Vanderbilt researcher says thinking on two levels enabled Nashville’s lauded pandemic recovery

Vanderbilt professor and researcher Jason Grissom told members of the Metro Nashville Board of Education that the nationwide recognition the district is getting for how students recovered from the pandemic didn’t come by accident.Grissom said thinking on two levels is what made it work.  That includes the direct instructional intervention district leaders spearheaded, like investing in high-dosage tutoring, and the indirect building systems to support instruction, including mental health and family engagement.Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) invested federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds into both areas.A new study by Harvard and Stanford Universities known as the Education Recovery Scorecard, credits the district with surpassing national trends for pandemic recovery. MNPS was just one of two large urban school districts in the study to rank in the top ten in growth for both math and reading growth on testing.“The results here are really exciting and I say that because the learning loss post COVID is like the defining event for all generations of kids. And as a researcher it’s been like the most depressing thing to have to witness, right, the drop-off that happened in terms of kids’ lost learning opportunities,” said Grissom.Pandemic learning loss is a key concern for educators across the country and students in Nashville still have not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.Grissom told board members the net loss for the average student in the Education Recovery Scorecard report was .53 of a grade in math and .31 of a grade in reading from 2019 to 2022. Nashville students lost even more, .86 of a grade in math and .62 of a grade in reading during that time.Nashville students turned that around in 2023, gaining .43 of a grade more in math and .24 of a grade more in reading than the average student in the study. That gain means MNPS students are closer to their pre-pandemic levels in math and reading than their peers across the country.“To see that level of recovery I think is really exciting. It suggests to me that what the district is doing is working so that’s really exciting because that says when we’re looking at strategies that we think might be successful well we must have examples right here in this district,” said Grissom.Metro Nashville leaders also invested in wraparound support for students including no-cost breakfast and lunch for all students, advocacy centers and Peace Centers for emotionally distressed students, summer weekend supports, and family and community engagement. Vanderbilt researchers say these also aided academic recovery and recommended continuing them.That may be a challenge moving forward with ESSER funds set to expire in September.The district’s current plan is to leverage $77 million from unspent funds to create a “ESSER Bridge” to continue these strategies and programs.“Those things are costly. And I think they’re always going to be costly, if not more costly as the district continues to grow because I do believe in spite of what is being attempted at the state with vouchers and other things, that this is the kind of story that helps to reestablish trust among our families and our students and our personnel and our staff that we’re willing to do what’s necessary and we’re willing to do the right things and we’re willing to be very thoughtful about those strategies that we know will make a difference and move the needle that we like to see,” said board member Sharon Gentry.