NCES report underlines pandemic challenges |
A fresh report from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) underlines the challenges schools face in recovering from the pandemic. The 54-page “Report on the Condition of Education 2023” showed data on widespread teacher shortages in foreign languages, special education, physical sciences, math and computer science, and spotlighted the sluggish pipeline for new teachers. Enrollment in traditional teacher preparation programs fell 30% in seven years. The report highlights lagging enrollment in the nation’s public schools, which is down 3% in 2021, with 49.4m students compared with 50.8m before the pandemic, in 2019, and that enrollment in public charter schools bucked the trend. Researchers said 3.7m students were enrolled in charters in 2021, compared with 3.4m in 2019. Researchers said half of students were below grade level in at least one subject in fall of 2021, which fell to 36% as the year ended, and that schools reported higher levels of student and teacher absenteeism last year. Nearly 70% also reported more students seeking mental health services. A bright spot for now, the report points to a partial rebound for children in prekindergarten and kindergarten. Before the pandemic, 54% of 3- and 4-year-olds were in school, which dropped to 40% in 2020 then grew to 50% in 2021.