There is new evidence of how significantly the COVID-19 pandemic impacted learning loss in the classroom for students.

Those impacts — declines in reading and math scores in a majority of states — were noted in the release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or The Nation's Report Card.

The report compared math and reading test scores in the fourth and eighth grades pre-pandemic in 2019 and post-pandemic this year.

In eighth grade, every state except Utah showed math test score declines. More than three dozen saw similar declines in the fourth grade.

In the fourth grade, a majority of states saw declines in reading test scores.

"I don't make this statement lightly because these aren't the kind of data that I would normally attribute cause and effect to," said Peggy Carr, commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics. "But, it is very clear what we're looking at now is unprecedented disruption in the lives of everyone, including students, their academic careers, ya know, really pushed off-kilter, really knocked off rack. It is because of the pandemic."

Moving forward, Carr said school systems need to use this data to do a "reset" and refocus on learning and tutoring programs, as well as social and emotional mental health services for students.

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PLEASANT VIEW, Tn. — Dana Wallace believes in the power of her profession.

"Whether there had been a pandemic or not, teachers are rock stars and we're gonna take them from where they are to where they need to be," she said.

She’s been an elementary teacher for close to two decades, but for this school year, she’s taking on a new challenge: tutoring to combat covid-era learning loss.

"It definitely affected their academics but affected them socially too, and I look at my position as the cherry on top—that I just get to love on these kids and give them one more person to be their cheerleader," said Wallace.

This kind of tutoring isn’t the afterschool tutoring we might have endured years ago; this is high-dosage or high-impact tutoring as part of her state’s strategy to help kids bounce back. For 45 minutes, in small groups during the school day, she helps 42 kids throughout the week bridge gaps in their understanding of their classroom curriculum.

Last week, the National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP, released numbers that showed just how much students’ skills suffered since 2019. Math scores dropped 5 and 8 points in fourth and eighth grade respectively, the lowest since the early 2000s. Reading scores dropped by 3 points.

Kevin Huffman is the former education commissioner for the state of Tennessee and the current CEO of Accelerate, a new national initiative to help school districts across America integrate high-impact tutoring in their lesson plans through grants and research.

"A lot of districts are saying, 'We want to do tutoring. We know that it works. We've read the research.' But the challenge of finding the people to deliver," said Huffman.

While there’s no hard data yet to see how intensive tutoring has helped students post-COVID learning loss, years of studies on the positive impact tutoring has on student success has led to some states—like Tennessee Colorado, Texas, Lousiana and New Mexico— using some of their portion of the billions allocated through ARPA funding to invest in tutoring efforts.

Dana Wallace’s state of Tennessee, for example, is matching funds for school districts that decide to integrate tutoring. Tutoring works— the challenge is figuring out how to make it happen on a larger scale to fit the need.

"All districts across the country have federal stimulus money, and so they've got resources right now to deliver tutoring. price is not the barrier right now," he said. "So, we have a window right now to experiment, learn, try to figure out how to do this in a way that is more cost-effective, but hopefully still delivers results."

While the national scores are alarming, those working on helping students say that parents should have confidence in the people behind the efforts to help their kids get back on track.

"Every person is working our tails off for these students, not because of that score that came out, just because that's our heart and that's what we want to do is help them do their very best," said Wallace.

Pandemic-related learning loss will cost our children $17 trillion in lifetime income, according to a U.N.-backed report released in December 2021.

"A mounting body of evidence confirms that learning losses as a result of COVID-19 school closures are real," the report said.

In the U.S., the most significant impact is on young children.

The report found 30% of Texas third-graders tested at or above grade level for math in 2021, compared to 48% in 2019. Similar learning losses were reported in more than a half-dozen other states.

"We're concerned if we don't catch up," said Dr. Pamela Davis-Kean, a research professor at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. "If we don't overcome some of this, there are groups of people who probably will not be in the economic situation that they might have been in two years ago."

Davis-Kean said the abrupt shift to remote learning in spring 2020 had a negative impact on students and parents.

"Education, since the Industrial Revolution, has been in the institution of schooling. We moved it back to the home," Davis-Kean said. "The parents were the ones who had to make sure to connect the kids. They had to have the resources in the home to connect the kids."

Parents and legislators alike are eager to close the learning gap.

The American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed in early 2021, included $122 billion in funding for schools.

At least 20% of the money had to be spent "to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive afterschool programs, or extended school year programs," according to a U.S. Dept. of Education fact sheet.

"Education is something we can always do something about," Davis-Kean said. "We can always teach, and kids will always learn. We just have to make sure that we have the opportunities to do that."

Most districts are already investing in programs to help children overcome learning loss.

A Bloomberg analysis in November 2021 found more than half of school districts that received stimulus money had set some aside for summer learning. About a third set aside money for tutoring.

However, that means many districts did not set aside extra funding for programs designed to fight learning loss.

Over the long term, the decision could put children at a disadvantage.

"People can argue about it, but education is generally the thing that opens up the door to higher-earning occupations," Davis-Kean said. "Once you change that in one generation, it opens up a door for the next generation."

As Cincinnati Public Schools welcomed back nearly 36,000 students to their classrooms Thursday, district officials said they're making an extra effort to address potential learning loss that might have resulted with some students due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Noting one way the district is working proactively to address any slide in preparedness among students, Amat said, "We got a great start on it with our Summer Scholars program. So we had students come in for a month. So we started building those relationships and monitoring where they were academically, taking that knowledge and building forward."

The district also hired 45 reading specialists, citing literacy as the primary need among students catching up, along with additional social workers.

"We hired more social workers to help with those wrap-around services for our students and families," Amat said. "We want to hit it from both ends, making sure we’re taking care of the heart and mind."

Amat began the first day of school with reading in mind. She sat and read with first-graders at Rothenberg Preparatory Academy in Over-the-Rhine, where Alena Smith is principal. Smith said students being back in the classroom is a refreshing return to some semblance of routine, but the challenges need that proactive approach.

"It feels good to have a certain level of normalcy," she said. "We focus a lot on safety, so ensuring that our students still understand the expectations and the procedures. We're being very intentional. We'll have our bi-weekly data meeting where we are meeting with every teacher. We're identifying what strategies they're putting in place."