The pandemic hurt older K-12 students, too

[Daniel Mollenkamp, EdSurge]

View in browser     |   No. 717  |   2/5/26   |   Subscribe to this newsletter This issue is sponsored by   Here’s a sentence I’ve written a lot: Pandemic closures disrupted learning for American students.    Even now, a half-decade later, students are still floundering, with low math and reading performance causing discouragement nationally.    But disruption certainly didn’t hit all students with the same force.   Recently, I spoke with Lauren Bauer, a Brookings Institution researcher who says that the older a student was when the pandemic hit, the worse that student’s performance decline was. Bauer came to her conclusion after researching cohorts of students, as I explored for EdSurge.   That might be a problem, because even as federal recovery dollars have lapsed, the new changes that states are making aren’t necessarily tailored for older students. Over the past half-decade, around 40 states have altered their reading laws. But these target younger students, as Lauren Coffey reports.   What efforts have you seen make a difference for older students coming out of the pandemic? Let us know at dan...@edsurge.com.   — Daniel Mollenkamp, EdSurge reporter 📣 TOP STORIES   OLDER DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN WISER: The pandemic disrupted learning for millions of American students. But are educators focusing on younger students at the expense of those most hurt by its disruptions — those now in middle and high school? At least one researcher thinks so.   SOME CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND: Roughly 40 states have overhauled their reading laws in the last five years to better tackle literacy efforts. But these programs focus largely on elementary school students, leaving middle school students — and their teachers — behind. Here’s what experts say would help.   Sponsored by ISTE+ASCD FROM THE STUDENT SIDE: New research on edtech usability reveals a gap between the tools that impress adults and the ones students can actually use as intended. When platforms add friction or cognitive load, learning can stall. Researchers are examining how centering student voice leads to smarter edtech design. The following is a message from our sponsor   Empower math teachers with Ed.ai, the world’s leading AI grader for handwritten work. Auto-grade, give rich feedback, and generate targeted practice in minutes. Try it for free!   📺 EYES AND EARS EXPERIMENTAL ED: Over the past decade, microschools — experimental small schools that often have mixed-age classrooms — have expanded. A new one combines AI lessons with a surprising group project: students running an Airbnb. Find out more in this EdSurge video short.   🗞️ IN OTHER NEWS   SCRAPPING SCREEN TIME: For the first time in a decade, the American Academy of Pediatrics released new guidelines for screen time. Unlike 2016’s recommended two hours or less a day, in the latest iteration, pediatricians are focusing on family time versus hourly limits.   TECH TRADE-OFFS: While edtech funding surges, schools don’t have enough resources. It's the students who ultimately pay the price, argues Voices of Change fellow Nikita Khetan in an essay about the consequences of pouring resources into tech tools rather than teachers. 🔗WHAT WE'RE READING   The federal budget agreement included an $85 million increase for Head Start programs, the subject of political uncertainty recently, as EdSurge has reported. (National Head Start Association)   How a group of researchers subverted safeguards and accessed children’s medical data to rank intelligence by race. (The New York Times) The federal government’s watchdog agency says the Education Department firings cost more than $28 million. (NPR) 📈 STORY IN A STAT 0.13 The average standard deviation that boys’ math scores are ahead when compared to girls’ scores by the end of elementary school, according to a recent working paper. Although it narrowed, the gender performance gap in science and math has reemerged, as EdSurge has reported. These findings contradict the usual “boys are in crisis” narrative, which suggests that early education is not suited for boys, the researchers write. They add that in reality, girls enter kindergarten with stronger reading skills and a small edge in math, only to later be surpassed by boys in math.     Post a job | See all jobs   Chief Innovation Officer | Noble Schools | Chicago, IL The CIO is responsible for driving transformative, research-backed, and scalable innovations across all 17 Noble campuses. To Noble this is the disciplined work of identifying insufficient existing approaches and designing what comes next.   Customer Success Specialist | Air Reading | Remote Air Reading is on a mission to transform literacy instruction through personalized reading support. We're looking for a mission-driven, empathetic problem solver to join our Customer Success team.   Account Specialist | CodeHS | Chicago, IL CodeHS is seeking an Account Specialist to manage a portfolio of several hundred small accounts. You would be responsible for ensuring customer engagement, renewing existing contracts, and identifying opportunities for account expansion.   Events See all events and meetups   CEC 2026 Special Education Convention and Expo | March 11-14 |  Salt Lake City, UT Attending the CEC 2026 Convention & Expo in Salt Lake City is a can't-miss opportunity for educators dedicated to supporting students with exceptionalities. No matter your role, you can drive educator and student success by attending CEC 2026.   THANKS FOR READING   ➔ Got any feedback? We love hearing from readers. Shoot us a note, critiques, a joke—whatever you’ve got! ➔ Interested in reaching our readers? Sponsor this newsletter. EdSurge is an editorially independent project of ISTE+ASCD reporting on the powerful forces, fascinating people and innovative practices shaping teaching and learning. International Society for Technology in Education 2111 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia, 22201, United States To update your email preferences or unsubscribe, click here.