Legislative evaluators say North Carolina lacking in addressing learning loss

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) is not doing enough to address learning loss among children, even though the federal government gave the state billions of dollars to address the issue, state evaluators said Tuesday.

Governmental operations evaluators said despite knowing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on instructional time and student performance, the NCDPI has made minimal efforts to address the issue. A majority of the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) issued to the state for schools has not been spent, they said.