The Evidence Project

The pandemic exposed deep inequities but also presented an opportunity to rethink and rebuild. However, five years later, school systems across the country are still recovering from pandemic disruption and recovery remains unfinished business. Student achievement levels remain low and districts continue to grapple with attendance and enrollment declines, budget deficits, labor conflicts, and unstable political support. 

Throughout the pandemic, the Evidence Project helped decision-makers in K-12 education stay ahead of the crisis by highlighting emerging innovations and anticipating changing conditions. Our team provided urgent research, data, and analyses to those who needed it most. Now, the Evidence Project focuses on post-pandemic recovery to help education leaders understand lessons learned and how to best move forward with academic recovery. We also steward subgrants, made possible by the Walton Family Foundation, to support other researchers who are studying how to close pandemic learning gaps. 

This page brings together five years of research on the pandemic’s impact on education. Use the quick links below to explore our reports, insights from funded research studying pandemic-related impacts, and recovery efforts. We’ve also included some of our most critical research from during the pandemic, including reports, blogs, and commentary that captured the crisis as it happened.