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.
