By Minseo Jung
Five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, classrooms around the world are still grappling with its academic aftershocks. In the United States, teachers continue to observe that many students have not yet regained the basic literacy and numeracy skills mastered by their peers before 2020. “The pandemic may be officially behind us, but its imprint on learning is stubbornly present,” said Susanna Loeb, director of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University. Analysts at the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center similarly warn that although signs of progress exist, “full recovery will likely take years of sustained effort, with uneven outcomes across communities.”
The scale of the global educational disruption was unprecedented. According to UNESCO, nearly 1.6 billion students–representing 94 percent of the world’s school-aged children—were affected by closures that lasted an average of 41 weeks. Researchers drawing on TIMSS 2023 results report an average global learning decline of 0.11 standard deviations. Vulnerable groups including low-performing students, girls, and linguistic minorities suffered sharper setbacks with losses reaching up to 0.22 SD. As Stanford economist Eric Hanushek observed, “The scale of these losses is historically unprecedented. We have not seen learning reversals of this magnitude in the modern era.”
While all nations suffered setbacks, the United States was hit especially hard. A 2025 analysis by Harry Patrinos found that American fourth- and eighth-graders lost the equivalent of nearly a full year of math learning—0.36 standard deviations—well above the global average. Since then, recovery has been patchy, with striking disparities among states and school districts. Stanford’s Education Recovery Scorecard shows that by spring 2024 the average student remained nearly half a grade level behind in both reading and math compared to 2019, and reading scores have fallen further since 2022.
Although there are numerous reports of increasing academic activity, the uneven pace of recovery has fueled debates about the best policy solutions. The U.S. Congress allocated nearly $190 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to help schools address learning loss. But by 2024, much of that funding had been spent on infrastructure, technology, and general budget relief. “Too little was directed toward proven interventions like tutoring and extended learning time,” argued McKinsey & Company in a 2023 report, estimating that strategic investments could have closed up to 90 percent of pandemic learning gaps.
International organizations have promoted the RAPID framework–Reach every child, Assess learning, Prioritize foundational skills, Increase instruction, and Develop psychosocial health—developed jointly by UNICEF, UNESCO, the World Bank, and other partners. Yet, as a 2024 World Bank report noted, fewer than one in five countries have implemented comprehensive recovery plans aligned with RAPID. The stakes of our current situation goes beyond test scores. The World Bank estimates that the current generation of students may collectively lose up to $17 trillion in lifetime earnings if recovery stalls. Educational deficits risk fueling long-term inequality, reducing economic productivity, and weakening social cohesion. “This is not simply an education issue; it’s an economic and moral imperative,” said Karyn Lewis of NWEA, whose research shows that at current trajectories, full recovery in reading could take more than a decade.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left a deep imprint on education, creating a global learning crisis with long-lasting repercussions. The U.S. remains among the hardest-hit, there are signs of hope but progress is fragile and uneven. Closing the gaps will require more than temporary funding. As Hanushek warns, “Every year of inaction compounds the problem. If we do not move quickly and decisively, the pandemic’s educational scars may last a lifetime.”