PRESS RELEASE
May 13, 2026
Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342
Hawaii Ranks 12th in Math Recovery and 26th in Reading Among States, Nearly Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels in Both Subjects
Hawaii is among the closest states to closing the gap with 2019 levels—only .09 grade equivalents behind in both math and reading.
Chronic absenteeism has fallen by 10 percentage points since 2022 but remains well above pre-pandemic levels.
(May 13, 2026) In its fourth year, the Education Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, and faculty at Dartmouth College) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.
The latest report provides a high-resolution picture of where Hawaii students’ academic recovery stands, combining state test results for roughly 35 million grade 3–8 students nationwide with national assessment data to describe changes in local communities. Here’s what we found:
Hawaii:
- Hawaii ranked 12th out of 38 states in academic growth in math and 26th out of 35 states in reading between 2022 and 2025.
- In math, the average student is performing about .23 grade equivalents above their 2022 level, but .09 grade equivalents below 2019 levels.
- In reading, the average student is performing about .18 grade equivalents below their 2022 level, and around .09 grade equivalents below 2019 levels.
- Statewide, there is some good news on chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10% of a school year), which has fallen from 33.7% in 2022 to 23.7% in 2025. However, chronic absence rates still remain about 10 percentage points above pre-pandemic levels.
- Hawaii received about $639 million in federal pandemic relief for K–12 schools—roughly $3,700 per student. Our analysis finds that the gains in many high-poverty schools were driven by this federal support. Now that the federal relief is gone, Hawaii should focus school improvement dollars on strategies that will continue to accelerate student learning.
“The pandemic was the mudslide that followed seven years of erosion in student achievement,” said Professor Tom Kane, faculty director of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University. “The ‘learning recession’ started a decade ago, after policymakers switched off the early warning system of test-based accountability and social media took over children’s lives. In this report, we highlight the work of a small group of state leaders who have started digging out by changing how students learn to read, and 108 local school districts that are finding ways to get students learning again. The recovery of U.S. education has begun. But it’s up to the rest of us to spread it.”