It’s been five years since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education.

Still, the average student in the United States remains nearly a half a grade behind pre-pandemic achievement in math and reading, according to the Education Recovery Scorecard (ERC).

“The pandemic highlighted inequalities in our education system; it didn’t create them,” said Stanford’s Sean Reardon, who was part of the study done by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and faculty at Dartmouth College. “And so we don’t need just ‘pandemic recovery now’ but longterm structural reform. A real ‘recovery’ requires that we make sure students in middle and low-income communities have all the resources they need to thrive in school.”

His colleague concurred.

“Whether it is early literacy, improving structural materials, strengthening accountability or high school redesign, states are where education reform is happening now,” said Harvard’s Tom Kane. “What’s been missing is any cross-state effort to evaluate those reforms and spread what’s working.”

Every year for the past three years the ERS has combined the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) math and reading results with state tests for about 35 million grade 3-8 students in more than 8,700 districts across 43 states to provide a picture of the country’s academic recovery.

This year’s results show no state has improved in both math and reading.

However, some states are performing above pre-pandemic levels in at least one subject and for Michigan that’s math.

According to the study, reading is more of a concern in Michigan rather than math and that includes Macomb County, as 98% of students are in districts whose average reading achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels.

“We recognize that our reading scores need improvement,” said Judith Pritchett, a longtime educator with the Macomb Intermediate School District (MISD).

Pritchett, who is also a member of the Michigan State Board of Education, said state officials along with and local districts are taking a proactive approach to continue developing and implementing research based instructional strategies in literacy especially targeted at young readers.

MISD Superintendent Michael DeVault said the MISD analyzes many assessment points throughout the year and works with superintendents, teachers, and local districts to develop strategies that have been supported by the state.

“The Michigan legislature and the governor support these new initiatives and passed several laws this fall that will assist in further implementation over the next several years,” Pritchett said. “These laws along with staff development and financial support provided in the budget will continue to build upon and support the best practices already used in classrooms across the state to improve early literacy instruction and student achievement in Michigan.”

The numbers

The Education Recovery Scorecard ranked Michigan 17th among the states in math recovery and 44th in reading, and noted that a sharp rise in chronic absenteeism from 20% of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 38% in 2022 that has since dropped to 30% in 2024 is slowing recovery in many districts.

Other notable results of the study showed:

• Students remain 40% of a grade level behind pre-pandemic levels in math (.4 grade level equivalent) and over three-quarters of a grade level behind in reading (.76 grade level equivalent). Basically, the loss in math achievement in Michigan is 40% of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through 8.

• The average student in some districts such as Kalamazoo and Lansing remains at least a grade equivalent below their 2019 mean achievement in math and likewise for reading in Ann Arbor, Portage, Kentwood and Grand Rapids.

• Despite the slower than expected recovery there were some bright spots.

“While the results of the most recent NAEP indicate areas where improvement is needed, it is encouraging to see that Michigan’s fourth-grade math scores have shown improvement,” said Alesia Flye, assistant superintendent and chief academic officer for the MISD.

Steps for moving forward

Harvard Professor Tom Kane said the rescue phase is over.

“The federal relief dollars are gone. It is time to pivot from short-term recovery to longer-term challenges such as reducing absenteeism and addressing the slide in literacy,” Kane said.

The report also cited four other priorities for the coming years:

• States and districts need to double down on academic catch up efforts that were previously funded by federal relief. With the funding gone, states will need to redirect their own dollars and the federal dollars they administer for interventions, which have proven effective such as tutoring and summer learning.

• Everyone needs to get behind the schools and help to tackle student absenteeism. Instead of placing the responsibility for academic recovery entirely on school leaders’ shoulders, other actions can be taken to help such as public information campaigns or solutions to transportation problems.

• Teachers must inform parents when their child is not at grade level so they can work together on improving attendance and academic performance.

• Educators must learn what’s working and what is not? Forty states have implemented the science of reading, which is a vast interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing.

“It also addresses more than just foundational skills,” according to a report by TNTP, which provides educational research and consulting services to schools and districts. “It includes word recognition, foundational skills, and language comprehension skills like building vocabulary, content knowledge, and comprehension, and emerging models also point to the importance of cultural knowledge, motivation and engagement, and executive function to fluent reading.”

Still, each state has been looking at ways to improve outcomes including coaching and retaining students who do not demonstrate reading and even cell phone bans.

Flye said these national results are one of the many data points that are used to analyze progress but also decisions about curriculum and instructional strategies. Districts across Macomb County also regularly administer local benchmark assessments, which provide more frequent insights into student growth and allow teachers the ability to adjust instruction as needed for each student.

“Encouragingly, these assessments show consistent gains, demonstrating that students are making progress over time,” Flye said.

To build on this momentum, Macomb County schools are implementing several research-based instructional practices aimed at improving reading achievement including:

• High-dosage tutoring in reading and mathematics to provide targeted support for students.

• Ongoing professional learning for educators in literacy and math to enhance instructional efficacy.

• A county-wide literacy campaign to increase access to books, ensuring students engage with text regularly to develop strong reading skills.

“These efforts reflect our local district’s continued dedication to student success and prioritizes providing high-quality instruction to ensure that every student receives the support they need,” Flye said. “In Macomb County we will continue to work collaboratively with educators, families and community partners to strengthen learning opportunities for all students.”

For more information on the study visit educationrecovery scorecard.org/states/.