Schools face ‘fiscal cliff’ as flow of billions in federal aid comes to an end
By PETER HANCOCK | Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD – As the flow of billions of dollars in federal pandemic-related aid is about to end, many students in Illinois are still struggling to catch up academically from the learning loss that occurred when schools were forced to close.
A new study from the University of Illinois System says only about one-fourth of all public-school students are back to pre-pandemic performance levels in English language arts while even fewer have returned to pre-pandemic levels in math.
Learning recovery has been especially slow at the high school level, where test scores have been declining, the study found. And recovery in math scores has lagged English language arts scores across grade levels.
The study was conducted by the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative, or IWERC, which is part of the University of Illinois System’s Discovery Partners Institute.
The findings suggest school officials face some difficult decisions in the months and years ahead as they look for ways to continue their recovery efforts without the federal resources they’ve been relying on.
“Of course, we are concerned about the loss of things like high-dosage tutoring and the extended-day programs,” IWERC Director Meg Bates said in an interview. “The research on those has always been pretty strong that more time in academic learning and more intensive one-on-one time are positive for learning.
“So, in as much as districts can’t maintain those because they lose funding, I do expect to see some issues, but it’s possible that districts have found ways to weave things like tutoring and extended day into their normal funding.”
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