While the worst of the pandemic-related learning disruptions is behind us, a long climb remains ahead.

The damage to older students was especially severe, with 38 percent of eighth graders scoring below the exam’s lowest level of proficiency during the 2021–22 school year. The federal test, often called the “Nation’s Report Card,” showed that fourth and eighth graders both sustained unprecedented drops in math performance. Related: Nation’s Report Card Shows Largest Drops Ever Recorded in 4th and 8th Grade Math

And even after two years of doleful news about schools and learning, October’s release of NAEP results still managed to shock education observers. Reams of COVID-era research have shown conclusively that remote instruction led to disastrous learning losses in foundational subjects, with particularly steep declines in math skills. Their efforts, while often heroic, were insufficient. User minutes on the site grew steadily in 2020 while American students were largely learning in isolation from teachers and peers, and for a time, school systems across the country were attempting to recreate Khan Academy’s model on the fly. The organization’s mission grew during the pandemic, as traffic to the website surged amid widespread school closures.

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