The pandemic may be fading as a public health crisis, but it is still having a negative effect on student achievement in Connecticut.
State officials released new data Thursday that show Connecticut student achievement is still below pre-pandemic levels. And even though there is some room for optimism, it’s hard to ignore this: Last year’s test data is lower than the three most recent pre-pandemic years, and that’s true for students across the board – those with high needs and those without.
Specifically, the state estimates that students in fourth and fifth grades may be two to three months behind where they would have been had there not been a pandemic. Middle schoolers may be five to seven months behind in English language arts and a year or more behind in math.
“The results show signs of learning acceleration and recovery, however, student achievement still lags the pre-pandemic level,” state Education Commissioner Charlene M. Russell-Tucker said at a news conference Thursday. “We all know that 2021-22 was still far from a normal school year. Student and staff illnesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting quarantines and isolations continued to cause significant learning disruptions.”
The statewide testing indicators show a drop of roughly 6 to 8 percentage points in English language arts and math and around 4 percentage points in science. The state data also show that students identifying as Asian and white had higher test scores than their Black and Hispanic peers.
Ajit Gopalakrishnan, the department’s chief performance officer, said the state tracks two things — achievement and the pace of learning.
“In ’21-22, what we see is the achievement really lags, as the commissioner mentioned, the pre-pandemic years,” he said. “So, we still have a lot of work to do. But there are definitely signs of recovery and acceleration.”
If there is good news, it’s that the pace of student learning increased last year.
The data show that math test scores in most grades grew slightly faster than they did a few years back. But the rate of growth will have to accelerate significantly if the gaps in achievement are to be closed.
The state highlighted various projects to improve testing results, from funding to curriculum to staff training. It also highlighted districts that are holding their own. Nate Quesnel, East Hartford’s school superintendent, said a big factor is the mindset of the educators on the ground.
“We look at this data, this data tells us that that is what’s going to be needed to continue to lift up the future of these kids,” he said.
