Senator Hirono Requests More Information from the Education Department on Steps Taken to Address Learning Loss in K-12 Students

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a letter to the Department of Education, Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) requested information about how the Department is utilizing funds from the American Rescue Plan to research and address the significant learning loss K-12 students have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the American Rescue Plan, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), an agency within the Department, received $100 million to carry out research related to addressing learning loss caused by the pandemic. In the letter to IES, Senator Hirono asked the agency for more information about IES's work to research and address learning loss in at-risk and marginalized students, and their efforts to disseminate this information to states, school districts, and other education stakeholders.

COVID-19 has set students back significantly and further widened opportunity and achievement gaps. At the end of the 2020-21 school year, it was reported that students were five months behind in math and four months behind in reading and these numbers were even higher for students from families with low incomes and students of color.

In her letter, Senator Hirono wrote, “IES has an opportunity to play an important role in providing resources—whether through developing and sharing best practices for measuring and addressing learning loss with educators, providing educators with detailed guidance, or disseminating other information focused on addressing learning loss.”

Senator Hirono noted that it would be particularly helpful to have more information about the agency’s efforts to gather and disseminate information on addressing learning loss experienced by at-risk and marginalized students, noting that states, school districts, and other education stakeholders “face tremendous challenges to getting students back on track after the challenges they faced during the last two years, and it is critical that we provide them with all available resources.”

Additionally, Senator Hirono also urged IES to report disaggregated data on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, allowing policymakers the opportunity to better understand how students from different sub-populations have been affected by these learning disruptions.

Senator Hirono has continued to advocate for federal funding to support K-12 students, including through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which have collectively provided $200 billion in funding for states, school districts, and K-12 schools to support these students. Last March, ARPA provided $100 million for IES to research and address learning loss in K-12 students, as well as additional funding to support low-income students, students of color, children with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.

During the 116th Congress, Senator Hirono also introduced the Learning Opportunity and Achievement Act (LOAA) to combat learning loss due to COVID-19, particularly for at-risk and marginalized students. Like LOAA, ARPA provided funding to address COVID-related learning loss and directed IES to research and disseminate information to education stakeholders.

Full text of the letter is available here and below.

Dr. Mark Schneider

Director

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

Washington, DC 20024

Dear Dr. Schneider:

During the course of the coronavirus pandemic, K-12 students have experienced unprecedented disruptions to learning that have resulted in significant learning loss. I am writing to request information about how the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is working to research and address learning loss so our students can fully recover from the pandemic.

Last year, in 2021, it was reported the pandemic left students five months behind in math and four months behind in reading by the end of the 2020-2021 school year—and those numbers were even higher for students from families with low incomes and students of color. As a result, the pandemic has further widened opportunity and achievement gaps. I continue to hear from Hawaii parents, teachers, and students about the challenges they have faced moving between in-person, distance, and hybrid learning over the course of the last two years, and how these challenges impacted student learning. We know these impacts will have lasting effects well into the future.

Congress responded in part by making historic investments in K-12 students. Between the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (P.L. 116-136), Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (P.L. 116-260), and American Rescue Plan Act (P.L. 117-2), the federal government provided $200 billion in funding for states, school districts, and schools to support these students. Much funding was dedicated to addressing learning loss. P.L. 117-2, for example, included $100 million for IES “to carry out research related to addressing learning loss caused by the coronavirus” in at-risk and marginalized students—including low-income students, minority students, students with disabilities, English learners, and others. The law also required IES to “disseminate [its] findings” to states, school districts, and other appropriate entities.

While IES has shared some information about how the pandemic has impacted student learning online—including through the School Pulse Panel that provides information about learning opportunities available to K-12 students, information about health and safety protocols for schools, and information about student supports related to social, emotional, and mental well-being—policymakers need more information about how the pandemic has impacted students.

Specifically, it would be helpful for policymakers to have more information about IES's work to research and address learning loss in at-risk and marginalized students, and your efforts to disseminate this information to states, school districts, and other education stakeholders. These stakeholders face tremendous challenges to getting students back on track after the challenges they faced during the last two years, and it is critical that we provide them with all available resources.  IES has an opportunity to play an important role in providing these resources—whether through developing and sharing best practices for measuring and addressing learning loss with educators, providing educators with detailed guidance, or disseminating other information focused on addressing learning loss.

As you continue your research on COVID-related learning loss, I also encourage you to consider reporting disaggregated data on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities to the greatest extent possible. We have long known about the wide opportunity and achievement gaps between students from different AAPI communities, whether they are Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Pakistani, Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Thai, Taiwanese, Burmese, Bangladeshi, Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Tongan, iTaukei, Marshallese, or from other sub-populations. Better disaggregated data will help policymakers further understand how students from these different sub-populations have been affected by the pandemic.

Thank you for your attention to these issues. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

MAZIE K. HIRONO

United States Senator

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