Before the pandemic, middle school students’ test scores in math tended to decline as they moved through each grade. But the depth of this problem was obscured as most states, and thus most newspapers reported achievement trends by comparing each new year’s eighth graders to the previous year’s eighth graders.

The disruptions caused by the pandemic took this hidden problem and exacerbated it. Our nonprofit found that as many as one million students whose problem-solving skills in math once met grade-level standards are now off track. The average eighth grader is now three years below grade level in math.

David Scarlett Wakelyn is a former math teacher who helped develop the Common Core State Standards while at the National Governors Association. He is a partner at Union Square Learning.

This story about middle school math was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter.

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