Post COVID-19 Test Score Recovery: Initial Evidence from State Testing Data

Clare Halloran, Claire E. Hug, Rebecca Jack and Emily Oster

No 31113, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruption in schooling in the U.S., and student test scores showed dramatic declines by the end of the 2020-21 school year. We use state test score data to analyze patterns of test score recovery over the 2021-22 school year. On average, we find that 20% of test score losses are recovered in English language arts (ELA) by 2022, compared to 37% in math. These recovery rates do not significantly vary across demographic characteristics, baseline achievement rates, in-person schooling rates in the pandemic school year, or category-based measures of recovery funding allocations. We observe large state-level variation in recovery rates in ELA – from full recovery to further losses. This evidence suggests state-level factors play an important role in students' academic recovery, but we are unable to isolate particular state factors. Future work should focus on this variation to facilitate a broader recovery effort.

JEL-codes: I19 I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
Note: CH ED EH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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