progress and widening racial disparities, according to results of a national test that provide the sharpest look yet at the scale of the crisis.
"It is a serious wakeup call for us all," Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the Education Department, said in an interview. "In NAEP, when we experience a 1- or 2-point decline, we’re talking about it as a significant impact on a student’s achievement. In math, we experienced an 8-point decline — historic for this assessment."RELATED:It’s no surprise that children are behind.
Math scores were worst among eighth graders, with 38% earning scores deemed "below basic" — a cutoff that measures, for example, whether students can find the third angle of a triangle if they’re given the other two. That’s worse than 2019, when 31% of eighth graders scored below that level. "This is more confirmation that the pandemic hit us really hard," said Eric Gordon, chief executive for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. To help students recover, the school system has beefed up summer school and added after-school tutoring.
Inequities were also reflected in a growing gap between higher and lower-performing students. In math and reading, scores fell most sharply among the lowest-performing students, creating a widening chasm between struggling students and the rest of their peers.When schools shifted to remote learning, higher-performing students were far more likely to have reliable access to quiet spaces, computers and help from their teachers, the survey found.
Other recent studies have found that students who spent longer periods learning online suffered greater setbacks. But the NAEP results show no clear connection. Areas that returned to the classroom quickly still saw significant declines, and cities — which were more likely to stay remote longer — actually saw milder decreases than suburban districts, according to the results.