US EditionOnly 33 percent of schools have recovered in either math or reading 6 years after pandemic
Only 14% of schools fully recovered in both reading and math by fall 2024, with recovery more common in schools with smaller setbacks or strong post-pandemic growth.
- Using fall 2019 as a baseline, the study found only one in three U.S. public K-12 schools had recovered in reading or math by fall 2025.
- Schools with smaller initial declines and rural schools had higher recovery rates, while schools serving higher-poverty or marginalized students showed fewer full recoveries, NWEA found.
- The NWEA estimated that students need about 4.8 months in reading and 4.3 months in math to catch up, and recommended extending summer programs with at least 90 minutes of math and 120 minutes of reading daily.
- NWEA urged local education leaders and state policymakers to prioritize schools with the largest remaining gaps, use realistic recovery benchmarks, prepare for future crises, and implement state-level recovery tracking.
- Rebounder schools demonstrated that practices and investments supporting recovery offer lessons, and Emily Morton, lead research scientist at NWEA, said `Our findings show there was not a single path to recovery`.
12 Articles
12 Articles
COVID HANGOVER: New Research Suggests Most Schools Haven't Recovered from Lockdowns, and the Academic Numbers Are Devastating
The long and lingering shadow of the pandemic reveals a dark truth about American education: Kids have not healed from the scars of lockdowns. NWEA, a research organization, recently issued […] The post COVID HANGOVER: New Research Suggests Most Schools Haven't Recovered from Lockdowns, and the Academic Numbers Are Devastating appeared first on The Western Journal.
Only 33 percent of schools have recovered in either math or reading 6 years after pandemic
New research found only one in three schools have recovered in either reading or math since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools nearly six years ago. The number of schools that recovered in both subjects sits at around 14 percent, according to NWEA, an education research group. Schools that serve historically marginalized students are more likely…
K-12 Reading, Math Scores Lagging Behind Pre-Pandemic Levels: Study
Only a third of American K-12 schools have returned to pre-coronavirus pandemic achievement levels in math or reading, an education analysis group said this week. Those findings came as part of a study released on Feb. 24 by NWEA, which analyzed scores from more than 5 million students across 9,326 schools. Comparing scores from 2019 and 2024, the organization said only one in seven schools recovered in both math and reading. NWEA, previously kn…
Black Schools Are Improving Fast. It's Not Enough
Predominantly Black schools faced the biggest academic setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re also bouncing back the fastest. Despite the progress, Black students are still being left behind. That’s the complicated truth found in a new study that looked at standardized test scores from more than 9,300 schools five years after the pandemic shut everything down. Schools serving mostly Black students made the biggest academic gains of any …
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