At CRPE, we study how the Covid-19 pandemic reshaped public education and what it will take for schools to recover and adapt. As a driving force in tracking the pandemic’s impact, we analyzed how districts responded to closures, remote learning, enrollment shifts, and the urgent needs of students and families. Our research continues to examine the lasting effects on learning, equity, and engagement, as well as how schools are using recovery efforts—from ESSER investments to new instructional models—to address unfinished learning and reimagine support for students. Through this work, we aim to understand not only how schools can recover lost ground, but also how they can build more resilient and responsive systems for the future.
This report distills five years of research to understand how the pandemic reshaped public education. Drawing from over 100 reports and articles, we examine the crisis response, recovery efforts, and ongoing challenges facing schools today.
As we continue to grapple with the long-term effects of the pandemic on K-12 education, the need for high-quality research to support recovery is greater than ever.
The Current Crisis Five years after the pandemic disrupted education, public schools are still struggling to recover. Achievement gaps have widened, student performance is in decline, and many schools have reverted to an outdated, ineffective system that fails to meet today’s challenges.
How easy would it be for a parent or advocate to compare student performance pre- and post-COVID? The short answer: in most states, it’s not easy at all.
Over the past four years, CRPE’s Evidence Project has tracked the pandemic’s impact on students and school systems’ recovery efforts. Earlier this year, we concluded that these collective efforts are far from complete—and face growing challenges.
Big city districts face a sea of troubles—from persistent pandemic-related learning loss to student and teacher absenteeism, to declining enrollment, to political pressures and fiscal cliffs.
In the face of financial, political, and capacity constraints, leaders within the Baltimore City Public School System and Chicago Public Schools are making progress toward closing post-pandemic gaps in student learning.
