Detroit educators know the journey to pandemic learning recovery will be long and challenging.
Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)–known as the “Nation’s Report Card”–reveal a complex story of the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s road to pandemic learning loss recovery.
The Detroit district is recovering at a faster pace than many Michigan schools, but it has further to go to be on pace with the rest of the state.
Fourth graders improved by 6 points in math from 2022 to 2024, but declined by 2 points in reading for the same time period.
Eighth graders improved by 2.4 points in reading from 2022 to 2024, but declined by 1.1 points in math for the same time period.
Only the 6 point jump by the fourth graders in math is considered statistically significant.
Some of the Detroit district’s NAEP scores improved, but students are still testing at the bottom
Compared to other large, urban school districts, the Detroit district showed more growth than most. However, when comparing baseline scores, the district ranks at the bottom for reading and math for both grade levels tested.
District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti acknowledged the “elephant in the room” in a January press release.
“We still rank last among TUDA [the Trial Urban District Assessment] districts in each tested area,” Vitti said. “However, we narrowed the gap between the District and the state in each tested area and with each district performing slightly above us in 3 of the 4 tested areas.”
“We are undoubtedly improving,” he added. “We are committed to accelerating and scaling that improvement by overcoming the challenges of chronic absenteeism.”
District leaders are betting that improving attendance will boost future scores
One of the biggest hurdles the Detroit district faces in improving these test scores is getting kids to come to class. Research shows that chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year, threatens student recovery from the pandemic.
To address chronic absenteeism across grades and schools, the district created a robust attendance action plan in the 2018-19 school year.
The plan placed attendance agents at each school, reduced out-of-school suspensions and implemented wrap-around services, reports Chalkbeat Detroit. After the new investment in the attendance plan, chronic absenteeism rates began to fall.
Once the pandemic hit, monitoring attendance became much more challenging, and when students returned to school, chronic absenteeism rates skyrocketed.
As learning has returned to normal, the district has been consistently applying its attendance initiatives.
In the 2020-21 school year, chronic absenteeism was at 76.7 percent and in the 2023-24 school year, it was at 65.8 percent.
“Despite historical and ongoing state funding gaps to address our community’s concentrated poverty, our school district is improving,” Detroit district school board President Corletta Vaughn said in a January press release.
“Our updated Strategic Plan, coupled with strong leadership focused on continuous improvement and an improved climate and culture for our employees, parents, and students will ensure the upward trajectory we continue to see,” Vaughn added.
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