NC schools haven’t recovered yet from pandemic. But 3rd-grade reading is a bright spot.
North Carolina elementary schools are doing a better job than middle schools in recovering from the pandemic, according to a new state report released Wednesday.
The state Department of Public Instruction report shows that most North Carolina public schools are showing progress on state exams in the past two years but are still performing below where they should be.
But a bright spot in the report being presented to the State Board of Education is that elementary schools are closer to full post-pandemic academic recovery, particularly in reading.
State leaders say the slower recovery in middle schools shows a need for targeted programs to help older students recover from pandemic learning loss.
“Our continued improvement as identified in this report is a testament to the commitment and diligence of educators across North Carolina and a result of what can be done when there is intentionality in strategically implementing programming to support students who were most affected by the pandemic,” State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said in a news release.
“This report provides the information we need to continue designing academic programming in subjects where students need additional support while allowing us to better target resources to specific grades and content areas.”
New way of calculating recovery
Academic performance dropped sharply statewide and nationally after schools switched to online instruction during the end of the 2019-20 school year and most of the 2020-21 school year.
Proficiency rates have dropped so much that the State Board of Education could vote in March to amend its plan for complying with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The state could use the 2021-22 school year instead of 2015-16 school year as the baseline for evaluating student performance goals over time.
The state has been working with SAS Institute to quantify how far behind students have fallen and what it will take to declare that they’ve fully recovered from pandemic learning loss.
DPI is using a new way to define recovery by assessing where test scores are now compared to what they would have been if pre-pandemic achievement trends had continued. DPI says this is a more “robust” way to assess how schools are recovering.
The change, DPI officials say, will let them evaluate trends in average results for specific tests over time instead of creating pre-pandemic expectations for individual students.
The new report compares achievement in state reading, math and science exams to both the 2013-19 and the 2017-19 time periods. The achievement rate on exams was largely flat during 2013-19.
Achievement is still largely behind where schools should be in both yardsticks, particularly in math.
With the exception of the English II end-of-course exam given to high school students, the majority of schools saw improvement between 2021 and 2023 in their state exams. For instance, 95% of elementary schools saw an improvement in their third-grade reading and math exams over those two years.
Despite the improvements, most schools still haven’t met the threshold for post-pandemic academic recovery on their various state exams. The English II exam was the only one where the majority of schools met academic recovery thresholds under both the 2017-19 and 2013-19 yardsticks.
Early literacy gains
DPI says the report shows educators should celebrate the gains shown in early grades literacy and elementary school math.
DPI says last year’s state’s third-grade reading end-of-grade reading exam showed achievement was higher than it would have been if the 2013-19 achievement trend had continued. By that metric, nearly 60% of elementary schools met the academic recovery threshold for third-grade reading.
“Third-grade reading is certainly a bright spot,” John White, vice president of SAS EVAAS, told the state board. “That certainly a very positive story.”
Performance on fourth- and fifth-grade reading and math in third- through fifth-grades still have not recovered compared to pre-pandemic achievement trends. But the gap is smaller, for the most part, than in middle schools.
Since 2021, North Carolina has spent $114 million in retraining elementary school teachers how to teach literacy skills.
Under LETRS, which stands for “Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling,” teachers are taught to stress phonics when teaching students how to read. The state’s 44,000 elementary teachers have to complete the 160 hours of LETRS training this year.
Only 48% of third-grade students passed the state end-of-grade reading exam last year. But state leaders say they expect it to rise over time, with more students being taught with LETRS from an early age.
Middle school struggles
The path to academic recovery appears to be harder for middle schools.
State math and reading exam achievement for sixth- through eighth-graders have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. In some cases, DPI categorizes those grade levels as statistically having some of the largest gaps to overcome to achieve academic recovery.
For sixth- and seventh-grade, fewer than 20% of middle schools met academic recovery thresholds.
State board chair Eric Davis urged his colleagues not to feel overwhelmed by the deep challenges they face to help students recover.
“I know that honestly facing these brutal realities has the potential to manifest within us feelings of dejection and of being overwhelmed,” Davis said. “But let’s find strength in remembering that those who came before us faced even greater challenges and they instilled in us the spirit to overcome and to leave this a better place for future generations.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "NC schools haven’t recovered yet from pandemic. But 3rd-grade reading is a bright spot.."
