Yesterday the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) released its 2024 State of the American Student report, which builds on two previous annual reports that measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student academic performance and well-being and highlights challenges experienced by special student populations. The report calls on schools, policymakers, advocates, and philanthropists to enact systemic reforms that would benefit all students. 

The average U.S. student, says CRPE, has recovered about a third of their losses in math and a quarter in reading, according to a 30-state analysis by Stanford, Harvard, and Dartmouth researchers who used 2022-2023 state standardized test results, with adjustments for differences in how states define “proficiency.”

From the report:

“Our analysis points to a dysfunctional system that served these students badly before the pandemic hit and remains inadequate.”

While some of those thirty states studied show relatively strong recovery, New Jersey students currently have the fourth largest amount of learning loss in math in the country and the fourteenth largest loss in reading.*

Across the nation, younger students are not catching up, chronic absenteeism remains a major challenge, and the effects of the pandemic on learning are disproportionately affecting students with disabilities, English learners, and homeless students. CRPE’s researchers conclude the system that served special populations poorly before the pandemic hasn’t markedly improved.

CRPE Director Robin Lake said, “Parents are upset that schools are putting their kids into programs that are not meeting their needs. These students are being labeled and put into a box with no expectations for improvement. We have to tear down those walls and start making individualized support for these students. We are once again sounding a warning bell for systematic reform. We must reinvent how we think about public education—from more flexible school models and staffing to using AI and real-time student achievement data to improve results.”

This disappointing landscape is further compounded by widening achievement gaps, the teen mental health crisis (and inadequate mental health support), low teacher morale, the expiration of federal pandemic recovery funds, and the impending threat of closure faced by thousands of schools. Few elected officials, the report says, are talking honestly about these challenges or making it possible for the public to get a clear picture of the crisis. In a companion report examining all 50 state report cards, CRPE found that only seven states made it easy for the average parent or user to compare pre- and post-pandemic performance data at the school level. New Jersey’s state report cards gets a “C.” 

“The evidence points to another lost generation of students,” CRPE says, “unless schools do more of what works, leaders talk more honestly about the challenges, and advocates and philanthropists support more flexible and innovative solutions. Among the recommendations are:

Schools and school systems should: better prioritize relationships with parents; become more flexible in staffing and scheduling; and help students begin planning sooner for life after high school.

Policymakers, advocates, and philanthropists should: shine a light on the urgent needs of special populations; strengthen report cards to provide a more honest picture of student performance; tap new sources of talent (such as community groups, afterschool programs,  parents, and college students); offer guidance on using AI and other technologies; and be willing to place power and opportunity directly in the hands of families.

Unless states are willing to undertake “immediate” and “radical” solutions, CRPE warns, students will not get the support they need.

*This is a correction: We originally said NJ students had the fourth largest learning loss in math among all states.. It is the fourth largest among the 30 states surveyed as noted on pages 10- 11 of the Stanford, Harvard, Dartmouth analysis.