Today, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) announced the results from the nationwide National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which measures national, state and district-level student achievement in math and reading. Students completed NAEP for the first time in three years after the pandemic delayed administration, which typically takes place every two years.
NAEP results mirror DC’s 2022 statewide assessment results, which were released on Sept. 2, 2022. NAEP results were also down for every assessment nationwide. Declines on NAEP were largest among 4th graders, a group of students who had experienced interrupted learning for nearly 40 percent of their academic careers. DC saw declines in 4th grade reading (8 points, with rounding) and 4th grade math (12 points, with rounding).
While DC saw declines in 8th grade math (10 points, with rounding), DC’s steady performance on 8th grade reading is a national bright spot, as 33 states saw declines and the national average dropped 3 points.
“The District’s results on NAEP further confirm the significant impact the pandemic had on student learning in our city and across the nation,” said State Superintendent Dr. Christina Grant. “The investments and policy choices made by the Bowser Administration over the past eight years have led to steady improvements, and they will be key to our recovery. The District acted quickly to plan and implement a robust recovery and restoration plan, which includes investing nearly $1 billion of federal stimulus funds to support the recovery and restoration of the public education and child care sectors.”
These multi-year investments, which OSSE oversees, will support the District through September 2024. These investments also include a number of math and literacy-focused initiatives, including:
- Providing schools with subscriptions to Zearn Math, a high-quality, digital math curriculum and intervention program, to accelerate student learning in grades K-8;
- Providing literacy training to educators across the District that deepens their understanding of the science of reading and their capacity to teach all students how to read;
- Expanding offerings of high-quality, standards-aligned professional development focused on the standards of mathematical practice, such as operations and algebraic thinking, number and operations and geometry;
- Offering grants that enable schools to adopt high-quality math and English Language Arts curricula and train staff in its implementation; and
- Hiring additional dedicated literacy and math systems specialists to support local education agencies (LEAs) with planning and professional learning.
OSSE’s multi-year investment of nearly $40 million into high-impact tutoring to accelerate learning and address the interrupted learning during COVID has engaged almost 2,200 students in FY22, with an anticipated 4,000 students participating in FY23. OSSE will provide high-impact tutoring services to more than 8,000 students in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. OSSE is also expanding the ecosystem of math-focused high-intensity tutoring (HIT) instructors.
"We should not lose sight of the fact that we have closed the gap with other states over time and we can continue to do so with the strategic investments we have in place to accelerate learning,” said State Superintendent Grant. “These results further reinforce that in-person learning is best for most students, and we are grateful for the city’s continued commitment to improving educational outcomes in all eight wards.”
To learn more about how OSSE is investing federal recovery funds, visit OSSE’s new Recovery & Restoration Investment web portal. The portal highlights federal stimulus spending at the LEA level and spotlights state investments across seven strategic focus areas.
“These (NAEP) results underscore what we’ve seen from our own statewide assessments—that students did not fare well academically during the pandemic, particularly those from historically marginalized groups,” said Dr. Michelle J. Walker-Davis, executive director, DC Public Charter School Board. “As we forge a path forward, these new findings will help guide innovative initiatives and academic expectations through the development of our new accountability framework. We want to ensure we advance learning in a way that will produce the best outcomes for students now and in the future.”
"The NAEP/TUDA results show that building a school district that is excellent at scale is steady work. While we are seeing long-term gains in student achievement, this data snapshot of student learning during COVID-19, demonstrates we must continue our whole child approach to our acceleration strategies," said DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee. "We know that students need to have their social emotional needs met and they need strong relationships with peers and adults, in order to engage with deep, rigorous academic content."