While the pandemic was officially declared over in May, its lingering effects on education rage on. Three years after schools first closed, there has been hope against hope that academic learning would rebound once students settled back into normal school years. To the contrary, there has been no end to reports showing how student outcomes across grades and ages have declined since 2020, the year millions of students were consigned to remote education or, as was the case for far too many, no real education at all. 

The most recent results come from the long-term trend assessments administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The tests were administered across the nation last October to December to measure proficiency in mathematics and reading among 13-year-old students. The results show average math scores declining by 9 points and reading scores by 4 points.

The declines are huge, but not that surprising as they are entirely consistent with the other rounds of testing that started with the special administration of trend assessments in the spring of 2022 to measure the effects of the pandemic on learning. Those assessments showed scores in mathematics and reading declined by 9 points and 5 points, respectively, among 9-year-old students.

In addition to the two rounds of trend assessments, the main NAEP tests were administered in 2022, just as they are every two years. Those comprehensive tests provided state-level data for fourth and eighth grade students and the results were equally concerning. Fourth graders in Nevada, for example, scored far below national averages in math and reading and significantly below pre-pandemic scores.

Also consistent among all test results are the devastating effects of school disruptions on lower-performing students — students who were behind in 2020 are even more behind in 2023. Consider that in 2012, 13-year-old Black students scored 16 points lower than the national average in reading. In 2023, they scored 19 points lower, illustrating ever-widening gaps among student subgroups. The bottom line is students most in need have fallen farther behind as years of steady progress have been wiped out.

During the height of the pandemic many medical experts warned that prolonged school closures were a mistake because of the clear evidence showing COVID-19 posed little to no risk to children. They also warned that school closures could have long-term devastating effects on student learning. Those experts were right on both counts.

The recent assessments included student survey questions related to classroom attendance. Specifically, 13-year-old students were asked about the number of days of school they had missed in the month before the tests. The responses showed a reduction in the percentage of students reporting having missed two days of school compared to the number of days missed in 2020. But the percentage of students reporting they had missed five or more days of school had doubled since 2020.

The pandemic exacerbated what was already a major problem: absenteeism.  In a 2016 report, the U.S. Department of Education referred to chronic absenteeism as “a hidden educational crisis,” when over 7 million students missed 15 or more days of school. Students who miss more than 10 percent of school days for any reason are considered chronically absent. In Nevada, that amounts to 18 or more days a year, depending on the number of mandatory school days in each district.

According to the nonprofit initiative Attendance Works, 160,000 students were chronically absent in Nevada during the 2020-21 school year. Granted, that was a bad year to measure absenteeism. Before the pandemic, in excess of 100,000 students were chronically absent — one in five students overall.

The survey summary went on to report, “For both reading and mathematics, students with fewer missed school days generally had higher average scores in 2023 than students with more missed school days.” This is quite the understatement.

In 2019, the Nevada Department of Education reported that eighth grade math proficiency rates were threefold higher when comparing students who were not chronically absent to those who were. The proficiency rates in English language arts (reading) were more than twice as high for those not chronically absent compared to those that were.

With a lack of funding in Nevada no longer an excuse thanks to the record K-12 budget authorized by the 2023 Legislature, extraordinary efforts are needed to lower chronic absenteeism and improve the math and reading skills of young students, especially those most prone to low performance.  As it continues to pile up, the evidence is indisputable.

Michael Raponi is a contributing columnist to The Nevada Independent. He may be contacted at [email protected]