The nationwide decline in student achievement is showing some signs of reversal as school districts have reopened their doors to in-person instruction while putting an end to obligatory online classes.
According to a new study, student test scores have risen over the course of the 2021-2022 school year but are still below pre-pandemic standards and are even lagging behind 2020-2021 benchmarks.
The study by Renaissance Learning indicates improvement in student scores for math and reading, with students most notably showing marked gains from fall to winter.
Renaissance Learning was able to measure student achievement in the midst of the school year because schools instructing over 4 million students use the company’s STAR test measuring student success, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Among the school districts using the STAR test is Monroe County School District in South Florida, which reported “steady progress” in student achievement rates in math from the fall to the winter after substantial declines over the past two years.
But despite the signs of optimism, one age group that has been notably slow in showing improvement was younger students who started school for the first time during the pandemic and its accompanying disruptions. Still, the study showed that even those students have shown improvement.
The effect of pandemic-related school closures and restrictions on student achievement has been well documented.
In California, 46% of high school seniors are on track to meet the state university’s admissions requirements, as opposed to 59% in 2019, while the percentage of students of all ages reading above grade level declined by 5%.
The Texas Education Agency’s spring 2021 assessment likewise found that only 36% of fourth graders in the state met the grade’s reading standards.
