For the past three years, K–12 educators have been raising concerns about the cost of the pandemic on academic achievement. That cost has been steep: According to the nationally administered 2022 NAEP assessments, nearly two decades of student progress in reading and math scores have been erased.
As the pandemic generation grows up, the toll on academic achievement will likely lead to skill gaps in adulthood that could translate to lost wages. However, this does not have to be our future. We can help students bounce back from learning loss by changing our approach to teaching, accelerating…