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At the onset of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, the youngest among us were either newborns or yet to come into the world. Now, as these children embark on their early educational journeys, researchers are beginning to unravel the impact those tumultuous years have had on their schooling, even though many had not yet entered a classroom when the pandemic hit.
A report released Tuesday by NWEA, an educational assessment and research organization, reveals that first and second graders today are not scoring as well in math and reading as children did before the pandemic. While math scores have shown a slow but steady improvement each year, reading scores have remained stubbornly flat. This data suggests that the decline in academic performance is not solely due to interruptions in teaching; it hints at more profound societal changes.
“In the struggle these young students face to catch up, there seems to be a systemic issue occurring both inside and outside of schools,” noted Megan Kuhfeld, a researcher at NWEA. “We can’t attribute it to just one factor.”
The challenges faced by older students during the pandemic are well-documented. COVID-19 pushed students out of traditional classrooms and into online learning, depriving them of direct interaction with teachers. The isolation took a toll on their mental health, while some families faced severe hardships. As a result, many students stopped attending school altogether.
In an effort to bridge these educational gaps, the federal government allocated billions of dollars to school districts, aiming to help students catch up, with varying degrees of success. Notably, the National Assessment of Educational Progress highlighted a continued decline in reading scores for fourth and eighth graders in 2024, whereas math scores have seen an upward trend.
Testing for younger kids is less common, so the NWEA report offers insights into the depth of the academic disruption. It’s based on assessments given to students in the 2024-25 school year.
Kindergarten scores for math and science remained roughly the same throughout the pandemic. First and second graders are trending in the same way as their older peers. Math and reading scores are still falling short of pre-pandemic levels, although math scores are slowly rising. Reading scores have remained roughly the same since the spring of 2021, when the first full school year in the pandemic was wrapping up.
It’s unclear what is depressing the scores. Kuhfeld pointed to emerging data showing that fewer parents are reading to their children, an activity that has been shown to boost literacy. A 2024 survey of parents in the United Kingdom found that less than half of children under 5 were regularly read to, a 20-point drop from a dozen years prior.
In Minnetonka Public Schools outside Minneapolis, school leaders say that while reading scores dipped during the pandemic, they have since recovered. Teachers now focus more on phonics and also regularly assess students on literacy. Students who are behind receive extra help on the parts of reading where they struggle. A student who has difficulty reading aloud might be asked to read to one of their classmates, for example.
But some things are out of the district’s control. During the pandemic, Associate Superintendent Amy LaDue said, many young children were homebound. They missed out on activities like going to museums and playing with other children, which are helpful for language and literacy development. She believes that’s one factor that continues to hamper kids, especially those from low-income families.
“These kids weren’t in school when the pandemic happened, but (some) were … in early childhood and preschool,” LaDue said. “Their opportunities … to have those experiences outside of their home that build literacy skills and to apply them with peers probably were impacted because they were home.”
Along with interventions at school, a growing number of states and cities are investing in pre-kindergarten to help children with early literacy. California has introduced universal pre-kindergarten, and New York City is expanding its pre-kindergarten program to 2-year-olds, giving toddlers an early start on learning. New Mexico has made child care free for nearly all families.
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