Reading and math scores plummet amid pandemic

We now have the first clear look at how the pandemic has affected student learning, and it’s not a pretty picture.

Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress released on Wednesday show an enormous decline in reading and math scores for 9-year-olds in the US from 2020 to 2022. Average NAEP scores dropped 5 points in reading and 7 points in math. This is the largest decline in reading scores in 30 years and the first decline in math scores since the national assessment was started in the early 1970s. 

“I was taken aback by the scope and the magnitude of the decline,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Educational Statistics, which oversees the test, often referred to as “The Nation’s Report Card.”

Lower-achieving students saw bigger declines than their higher-achieving peers, so the gaps separating them have only grown wider. In reading, 9-year-olds at the 90th percentile saw a 2 point drop in scores, while those at the 10th percentile saw a drop of 10 points. In math, the decreases for the same groups were 3 and 12 points, respectively. 

The test was administered from January to March of 2020 – just before the pandemic hit and closed schools – and then again during those same months in 2022. It was taken by a representative sample of 14,800 9-year-olds nationwide and does not include state- or district-level data. That information will come in October with the release of results from a test given to a much larger population of 4th and 8th graders, which will provide state-level results as well scores from a sample of 26 urban districts across the country.

The newly released test gathered additional information aimed specifically at better understanding the impact of the pandemic, such as whether students had consistent access to a laptop or tablet while at home and a quiet place to do school work. It also asked about how regularly they were able to interact with a teacher while schools were operating remotely. Higher-performing students reported higher rates of all those variables.

“We continue to come back to the same story, which is: resources matter, the level of support students have matters, their learning environment matters,” said Tracy Novick, a member of the Worcester school committee. 

Dianne Kelly, the superintendent of the Revere Public Schools, said she was not surprised by the growing divergence in scores during the pandemic between higher- and lower-performing students. “We were hearing about the learning pods that were being created in more affluent neighborhoods,” she said of the steps better-off families took to keep their kids on track. 

Kelly said the Revere schools are accustomed to “scaffolding” lessons in ways to better guide immigrant students who arrive after having had some interruption in their learning. “That’s what we have to do with all kids,” she said of the approach now needed in the face of the learning loss from the pandemic. 

Despite the growing gaps between students at different achievement levels, the test had some bright spots that might not have been expected. Overall reading scores held mostly steady in city and rural areas, while dipping more in suburbs and a fourth census category labeled “towns.” 

Marty West, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a member of the governing board that oversees the NAEP test, said the results underscore the particular need for attention to students who were already struggling academically. ​​“Supporting the academic recovery of lower-performing students should be a top priority for educators and policymakers nationwide,” he said in a statement. 

Asked about that on Thursday, in the wake of the national test results, West held his ground. 

“The [Massachusetts] board voted in favor of those changes well aware that the pandemic had been challenging for students around the nation and in Massachusetts,” West said. “Our position is that we’re not doing any favors to students by holding them to a lower standard than they need to be successful, and that the right response to the pandemic’s impact is to use the competency determination policy as a lever to get them the supports that they need.”

MICHAEL JONAS

FROM COMMONWEALTH

Jumping into the game: A super PAC with ties to Gov. Charlie Baker files reports on Tuesday and Wednesday disclosing $160,000 in expenditures on behalf of 15 Democrats and Republicans. The top recipients are district attorney candidates – Democrats Kevin Hayden in Suffolk ($92,551 and Thomas Quinn in Bristol ($13,459), and Republican Daniel Higgins for Cape and Islands ($11,782). The other major recipient was Republican  Sen. Patrick O’Connor of Weymouth (($10,925).

– The committee reported no activity for the year until Tuesday, when it disclosed that it had raised close to $1 million since January 1 and spent $112,619. The super PAC followed up with another report on Wednesday, disclosing donations of $51,238. All of the money was spent on direct mail or digital advertising. Read more.

High turnout predicted: Secretary of State William Galvin predicts high turnout the primary election, and says 375,000 ballots have already been cast. Read more.

Past experience with marijuana business: Shannon O’Brien, the new chair of the Cannabis Control Commission, discloses she consulted for two marijuana businesses before taking the job. She has no current involvement with the industry.  Read more.

FROM AROUND THE WEB

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

Wilmer Puello-Mota is expelled from the Holyoke City Council. Puello-Mota is facing criminal charges, including a charge of possession of child pornography, in Rhode Island and just spent 90 days in jail. (MassLive)

All but one member of the Pittsfield Police Advisory and Review Board resigned after learning they wouldn’t be able to review the city’s internal investigation into the fatal shooting of Miguel Estrella. (Berkshire Eagle)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

New England colleges plan for potential monkeypox outbreaks. (USA Today Network)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

President Biden, in an address delivered outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, called Donald Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican Party a threat to American democracy. (Washington Post) 

A retired New York City police officer is sentenced to 10 years in prison for swinging a metal flagpole at a Washington officer during the January 6 attack on the Capitol. (New York Times)

ELECTIONS

A Suffolk Superior Court judge ordered Boston officials to provide Ricardo Arroyo – by 2 p.m. today – a redacted copy of police files from a 2005 sexual assault allegation against him.  Arroyo, whose campaign for Suffolk district attorney has been rocked by reports of the years-old case, has denied ever assaulting anyone. (Boston Globe) Tom Keane ponders what will happen if Arroyo wins the DA’s race. (Boston Globe) 

Five candidates are running in the Democratic primary to replace Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz of Jamaica Plain. All of them are Black and, among the four most active candidates, there is a split along generational lines, with Reps. Liz Miranda and Nika Elugardo facing off against former senator Dianne Wilkerson and Rev. Miniard Culpepper, who recently retired after 27 years at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (GBH).

Former president Donald Trump will phone in to a “tele-rally” on Monday for Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl. (Boston Herald) Meanwhile, one of Trump’s biggest supporters in Massachusetts appears to be urging voters to back Republican Chris Doughty for governor. In a tweet, Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr urges voters to vote for Doughty to stop Maura Healey. Recent posts at @HowieCarrShow have been critical of Diehl for ducking debates.

North of Boston Media’s Christian Wade previews the tight race for auditor between Chris Dempsey and Sen. Diana DiZoglio. 

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

More than 40 companies express interest in getting involved in Massachusetts’ newly legal sports betting industry. They include industry giants, Native American tribes, and some business-to-business suppliers. (MassLive)

EDUCATION

Boston Public Schools still have more than 200 teaching vacancies just days before the start of the school year. (Boston Herald) 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

The Worcester police are sued over a 2019 incident where a custody battle turned chaotic outside a Worcester church, leading to the pastor being tasered and the arrest of churchgoers. (MassLive)

The Greenfield police chief is reinstated despite a jury finding him guilty of discriminating against the department’s lone Black officer. (MassLive)

MEDIA

Gannett reveals it laid off 400 employees and eliminated 400 unfilled positions. (Poynter)

PASSINGS