Test scores in Berkeley have rebounded faster than in most California districts

The pandemic dealt a serious blow to education and most students across the country still haven’t caught up. But that’s not the case for Berkeley’s elementary and middle school students, according to a new nationwide study. 

In Berkeley schools, test scores of students in third through eighth grade, those assessed in the study, have grown since before the pandemic — showing a bigger rebound than students in most California school districts.

In the most comprehensive report of the pandemic’s impact yet, researchers at Stanford and Harvard crunched average test scores for students in third through eighth grade for roughly 8,000 school districts in 30 states around the country.

In Berkeley, from 2019 to 2023, students’ test scores in math rose half a grade level, putting BUSD in the 27% of school districts nationwide that saw gains or no improvement in math scores. By comparison, the average student nationwide, far from making gains, is still behind where they were before the pandemic hit, despite some progress last year, the study shows.

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