Children who started school during the coronavirus pandemic are well behind the historical trend of academic achievement for their age group, and recovery lags behind their older peers, according to a study.

According to new data from Curriculum Associates, students who began school during the pandemic are consistently behind in math and reading, while older students show signs of recovery in reading but not math. The study compared three years of reading and math results from students who were between the ages of 3 and 9 in 2021 and compared them to historical trends.