Lower test scores demand school district responses

As hard as many educators, parents and students worked to keep education on track during the pandemic, anecdotal evidence and common sense told us there would be a learning cost. It also seemed likely that cost would be highest among students who could least afford slowed progress, in schools challenged by poverty, large cohorts of non-English-speaking students, and other issues.

And so it was.

In the first nationally representative study to compare pre-COVID-19 student achievement with later testing, scores from tests taken just before the pandemic hit in 2020 were compared with results from 2022. In reading, scores dipped 5 percentage points, the largest drop in 30 years. In math, they dropped 7 percentage points, the largest decline ever recorded.

The drops were mostly equal for white, Black and Hispanic students in reading, with each group losing six percentage points. But in math, the learning gap grew dramatically. White students lost an average of 5 points, but Black students fell back 13 points and Hispanic students’ scores dropped 8 points.

Some of the overall totals don’t reflect the results of the groups. That’s because Asian and Native American students and those students who are of two or more races, on average, suffered no losses in math or reading. There weren’t huge regional differences in general; however, the West saw no measurable decline in reading.

What about New York and Long Island? According to experts, that's very difficult to say in a state where testing opt-outs for students in grades 3-8 have averaged as much as 20% for a decade, and in a region where the lack of participation has often neared 50% during that span. But confirming with national data a problem that anyone could have seen coming is the easy part. The hard part is addressing and fixing it, and the challenge is exacerbated by the fact that many students were being left behind even before the path got so difficult.

The money is there to address this on Long Island, with the federal government pouring $9 billion into New York schools as part of COVID response, and the state giving districts three record-setting aid increases in a row. But money, crucial as it is, has never been education’s panacea. Fixing this problem will take creativity and exceedingly hard work on the part of educators, students, and parents. Some Long Island districts are already beginning to address the issue, with expanded summer school and added enrichment programs. 

That, and more, is needed in every district. Students are behind in skills they must possess to live happy, productive lives. And part of the solution has to be kids taking tests post-pandemic that will show us what individuals know, and what schools and students need.

We can’t let our children sink. This is all-hands-on-deck.