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Some students who have disengaged from school altogether may have slipped backward, losing knowledge or skills they once had. This was a uniquely challenging year for teachers and students, and it is no surprise that it has left its mark-on student learning, and on student well-being.Īs we analyze the cost of the pandemic, we use the term “unfinished learning” to capture the reality that students were not given the opportunity this year to complete all the learning they would have completed in a typical year. Students faced multiple schedule changes, were assigned new teachers midyear, and struggled with glitchy internet connections and Zoom fatigue. In the interim, districts oscillated among virtual, hybrid, and in-person learning as they balanced the need to keep students and staff safe with the need to provide an effective learning environment.
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By the end of the year, more than 98 percent of students had access to some form of in-person learning, from the traditional five days a week to hybrid models. What have we learned about unfinished learning?Īs the 2020–21 school year began, just 40 percent of K–12 students were in districts that offered any in-person instruction.
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Across all of these priorities it will be critical to take a holistic approach, listening to students and parents and designing programs that meet academic and nonacademic needs alike. The immediate imperative is to not only reopen schools and recover unfinished learning but also reimagine education systems for the long term. Although it is too early to fully assess the effectiveness of postpandemic solutions to unfinished learning, the scope of action is already clear. They can ensure rigorous implementation of evidence-based initiatives, while also piloting and tracking the impact of innovative new approaches. States and districts have a critical role to play in marshaling that funding into sustainable programs that improve student outcomes. The deep-rooted challenges in our school systems predate the pandemic and have resisted many reform efforts. The impact on the US economy could amount to $128 billion to $188 billion every year as this cohort enters the workforce.įederal funds are in place to help states and districts respond, though funding is only part of the answer. Our analysis suggests that, unless steps are taken to address unfinished learning, today’s students may earn $49,000 to $61,000 less over their lifetime owing to the impact of the pandemic on their schooling. The ripple effects may undermine their chances of attending college and ultimately finding a fulfilling job that enables them to support a family. The fallout from the pandemic threatens to depress this generation’s prospects and constrict their opportunities far into adulthood. And the crisis had an impact on not just academics but also the broader health and well-being of students, with more than 35 percent of parents very or extremely concerned about their children’s mental health. High schoolers have become more likely to drop out of school, and high school seniors, especially those from low-income families, are less likely to go on to postsecondary education. In math, students in majority Black schools ended the year with six months of unfinished learning, students in low-income schools with seven. The pandemic widened preexisting opportunity and achievement gaps, hitting historically disadvantaged students hardest. Our analysis shows that the impact of the pandemic on K–12 student learning was significant, leaving students on average five months behind in mathematics and four months behind in reading by the end of the school year.