Earlier this year, studies confirmed what many educators already knew: Students have suffered substantial academic setbacks resulting from the pandemic. Research from McKinsey revealed that, on average, K-12 students lost up to four months of mathematics and four months of reading progress in the last school year.

With newly distributed federal stimulus funds now in hand, school districts nationwide are poised to set learning recovery plans in motion. The American Rescue Plan requires local education agencies (LEAs) to spend at least 20 percent of federal funding on evidence-based initiatives to mitigate the issue. In response, districts are deploying a multi-pronged approach to learning recovery. Summer and after-school programming, tutoring, truancy intervention, teacher hiring and training, and improved data systems are all part of the solution.