Academic Achievement and Pandemic Recovery in Ohio

Student performance on the spring 2022 Ohio State Tests showed some significant improvements compared to one year earlier. However, the recovery has been most pronounced in English/language arts (ELA), where there is evidence of meaningful learning acceleration, and in lower grades. Although the ELA gains have been broad-based, they have not eliminated the achievement gaps that were exacerbated during the first year of the pandemic. Overall, ELA achievement remains between one-third and two-thirds of a year’s worth of learning lower than in the pre-pandemic period, depending on the grade. If the current pace of recovery can be sustained, ELA achievement could return to pre-pandemic levels within the next two to three years in most grades. By contrast, math achievement levels remain between one-half and a whole year’s worth of learning lower and if the current pace of recovery in math persists, it will take considerably longer for achievement to recover to pre-pandemic levels. In third-grade ELA, the only grade and subject where most students are tested twice during the academic year, there is no evidence that students learning grew at a faster pace during the 2021-22 school year. Although achievement increased substantially between the fall and spring assessments in this grade and spring 2022 scores were considerably higher than among the prior year’s third-grade cohort, the growth recorded during the academic year was somewhat lower than in the pre-pandemic period, suggesting that at least some of the observed gains since spring 2021 may be due to expanded summer services and programming.