Detroit Public Schools Community District outperforms state average in post-pandemic learning recovery, study says
(CBS DETROIT) - The pandemic disrupted classroom learning nationwide. Coming out of it, many wondered how long it would take for kids to catch up.
A new study shows students in Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) are doing much better than other school districts in Michigan.
Because of these findings, the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) is taking a victory lap.
"We knew it all along. But it is about time that everyone else notices it," DFT President Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins said.
Wilson-Lumpkins is proud of what researchers from Harvard and Stanford universities discovered when studying the learning loss post-pandemic.
Despite national trends, DPSCD is beating national and state averages regarding reading and math scores.
"We are current with best practices and trends in education, in teaching children how to read, teaching math, all of the subject areas, we cannot forego one for the other," Wilson-Lumpkins said.
The findings published in the so-called "Educational Recovery Scorecard" show that students in Detroit Public Schools, on average, had math scores twice as high as others in the state and had achieved significant gains in reading scores.
"It's not just about the book; it is about the child that is in front of the educator, the child that is in front of the ancillary staff and meeting their need," Wilson-Lumpkins said.
District leaders credit their focused efforts and use of federal COVID money for the success.
Moving forward, they aim to prioritize student attendance so the progress continues.
"Our attendance agents are working exceedingly hard to make sure that they are aware– that they know what's going on with families so that they can assist in any way possible that we can assist as a school district, and then getting that child into the seat. Again, it may be just as simple as providing an incentive. But these things are working for us," Wilson-Lumpkins said.