not when they are considered their own district. Similarly, the data provide only one poverty rate for all of New York City, so readers should interpret those results with caution. 

We limited our sample to districts with at least 30 test-takers in spring 2023. Because different states use different tests, we encourage readers to focus on within-state comparisons only. For example, we could not include places with only one district (e.g. Hawaii and the District of Columbia). Vermont had not reported its 2023 district-level proficiency rates by the time of publication, so it is excluded. Maine did not break its results down by grade level, so its numbers use an aggregate across grades 3 to 8. All told, we had comparable data for 9,605 districts across the country.

The results come from a that polled 1,518 parents of K-12 public school students conducted by the National Parents Union between May 7-11. 

鈥淲e can point to the fact that parents still feel good about schools,鈥� said founding president and 蜜桃影视 contributor Keri Rodrigues 鈥淸and] still feel good about teachers 鈥� There鈥檚 a lot of bright spots around the fact that parents are still fully invested in public education and that 鈥� contrary to what we might be hearing from the voucher folks 鈥� that there鈥檚 no fear of parents completely walking away from America鈥檚 public education system and moving towards 鈥榙o-it-yourself鈥� methods.鈥� 

Vouchers, which let parents use taxpayer money to send their kids to private schools, have in the last several years. At the same time, more parents are experimenting with alternative schooling methods, including homeschooling and microschools. 

The majority of parents (72%) also expressed confidence in their kids鈥� principals and schools for meeting overall expectations. 

But, according to the survey 鈥� dubbed 鈥淭he Parent Report Card鈥� 鈥� as parents considered the outer echelons of the education system, their confidence began to wane. Just over half rated their superintendents and school boards favorably, a figure that continued to drop for state governors (45%), U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona (32%) and President Joe Biden (33%). That last number is lower than the president’s overall 37% approval rating among respondents nationwide, according to a Reuters/Ipsos released June 28.

Rodrigues said this is evidence of the disconnect between families and those in power at the state and federal level. 

鈥淚 always encourage [elected officials] to go back and listen to the people who are experiencing what is going on in classrooms: our young people,鈥� Rodrigues said. 鈥淚f you have a problem with parent and family engagement, talk to the parents and families. They will tell you why they鈥檙e not engaged. [You] need to do the work, too.鈥�

There has been a significant gap 鈥� averaging 31 percentage points 鈥� between parents鈥� favorable views of their own child鈥檚 education and Americans鈥� more critical take on U.S. education at large since at least 1999, according to almost 25 years of The most recent data from last year鈥檚 survey saw the second-largest gap to date: 40 points, second only to the 42-point divide in 2000.  

Megan Brenan, senior researcher at Gallup, credits this almost-record setting number to underlying parisian divides, with Republicans expressing the lowest satisfaction with the public education system at large (25%) to date. This also marked the largest gap in history between Democrat and Republican satisfaction, with a 19 percentage point difference. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing the biggest partisan gaps on a whole lot of measures right now,鈥� she said, reflecting America’s deep polarization. 

According to last year鈥檚 Gallup survey, only 36% of Americans are satisfied with K-12 education quality, matching a record low in 2000. Despite this, parents remain mostly pleased with the education their oldest child is receiving, with just over three-quarters reporting they are completely or somewhat satisfied, numbers that reflect historical averages. The vast majority of parents also support their children鈥檚 teachers, with the majority rating their performance as excellent (36%) or good (37%).

鈥淭his is kind of a pattern that we see over a number of measures where Americans are much more likely to rate national measures lower than their own,鈥� Brenan said. 鈥淪o we see this with crime: that people say, 鈥極h, crime in the U.S. is at a high, but my neighborhood is fine.鈥� We see it with their own congressmen. It鈥檚 very much like, 鈥業 hate Congress but my congressman deserves to be re-elected.鈥� And if you look at the trend in education, then you also see this is something which has held up throughout …. I think it鈥檚 just [that] they can relate more to their own personal situation than they can to the national picture.鈥�

One reason why may be that schools are often the centers of communities, said Joshua Cowen, an education policy professor at Michigan State University. 

鈥淭hat’s where you start to see this point of personal contact that matters to people in terms of what they want to protect,鈥� he continued. 鈥淲hen it’s framed as this large, bureaucratic, nebulous system, then that’s where I think you see these negative results. But [it鈥檚 different] when you’re talking about your community, your kids, your football team, maybe your employer or your spouse’s employer.鈥�

When thinking about the role these views on education might play in November鈥檚 presidential election, though, Brenan, the Gallup researcher, argued that there are a number of other issues eclipsing education in voters鈥� minds. 

鈥淭he fact that they鈥檙e personally satisfied with their own children鈥檚 education might have something to do with that,鈥� she said, adding, 鈥淚 think education is always there as an issue kind of in the background. And unless these other matters 鈥� like immigration and the economy 鈥� are solved before election day, I鈥檓 not sure this is the year that education is going to get its due.鈥�

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to the National Parents Union and to 蜜桃影视.

The researchers found that in 2016 there was no discernable difference between the chronic absenteeism rates of English learners and non-English learners. But around 2021, there was a marked shift: suddenly English learners were absent more frequently than their peers, both in the raw data and when controlling for other variables like socioeconomic status.

This trend was particularly acute for older students and those who had been classified as English learners for six or more years. 

The magnitude of this shift is small but 鈥渢roubling,鈥� according to the study, especially because previous research has shown a disproportionate effect of absences on English learners鈥� achievement in and . 

And these results seem to match statewide trends: the most recent data from California (2022鈥�2023) show that the chronic absenteeism rate among English learners was close to , four percentage points above the rate for non-English learners. 

Across the nation, chronic absenteeism 鈥� students missing more than 10% of school days a year 鈥� surged during the pandemic, from 13% in 2017 to 28% in 2022, and remained high in 2023. While most acute among students of color and those in poorer districts, the spike cut across districts regardless of size, racial breakdown or income.

鈥淚 think our findings really highlight this as an issue that should be looked at with a sense of urgency,鈥� lead researcher Lucrecia Santiba帽ez told 蜜桃影视. She noted that missing a significant amount of classroom time has a negative impact on both test scores and social emotional learning, effects that can compound over time. 鈥淐learly this population has struggled to recover to where they were before. So if we were already worried about them before the pandemic 鈥� these higher absenteeism rates are probably going to make that worse.鈥�

Santiba帽ez, who is Mexican and a mother of three, said her personal experiences helped spur her interest in studying Latino populations in schools. During the COVID recovery period, she began hearing from English language development teachers who were struggling to engage their students and get them back to school.

Santiba帽ez and her co-researchers analyzed data from 444,000 students in four urban, rural and suburban mid- to large-size school districts over eight school years, from 2014 to 2022. The researchers did not disclose the names of the districts in the study.

Data was also broken down by grade level, year and type of English learner status. Although English learners are often treated as a homogenous group, they鈥檙e made up of five different categories of students who typically have different needs, outcomes and prevalence of chronic absenteeism, according to Santiba帽ez. This study is the first to disaggregate this group, which Santiba帽ez said will allow district leaders and policy makers to better understand how to best serve students鈥� unique needs.  

鈥淚t’s important, I think, for the research community to look at these groups differently, because they’re going to exhibit things that 鈥� when you lump them all together 鈥� it’s going to wash out some of these nuances,鈥� Santiba帽ez said.

The rising absenteeism trend is most evident and persistent for students currently identified as English learners and long-term English learners 鈥� students who have been classified as English learners for at least six years, the research found. Reclassified students 鈥� those who were previously identified as English learners but have since demonstrated English proficiency鈥� are less likely to be absent, which matches previous research. Although they also saw a rise in chronic absenteeism in 2021, they鈥檝e since returned to previously lower levels.

The study also found that as English language learners enter middle and high school, they鈥檙e more likely to be absent. Santiba帽ez said that this mirrors when these students tend to get put into lower-rigor 鈥� often lower-quality 鈥� classes, which might lead to a dip in engagement.

English learners are a growing population, representing just over of students enrolled in public schools nationally. The vast majority (76%) as their primary language, followed by Arabic (2%) and Chinese (2%).

Hedy Chang, founder and executive director of Attendance Works, said she鈥檚 not surprised by the outcomes of the study and has noticed similar trends across California over the past year and a half. It鈥檚 harder to nail down national trends, she said, because they鈥檙e not tracked the same way, but the 2021-22 federal data shows that the English learner chronic absenteeism rate was about 36% 鈥� six percentage points higher  

鈥楽omething changed鈥�

While English learners often face to educational success 鈥� stemming from lack of services, deficit-laden instructional practices and inconsistent inter-district policies 鈥� researchers hypothesize a number of demographic factors may have historically encouraged strong attendance. For example, the majority of English learners are the children of immigrants who tend to move less and

After the onset of the pandemic, though, absenteeism among English learners rose disproportionately as additional factors came into play, including a to services and support. 

English language learners and their families were often among 鈥渢he essential workers and the communities most affected economically 鈥� and health-wise 鈥� by the pandemic [so] they may experience extreme death and trauma,鈥� according to Chang. Parents who were essential workers were also less likely to be home to make sure their kids were attending remote classes.

鈥淣ow coming back from the pandemic,鈥� she added, 鈥測ou still have issues of access to health care to prevent kids from getting sick in the first place.鈥� And families may still be confused and overly cautious about when to keep sick kids at home.听

There are also safety and bullying concerns,听Chang said.听According to the 2023 鈥� which surveyed 980 families, the vast majority of whom identified as Latino with kids who are English learners 鈥� almost two-thirds of families reported having concerns about gun violence, 79% reported they were worried about an illness outbreak and 1 in 3 said they do not have access to medical care.听

Chang emphasized the need to understand and combat the root causes of chronic absenteeism since 鈥渞emediation is always more costly than making sure kids get what they need in the first place.鈥�

鈥淚 think we should be understanding the reasons from an assets-based perspective,鈥� said lead researcher Santiba帽ez, 鈥渇rom a sense of knowing that this was not a group that was disengaged with school before. This is not a group that’s been traditionally absent from schools. So something changed, and I think we need to understand how it changed and how can we go back to re-engaging these students and their families with schools.鈥�

Turns out the perception is more true of math than science.

Senior Pew researcher Brian Kennedy put those STEM performance beliefs into context by looking at the most recent results from PISA, an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students’ reading, mathematics and science literacy in the U.S. and other industrialized nations. The U.S. is indeed lagging behind in math, his research shows, but is performing 鈥� if not the best in the world 鈥� better than average in science.

In math, U.S. students ranked 28th out of 37 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a ranking similar to the last time the test was administered in 2018, despite an alarming 13-point drop on the exam post-pandemic. In science, however, the U.S. ranked 12th out of 37 OECD countries, following a 3-point drop in scores. In both subjects, the average U.S. score was within 15 points of international averages. 

鈥淏roadly, we鈥檙e interested in where science interacts with society 鈥� where those touchpoints are,鈥� Kennedy told 蜜桃影视, 鈥渁nd one place is through STEM education. People experience STEM education in their own lives or they experience it through their children鈥檚 lives. So we think it鈥檚 important to get an understanding of how the public rates STEM education in this country.鈥�

Pew Research Center surveyed 10,133 U.S. adults from Feb. 7 to Feb. 11 this year using the Center鈥檚 American Trends Panel, an online survey panel. Kennedy noted that the findings are largely consistent with societal perceptions going back about a decade, based on by the research center. 

This year鈥檚 numbers remain mostly consistent across the political spectrum, but diverge when broken down by race, with white respondents showing the most pessimism. They were the least likely (24%) to think K-12 STEM education in the U.S. is the best or above average, behind Black respondents (31%), Hispanic respondents (37%) and Asian respondents (43%).

And fewer women (25%) than men (32%) say K-12 STEM education is at least above average, a difference Tom Jenkins, a middle school science teacher in Ohio, attributed to the historic lack of representation of women in science and math curriculum.

Jenkins, a 25-year veteran teacher in low-income urban and rural settings, also spoke to why American students may be scoring better in science than math. 

鈥淏ased on my experience with this [as an educator] 鈥� and also being a product of an inner-city school that was first-generation college and lower-socioeconomic myself 鈥� I really think a lot of it has to do with the way that we teach math and the way we teach science and how there鈥檚 different expectations for both subjects,鈥� he said.

Historically, there鈥檚 an expectation in science classes that students will be highly engaged with hands-on, experiential learning that鈥檚 connected to real-world issues, he said, adding that those same expectations don鈥檛 necessarily exist in math classes. This is 鈥渦nfortunate because there are so many teachable things [in math] that we could use in a hands-on, practical way that’s culturally relevant, that鈥檚 project-based.鈥�

Amid precipitously declining math scores post-pandemic, Jenkins is not alone in his urgent call for a shift in the way math is taught. 

It鈥檚 important when students walk into his 鈥� and all 鈥� classrooms, he said, that they know they鈥檒l be learning skills that are going to help them not only better understand the academic content but also prepare them for a wide variety of careers. 

鈥淚f we really want to have an impact in math and science and STEM subjects,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd we want to get it to stick with our lower-socioeconomic or traditionally under-represented groups in STEM, then we really need to make it have some relevance.鈥� 

In reflecting on American students鈥� PISA performances he added, 鈥淚 do think that while [the] middle is not the worst 鈥� I do think it鈥檚 very important that we understand that while this acknowledges that we鈥檙e doing well 鈥� we still have a long way to go and we have a lot of disenfranchised groups or historically underrepresented groups that we鈥檙e not鈥� impacting well enough in STEM subjects.鈥� 

Education advocate Talia Milgrom-Elcott echoed this point, noting there鈥檚 no reason American students should be in the middle of the pack. Milgrom-Elcott is the founder and executive director of Beyond 100K, a national network focused on ending the STEM teacher shortage with a particular focus on Black, Latino and Indigenous communities.

She also noted that average scores often mask disparities, which is especially true in STEM.

鈥淎 lot of us have an outdated 鈥� what should be an outdated 鈥� idea about STEM that only some people are good at it, that only some people will ever excel in it, and often that they look a certain way 鈥� are a certain gender, race, income level, etc. And so there’s something in our gut that鈥檚 not activated when we see a lot of kids at the bottom.鈥� 

She said that if the U.S. hopes to move up in the ratings, there must be a commitment to eradicating these disparities.

鈥淎nd 鈥榰p in the rating,鈥� by the way, is not in itself a goal,鈥� she added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 only a goal because being competitive in math and science 鈥� having more kids having those classes and that knowledge and those opportunities 鈥� is going to drive social mobility, economic mobility. It鈥檚 going to drive global competitiveness. It鈥檚 going to help the United States continue to be an innovation factory to solve the most pressing challenges.鈥�

The results come from a that polled 1,506 parents of K-12 public school students conducted by the National Parents Union between Feb. 6-8.

For the past four years, the organization has surveyed parents leading up to the State of the Union address, 鈥渂ecause we want parents to be able to give their own State of the Union,鈥� said founding president and 74 contributor Keri Rodrigues. All questions are written by parents who serve on the group鈥檚 Family Advisory Council, composed of delegates across the country that represent different intersections of American families.

While some results were unsurprising 鈥� like parents welcoming more financial support 鈥� they are still important, according to Rodrigues, because they serve as an essential message to policymakers about what parents care about. 鈥淲e have these little, 鈥榃e told you so moments.鈥� I think this is yet another one.鈥�

Rodrigues said that voters are repeatedly and inaccurately told that parents are angriest about hot-button, culture war issues.

鈥淲e have consistently said to people, 鈥楶lease, listen. Look at the data …鈥� It is clear,鈥� she said.
鈥淧arents are struggling with economic issues 鈥� Inflation, the cost of living, people living on the edge. Parents and families are scared and they鈥檙e hurting.鈥� 

鈥淲e are obviously focused on education justice but economic justice for families is equally important to us,鈥� Rodrigues added later, 鈥渂ecause we really deal with the intersectional issues 鈥� we just don鈥檛 think you can separate those things.鈥�

Overall, surveyed parents ranked K-12 education as the third most important issue for the president and Congress to address, behind the economy and immigration.

鈥淚n education, we think we鈥檙e the center of the universe, and we鈥檙e not,鈥� Rodrigues said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a piece of the puzzle. It鈥檚 relevant, it鈥檚 in the mix, it鈥檚 definitely a concern. But we have to understand the intersectionality of the larger political context and where we fall in it and how it competes with other issues for the average voter and for the average American family.鈥�

According to another released by the organization in November 2023, voters trust Democrats slightly more on education and Republicans by a small margin on the economy. The majority of parents reported wanting policymakers to work together to find bipartisan education policy solutions, even if it means compromising with people they disagree with.

鈥淚t just makes me crazy that our elected officials don鈥檛 listen,鈥� Rodrigues said. 鈥淭here are really big, important things that American families want us to do,鈥� including the child tax credit, which during last week鈥檚 State of the Union, and stronger, evidence-based reading and literacy programs. 

鈥淲e can do big things,鈥� she continued. 鈥淲e can have unity 鈥� The majority of us can agree on some big, important things.鈥�

Of parents surveyed in February, 87% were in favor of expanding the child tax credit and 85% were in favor of expanding subsidies to reduce health insurance costs. The vast majority were also in favor of providing funding directly to families of K-12 public school students to help them pay for supplemental resources such as tutoring. 

The survey did not include questions about more controversial vouchers, which let parents use taxpayer money to send their kids to private schools. The National Parents Union is known for both its criticism of traditional public schools, including teachers unions, that is sometimes seen as aligning with pro-school choice education reform forces and for elevating the voices of parents, especially lower-income parents of color.

Over 80% of surveyed families want the federal government to support all K-12 public schools via counseling and mental health services, free school lunch, free, high-quality preschool programs and increased funding for schools in low-income communities.

Among the 484 parents who responded to demographic questions, 27% consider themselves to be conservative, 24% liberal and 43% moderate. They were also socioeconomically and geographically diverse. About half of respondents were white, 15% Black, 24% Hispanic or Latino and 3% Asian. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

While the vast majority of school districts across the country have received additional federal funding to address COVID-related challenges, only 27% of parents reported having seen or heard anything about how these ESSER dollars were being used in their kids鈥� schools.

Just over 70% of parents, though, did report that their child鈥檚 public school had provided laptops or tablets for students since 2021 and about 45% said schools were offering additional tutoring or counseling services, which could have been supported by pandemic relief funds.

The ESSER funding results, Rodriguez said, reveal that parents did not get the voice they were promised in how that money was spent and that “a lot of things that we actually wanted 鈥� like additional mental health support 鈥� were not realized.” 

鈥淎re we whipping laptops and chromebooks at kids? Hell yes we are. Is that necessarily a good thing? I mean a lot of parents would argue that that鈥檚 not actually getting us to the outcome.鈥� 

Pro cell phones, wary of social media use 

To help inform the survey鈥檚 focus, Rodrigues said the National Parents Union presented data to their Family Advisory Council around student use of social media and its impact on mental health. 

A new understanding emerged from these discussions: Parents view cell phones and social media as separate issues, yet the two have become convoluted. This reframing was a lesson for her, she said, both as president of the organization and as a mother.

This same distinction was borne out in the survey results, she said: Parents want their kids to have access to their phones during the school day so that they can stay in touch with them, but they also recognize the dangers of social media and its negative impact on their children.

The top reasons kids use their phone, according to surveyed parents, is to contact family members, play games, contact friends, listen to music and take videos. A majority of parents (65%) also reported that their children used their phones for social media and 83% said there should be a minimum age limit on when kids are allowed to have their own social media accounts, with the largest share (20%) citing age 13. Just under 30% of parents said their children spend somewhere between four and five hours a day on their phone. 

Despite social media concerns, nearly half of parents said their child鈥檚 cell phone use had a positive impact on them and an additional 42% said phones have about an equally positive and negative impact. 

Parents listed a number of reasons they want their kids to take phones to school, with about 80% saying it was so they could use it in case of an emergency. About half of parents said it was an important tool for coordinating transportation to and from school, and 40% said they want their kids to be able to communicate with them about their mental health or other needs throughout the day. 

Just over half of parents believe that kids should sometimes be allowed to use their cell phones in school, while about a third believe students should be banned from using phones unless they鈥檙e needed for a medical condition or disability. There was very little parent support for locking up students鈥� cell phones in secure pouches or containers. 

鈥淚 think it goes back to something that we have been talking about since the beginning of the pandemic and the Great Parent Awakening,鈥� Rodrigues said, 鈥渨hich is that the implicit trust that parents have in schools鈥� that they’re going to tell us what’s going on and the communication 鈥� a lot of that has eroded. And that’s not toothpaste you can put back in the tube.鈥�

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to the National Parents Union and to 蜜桃影视.

Schools had one foot in the shutdown era, still struggling to restore a sense of normalcy that disappeared in 2020. A steep rise in behavioral and disciplinary issues, which many teachers hoped would be only the temporary product of COVID鈥檚 generational disruption to routines, stayed with us. Millions of kids have remained separated from their local schools 鈥� not because they鈥檙e prevented by public health measures from entering the building, but because they鈥檙e simply choosing not to attend classes. And across a whole range of academic subjects, actual student learning is lower and slower than it was before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, school systems are adapting to trends and technologies that have arisen just over the past few years. Districts are spending billions of dollars to establish or expand tutoring programs, which may be America鈥檚 best tool to combat learning loss, while AI platforms like ChatGPT are transforming the way instruction can be delivered (and challenging schools鈥� ability to keep ahead of cheating). 

And researchers continue to ask all the questions that have traditionally set the parameters of America鈥檚 K鈥�12 agenda: Why do student populations self-segregate? Is it better for kids to be assigned to tough or easy graders? How much do teacher training programs really help? Have charters caught up to traditional public schools?

As we do every year, 蜜桃影视 has compiled a year-end inventory of the most fascinating discoveries, insights, and ambiguities that came out of education research in 2023.

Welcome to the year in charts.

Student absenteeism is out of control

You could spend a lot of time simply tallying the aspects of student life that COVID made worse: significantly diminished achievement, lower odds of graduating on time, escalating behavioral challenges, and fewer applications to college. But the most dangerous consequence might be its effects on how often children came to school.

According to by Stanford University Professor Thomas Dee, the proportion of K鈥�12 students who were chronically absent 鈥� i.e., who missed 10 percent or more of the school year 鈥� nearly doubled during the pandemic, vaulting from 14.8 percent in 2019 to 28.3 percent in 2022. Extrapolated across all schools, that means an additional 6.5 million kids became chronically absent following COVID. Every state Dee studied saw an increase of at least 4 percentage points, but those with higher pre-pandemic rates of absence experienced the largest jumps.

The findings jibe with those of other alarming research on attendance. from Johns Hopkins University鈥檚 and the advocacy group Attendance Works, covered by 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Linda Jacobson in October, showed that in 2021鈥�22, two-thirds of American students attended a school where at least 20 percent of students were chronically absent. In over half of all high schools, chronic absenteeism rates topped 30 percent that year. 

Catch-up learning hit a wall last year

But are kids (at least, the ones actually showing up) regaining the ground they lost since 2020? According to much of the testing data that emerged this year, the answer is no 鈥� or at least, nowhere near quickly enough.

In , researchers from the nonprofit testing organization NWEA combed through nearly seven million children鈥檚 scores on the , which is administered both in the fall and the spring to measure how much students learn during the year. But test takers in the 2022鈥�23 academic year made markedly less progress in key subjects than comparable elementary and middle schoolers who sat for the exam before the pandemic, with growth in reading and math falling by as much as 19 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Only third-graders exceeded the pre-COVID learning averages. 

The stalled momentum was directly cited in on 鈥淪tate of the American Student,鈥� which distilled a host of worrying trends and warned that America has little time left to reset the trajectory for millions of adolescents. According to ongoing indicators like the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which released long-run scores for 13-year-olds this spring, average performance in math and reading has been set back to levels last seen decades ago.

Even if schools and families feel like they鈥檙e through with the pandemic, the pandemic 鈥� and the harsh blow it has dealt to kids 鈥� isn鈥檛 done with us. 

Virtual tutoring can work

Thankfully, states and districts aren鈥檛 sitting on their hands in the face of learning loss. Supported by billions of dollars of federal funds, many have invested heavily in tutoring programs that promise to help struggling children overcome the challenges imposed by past school closures and virtual instruction. The question is whether those efforts work for enough students to justify their cost 鈥� and according to data generated by , a Stanford initiative devoted to studying the effects of tutoring, there is reason for hope.

In October, the Accelerator circulated showing impressive results from , a fully virtual program provided to developing readers. The study found that among 1,000 students enrolled in Texas charter schools, participating in OnYourMark resulted in kindergartners gaining the equivalent of 26 extra days of learning in letter sounds and first graders receiving 55 additional days of sound decoding. The news is particularly encouraging in that it shows a path to success for virtual tutoring, which has often been shown to be far less effective than in-person instruction. 

Grade inflation got worse during the pandemic

As the chaotic transition to online learning got underway in 2020, schools had to decide how they would judge the work of students cut off from their teachers and classmates. Many opted for , including and granting credit for , out of a desire to avoid more punitive measures during a crisis. 

It鈥檚 difficult to chart the average impact of the shift across thousands of school districts, but the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) recently released focusing on a decade of student records in Washington State. The picture was stark: While the average middle and high school GPA for math rose by 0.11 points between 2011 and 2019, it got a boost three times that size 鈥� one-third of a GPA point, or about the difference between a C-plus and a B-minus 鈥� between 2019 and 2021. 

In general, wrote CALDER director and American Institutes for Research vice president Dan Goldhaber, the relationship between student grades and their scores on state standardized tests 鈥渉as diminished over time,鈥� particularly in math. A similar pattern is suggested by , which show scores remaining largely flat in recent years even as students鈥� self-reported high school grades have climbed. And just like with price inflation, GPAs that soared during the pandemic still haven鈥檛 fully come back to earth.

Tough grading has its advantages

So what are the effects of higher course marks? Several papers released this year indicate that they can be surprisingly negative.

In this fall, a trio of researchers explored the consequences of a statewide switch to more lenient grading standards undertaken in North Carolina  in 2014. The policy was meant to make grades more comparable between school districts, but in effect, it also lowered the threshold for each letter grade in high schools. It also seemed to affect various student groups quite differently. As expected, the highest-achieving kids received higher grades (though only in their freshman year), but disturbingly, struggling students didn鈥檛 receive a similar bump. They also seemed to disengage from school, accruing substantially more absences than students who weren鈥檛 exposed to the looser standards; over time, those absences likely hurt their learning, as measured by relatively lower scores on the ACT.

If easier grading holds the potential to hurt attendance and widen achievement gaps, the opposite may also be true. In a study that also focused on North Carolina schools, American University Professor Seth Gershenson discovered that eighth and ninth graders assigned to math teachers with relatively tougher grading standards later saw higher math scores throughout high school. And far from validating fears that hard classes make kids tune out, those students were also less likely to be absent from class than their peers. 

COVID hit social studies too

Much of the concern over learning loss is focused on weakened performance on the core disciplines of math and reading. In fact, the academic harm was widely dispersed. 

The National Assessment of Educational Progress 鈥� a federal standardized test often called the Nation鈥檚 Report Card 鈥� only measures proficiency in social studies every four years. The exam鈥檚 latest results, revealed in May, showed that eighth graders鈥� average history scores fell by five points; civics scores fell by two points, the first decline in the history of the test. All told, the results for both have fallen to levels last seen in the early 1990s, the latest evidence that COVID has triggered a generational reversal in knowledge acquisition.

The swoon came amid a national debate over how to teach about American history and government, with states like Virginia initiating significant overhauls of their academic standards. But the phenomenon appears to be international in scope: Results from , which tests over 80,000 eighth graders across 22 industrialized countries on civic knowledge, showed that large numbers of test takers couldn鈥檛 answer questions about election fairness or democratic governance. Only 55 percent of respondents said they felt their nation鈥檚 governmental system 鈥渨orks well.鈥�

Choice might be good for public schools

The explosive growth of school vouchers and education savings accounts, which allow families to spend public funds on private education, has dominated the school choice debate this year. Public school choice (i.e., charters and open enrollment policies), while also controversial, has receded somewhat from conversation.

But indicates that, in addition to providing more instructional options to families that want them, intra-choice can improve learning throughout wider communities. University of Chicago economist Christopher Campos and data scientist Caitlin Kearns scrutinized Los Angeles鈥檚 , which allows families within designated neighborhoods to select among multiple high schools rather than send their children to the one nearest their home. Participation in the program, they learned, significantly increases students鈥� English exam scores and boosts their enrollment rate at four-year colleges by 25 percent. Those gains were concentrated among schools exposed to the most competition and those that previously performed the worst, strongly hinting that inclusion in the Zones pushed them to hold onto students by improving their offerings. 

A in North Carolina yielded broadly similar results, though with caveats. Focusing on the state鈥檚 decision to lift its cap on charter schools in 2012, the paper鈥檚 authors revealed that the move incrementally improved public schools鈥� value-added scores as measured by state standardized tests; that improvement, while small in scale, generated huge value in the aggregate, as the study concluded that the average public high schooler鈥檚 lifetime wages were lifted by $1,500 by allowing more charters to open. As in the Los Angeles study, the promising effects seem to have come about through competition for students.

Dispiritingly, however, the impact on pupils who actually enrolled in the charter schools after the cap was lifted was negative, perhaps because the newly established schools tended to employ more 鈥渘on-traditional鈥� models (e.g., project-based or experiential learning, such as Montessori) that weren鈥檛 as successful as existing charter options.

No one said this stuff was simple. 

Charters aren鈥檛 underperforming anymore

Charter schools have been around for over 30 years. For most of that time, their advocates and detractors have argued passionately over just how effective they really are at improving academic achievement. The primary arbiter of those disputes, most often, has been Stanford鈥檚 (CREDO), which has released over more than a decade comparing the performance of charter students with those enrolled at district public schools.

In the first few editions, those reports showed the newer schools lagging behind their traditional counterparts 鈥� evidence that the sector鈥檚 opponents鈥� throughout the fierce school reform battles of the Obama era. But 鈥� CREDO鈥檚 first national evaluation in a decade, including data on 1.8 million students across 31 states and cities 鈥� calculated that charter students receive the equivalent of 16 extra days of learning in literacy, and six extra days of math, than students at the local public schools they would have otherwise attended. The edge, while decidedly slight, masks larger variation among subgroups: Black students gained an average of 35 extra days of reading growth and 29 extra days of math, equal to more than a month of supplemental instruction.

Not all charters are created equal, however. published last month in the journal Education Next, and covered by 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Greg Toppo, compared the performance of charter sectors in each state based on their students鈥� performance on NAEP. Somewhat surprisingly, the state with the top showing was Alaska, where charter students score an average of 32 points higher on the test than the national average for charter school students. Their peers in Pennsylvania, Oregon, Michigan, Tennessee, and Hawaii weren鈥檛 so fortunate, with each scoring at least 21 points lower than the national average.

Teacher prep can be rethought on the fly

Starting in spring 2020, Massachusetts launched a grand experiment: Concerned that the tumultuous working conditions of the pandemic would discourage young people from becoming teachers, the state began issuing emergency credentials to teaching candidates even if they hadn鈥檛 completed the necessary coursework to be licensed. Over the next three years, almost 20,000 such licenses were granted to instructors who worked full-time while simultaneously working to meet their licensure requirements.

Boston University鈥檚 Wheelock Education Policy Center has followed the progress of those early-career teachers. Their analysis, laid out , presents a quietly stunning observation: As measured through a combination of school-level performance evaluations, principal questionnaires, and student scores on standardized tests, the emergency-licensed teachers perform similarly to their colleagues who completed traditional teacher preparation programs. Students assigned to them were not disadvantaged in learning in spite of their unconventional path to the classroom. What鈥檚 more, by the program鈥檚 second year, one-quarter of emergency licensees 鈥� vastly more than the statewide average in Massachusetts.

The notion that aspiring educators can thrive in the profession without reaching it through the traditional channels isn鈥檛 a new one; Teach for America and other alternative credentialing programs have existed for decades, during that period. But the Massachusetts experience illustrates some of the specific benefits of dropping licensure requirements during a crisis. Namely, making entry more flexible (and shaving off the years of study and thousands of dollars in tuition that often act as a deterrent to otherwise qualified candidates) can produce a more diverse and no less effective workforce.

More good news on third-grade retention

Legislation around the science of reading has swept through dozens of states over the last decade. In part, the political success of the new literacy agenda is due to the popularity of most of its planks: evidence-backed curricula, teacher coaching, and additional resources for kids and schools that need them.

By contrast, third-grade retention 鈥� holding back students for a year if they’re not on track to succeed by the end of 鈥� plays the role of the bad cop. In spite of the existing evidence that struggling elementary schoolers in states like and can see large benefits from repeating a grade, many parents and teachers still consider that step too punitive.

But according to , the upsides of the approach extend in some unexpected directions. In a study of 12 large school districts in Florida, which has had a retention policy related to reading scores for over 20 years, researchers found that third graders made significant gains in scores for both math and reading after being held back. Even more promising, targeted students’ younger siblings also saw larger learning gains than the brothers and sisters of comparable students who weren’t retained. 

It’s unclear what feature of Florida’s law led to the positive “spillover effects,” but study co-author Umut 脰zek told 蜜桃影视 that families might be responding in an advantageous way to the experience of their older children. “When you get a signal that says, 鈥榊our kid is not performing at a level that will allow them to be promoted to fourth grade,鈥� that鈥檚 a very clear signal that will likely induce a response from parents.”

Asian students in, white families out

鈥淲hite flight,鈥� as it鈥檚 usually understood, refers to the phenomenon of working- and middle-class white families decamping from inner cities in the 1960s and 鈥�70s as a response to increased crime, deteriorating local economies, and growing numbers of African American residents. It鈥檚 a , but many in the education policy world blame it for contributing to school segregation and shrinking the tax base of urban school districts.

This year, applied the concept to a different setting. A at the city level, the Princeton economist studied the movement of Asian-American students into 152 California school districts, all of them suburban and relatively affluent. The sizable growth over the decades of the early 21st century appeared to generate its own version of white flight 鈥� more specifically, for every Asian student who enrolled in local schools, 1.5 white students left. 

The departures weren鈥檛 correlated with any other demographic changes. But accompanying survey evidence convinced Boustan and her collaborators that they also likely weren鈥檛 triggered by racial animus. Instead, they pointed to white parents鈥� wariness of academic competition with Asian-American kids, who in virtually every academic metric. 

鈥淪omeone is showing up in the district who scores better than they do,鈥� Boustan said in an interview with 蜜桃影视. 鈥淚n relative terms, the white kids are generally falling behind.鈥�

Extracurricular activities show large racial gaps

The most significant education development of 2023 may well have been the Supreme Court鈥檚 6-3 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the case that prohibited the use of racial preferences in college admissions. The end of affirmative action as we鈥檝e known it, occurring just as colleges like the SAT and ACT, means that admissions decisions will increasingly be made on the basis of other parts of the application package.

One of those will undoubtedly be extracurricular activities 鈥� the menu of clubs, productions, athletics, and volunteer opportunities that high schoolers have learned to embrace in order to be considered well-rounded. But if their aim is to foster diversity while adhering to new legal constraints, colleges might think twice before relying on them too heavily. drawing on nearly 6 million college applications from the 2018鈥�19 and 2019鈥�20 admissions cycles, participation in extracurriculars is surprisingly race-specific. White, Asian-American, and wealthy students, along with those attending private high schools, reported engaging in many more activities than their African American, Latino, American Indian, and low-income classmates. The activities they choose also tend to feature more leadership roles and confer more honors, both of which could help win a university slot.

If race, test scores, and extracurriculars are reduced in prominence, however, it鈥檚 difficult to say what will take their place. Separate campaigns have been waged against the use of admissions essays, to favor wealthier students, and , which often leverage social capital that disadvantaged kids don鈥檛 have. In the end, admissions officers might be left throwing darts at the wall.

Flexible pay has unintended consequences

The Act 10 legislation, by Wisconsin Republicans, ignited one of the most furious school reform controversies of its era. By stripping teachers of the right to collectively bargain over salary schedules and benefits, then-Gov. Scott Walker dealt a massive blow to teachers鈥� unions, perhaps the most influential progressive force in state politics. It was also a provocation that some credit with catalyzing the revived organizing movement of the last half-decade, which has seen a rash of teacher strikes and renewed hostility to other planks of the reform agenda.

In a study published in the education journal Education Next, Yale economist Barbara Biasi looked at the transformative effects of Act 10 on teacher labor markets, which suddenly became much more flexible as schools could opt to pay different salaries to teachers on the basis of either career tenure or classroom performance. That had some positive effects for individual districts: Younger, more effective teachers were able to win large pay increases by moving to areas where their lack of seniority wasn鈥檛 held against them.

But the state also saw an unpalatable side effect. In part because younger female teachers are more reluctant than their male counterparts to negotiate aggressively for higher pay, flexible-pay districts also saw a newfound gender wage gap begin to open. Though small on average, Biasi found that the cumulative effect over a teacher鈥檚 career could amount to an entire year鈥檚 pay.

Gifted education does little to increase segregation 

The last few years have brought a clash between advocates for educational equity and proponents of gifted education. That battle 鈥� over gifted programs鈥� place in the K鈥�12 portfolio, and whether all kids truly have access to them 鈥� has largely played out in major urban districts like New York and San Francisco, where both and have been criticized for their disproportionately tiny number of seats offered to Hispanic and African American pupils.

But several studies recently emerged that tell a different story. , published in Education Next by Williams College economist Owen Thompson, examines the effect of K鈥�6 gifted programs on the racial makeup of kindergarten and elementary classrooms. Examining enrollment information for nearly 47,000 public schools around the United States, Thompson found that the special sections are disproportionately made up of white and Asian students. But because they are so small in scope, they make a negligible impact on the overall demographics of the schools in which they are housed. In fact, eliminating every such program would not significantly change the exposure of different student groups to one another.

That doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that gifted learning opportunities can鈥檛 be made available to more kids, however. And , by NWEA researchers, suggests that the key to welcoming more English learners and students with disabilities into accelerated classrooms is for states to enact formal mandates related to the provision of gifted services, require districts to maintain their own formal gifted plans, and regularly audit them for compliance. 

It was the year that Dr. Anthony Fauci, America鈥檚 most prominent public health authority, declared that the country was 鈥�,鈥� as COVID case rates plummeted from their Omicron highs. By the fall, President Biden was with that sentiment, noting that most people had laid down their masks and returned to something like normal. 

And around the possibility of winter surges in American schools, the most visible hallmarks of the COVID era have at last receded. The lurching progression from in-person to virtual classes is over, following an explosion of school exposures last winter. Mask mandates, social distancing, and endless disinfectant wipes are also predominantly a thing of the past, with virtually all children approved to receive vaccines. 

But in terms of the pandemic鈥檚 impact on education, it鈥檚 still only the end of the beginning. With each month, new findings emerge revealing more about what remote instruction did to learning and how families reacted. The potentially lifelong shadow the virus has cast over K-12 students 鈥� from how babies develop speech to what today鈥檚 adolescents will earn decades from now 鈥� is largely mysterious. 

Previous editions of this list have covered the wider world of education policy and research: issues like school financing, choice, accountability, and testing. This year, 蜜桃影视 is focusing exclusively on the lessons of the COVID era 鈥� one that is now passing from the scene 鈥� and the questions that remain in its wake.

Here, laid out in charts, maps, and tables, are 14 discoveries that changed how we think about schools in 2022.

The scope of learning loss

By the end of last year, a steady trickle of research had already begun to reveal the harm wrought by prolonged school closures and the transition to virtual instruction. But this fall brought the most definitive evidence yet of the scale of learning lost over more than two years of COVID-disrupted schooling: fresh testing data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, sometimes called the Nation鈥檚 Report Card, pointing to severe declines in core subjects. 

The unprecedented drop in math scores, which fell by an average of eight points for eighth graders and five points for fourth graders, was especially disturbing. But reversals in literacy were also notable, with sizable increases in the number of students testing below even the 鈥渂asic鈥� level of reading proficiency. What鈥檚 more, the results affirmed dismal findings from NAEP鈥檚 鈥淟ong-Term Trends鈥� test 鈥� an earlier version of the exam that has been administered since the early 1970s 鈥� showing that the pandemic set back nine-year-olds鈥� performance in math and reading to levels last seen two decades ago. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a lot of that very long-term progress completely erased over the course of a couple of years,鈥� said Dan Goldhaber, a University of Washington professor, of the long-term results.

As many experts warned, additional research has also made clear that the academic damage of COVID was not shared equally. NWEA, the nonprofit testing group whose MAP exam has proven an invaluable assessment tool throughout the pandemic, released a study in November indicating that already-wide achievement gaps in elementary classrooms have grown between 5 and 10 percent in the last few years. Those disparities grew, NWEA analysts specified, because of slumping achievement among struggling students. 

College entrance exams contributed yet another dispiriting perspective, with average scores on the ACT slipping below 20 for the first time since the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Only about one in twelve test-takers from low-income families met standards of college readiness across all of the test鈥檚 four subjects.

In 2022, researchers, educators, and the public discovered the full extent of what COVID did to K-12 learning. 2023 will provide a test of how quickly that learning can be restored 鈥� and how seriously we are approaching the problem.

The geography of remote learning

Multiple studies have identified a strong association between academic backsliding and time spent in remote learning. And while different states and districts switched back to in-person instruction at different speeds, a disturbing commonality emerged: The least-advantaged kids were usually the slowest to return to the classroom.

co-authored by experts at NWEA, the CALDER Center at the American Institutes for Research, and Harvard鈥檚 Center for Education Policy Research used data from over 2 million students to show that 鈥� whether in states that reopened schools relatively quickly, like Florida, or those that stayed remote much longer, like Virginia 鈥� schools serving the highest proportions of low-income students spent the most weeks remote during the 2020鈥�21 academic year. Notably, however, the socioeconomic gaps in exposure to virtual teaching were much larger among the group of predominantly blue states that tended to reopen more hesitantly. In those states, high-poverty schools spent more than two additional months in Zoom classrooms than low-poverty schools. 

Harvard economist and study co-author Thomas Kane observed that the greater prevalence of remote learning among poor students, who are already less likely to succeed academically than their better-off peers, could be an additional driver of achievement gaps for years to come. In an interview with 蜜桃影视, Kane said that the academic recovery interventions planned by school districts were 鈥渘owhere near enough鈥� to compensate for COVID鈥檚 toll.

鈥淏ased on what I鈥檓 seeing, most districts are going to find that students are still lagging far behind when they take their state tests in May 2023,鈥� Kane said.

But was the public convinced by the reams of detailed and well-intentioned research on the results of online learning? Public polling suggests that the answer is ambiguous. At least 鈥� albeit one conducted before much of the research on learning loss was released 鈥� indicated that Americans prioritized curbing the pandemic鈥檚 spread over keeping schools open.

Poorer districts lost the most

Few doubt that some amount of learning loss is linked to the hasty and unplanned adoption of remote instruction. How much is still ambiguous, however. released in October 鈥� devised by Harvard鈥檚 Kane and the eminent Stanford sociologist Sean Reardon, among others 鈥� leveraged a combination of state test scores and federal NAEP results to deliver a granular, district-by-district overview of the pandemic鈥檚 academic impact.

While the researchers found that academic performance in predominantly in-person districts held up much better than mostly remote districts within the same state, they also stipulated that school closures were not 鈥渢he primary factor driving achievement losses鈥�; some states that spent much of the pandemic open as usual, such as Maine, sustained far greater score declines than those that saw widespread closures, such as California. And beyond the question of remote-versus-in-person, it is clear that districts with greater concentrations of poor students experienced the worst academic effects over the last few years.

In districts where 70 percent or more of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, average math performance fell by 0.66 grade levels. By contrast, in districts where fewer than 39 percent of students qualified for free lunch, only 0.45 grade levels of math achievement were lost. Above all, the ultra-local look at test scores showed a startling amount of variation in how different school districts experienced the same event; in reading, almost 15 percent of all students were enrolled in districts where achievement actually grew during the pandemic.

Enrollment fell as families fled 

The pandemic left an impact on schools far beyond its blow to student achievement. Due to a combination of public dissatisfaction, increased mobility, and economic upheaval, families withdrew from their public schools in unprecedented numbers 鈥� as many as 1.5 million during the 2020鈥�21 school year, or about 3 percent of all public K-12 enrollment, according to a 2021 report from NCES.

Further scholarly investigation has unearthed the important role that learning modality played in that flight. According to a comprehensive report from the conservative American Enterprise Institute, the districts that spent the most time remote throughout the first pandemic school year lost at least 500,000 more students than they would have if they had stayed open during that time. And in the period that followed, fewer students returned than did to districts where campuses mostly operated in-person. 

The findings suggested that widespread loss of students was not just 鈥減andemic-related; it was pandemic-response related,鈥� Nat Malkus, AEI鈥檚 deputy director of education policy, told 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Linda Jacobson. 

Meanwhile, enrollment trends detected this spring by the data company Burbio showed that major urban districts continued losing students through the 2021鈥�22 school year. Only a handful of states examined by the organization during that time saw an enrollment increase of more than 1 percent compared with the previous year.

The youngest weren鈥檛 spared

While we鈥檝e gained a better empirical understanding of how K-12 students鈥� lives and learning trajectories were altered by COVID, it will be years before we fully grasp the ways in which the youngest Americans were affected. But a provocative study of child development and language acquisition has already given cause for alarm.

Using LENA 鈥渢alk pedometers鈥� 鈥� a that measures the number of spoken interactions occurring in the vicinity of young children, as well as their own vocalizations 鈥� researchers at Brown discovered that babies born after July 2020 produced fewer vocalizations and demonstrated slower verbal growth than comparable children born before 2019. The younger group of babies also experienced slower growth of white matter 鈥� subcortical nerve fibers that facilitate communication between different regions of the brain 鈥� perhaps the result of hearing fewer words spoken and engaging less often with their caregivers. 

If the cognitive development of young learners was slowed by the extraordinary social isolation imposed by daycare closures and lockdowns of public spaces, it will produce unavoidable consequences for schools in the next decade.

Old before their time

Even as social and intellectual growth was apparently slowed for some infants and babies, psychologists warn that the compounded stress of the last few years may have harmfully accelerated the maturation process for older kids.

A slew of surveys highlight newly elevated levels of student stress, the product of public health worries, economic anxiety, and even domestic abuse. But a recently published offers proof that those factors actually changed the neurobiology of some adolescents. Examining MRIs of 128 matched subjects 鈥� half measured before and half after the pandemic began 鈥� a team of psychologists found that the group assessed after COVID demonstrated higher 鈥渂rain age鈥� than their chronological age and experienced faster growth in the amygdala and hippocampus, areas of the brain that regulate fear, stress, and memory.

Such sped-up aging has historically been seen in cases of household trauma and neglect, and its consequences can include decreased capacity across a range of intellectual functions. Follow-up scans are already planned to assess whether the process has been remediated.

Teachers under strain

Adults in schools have shown their own signs of exhaustion. In a survey of nearly 4,000 K-12 teachers and principals conducted by the RAND Corporation, about one-third said they intended to quit their jobs, a significantly higher proportion than it found during the chaotic pandemic months of early 2021. 

That figure almost certainly doesn鈥檛 betoken a future exodus from the profession; educators have historically been much more likely to say they intend to leave than to ultimately act on those plans. But it could mean that large numbers will stay in their jobs past the point of burnout, their effectiveness permanently dimmed. On average, the poll found that the teachers and principals were more than twice as likely to report experiencing frequent, job-related stress than other workers.

Teachers were also twice as likely as comparable adults to say they were not 鈥渃oping well鈥� with their stress. While the most commonly cited contributing factor was the task of addressing learning loss, some school employees also complained of staff shortages and the difficulty of managing their own childcare responsibilities. 

Social shuffle

It shouldn鈥檛 come as any surprise that young adults鈥� personal relationships, no less than their academic prospects, were fundamentally changed by months spent away from their peers. 

In some ways, those changes were positive: According to a June poll released by Pew, 45 percent of American kids between the ages of 13 and 17 said they felt closer to their parents after two years of disrupted schooling. But sizable minorities also reported feeling less close to friends, classmates, teachers, and extended family, a web of social connections that might have proven vital during a lengthy period of difficulty. 

Somewhat surprisingly for a survey administered over two years after the emergence of COVID, nearly 20 percent of the teen respondents said they had not attended classes exclusively in-person during the spring of 2022 (a time of somewhat elevated virus case rates). About two-thirds said they would prefer a return to entirely in-person schooling in the future.

Future earnings endangered

The downstream consequences of thwarted or deferred academic success are destined to include financial disadvantages; after all, today鈥檚 underserved pupils are tomorrow鈥檚 underprepared workers. But until the fall release of NAEP, it was difficult to produce a broadly shared measure of American students鈥� stifled progress. 

With the arrival of those scores, Harvard economist Kane 鈥� him again 鈥� and Dartmouth professor Douglas O. Staiger immediately calculated a projection of how much potential income could be lost due to diminished math learning among eighth-graders since 2020. Based on the historical correlation between math gains on NAEP and professional earnings growth, the figure they reached was astounding: $900 billion of future earnings, if the declines in learning were to remain permanent for all students in the United States.

鈥淲hen there are improvements in scores, those kids coming out of school are going to have better outcomes later in life,鈥� Staiger told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淎nd we can infer from this recent decline that all the cohorts in school now are going to do a bit worse than we expected.鈥� 

The paper was one of a series of analyses focusing specifically on the drop in math knowledge, which appears to have been particularly significant. But the extended disruption to literacy instruction left a substantial mark as well, particularly among students at the beginning of their reading careers. Amplify, a curriculum provider, released data this fall showing that 4 percent fewer second graders and 8 percent fewer first graders are reaching grade-level reading goals than in 2019; meanwhile, almost one-third of third graders were assessed as needing 鈥渋ntensive intervention.鈥�

Those bleak findings echo the results of Curriculum Associates鈥� i-Ready assessment, which revealed that the percentage of elementary students reading below grade level grew between 2021 and 2022. That subgroup of students, sometimes called the 鈥�COVID cohort,鈥� is running out of time to get back on track.

Costs of recovery

The havoc inflicted by the pandemic is now an inescapable fact for schools, families, and public authorities to deal with. But what鈥檚 it going to take to surmount the considerable educational challenges and get kids back on track?

The federal government has allocated roughly $190 billion in relief funding to states for that purpose. But , that amount won鈥檛 be sufficient to get the job done. The true cost, they say, will fall somewhere between $325 billion and $930 billion, huge sums that include not only the pedagogical resources to restore lost learning opportunities from the last several years, but also the out-of-school interventions that power so much of the academic growth that goes on inside classrooms. 

There is no indication that anywhere near that level of funding 鈥� or even any further money at all 鈥� is coming. In the meantime, school districts are only required to spend 20 percent of their federal aid on learning recovery. 

Latino students take a hit

Children of all backgrounds were bruised by the effects of shuttered schools, but among them, Latino students are notable for having recently enjoyed sustained academic momentum. As their share of the national student body has increased to nearly 30 percent, they have also seen rising achievement scores and post-secondary outcomes compared with their parents’ and grandparents’ generations.

COVID put that progress on pause, according to from the advocacy organization UnidosUS. After leaping from 71 percent to 82 percent over the last decade, the on-time high school graduation rate for Latino students fell slightly in 2021. Worse still, the rate of college enrollment for Latino freshmen shrunk by 7.8 percent between the spring of 2020 and 2021. That figure bounced back somewhat over the next academic year 鈥� along with rates of college-going for most Americans 鈥� but still fell below the pre-pandemic norm.

The particular stumbles experienced by Latino kids have explanations that both precede the pandemic and are directly linked to it, the report found. Long before 2020, Latino households were less likely to report having a computer or high-speed broadband in the home. Meanwhile, Latino students were disproportionately likely to be enrolled in low-income schools, which were themselves more likely to stay remote longer during the pandemic.

Explosion of absenteeism

Along with the surge of full-on disenrollment from schools, a shocking number of K-12 students spent the last few years missing day after day of instruction. Just how many days of absence is difficult to know precisely, however, because of ambiguities in the way attendance figures were collected during the COVID era.

An released this fall indicated that over 10 million students were chronically absent (i.e., missing over 10 percent of the school year) in 2020鈥�21. That would be an increase of more than 25 percent relative to the pre-pandemic norm, but from Johns Hopkins University and the nonprofit group Attendance Works, it is also very likely a serious underestimate. Because of challenges in knowing which students 鈥渁ttended鈥� all of their virtual lessons (versus simply logging into Zoom and then logging off, for instance), statewide absence counts in the NCES figures sometimes vary widely from district-level reporting.

Based on the early release of more detailed 2021鈥�22 figures from California, Connecticut, Ohio, and Virginia, the authors wrote, it is reasonable to predict that as many as 16 million kids were chronically absent last school year, a doubling of the pre-pandemic number. 

The teacher exodus that wasn鈥檛

Were American schools plagued with teacher absences this year, or not? It was a question that captivated news sources, but also divided education experts, because it contained an even thornier question within it: If the supply of teachers remains mostly steady, but demand for them spikes, are they truly at a deficit?

In spite of widespread fears that veteran teachers were quitting in huge numbers as a reaction to the pandemic, no mass departure ever took place, according to a paper by Brown economist Matt Kraft. Turnover actually fell slightly in the summer of 2020 and stayed within the typical annual range the next year. But weak hiring during the first few months of the pandemic may have contributed to higher-than-usual vacancy rates, perhaps triggered by fears of Great Recession-style budget cuts that never materialized.

In fact, a windfall of federal cash followed instead, leading districts to add new jobs in late 2020 and 2021, and the resultant hiring spree has indeed made candidates for teaching positions hard to find. But even that phenomenon isn鈥檛 true everywhere, since numbers differ widely across state lines. According to a paper released this summer, Mississippi鈥檚 rate of vacancies per 10,000 students is more than 68 times higher than that of Utah. 

Hopeful signs

As the long legacy of COVID grew clearer, research in 2022 gave the education world plenty of reasons to worry. But it has also contributed some hopeful signs of renewed progress in schools. 

The good omens aren鈥檛 popping up everywhere, but some are to be found in state-level testing, which has resumed around the country after being suspended for at least the first pandemic year. According to Tennessee鈥檚 state exams, the number of students meeting or beating grade-level reading standards rose from 29 percent in 2020鈥�21 to over 36 percent in 2021鈥�22. In all, more than three-quarters of the state鈥檚 school districts reported reading scores higher than were seen in the pre-pandemic period. 

鈥淲e are seeing this broadly across the state, and across district types 鈥� urban, rural and suburban,鈥� Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn told 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Beth Hawkins. 鈥淲e are really, really proud of what our districts have done.鈥�

Several other Southern states have begun to make their turnaround, with Mississippi a particular standout. This of 2021鈥�22 testing data showed average scores in math, English, and science nearing or exceeding 2019 levels, while performance on the U.S. history exam skyrocketed compared with 2020鈥�21 (the first in which it had been given). Just as notably, 鈥� a state-mandated test that students must pass to progress to the fourth grade 鈥� fell by only .6 percentage points between 2019 and 2022. 

鈥淚f anything good came out of this reporting in 2021, it was that our suicide attempts did not increase during the pandemic,鈥� said Susan Court, state coordinator of the study for the Montana Office of Public Instruction. 鈥淵es, depression increased, but the suicide attempts did not, and suicide ideation did not.鈥�

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Girls felt more depressed than boys, and Native American students felt more depressed than White students, Court said. The survey tracks youth who report feeling so sad or hopeless nearly every day for two weeks in a row or more that they stop doing usual activities.

Court also noted nearly 18 percent of Native American students attempted suicide last year compared to 8 percent of White students, a data point of which tribal health leaders are aware. She also said freshmen and sophomore students were more likely to have attempted suicide than juniors and seniors, and girls more so than boys.

Court provided the report Friday to the Montana Board of Public Education. She said the survey, sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tracks health risk behaviors that could result in mortality and morbidity, and she said Montana helped develop the questionnaire back in 1991, and it contains 80 percent of the original questions.

鈥淢ontana was a leader then, and we still are as far as the YRBS is concerned,鈥� Court said. 鈥淐DC touts our website to other states in the nation.鈥�

During the 2020-2021 school year, 98 percent of all school districts, and 22,576 students in grades seven through 12, completed the survey, the report said. Court noted the report represents the first time in 30 years that questions about youth health behaviors were asked in the midst of a pandemic.

鈥淚t was hard on them,鈥� she said.

Court also said studies show an association between poor mental health and screen time, and she said this time, a high of 72 percent of students spent three or more hours on their screens on an average school day, not counting homework time.

She also said some parents have suspected that their children are being pressured by peers into taking risks they wouldn鈥檛 take on their own, and she said the data show that to be true.

鈥淚f you want to see really sad data, look at the students with disabilities,鈥� Court said. 鈥淭hey are under enormous pressure to belong to groups and are partaking in health risk behaviors at higher rates than all the other groups.鈥�

The data did have a couple of bright points, however. A downward pointing trend line shows tobacco use continues to decline among youth, with just 28 percent of youth having tried cigarette smoking compared to, at one point years ago, 72 percent.

鈥淭hat is one of the most beautiful trend lines there could ever be if you work with data,鈥� Court said.

Tribal health leaders also were aware that 52 percent of Native American youth reported trying cigarettes, Court said. Twenty-three percent of White students reported trying cigarettes.

Some 48 percent of students have ever tried a vapor product, down from 58 percent in 2019, she said. Court noted the trend that is concerning is that vaping increases as students go from ninth grade to 12th grade, as they鈥檙e developing habits for life.

In 2019, Montana hit an unenviable high point: It led the nation in percent of youth who reported texting or emailing while driving. Court said the data represent only students who drive.

This time, the figure jumped up to 57.1 percent, and it has gone up since 2013 when the question first was asked, Court said. She said girls do so more than boys, and White students do so more than Native American students.

鈥淚f we were a leader in the nation in 2019, I鈥檓 wondering where we will place ourselves when the 2021 data results are released鈥� for the nation, she said. She said Montana was one of just five states to get the survey completed last school year, so the national results for 2021 won鈥檛 be released until June 2023.

In Montana, alcohol use also is down, with 31 percent of students having had a drink in the last 30 days when surveyed, Court said. She said girls were more likely to have had a drink than boys, and White students were more likely to have had one than Native American students.

鈥淭he race and ethnicity breakdown has been consistent for the last two cycles,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ative American youth have used alcohol less than their white counterparts.鈥�

Marijuana use among youth was at nearly 20 percent, and it has remained level since around 2003, she said. Some 32 percent of Native American students reported using it in the past 30 days of the survey, and 17 percent of White students used it.

She also said 17 percent of high school students did not eat breakfast at all in the seven days before the survey, up from 14 percent last time, and she said it鈥檚 important because breakfast programs exist in many schools, and it鈥檚 the most important meal of the day. She also said school nutrition staff at OPI are aware of the data point.

Board member Anne Keith of Bozeman said one thing that jumped out at her from the data as the mother of two daughters is that female risk factors appear higher than male ones, and she wondered about the implications for schools.

鈥淲e market messages to men, the male population, more than the females, and maybe we should rethink that,鈥� Keith said.

Court said she made the same observation. She said that trend hasn鈥檛 been the case over the years, but it was possible to take a closer look at all the data.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know why it was this year,鈥� she said.

Angela McLean, director of American Indian/Minority Achievement for the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, thanked Court for her trustworthy work on the data and smart contributions to the state over the years. McLean also said the state is making efforts to support mental health, and she noted a certificate offered at Montana State University for 12 credits as a meaningful tool that will help school leaders serve students.

Court said one important factor in ensuring scientifically sound data was support from schools and families. She said schools do a great job of presenting the information so that parents don鈥檛 see it as offensive or an invasion of privacy, and OPI keeps information about specific schools confidential. She also said schools rely on it for grant applications, and she encourages them to share the information widely.

鈥淪chools are using it in so many different ways,鈥� Court said.

Student learning loss was the top stressor cited by the teachers, followed closely by challenges related to hybrid and remote instruction. Teachers also reported rates of emotional distress that were similar to or higher than those of health care workers. 

is the second survey of teacher mental health released since the start of the pandemic by the Trauma-Informed Schools Learning Collaborative, a joint endeavor of Tulane University, NOLA Public Schools, the New Orleans Health Department and a number of social service agencies. It is based on conversations with 171 educators held in June 2021, before it became clear COVID-19鈥檚 Delta variant 鈥� and now Omicron 鈥� would disrupt a third school year.

White educators reported higher rates of mental health issues than their Black colleagues.

鈥淓ducators, like other first responders, have been called upon to go above and beyond to do their jobs and support students during the pandemic,鈥� the report states. 鈥淔indings from the survey indicate that the mental health toll associated with this additional work is substantial and should not be overlooked by policymakers and school leaders as they plan for greater support and improved retention of educators moving forward.鈥� 

Here are five top takeaways: 

1. Educator mental health is tied to teachers鈥� feelings of efficacy. On a five-point scale measuring the impact of a stressor on participants鈥� ability to teach, learning loss was the most reported challenge, with an average score of 2.32. The fourth-highest reported factor, at 1.88, was having less impact on students and families.

Research on the relationship between teacher effectiveness and feelings of self-worth is scant, says social worker Teddy McGlynn-Wright, head of the initiative鈥檚 Training of Trainers effort. 鈥淏ut what we do know is that self-efficacy buffers against a lot of trauma impacts and burnout,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f teachers are feeling efficacious, if they feel like 鈥業’m doing my job and doing it well,鈥� those are good signs in terms of their willingness to stay in the profession.鈥�

2. More than a third of educators met the threshold for a diagnosis of depression or anxiety, with one in five exhibiting significant symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. By way of comparison, a third of health care workers qualify for an anxiety diagnosis, 17 percent for depression and 14 percent for PTSD. 

White teachers were much more likely to exhibit symptoms of mental health challenges, with 48 percent meeting the criteria for a diagnosis of depression, 46 percent for anxiety and 24 percent for PTSD. Among Black teachers, 26 percent meet the threshold for depression and anxiety and 14 percent for PTSD. 

鈥淲e caution against 鈥� assumptions about Black educators鈥� innate ‘toughness,’ which tends to reinforce racist stereotypes,鈥� the report鈥檚 authors warned. 鈥淩ather, it is likely that Black teachers have developed this resilience as a necessary set of strategies to cope with the daily interpersonal and institutional impacts of racism.鈥� 

3. The top stressors educators reported vary somewhat by race. Black teachers were more likely to report having a loved one whose health is at high risk, to have less flexibility in their schedules and more issues with child care. Their white colleagues were more likely to report frustrations with inadequate technical support and their lack of impact on students.   

The researchers screened teachers for the number of pandemic-related stressors they have experienced, for symptoms of mental health problems and for the presence in their lives of elements thought to bolster emotional well-being, such as support from family and friends, work-life balance and faith-based resources. Educators who reported being affected by a larger number of stressors exhibited more symptoms of depression and anxiety, while those who cited more protective factors had fewer symptoms. 

4. During distance learning, teachers were deprived of time together, such as shared lunches, coffees or happy hours. Even though most New Orleans schools returned to in-person classes, those opportunities for mutual support are rare now. 

鈥淗aving peer support matters so much,鈥� says McGlnn-Wright. 鈥淚t’s one of the things that the pandemic has really taken away, because there’s just not as much time.鈥�

Among several recommendations in the report for addressing teacher well-being is building time for peer-to-peer support into the work day. School leaders also should make sure educators know how to access mental health and wellness services, that health care benefits are generous enough that therapy and other supports are affordable, and that adequate leave is available.

5. Calls to address learning losses with more instructional time may seem justified by lagging test results, but many educators disagree. 鈥淭here are not a lot of teachers who are banging that drum right now,鈥� says McGlynn-Wright. 鈥淲hat they鈥檙e saying is most kids need to not be at the same desk for six hours. They actually need to get up, they need to move, they need to interact with other humans. 

鈥淭hose are the things they need, but it’s much harder to make that claim when we don’t have this really simple, digestible data point.鈥�

Schools in thousands of districts remained closed for months at a time, forcing teachers and students to make the best of remote learning modalities that were adopted under emergency conditions. Bitter partisan disagreements erupted around districts鈥� COVID mitigation efforts, then spread to history curricula, youth sports, and school board races. It was another year, in short, lived beneath the cloud of the greatest disruption to K-12 schools in our history.

But 2021 was also the year when the pandemic鈥檚 mysteries began to be answered. Ample research has shown that learning loss 鈥� however contested the idea is in ever-raging education policy debates 鈥� is real, and its primary victims are the students who were already behind before the pandemic began. The student exodus from traditional public schools has been tabulated, and the surge in homeschooling and charter school enrollment is becoming clear. And research efforts have been launched to measure COVID-19鈥檚 influence on everything from fertility rates to child obesity.

In the meantime, researchers are also telling us more about some of the perennial questions of education policy: Has Common Core actually changed instruction? What about right-to-work laws? And what was the long-term legacy of redlining on schools?

Here, laid out in charts, maps, and tables, are 16 discoveries that changed how we think about schools in 2021.

Serious learning loss followed remote schooling

The academic effects of the transition to remote schooling were feared, but largely ambiguous last year. With more data available in 2021, the picture is getting both clearer and more concerning. 

Perhaps the most alarming findings come from by economist Emily Oster and several co-authors, which examined standardized test scores from this spring for children between grades three and eight. Across 12 states, exam pass rates declined significantly (an average of 14.2 percentage points in math and 6.3 points in English) compared with the year before the pandemic; but in school districts that chose to offer full-time, in-person classes, those losses were significantly reduced. Unfortunately, areas with lower scores and higher shares of African American students provided less in-person learning, and the impact of virtual schooling on reading scores was larger in districts serving a majority of non-white students.

Among the major predictors of whether a school opened its doors or stayed remote during the pandemic was partisanship. That first became clear last fall, when multiple studies showed that school districts鈥� reopening decisions were much less correlated with local COVID infection rates than with local voters鈥� choice of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Those patterns persisted throughout the 2020-21 school year, with data from the school calendar aggregator Burbio indicating that schools in Trump-voting states offered twice as much in-person school on average than those in states that favored Joe Biden (872 hours versus 440 hours). 

Finally, since last spring, educators have warned that COVID-19 would pose greater dangers to disadvantaged students. Those suspicions are supported not just by Oster鈥檚 study, but also evidence from Curriculum Associates, the group behind the online i-Ready assessment. Data released in November showed that third graders in less affluent districts, as well as those predominantly enrolling African American and Hispanic students, were much more likely to score significantly below grade-level in math and reading than they were before the pandemic. The scoring dips were considerably smaller in whiter and better-off areas.

Virtual switch led to drop in school enrollment

As the pandemic鈥檚 academic consequences were becoming known this year, school officials were awakening to a related phenomenon. Families, especially those with young children, were moving away from public schools. Numbers revealed by the National Center for Education Statistics this summer showed that America鈥檚 total K-12 enrollment dropped by roughly 3 percent 鈥� or 1.5 million students 鈥� during the 2020-21 academic year. Declines in Vermont, Mississippi, and Puerto Rico were over 5 percent.

Studying the development across hundreds of school districts, researchers at Stanford pointed to a contributing factor: the switch to online learning. In a working paper circulated in August, economist Thomas Dee and his co-authors asserted that roughly 300,000 students left schools directly in response to the transition to all-remote classes. The departure was overwhelmingly driven by families with children in kindergarten or elementary school, with higher grade levels essentially unaffected. 

Families headed to charter schools

The exodus of students from traditional school districts was eventually felt in a variety of other educational settings. In cities like and , Catholic schools 鈥� which had seen enrollment plummet in the early days of COVID 鈥� saw huge new demand for seats as fall got underway. At the same time, the U.S. Census Bureau of the percentage of households opting to homeschool their kids. 

Meanwhile, American charter schools experienced their own surge in interest. According to information collected by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the sector took in 240,000 new students during the 2020-21 school year 鈥� more growth than had occurred over the preceding six years. That included ten states that saw charter enrollment expand by more than 15 percent.

As the Alliance鈥檚 president, Nina Rees, told 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Linda Jacobson, the novel coronavirus 鈥渇orced families to rethink where and how education could be delivered to their children. And now that they know what鈥檚 available, why would they go back to an option that never really worked for them in the first place?鈥�

More evidence points to promise of tutoring

Even before COVID, a groundswell of expert support was building behind the idea of using intensive tutoring to bolster the achievement of struggling students. A well-publicized 2020 meta-analysis of nearly 100 tutoring studies demonstrated the promise of one-on-one or small-group tutoring, even suggesting that family members or volunteers could make a big difference in kids鈥� learning outcomes when education professionals weren鈥檛 available.

As if that evidence weren鈥檛 enough, a compelling new study was released in March to strengthen the case further. An analysis conducted by an array of well-known scholars showed that Saga Education鈥檚 tutoring initiative 鈥� originally pioneered in Boston鈥檚 high-performing network of Match charter schools before being implemented on a wide scale in Chicago 鈥� led students to achieve enormous growth in math scores and course grades over several years. Randomly selected Chicago high schoolers who received an hour of tutoring each day experienced double the growth of an average student over the course of a year. The huge size of the student sample (5,000 students) also dispels fears that the impressive gains might not be scalable.

The pandemic made kids more overweight

In addition to the historic challenges it presented to schools and learning, the pandemic represented an ordeal of inactivity for tens of millions of young people. Many, cut off from friends and consigned to learning from the couch, moved around considerably less and saw their diets significantly altered during the school day.

The mass transition to a sedentary childhood held unmistakable repercussions for their health. Multiple studies, including one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have now shown that rates of obesity increased dramatically during the year following school closures. In a sample of over 400,000 school-aged patients, the CDC鈥檚 researchers found, body mass index rose at almost double the rate that it did in 2019. The changes were most prevalent in younger children, as well as those who were already overweight or obese.

Achievement was sinking long before the pandemic

The pandemic-era revelation that aroused the most concern this year actually had nothing to do with COVID-19. Instead, the remarkable decline in long-term scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 鈥� referred to as 鈥渢he nation鈥檚 report card鈥� 鈥� were measured in late 2019 and early 2020, before the public health crisis forced schools around the country to shut their doors.

The scores, made public by NCES this fall, represent the first time in the history of the 鈥淟ong-Term Trends鈥� assessment that scores actually dropped between testing rounds. While prior NAEP releases, including discouraging science results from earlier this year, had pointed to a disconcerting divergence between higher- and lower-performing students, they didn鈥檛 prepare experts for the scale of the drops measured since 2012: three points in math and five points in reading for 13-year-olds, and no progress made on either subject by nine-year-olds.

As the final assessment of American achievement taken before the arrival of COVID, the scores offer a grim accounting of the K-12 status quo. As George Bohrnstedt, a senior vice president and institute fellow at the American Institutes for Research, told 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Kevin Mahnken, 鈥淚t鈥檚 really a matter for national concern, this high percentage of students who are not reaching even what I think we鈥檇 consider the lowest levels of proficiency.鈥�

Little evidence of Common Core鈥檚 impact

Though it can be a little hard to recapture the enmity a decade later, the emergence of Common Core during the Obama administration was the most contentious question in education policy for several years. Though the hundreds of pages of content standards were developed by non-partisan sources and voluntarily adopted by states, many parents and politicians believed they were an encroachment on local control of schools and a possible Trojan horse for liberal politics. Meanwhile, proponents argued that Common Core held the promise of dramatically improving instruction and setting more kids on the path to college.

But after more than a decade of development and implementation, several studies have suggested that the ambitious reform actually hasn鈥檛 made much of an impact on how kids learn, period. Most recently, research published by the American Education Research Association in April found that the standards led to only modest growth in math scores in states that adopted them early 鈥� and even those benefits were driven mostly by well-off students who were already more likely to be doing well academically. 

The meager results, combined with similar findings in other recent studies, may raise the question of how much Common Core actually ended up changing instruction in states where it was adopted.

Right-to-work shows no academic benefits

Another massive mid-2010s edu-controversy was embodied in two cases focusing on organized labor: Vergara v. California and Janus v. AFSCME, the latter of which forbade teachers鈥� unions from collecting mandatory 鈥渁gency fees鈥� from non-members in lieu of dues. When the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, against the practice, it was theorized that the decision would effectively turn the entire country into a right-to-work zone for public-sector employees.

A in February investigated what the effects of that switch might be by studying the academic and political effects of right-to-work laws. Examining multiple outcomes in the aftermath of right-to-work policies being enacted across seven states since 1990, Brown University researcher Melissa Arnold Lyon found that 鈥� as advertised 鈥� the laws weakened union strength (as measured by membership and contributions). But there was no evidence that they led to the introduction of new education reforms, such as merit pay or charter schools. And the apparent effects of the laws on student achievement, as measured by NAEP scores, were negligible. 

More research will be needed to assess the wide-ranging impact of Janus on labor influence, school expenditures, and even election results. For the moment, however, policies challenging teachers鈥� unions don鈥檛 seem correlated with big changes to education policy or K-12 learning.

Classroom heat can seriously hinder learning

For years, advocates have complained of the environmental learning challenges faced by some under-resourced schools, including the absence of air conditioning in some states where late-summer heat can regularly disrupt the first weeks of the school year. Calls for better-managed school facilities grew as the threat of COVID forced educational leaders to think about how to better ventilate classrooms.

In published in January, researchers from UCLA, Stanford, and Boston University gathered student achievement data from nearly 60 countries and over 12,000 U.S. school districts, examining standardized test scores against 鈥渄etailed weather and academic calendar information鈥� to examine the effects of increased heat on learning. The answer: The more days students were exposed to temperatures over 80 degrees, the worse they performed on the PISA, an international exam testing 15-year-olds in math, reading, and science. Given the relatively poorer academic performance often detected in tropical countries and southern U.S. states, the results may partially explain why academic achievement can vary so much by region.

 Long-term gains from ethnic studies 

This fall, California to require students to enroll in a semester-long ethnic studies class in order to graduate high school (the mandate will not take effect until the end of the 2020s, though all schools will offer the classes by 2025). The state has been pushing in this direction for years, this spring after a lengthy public comment period.

At the same time the proposal was being considered, research into the academic effects of ethnic studies instruction has been ongoing. 鈥� published in September and conducted by academics at Stanford, the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Massachusetts 鈥� found that San Francisco students who were assigned to take an ethnic studies course in ninth grade were less likely to be absent from school, more likely to graduate, and more likely to enroll in college. The pilot program under examination enrolled less than 200 students, raising questions about whether its benefits can be scaled up; but the authors were encouraged by the persistence of the gains that students made over several years.

COVID 鈥榖irth dearth鈥� underway

Fertility rates have been consistently dropping in the United States since the Great Recession. It鈥檚 a long-term development with untold significance for American society, especially concerning population growth and the strength of the economy. But it鈥檚 already changing the face of education, with school districts increasingly confronting financial shortfalls and debating whether to close or consolidate schools that enroll shrinking numbers of kids.

If anyone hoped that a year of young people trapped inside their homes might turn things around, they were sorely mistaken. this spring by the CDC made it clear that childbearing only declined further during 2020, with total births falling 4 percent to their lowest level since 1979. In all, fertility dipped for women across all racial, ethnic, and age groups. 

Teaching candidates fail licensure exams in huge numbers

It鈥檚 a well-known problem that educators and state officials rarely talk about: Teaching candidates, even after years spent in graduate courses and student-teaching programs, often struggle to pass their licensure exams. Just months away from stepping into a classroom, many have to shell out money they don鈥檛 have in order to succeed on a second and third attempt; some, discouraged, walk away from the profession entirely. 

In an effort to shine a light on the issue, the National Center for Teacher Quality 鈥� a reform-oriented advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. 鈥� published institution-level pass rates for teacher preparation programs in 38 states in a report released this summer. The results are startling: Twenty-nine percent of all programs reported that less than half of their participants passed their state鈥檚 licensure exam on the first try between 2015 and 2018; the average 鈥渂est-attempt鈥� pass rate (i.e., the frequency with which test-takers ever pass) was just 83 percent. 

鈥淭he whole point is, you鈥檙e supposed to be preparing candidates for licensure,鈥� NCTQ president Kate Walsh told 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Kevin Mahnken. 鈥淎nd nobody points out to the kids going into these programs, 鈥榊our chances of getting a license at this institution are nil.鈥欌��

Burden of teacher layoffs falls heavily on disadvantaged students 

As COVID shut down the economy and decimated jobs by the millions in the spring of 2020, many warned of the havoc that could be visited on schools by a protracted economic downturn. Pointing to research that followed in the wake of the Great Recession, some experts warned that slower growth and diminished local tax revenues could lead to a cascade of negative effects on schools, including cuts to teaching jobs. 

Thanks to the historic infusion of federal funding that flowed to districts over the last two years, the theorized financial crunch on districts was averted. But a from Brown scholars Matthew Kraft and Joshua Bleiberg offers a persuasive account of the educational pitfalls that can accompany sudden teacher layoffs. 

Surveying the existing research, the authors highlighted the particular ramifications of teacher firings on educational equity. Ultimately, they conclude, poor and nonwhite students feel the impact disproportionately because their schools are more likely to rely heavily on K-12 aid provided by the state; since that revenue is more sensitive to recessions, disadvantaged students are generally more exposed to deeper budget cuts and staff shortages during fiscal contractions. That phenomenon is magnified by the fact that the schools serving those students are more likely to be staffed by early-career teachers, who are often the first to be targeted by layoffs.

鈥淭he Great Recession caused the largest labor force decline in the history of U.S. public schools until the COVID-19 pandemic,鈥� Kraft and Bleiberg write. 鈥淎lthough the immediate future looks brighter than many analysts predicted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term prospects of potential teacher layoffs remain.鈥�

Mexican-American integration changed lives…

Brown v. Board of Education is one of the most celebrated triumphs in the history of American jurisprudence, a milestone for both the civil rights movement and the struggle to ensure that every student receives a worthy education. But another federal court case, transformative if comparatively unrecognized, stands in its shadow: Mendez v. Westminster, a landmark 1947 lawsuit that rolled back segregation of Mexican-American students in California.

With the release this summer of on the litigation鈥檚 long-term impact, Mendez will hopefully begin to receive the attention it deserves. The study, authored by economists at the University of Colorado Boulder and Texas A&M, finds that desegregation led to a sizable increase in educational attainment 鈥� 1.9 years on average 鈥� for Mexican-American students born after the case versus those born 10-20 years before.

…and so did redlining

But long-gone policies that originated in racial prejudice can leave a modern-day impact on schools as well. In particular, the strong link between real estate markets, property values, wealth, and school assignment has often kept non-white families from accessing high-quality schools and led to school funding disparities that further disadvantage poor students.

Perhaps the foremost case is that of redlining, which denied home loans and other financial services to the predominantly non-white residents of many inner-city neighborhoods. In a working paper circulated this year, two Harvard doctoral candidates traced the latter-day legacy of the federally sanctioned discrimination on K-12 schools. Their findings are stark: Schools in formerly redlined zones still receive less per-pupil funding than those located elsewhere, they are still significantly racially segregated, and they still find themselves on the wrong end of pervasive achievement gaps.

The protection provided by the shots, the companies say, supports authorization of the vaccine for the 28 million U.S. children in that age group. The Food and Drug Administration has a hearing scheduled Tuesday with expert advisors to review the case for authorization. 

Two weeks ago, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted their formal request to the FDA for the green light to deliver doses to 5- to 11-year olds. 

If the review timeline spans a similar length as that of vaccines for 12- to 15-year olds, the agency could grant authorization ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday 鈥� meaning that the vast majority of K-12 students may soon be eligible for immunizations.

The vaccine efficacy numbers come from a Pfizer and BioNTech provided to the FDA, released Friday morning by the federal agency. In their trial, the companies tested a 10 microgram dose of the vaccine, one-third the size of the shot for teenagers and adults, and found that it produced a 鈥渞obust鈥� antibody response. Immunity and side effects, they said, were comparable to those produced by the larger dose in 16- to 25-year-old patients. 

No new safety problems or cases of heart inflammation were observed in the trial, which tested 2,268 participants. Israeli studies have found myocarditis to occur in , so it鈥檚 possible the condition would have been too rare to have been detected in the main study. 

The news comes as children make up over , amounting to about a quarter of all reported infections per week nationwide, according to mid-October data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Over have closed so far this year due to outbreaks of the virus, according to Burbio, an organization that has tracked schools through the pandemic, though COVID-related school closures have slowed considerably in recent weeks as and schools hone their protocols to curb spread.

The White House has made it clear that immunizing children will be a priority once shots are authorized for 5- to 11-year olds. The Biden administration will match schools with COVID-19 vaccine providers, the White House Wednesday. The Department of Health and Human Services will also enlist community-based clinics, doctor鈥檚 offices, hospitals and faith-based organizations in rapidly distributing vaccines.

Two-thirds of parents of children aged 5 to 11 years say they will immunize their children against COVID-19 once shots are authorized for the age group, according to by the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project.

鈥淲hile we鈥檙e encouraged to see that a majority of parents intend to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 once they are eligible, there is clearly more work to be done to help address parents鈥� questions and ease concerns about the vaccines,鈥� Beth Battaglino, CEO of the nonprofit HealthyWomen, one of the partner organizations behind the polling, said in a .

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccinations have been fully approved by the FDA for individuals ages 16 and above, and have emergency use authorization for teenagers ages 12 to 15. Shots for kids younger than five may arrive .

The Department of Health and Human Services will also enlist community-based clinics, doctor鈥檚 offices, hospitals and faith-based organizations in rapidly distributing vaccines through the end of the year, making enough available to immunize 28 million children. 

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Considered a major milestone toward ending the pandemic, emergency use authorization of a vaccine for children could be announced any day. Pfizer-BioNTech sent data on the use of its vaccine among that age group to the Food and Drug Administration in late September. An FDA advisory committee is scheduled to meet Oct. 26, followed by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee the week after. The administration said it is 鈥渉osting operational readiness calls鈥� with states, tribes and territories to ensure a smooth process once the FDA approves and the CDC recommends the vaccine. With thousands of schools still quarantining students because of outbreaks, families and schools have been anticipating this key step.

鈥淪uperintendents have been very anxious for this to happen,鈥� said Dan Domenech, executive director of AASA, The School Superintendents Association. But he added that some schools might consider the attitudes of their community before agreeing to serve as vaccination sites. 鈥淚f they have a supportive community, they will do vaccines in the schools as they鈥檝e done in the past.鈥�

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will take charge of setting up sites, storing supplies 鈥� including smaller needles 鈥� and providing transportation to sites, if needed, according to the fact sheet. The White House said pediatrician鈥檚 offices and pharmacies will also be critical in providing the vaccine because they are already 鈥渢rusted sources.鈥� Roughly 25,000 pediatrician鈥檚 offices, tens of thousands of pharmacies and over 100 children鈥檚 hospitals are expected to be involved, offering vaccines during the evenings and weekends for convenience.

The American Academy of Pediatrics applauded the announcement.

鈥淧arents trust us to care for their children, come to us with questions and concerns about how to keep them healthy and safe, and will turn to us during this next phase for reassurance and guidance about the COVID-19 vaccine,鈥� AAP President Lee Savio Beers, said in a statement. 鈥淲e are ready to do what we鈥檝e always done: counsel our families and protect our patients.鈥�

But as Domenech said, the administration is expecting that not all parents will be eager to get their children vaccinated, considering less than of adolescents are vaccinated, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. HHS will launch a nationwide education campaign to assure parents that the vaccine is safe, working with schools and community organizations to 鈥渋ncrease vaccine confidence.鈥�

鈥淎 key focus of our efforts is raising vaccine awareness and getting parents the facts they need to make the right choice for their kids,鈥� Jeff Zients, White House coronavirus response coordinator, said during a briefing Wednesday.

Schools have been used as for over 100 years, and Linda Mendonca, president of the National Association of School Nurses, said school nurses 鈥渉ave a trusted relationship with students and families.鈥� But schools are facing a along with many other staff positions, which could impact the vaccination effort as it has school-based testing.

An conducted at the end of September showed that two-thirds of parents with children in the 5-11 range said they鈥檙e 鈥渓ikely鈥� to get their children vaccinated, but 43 percent responded that they would be 鈥渧ery likely.鈥� 

Those who are unsure about vaccinating their children are more likely to be unvaccinated themselves and continue to note the speed of vaccine鈥檚 development and potential side effects as top reasons for their hesitancy. A quarter of parents of adolescents responding said a requirement that their child be vaccinated to attend school could make them change their minds.

is the only state so far to mandate the vaccine for students once it earns full FDA approval. But others are expected to follow. In Washington, the Seattle Public Schools is considering that would ask the state鈥檚 health department to issue a such mandate.

Today, a quarter of elementary school students in the U.S. use the Zearn platform and they have completed more than 7.5 billion math problems since Zearn鈥檚 launch in 2016. In the course of doing so, they have allowed us to see patterns that we believe can help get kids鈥� learning back on track. Here are three: 

1 School closures are undeniably tough on student learning, . But there are steps states and districts can take to prevent interruptions to learning.

Before the pandemic, there was no gap in participation on our platform between children in low-income and high-income schools, but a massive gap emerged when schools closed. By the end of that school year, participation among kids in high-income areas had mostly recovered, but it was still down roughly 40 percent in low-income areas, which has massive implications for learning 鈥� students who aren鈥檛 participating in lessons aren鈥檛 learning and will need to both catch up and move forward in their future learning. 

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For much of the country, this alarming opportunity gap persists, yet some states and districts have been able to shrink or even eliminate it. Educators saw that students can鈥檛 learn when they can鈥檛 connect and treated that as a problem to solve. Keeping schools open whenever possible, and 鈥攕uch as technological training so parents can help their children navigate online platforms and academic assistance for students learning remotely 鈥� can greatly increase student participation, particularly for low-income children. 

, which is why the state was able to raise participation among students in low-income schools to nearly double the rate it was pre-pandemic. And Louisiana demonstrates that it鈥檚 never too late to change course. Three months into the pandemic, average student progress in the state, as measured by lessons students completed by demonstrating mastery, was down by more than 50 percent compared with the previous three months, and down nearly 70 percent for low-income students. When the state’s schools reopened for in-person learning, student participation on Zearn skyrocketed and Louisiana demonstrated a stronger recovery in the 2020-21 school year than any other state in the country.

2 Acceleration, not remediation, is key to getting kids back on track.

Many educators face the daunting task of helping students make up for multiple years of missed learning. Traditionally, this means revisiting the previous year鈥檚 content to ensure children understand more basic content before moving on. The problem with this approach is that teachers are likely to spend time on what students should have learned in earlier grades rather than on grade-level skills. It鈥檚 also not the most effective way to bring kids up to speed. 

How do we know? Zearn鈥檚 recent research with TNTP analyzed more than 6,000 third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms serving more than 50,000 students who missed an entire section of critical math content during the 2019-20 school year.  About half the classrooms followed a traditional approach, starting with below-grade-content first, while the rest took a learning acceleration approach, starting with grade-level content and filling in below-grade-level gaps only as needed.

Students who experienced acceleration struggled less 鈥� answering more questions correctly 鈥�  and were able to successfully complete 27 percent more grade-level lessons than those who started at the same level but received remedial lessons instead. This strategy is even more effective for students of color (49 percent more grade-level lessons than those receiving remediation) and students from low-income households (28 percent more grade-level lessons than those receiving remediation).

3 Consistent use of quality curricula can propel student learning.

American students鈥� math performance has , not because of a lack of resources, but because of a flawed approach. In the absence of a quality curriculum, math is often taught as a set of disconnected procedures that students often memorize, instead of a progression of interrelated, foundational concepts. Without a solid grounding in the hows and whys of math, students have difficulty putting it into practice to solve complex problems 鈥� and that difficulty breeds dislike. In the context of the pandemic, children are at even higher risk of missing out on key concepts , which could hinder their progress in math for years if left unaddressed.

It doesn鈥檛 have to be this way. High-quality curricula focus on sequentially moving through the big concepts and provide support as students need it to ensure they get to mastery 鈥� and study of more than 800 schools and 100,000 students in Louisiana showed that this approach produced learning gains equivalent to an additional 1.5 months of instruction over the course of a school year, an effect that compounded over multiple years.

Similarly, in a separate analysis, students in schools with high Zearn usage in Louisiana showed than students in non-Zearn schools 鈥� and the gains were even larger for students in low-income schools and schools predominantly serving Black and Latino students.

For all the ways the pandemic disrupted learning, it also revealed important truths about how to get kids re-engaged and learning more effectively. The way back won鈥檛 be easy, but we know what it takes, and we can start today.

Shalinee Sharma is the CEO and co-founder of Zearn Math.