Academic Achievement and Pandemic Recovery: Update from Fall Third Grade ELA Assessments

This report examines student performance on the Ohio fall 2021 third grade English language arts (ELA) assessment, covering the second cohort of third graders tested since the beginning of the pandemic. Average achievement on this exam continued to be significantly lower in fall 2021 compared to fall 2019 (the pre-pandemic baseline), representing a gap equal to between 1 and 1.5 months of learning. However, this gap has also shrunk substantially from fall 2020. African American students and students attending districts that spent most of the 2020-21 school year in virtual learning continue to see the largest achievement shortfalls compared to their pre-pandemic performance.