It will take systemic changes to K-12 schools to get students back on track after the historic academic losses brought on by the pandemic, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a speech to educators Wednesday.
His comments came as the U.S. Department of Education kicked off a five-month series of sessions aimed at equipping schools with the strategies and resources to improve student literacy and math performance. The first session followed this week鈥檚 release of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which showed the biggest drop in math and reading performance among 4th and 8th graders since the 1990s.
鈥淭he achievement gaps that have been a stain on our education system are even worse today than they were three years ago,鈥� Cardona said. 鈥淭hese results should surprise no one and alarm everyone. They鈥檙e appalling and unacceptable.鈥�
During the session, Cardona was joined by panel members from all levels of the education system, including state education leaders, district superintendents, principals, teachers, and students as well as education researchers like Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, the agency that administers the NAEP.
All panelists at the event used the opportunity to urge systemic changes to schooling, with many pointing out that the gaps brought on by the pandemic are only a symptom of chronic challenges in public education.
鈥淲e must resist the temptation to return to systems that were not serving our students well,鈥� Cardona said. 鈥淲e must fight complacency with the same urgency we fought COVID for the last few years.鈥�
Looking at the context of NAEP
Carr, who sat on a panel about leveraging research to boost pandemic recovery, said concerns over student achievement have been brewing since 2017 when students scoring at the lowest levels were not making the gains needed to close gaps between them and the highest-performing students.
Reading scores among 4th and 8th graders declined again in 2019, she said, raising alarms. Once the pandemic hit, those declines were exacerbated by other factors including students鈥� deteriorating mental health, increased bullying, and absenteeism, Carr said.
鈥淧eople need to understand that going back to normal isn鈥檛 recovery for a lot of us because we need to do better than that,鈥� Carr said. 鈥淲e can do better than that.鈥�
Carr also clarified that it鈥檚 not just students of color whose scores have dropped, but students of all races and economic backgrounds.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the other person鈥檚 problem,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing now is the higher performers that were flourishing before the pandemic, well, they鈥檙e decreasing too.鈥�
Schools have to commit to evidence-based strategies that will address chronic absenteeism, create intentional instructional time, and keep students engaged in learning, said Phyllis Jordan, associate director of FutureEd, an education research center based out of Georgetown University.
鈥淭hese evidence-based practices are focused on more time ... but we also need to make sure we鈥檙e making that time matter,鈥� Jordan said. 鈥淲hen kids are back in the classroom when they鈥檙e being tutored, they have to have stronger curriculum in reading, in math; they鈥檝e got to have a school climate where they feel welcome, safe, and respected and where their mental health needs are met.鈥�
A call to fund proven solutions
Throughout the event, panelists pointed to many of what they called proven solutions to faltering academics, including high-dosage tutoring, grow-your-own programs to combat staffing shortages, and individualized interventions for students.
Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, described how his district started an equity index, which allocates funding to schools with higher levels of need based on the academic and demographic profiles of students. The index also looks at other indicators that impact academic performance, such as the school鈥檚 level of poverty, absenteeism rates, the percentage of students with disabilities, and the percentage of English learners. That approach has allowed the school district to gain points in reading and math for both 4th and 8th graders on NAEP in 2022, Carvalho said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e no longer in this country, in a position where there鈥檚 a lack of skill set,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e know exactly what works. What lacks often is a 鈥榳ill set.鈥欌��
Cardona also pointed to many of those proven strategies as a necessary response to the NAEP scores and urged school and district leaders to avoid putting 鈥渢echnical Band-Aids on big problems.鈥�
But many of the academic recovery strategies that work require funding and resources that school and district leaders don鈥檛 have access to. Recent research indicates that schools will need $500 billion more than the $190 billion already sent to schools through the American Rescue Plan to address the academic losses brought on by the pandemic.
Cardona also used his speech as an opportunity to call on state and local leaders to increase funding for schools鈥攁nd to build on the massive infusion of cash the federal government has given school districts to address the effects of the pandemic.
鈥淭he American Rescue Plan is a down payment on the transformational changes needed in our schools,鈥� he said.
Additional sessions in the Education Department鈥檚 鈥淩aising the Bar: Literacy & Math Series to Address Academic Recovery鈥� will take place once a month on Nov. 10, Dec. 8, Jan. 12, and Feb. 9.
