The average American student remains half a grade level behind pre-pandemic levels of achievement in both reading and math. That's according to the Education Recovery Scorecard, an analysis of state and national test scores by researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth. The scorecard gives the most comprehensive picture of how American students are performing after the pandemic. It's based on tests taken by students in Spring 2024. By then, the worst of the pandemic was long past, but schools were dealing still with a mental health crisis and high rates of absenteeism. In reading, especially, students are even further behind than they were in 2022, the analysis shows.
