A recent study indicates that Craven County students have shown signs of recovery in nearly every subject since the school system shutdown imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago.
The Recovery Analysis Report assesses student performance by comparing where their tests scores were before the COVID-19 disruption and where they are post-pandemic. The NC Department of Public Instruction report found that statewide students made significant gains in pandemic recovery over the course of the 2021-22 school year.
An earlier report covering the 2020-21 school year looked at the pandemic’s overall impact on the state’s education system. That report showed that learning progress had slowed across all grades and subjects, but in some cases “students were as much as 15 months behind where they would have been in a typical year,” according to a NCDPI release announcing the new data.
The release states that the analysis from both 2020-21 and 2021-22 compare test scores projected for individual students against their actual scores to determine if they made an expected year’s progress, exceeded that expectation, or fell short and by how much.
During a presentation during the Board of Education’s September 21 meeting, Superintendent Dr. Wendy Miller provided data detailing to what extent Craven County public school students have recovered from the lost school room instructional time experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the data released in May 2022, Craven County Schools is recovering faster than many districts across the state, with students at or above the state average in every subject except Biology.
Looking at the county’s Math scores, Miller said based on end of grade tests, math results for high school students as well as grades 4, 6 and 7 were in line with the state’s recovery numbers, while grade 5 was slightly above the state’s progress rate. Miller said grade 8 Math performance numbers were now at pre-pandemic levels.
The county showed similar progress in terms of reading scores, Miller said, with 3rd grade reading levels already back to pre-pandemic performance levels and well above the state average.
According to data provided by Miller, Reading progress levels in grades 4, 5, 7 and 8 were also above the state’s but not quite back to pre-pandemic levels.
High School English results, meanwhile, show students scored better than the data predicted they would have without the disruption of the pandemic, with end of grade results actually rising above pre-pandemic levels.
The data showed that Craven County Schools Science scores were almost back to pre-pandemic levels and also above the state growth average, though Biology scores still lagged behind the state.
Miller admitted that Biology has been an area where the school system has traditionally struggled. She said she will be sharing updated testing data in October and that she expected the Biology scores, as well as others, to show improvement.
Miller stressed that “our students must be in school.”
“Certainly I hope that we never have to make that choice again…If anyone has a question about the impact of education on community and on kids this report shows the impact that being in a school has on children,” she commented.
While Board member Naomi Clark said the progress data was “great news” fellow Board member Kelli Muse commented, “We have the data that shows that keeping them home wasn’t what was best for them.”
The full NCDPI Recovery Analysis Report can be viewed here.
By Todd Wetherington, co-editor. Send an email with questions or comments.