TOP TASKS

Recognize the pandemic’s impacts are far from over

“Sea changes are rare in the history of American education, and the combination of unprecedented enrollment declines and declines in student achievement will continue to shake up the American education system long after the pandemic is over,” we wrote in June of 2021, a year into the pandemic, with school closures ongoing in many states and districts. Now, six years after the national emergency that fundamentally changed the American education landscape, a pair of pieces in the 74 Million suggest a continued effect on an entire generation of students.

Emily Tate Sullivan reports on a new analysis from assessment provider NWEA that focuses on a student subgroup not often discussed: the children who were in diapers when the pandemic hit and are now in the early grades of elementary school. “While kindergarten achievement levels in math and reading largely held steady during and since the pandemic, by first and second grade, students are performing below pre-pandemic averages,” Sullivan writes. “In math, at least, first and second graders have shown slow, incremental progress. Gaps in reading achievement, however, seem stubbornly stalled.”

NWEA’s Megan Kuhfeld pointed out to Sullivan that chronic absenteeism rates are higher in Kindergarten, and this loss in instructional time may be slowing down children’s progress once they are in school.

“And many kindergarten teachers have reported that students are showing up with more nascent social and emotional skills than their peers in prior years,” Sullivan notes. “They have less experience with important life skills such as sharing, cooperating and self-regulating.”

Meanwhile, “inequalities in learning between high-achieving students and their lower-performing classmates have grown dramatically,” writes Kevin Mahnken, reporting on a new study at EdWorkingPapers from M. Danish Shakeel, Misty Gallo and Patrick J. Wolf that examines the worsening achievement gap nationwide.

Here’s how Mahnken describes the bottom line: “The already-substantial gap between the most advanced and most challenged fourth graders expanded by 1.3 years’ worth of learning gains between the Bush administration and the Biden administration. For eighth graders, the gap grew by one-half year of learning in both subjects over the same time period.”

This is part of a pattern noted by Chad Aldeman that, across a whole host of measures, “The bottom is falling, and the top is either staying the same or even rising a bit.” Aldeman concludes: “The story here isn’t just falling scores. It’s divergence. Some students are engaged in school and out of it. They’re busy. They’re studying, practicing, competing, and participating. They’re doing more, not less. But the students at the bottom look very different. They have less structure, fewer commitments, and fewer demands on their time. That’s the gap that matters.”

Take stock of Georgia’s progress with a legislative wrap-up

“The day after session ends, I like to try to take stock of what we actually changed. What’s different for kids and families as a result of our advocacy? How did we make their lives better?” GeorgiaCAN Executive Director Michael O’Sullivan said as he reflected on his team’s work after a busy last night at the Capitol. Here’s some things that, with the Governor’s signature, will be different in Georgia now that the 2026 legislative session has come to a close:

• There’s 1,300 new literacy coaches that will be deployed to every elementary school across the state to align instruction to the science of reading.
• Qualifying students will have guaranteed access to advanced math courses, ending a subjective system based on teacher recommendations.
• Last year’s Distraction-Free Education Act expanded to high schools, impacting over 400,000 additional students. The legislation requires a bell-to-bell restriction on cell phones and personal electronics.
• Parents, community watchdogs and journalists will have access to public information on the effectiveness of educator preparation programs.
• Continued progress on expanding career pathways, including a new statewide talent pathway navigation tool and a new state apprenticeship agency.

“A year that we can make progress on literacy, math and legislation to curb the distraction of screens–one that I think will be a model for other states–-that’s a solid year,” Michael says, while acknowledging how much more needs to be done. “I’m frustrated we weren’t able to get all of our priority bills through, especially our legislation to grow the appropriation for charter schools. The entire team put in a lot of work on this one, so to see it clear all the committees, and then just not get brought up for a vote, while we’re waiting until time has run out and session has drawn to a close? That was hard.” After resting up from an intense session, Michael and the team will be getting back to work to ensure all the new policies are effectively implemented and begin strategizing on their policy campaigns for next year.

Key Resources

A new survey from Brookings shows a significant drop in working conditions for teachers, across more than a dozen separate indicators.

Examining three districts in Arizona, Michigan and Iowa, New America models an approach where redrawing district boundary lines could result in a major leveling of the playing field.

Students living within a mile of an alternative school have a 28% increase in likelihood of enrolling, according to new research from Farah Mallah, Nour Abdul-Razzak and Monica Bhatt at EdWorkingPapers.

For AEI, Robert Pondiscio argues that education fads develop because of structural forces that encourage constant change instead of stability when ideas are found that work.

Jill Hoppe, at Fordham, advocates for universal access and expansion of music education programs. The 50CAN Educational Opportunity survey found that 61% of A students are enrolled in art, compared to only 26% of D and F students.

At EdWorkingPapers, researchers Kenneth A. Shores and Hojung Lee preview a chapter of an upcoming book, giving a comprehensive look at K-12 school finance.

On Wednesday, April 22, Urban Institute will host an event on scaling apprenticeship programs in small and medium businesses.