School leaders say 40 percent of students are behind their grade level

(Center Square) – According to a federal survey of school leaders, 40 percent of the nation’s public school students were behind grade level in one or more subjects at the start of the school year.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) announced findings this week that the percentage of students school leaders predicted to be behind where they should be fell 7 percent from the 2022-23 school year , but still 8% higher than before the pandemic.

School leaders told the federal Education Statistics Agency in October that more than a third of students were late entering the 2024-25 school year. NCES data shows students are further behind than before state and local governments closed schools during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Before the pandemic, school leaders estimated that 32 percent of students were behind grade level in at least one area. In 2021-22 it increased to 45%, and in the 2022-23 school year it reached 47%.

The data shows that school leaders were more likely to say that students from low-income families and schools where the population was 76 percent or more black students were behind, with 52 percent of students estimated to be behind from where it should be.

School leaders in cities and schools with fewer than 300 students reported that 48 percent of students were falling behind academically.

The data follows broader data on student academic achievement and other metrics showing that the effects of the pandemic shutdown have not been equitable for minority students, who have experienced more significant declines in academic performance.

The survey also found that students are more likely to be estimated to be behind in certain areas of study.

“Ninety-eight percent of public schools reported that at least some students were behind in math and English or language arts,” NCES said in its findings.

School leaders said 76 percent of students were behind in science and 55 percent were behind in social studies.

• This story was originally published at Chalkboard News, a K-12 news site that, like The Center Square, is also published by the Franklin News Foundation.