ELA & Math Proficiency Changes Post-Pandemic
Looking at recovery across 29 states
Overview
As 2024 comes to a close, we are summarizing where we are thus far with 2024 academic recovery, relative to state-level test scores in 2019. As many readers know, state-level test scores declined everywhere in ELA and math scores from 2019 to 2021 (the first post-pandemic testing year). Since then, recovery has been variable by state and subject.
Looking at Trends Across States
Today we’re sharing a summary for the states with 2024 data available from zelma.ai. This subset also is limited to states with data comparable to 2019 - in other words, we are excluding states with new state assessments since 2021, as we cannot make valid comparisons to pre-pandemic outcomes.
Currently, we have 29 states that meet this criteria:
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
New Hampshire
North Dakota
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
Washington
West Virginia
Wyoming
Looking at Recovery in 2024
As in 2023, the overall recovery pattern in 2024 is significantly more varied in ELA than in math, which has shown more steady progress toward pre-pandemic proficiency rates for most states.
Overall, only 4 states from this sample have surpassed their 2019 ELA proficiency levels in 2024: Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Iowa.
Only 3 states have surpassed their 2019 math proficiency levels in 2024: Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Iowa.
In the two graphs below, we present information for ELA and math outcomes by state for students in grades 3-8 in two ways:
First, we show the change in proficiency from 2019 to 2021 (for all states, this was a decline in both subjects), represented by the red dot for each state; and
Then, we show the change from 2019 to 2024, represented by a blue dot.
States with a negative value here remain below their 2019 rates
States with a positive value here have surpassed their 2019 rates
To discuss a concrete example: in Mississippi, in ELA, proficiency rates declined by 10.6 percentage points from 2019 to 2021. However, by 2024 the proficiency rates were 2.8 percentage points higher than in 2019. In Massachusetts, ELA pass rates declined by 6.2 percentage points from 2019 to 2021, but then further declined such that pass rates in 2024 were actually 13 percentage points lower than 2019.
As a reminder, each state administers its own state assessment, so the number of students who are proficient in one state cannot be directly compared to another state, and is not the focus here. Rather, we believe there is value in reviewing patterns of academic recovery across states as a starting place for understanding where there are pockets of success to explore and build upon.
As always, if the raw data are of value to you or your organization, please reach out and we are happy to help.
And, as always, you can ask Zelma to help explore your state’s assessment data for your state, district, or school, available at zelma.ai!