Only one in three children in the United States are meeting reading standards in fourth grade, only one in four eighth graders are proficient in math and post-pandemic student absence has skyrocketed according to the 35th edition of our annual signature publication, the KIDS COUNT Data Book. As a result, too few children are emerging from our high schools ready to earn because they are not arriving at the schoolhouse door ready to learn.
When our educational and economic foundations are this fragile, it should be everyone’s concern because the stakes are high. According to one estimate, up to $31 trillion in U.S. Economic activity hinges on addressing pandemic-era backsliding alone. As of early summer, states had more than $40 billion in federal funding available to help address this crisis. Now, they have just a few weeks to tap it before it disappears.
Jobs that pay well in fields that are growing quickly—from software developers to advanced machinery mechanics—will only be open to capable jobseekers. Not all of these careers require advanced degrees or even a bachelor’s degree, but they do require skills that too few students in America are acquiring.
How did we get here?
For decades, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and our many partners have sounded the alarm that America is not equipping kids to learn and succeed. There are multiple related factors that would improve the situation, such as insuring schools use evidence-based approaches to teach reading and recruit and retain great teachers, but no pedagogy will work if students are not in school. Unfortunately, chronic absence—when a student misses 10 or more days during an academic year for any reason—is a key contributor to the low literacy and numeracy skills reflected in the data.
The number of chronically absent students almost doubled from 2018–19, the final full school year before the pandemic. Nationally, 30% of all students, nearly 15 million kids, were chronically absent during the 2021–22 school year, when in-person learning mostly resumed. Though the problem pre-dates COVID-19, the pandemic broke down social norms, including the daily routine of families, making it more difficult to get kids to the bus stop on time. A missed bus could mean missed school when parents must get to work or might already be there. Shifting advice from doctors and school systems has made it difficult for parents to know when to keep kids home to avoid the spread of illness.
We must reverse these trends. All kids benefit from being in school, especially those who are living in poverty, have experienced trauma, or are facing other challenges. Many children receive two meals a day at school and have access not only to tutoring, technology, and mental health services but build nurturing relationships with the adults providing them.
Urgent needs
The need to act is urgent. The latest data come from children who were fourth and eighth graders in 2021–22. We are coming up short for these kids if they graduate from high school ill-equipped to succeed in college or jobs.
But there is reason to have hope. There is still time to access an important funding source that could jump-start new initiatives or sustain existing endeavors to help these children. By Sept. 30 of this year, states must draw down funding from the $190 billion federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program authorized by several pandemic-era relief bills. There is a lot of money left.
States are using these funds to prioritize the social, emotional, and physical well-being of students in ways that are aimed at improving academic achievement. At least 16 states have launched tutoring programs ranging from a new program in Louisiana that will serve eight school districts to a math-specific tutoring corps in Maryland to a $140 million statewide initiative in Tennessee. These efforts align with research that has shown the most effective tutoring is in-person, high-dosage, and tied directly to the school. It is still possible for these programs to help students catch up.
Community schools are another way to help get kids back on track. These public schools are a natural home for support to children and their families, helping them access tutoring, mental health support, nutritional aid, and other services. Early research has shown that they helped meet families’ basic needs and strengthened families’ support systems during the COVID-19 period.
These are just two examples of what can be done. Officials have the opportunity to use ESSER funding creatively to support students and families—but only if the states act before the Sept. 30 deadline. We must do more to help kids overcome the setbacks that have delayed and derailed their learning. The future of millions of young people and the enduring strength of the American economy are at stake.
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