Schools got $190 billion in emergency funding during the epidemic, write Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown's Edunomics Lab, and Maggie Cicco, a research fellow. "Recently, two different research groups found that the money has produced some math and reading gains, but not nearly enough to address pandemic-era learning gaps."
In states that showed the greatest improvement, they write, leaders steered districts to focus on student learning, write Roza and Cicco. "For example, education commissioners Catherine Truitt, Carey Wright, and Penny Schwinn, (NC, MS and formerly TN) emphasized reading and math over other agendas, were clear about what constituted success, and measured progress along the way. In other states, districts were on their own to set priorities, while state leaders buried data and brushed off lackluster results."
Investing in special education didn't pay off, they write. Many more students were "referred for learning disabilities when pandemic-era closures left them behind in reading." Districts spent more on special-ed services and staff.
However, "states with higher identification rates of learning disabilities do not deliver better reading outcomes for these students," their analysis shows. "Nor are states with comparatively more staff-intensive special education programming producing higher reading scores."
What works? Improving reading instruction for all students is effective, they write. Research on high-performing public charter schools shows teaching reading well benefits special-ed students and English Learners. They suggest focused limited dollars on improving Tier 1 reading instruction.
James A. Furey writes on Twitter that most of his special-needs students learn as much as their classmates when he holds them to the same expectations rather than following their "service plans." Most discover "they're more capable than other adults have told them," he writes. If they don't do well, he provides the planned accommodations and they continue to do poorly.
Some commenters are shocked, while others -- including a long-time special-ed teacher -- agree that students' "weaknesses are guarded instead of targeted."
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