Less than two weeks after the 2024 NAEP scores were released — showing continued declines in reading and stagnation in math — the latest Education Recovery Scorecard was released, bearing similar news. The report, produced by the Center for Education Policy at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, found US students to be behind by half a grade level in both math and reading on average, with low-income districts nearly four times less likely to have recovered than high-income districts. “It’s not just that students are failing to catch up,” said Tom Kane, one of the report’s authors. “But that students are continuing to fall behind.”
Like the NAEP results, the latest scorecard paints a disappointing picture of student recovery since the pandemic. But, the report does highlight “pockets of success” at the district level, where students exceeded math and/or reading achievement levels from 2019. These included: Ector County Independent School District (Odessa, TX); Union City Public Schools (Union City, NJ); Compton Unified School District (Compton, CA); Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (Monterey, CA); Maury County Public Schools (Columbia, TN); Natchitoches Parish School District (Natchitoches, LA); DeKalb County School District (Rainsville, AL); District of Columbia Public Schools (Washington, DC); and Birmingham City Schools (Birmingham, AL).
A “District Success Stories” tab highlights profiles and success strategies for each. But here are some global takeaways from all nine:
- Six districts of the nine districts profiled highlighted tutoring in some form as part of their success strategies, with four specifically calling out “high dosage” or “high impact tutoring” and another mentioning 1:1 tutoring. The sixth district mentioned tutoring as part of a broader effort to increase instructional time.
- Another six highlighted investments in teachers, including creating or investing in new teacher pipelines and opportunities for professional development in areas like data analysis to inform classroom instructional decisions (see #3). For example, Ector County ISD partnered with local colleges and universities to bolster teacher preparation programs, as well as offering fully-paid one- year teacher residency programs and ongoing professional development and opportunities for mentorship with other teachers in the district.
- Five districts highlighted their utilization of student data to make decisions, such as around targeted support for specific student needs and identifying students in clearest need of tutoring. For example, in the Compton Unified School District, teachers were given professional development opportunities to teach them to use data to inform classroom instructional decisions, and ongoing data analysis was encouraged (for example, using tests from the state’s interim assessment bank to regularly check-in on student progress, and from there identify knowledge gaps and adjust lessons accordingly).
- Four districts highlighted the use of high-quality curricula and instructional materials, including high-quality literacy materials grounded in the science of reading (in the Natchitoches Parish school district) or “high-quality math materials as identified by the state review process,” which districts (including Dekalb) are required to adopt in Alabama. On NAEP, Alabama was the only state where 4th grade math scores that were statistically significantly improved over 2019.
While NAEP and the latest Recovery Scorecard show there is still much to be done, our hope with focusing on the district success profiles was to highlight some of what has worked, which in turn might help other leaders as well.
