PA School Report Card

Nearly five years after the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close, the impact of the virus and the response are still evident in classrooms across Northeast and Central Pennsylvania.
Most school districts in the region reported lower standardized test scores for exams taken in 2024, compared to those taken in 2019 — the last before the pandemic, according to a WVIA News analysis. Statewide, while proficiency levels have increased the last several years, achievement remains lower than in 2019.
The analysis compared scores with 2019 levels and found that of the state’s 500 school districts:
- 17 — none of them in the region — have higher proficiency rates in English language arts.
- 148 scored higher in math.
- 153 scored higher in science.
Pandemic learning loss — or the drop in skills or achievement due to the disruption of education — could be felt for years, according to Beth Rajan Sockman, an education professor at East Stroudsburg University.
“Especially if they were in, I would say the second grade or even first-grade through fourth-grade range during COVID, we're going to see effects on those students for quite some time,” she said. “Those are pivotal years for learning how to read, and we know that learning how to read, and reading and comprehension is the basis of everything we do in school and every kind of learning that we have.”
Across the region, there is also growth — bright spots of learning and engagement in schools. WVIA News visited some of those classrooms.
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