Lockdown Generation: California Students Suffered Academically During Pandemic School Year

California’s K-12 students suffered considerable academic setbacks during the 2020-21 pandemic school year, according to data from the state’s Department of Education.

Nearly half of students who took last year’s standardized test failed to meet English language arts standards set by the state. In addition, younger students performed worse than older students, indicating the impact remote learning had on those still developing their literacy skills.

About 60 percent of third and fourth graders did not meet English standards. For 11th graders, 40 percent failed to meet English standards. Over 60 percent of black and Latino students didn’t meet the criteria.

California Department of Education data shows students also suffered academically in their mathematics classes. About two-thirds of all California students failed to meet the state’s math standards. Nearly 70 percent of fifth, sixth, and eighth grade students didn’t reach the standards. For fourth, seventh, and 11th graders, close to 65 percent failed to meet math standards.

The 2020-21 standardized test was the first test administered since the U.S. Department of Education waived a federal testing requirement after classrooms closed in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite these setbacks, the data did not defeat California State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond. “The story is challenging but not as challenging as I expected it might be based on other projections — and for the older kids it’s much less discouraging than what we would have feared,” she said.

Along with disappointing math and English results, Graduation rates slightly declined statewide. In 2019-20, the four-year graduation rate was 84.2 percent. Last year, it declined to 83.6 percent. Again, black students were impacted the most, with their graduation rates falling over four points from 76.8 to 72.5 percent.

“For that 4 percent, those are students whose life trajectories have perhaps been changed forever,” said Heather Hough, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education.

Adding to last year’s academic setbacks was an increased chronic absenteeism rate, where students are absent for at least ten percent of the school year. The chronic absenteeism rate rose from about 12 percent to 14 percent for the remote learning school year.

“Those students who didn’t participate are probably the most likely to have been disconnected from online learning, to be chronically absent or to not have as much support at home,” Hough said. “The results are alarming. I think they underscore something we have understood from prior research.”