An unsettling trend has been revealed in the wake of the pandemic's impact on education, with students in Oregon and New Jersey struggling to bounce back academically. In Oregon, analysis by The New York Times has indicated that not only have elementary and middle-schoolers' test scores in reading and math failed to improve, but they've continued to decline, even with kids back in the classroom. According to researchers from Stanford and Harvard, Oregon is unique in this continued downturn, raising concern over the long-term effects of extended school closures.
The situation in New Jersey isn't looking much better. A report flagged by NJ.com indicates that it may take until the 2026-7 school year for the state's students to get back to 2019 achievement levels in math. Kids have managed to only recoup about half of their reading losses, poised to hit 2019 levels this spring. However, they remain significantly behind in math. The Stanford-Harvard collaboration, known as the Education Recovery Scorecard, reveals that from 2019 through 2022, New Jersey students lost nearly a full grade in math and over a third of a grade in reading.
In-depth data about individual district performances, provided by The New York Times, shows that recovery has been highly inconsistent across the country. While certain districts are now exceeding their 2019 test scores, many others are struggling to reach pre-pandemic levels. Disparities are stark, with richer districts and areas like Lake Oswego in Oregon seeing greater improvements compared to places like Hillsboro and Salem-Keizer, which lag dramatically behind in math.
Concerns are mounting as tight patterns between socioeconomic status and educational recovery become evident. "No one wants to leave poor kids footing the bill,” Thomas Kane from the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard succinctly put it, according to NJ.com. In New Jersey, achievement gaps in wealthy versus poor districts not only widened but also between white students and Black and Hispanic students, increasing by a third of a grade level in math during the pandemic years.
