Rhode Island

February 11, 2025

Contact: Sam Stockwell
samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu
617.495.0342

Rhode Island Ranked 14^th in Math Recovery and 13^th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024

A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10% of a school year) from 19% of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 34% in 2022 (down to 25% in 2024) is slowing the state’s recovery.

Reading is more of a concern in Rhode Island than math, with 88%  of students in districts with average reading achievement below 2019 levels. 

(February 11, 2025) In its third year of reporting on the pace of academic recovery measures in districts nationwide, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing its annual report on district-level student growth in math and reading.

The latest report also provides the first high resolution picture of where Rhode Island students’ academic recovery stood in Spring 2024, just before federal relief dollars expired in September. While the National Assessment of Educational Progress described changes in average achievement by state, we combine those scores with district scores on state assessments to describe the change in local communities throughout Rhode Island. Here’s what we found:

• Rhode Island ranked 14th among states in terms of recovery in math and 13th in reading between 2019 and 2024.
• Average student achievement in Rhode Island remains about one third of a grade level below 2019 levels in math (.33 grade equivalents) and in reading (.35 grade equivalents). In other words, the loss in math achievement in Rhode Island is equivalent to 33 percent of the progress students typically make annually between grades 4 through grade 8.
• Yet even in in Rhode Island, 79 percent of students are in districts whose average math achievement in 2024 remained below their own 2019 levels. The average student in some districts, such as Woonsocket and North Providence, remains nearly a full grade equivalent below their 2019 mean achievement in math.
• Reading is more of a concern in Rhode Island than math, with 88 percent of students in districts with average reading achievement below 2019 levels. (For reading: This is true in many other states, with 89 percent of students in districts nationally below 2019 levels in reading, and only 11 percent above.)
• Still, there are bright spots: mean achievement for students in East Greenwich has surpassed 2019 levels in both reading and math and mean achievement for students in East Providence has nearly matched 2019 levels in reading and math.
• A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10 percent of a school year) from 19 percent of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 34 percent in 2022 (down to 25 percent in 2024) is slowing the recovery in many districts in Rhode Island.
• Rhode Island received $646 million in federal pandemic relief for K-12 schools—or roughly $4,600 per student (which is more than the national average of $3,700 per student.) Nationally, our analysis suggests that the dollars did contribute to the academic recovery, especially when targeted at academic catch-up efforts such as summer learning and tutoring.

The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic’s impact lingers in many Rhode Island schools. Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning.  State leaders, mayors, employers and other community leaders should join schools to redouble efforts on the shared challenge of reducing student absenteeism.

One of the project leaders, Professor Tom Kane from Harvard, said: “Unless state and local leaders step up now, the achievement losses will be the longest lasting-- and most inequitable-- legacy of the pandemic.”

For the national press release and findings click here.

About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University 

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.

Contact: Sam Stockwell, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu, (617) 495-0342

January 31, 2024

Contact: Rachel Tropp
rachel_tropp@gse.harvard.edu
617.998.8597

New Research Shows Rhode Island is Still Recovering from Significant Pandemic Learning Loss; Action Needed Before Federal Spending Deadline to Ensure Remaining Gaps are Closed

Higher income districts see greater improvement in math and reading than lower income districts.

Researchers urge state and district leaders to use remaining federal funding on adding instruction time through summer school and tutoring

(January 31, 2024) After reporting on pandemic achievement losses last year, the Education Recovery Scorecard (a collaboration between the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University) is issuing a report on the first year of academic recovery for school districts in 30 states.

Last year, students in many states made historic gains in math and reading. Still, they made up only one-third of the pandemic loss in math and one quarter of the loss in reading. Even if they maintain last year’s pace, students will not be caught up by the time federal relief expires in September. Moreover, the recovery efforts are not closing the gaps between high- and low-poverty districts which widened during the pandemic.

Rhode Island:

“No one wants to see poor kids footing the bill for the pandemic, but that is the path Rhode Island is on,” said Dr. Thomas Kane, Faculty Director of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and one of the study’s co-authors. “With federal relief dollars drying up, state leaders must ensure the remaining dollars are used for Summer 2024 and for tutoring and after-school next year.”

• Between 2019 and 2022, achievement fell by 49% of a grade equivalent in math and 23% in reading. These figures are similar to the average national losses.
• Between 2022 and 2023, math achievement in Rhode Island improved by 19% of a grade equivalent in math and 10% of a grade equivalent in reading.
• Unfortunately, that recovery was greater in the higher income districts, such as South Kingstown and East Greenwich, where achievement grew by over a third of a grade equivalent. As of 2023, many districts such as Newport, West Warwick, Woonsocket, Pawtucket, Providence and North Providence remained half a grade equivalent or more behind.
• Rhode Island received over $646 million in federal recovery funding and as of January 2024, still had over $216 million (34%) remaining.

National Takeaways:

Over the course of the 2022-2023 school year, students in one state (Alabama) returned to pre-pandemic achievement levels in math. Despite progress, students in seventeen states remain more than a third of a grade level behind 2019 levels in math: AR, CA, CT, IN, KS, KY, MA, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NV, OK, OR, VA, WA, and WV.

Students in three states (Illinois, Louisiana, and Mississippi) returned to 2019 achievement levels in reading, while students in 14 states remain more than a third of a grade level behind in reading: CT, IN, KS, MA, MI, NC, NV, OK, OR, PA, VA, WA, SD, and WY.

Kane said, “Many schools made strong gains last year, but most districts are still working hard just to reach pre-pandemic achievement levels.”

As the project reported last year, achievement gaps between high- and low-poverty districts widened sharply during the pandemic, with students in high-poverty districts losing the most ground.  The new data reveal that recovery efforts have thus far failed to close those gaps.

On the contrary, in many states, the recovery is being led by the wealthier districts which lost the least during the pandemic. The states in which the gaps between the wealthiest and poorest districts widened the most include Massachusetts, Ohio, and Connecticut.

The new data also highlight communities that have made substantial progress toward academic recovery, such as Birmingham, Alabama, and Nashville/Davidson, Tennessee.

Congress provided a total of $190 billion in federal aid to K-12 schools during the pandemic, with most of it targeted at high-poverty districts. As of January 2024, $51 billion of that aid is still available, with the remaining dollars due to be obligated by September of this year (or returned to the federal government).  To the extent that states and districts have remaining funds, they should focus those dollars on academic recovery this summer and next school year.

The researchers urge education leaders to take the following steps as the federal spending deadline approaches:

1. This spring, schools should inform parents if their child is below grade level in math or English so that parents have time to enroll in summer learning. Parents cannot advocate if they are misinformed. Research shows that parents take specific actions when they know their child is behind grade level.
2. Schools should expand summer learning seats this summer. States should require districts to set aside sufficient funds to accept all students who sign up. Research has shown that six weeks of summer learning produces a fourth of a year of learning, especially in math.
3. Districts can extend the recovery efforts into the next school year by contracting for high-quality tutoring and after-school programs before September. Although the federal relief dollars cannot be used to pay school employee salaries after September, they can be used to make payments on contracts that are signed before the deadline. (Click here to see the U.S. Department of Education’s recent guidance on seeking an extension. For ideas on how to tie contractor payments to student outcomes, see the Outcomes-Based Contracting project at the Southern Education Foundation.)
4. Local government, employers and community leaders should get involved in helping schools lower student absenteeism, which has remained high since the pandemic.

In addition to encouraging districts to reserve federal dollars to pay for Summer 2024 programming, tutoring, absentee reduction, and after-school programs for the 2024-2025 academic year, the researchers encourage states to consider using state dollars to incentivize districts to extend the school year or to expand summer learning in future years, as Texas has done.

The Education Recovery Scorecard receives philanthropic support from Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin and Griffin Catalyst, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Carnegie Corporation of New York.

About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.

Contact: Rachel Tropp at rachel_tropp@gse.harvard.edu, 617.998.8597