National study shows WS/FCS students lost a year of math learning in the pandemic

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County students had the highest learning loss in the state during the pandemic, according to a study by Harvard and Stanford University researchers.

The project, called The Education Recovery Scorecard, uses 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress results and district proficiency rates to compare learning loss across the country.  

The study shows that North Carolina students have lost just over six months of math learning statewide, but individual districts vary. 

Thomas Kane, the faculty director for Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research, says there were greater losses in high-poverty districts. That could be for a variety of reasons, some not related to the schools, such as access to a stable internet connection and parents’ professions.

“Higher income families tended to have jobs where they could work remotely,” Kane said. “Whereas other families would have had to go into work or lose their job. And so that means there were fewer adults at home, who could supervise on-screen learning.”

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is shown to have the highest amount of math learning loss in the state, with the equivalent of a full year. The loss for Guilford County Schools, which has a similar proportion of students on free or reduced lunch, was closer to half a year. But just a few hours away in Richmond, VA, students lost the equivalent of almost two years. 

Kane and other researchers are looking into different factors’ impacts on the losses. But for now, he says districts need to focus on learning recovery efforts.

“It may not have been due to anything that happened inside school buildings or by school personnel, and yet the students lost, you know, almost twice as much as the kids in Guilford County,” Kane said of WS/FCS students. “So folks around Forsyth County need to see this as, you know, a collective obligation to help kids catch up.”

To reverse a year’s worth of losses, Kane calculated that it would take two years of the district providing tutors to 10% of students three times a week. It would also need to enroll 30% of students in two or more math courses a day, and 70% of students in summer school. He says the district would need to extend the academic year by two and a half weeks too. 

“Now that the magnitude of the losses are clear, our hope is that districts will revisit their plans and scale up, you know, for the places like Forsyth County that saw big declines, to scale up their academic recovery efforts, especially increasing instructional time,” Kane said. “And the place to start is this summer.”

Otherwise, Kane warns that the setbacks could become permanent.

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.