The State of Our Students

The State of Our Students

By Edward Montalvo — Director, Educator Network

This month’s election leaves many educators uncertain about the next administration’s priorities.  Regardless of who’s in charge of the federal government and the U.S. Department of Education, one thing holds constant: communities must strive to be deeply involved in their local high schools. Now is a time for all to commit to improving the learning experience of our students and ensuring we provide them with the skills and resources necessary for postsecondary success.

That’s why I want to shift attention to our post-pandemic recovery efforts.

The State of the American Student 2024,” a recent report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), examines where U.S. students stand in the wake of the Covid pandemic—identifying progress, persistent challenges, and opportunities for greater responsiveness in education following one of the most disruptive events in modern history.

📖 What’s in the Report:

I want to underscore the report’s finding that we are recovering, albeit slowly and unevenly. The average student has regained about a third of pandemic learning losses in math and a quarter in reading. However, many students—especially those in vulnerable populations—are still far from a full recovery. Younger students and those in high-poverty districts face the steepest hurdles, widening equity gaps.

These gaps have always been alarming for educators. We’re all aware that students at a greater risk of falling through the cracks find themselves subject to a system that, while resilient, is incredibly resistant to changes that may help support those students more broadly.

For example, we know that personalized strategies work—such as high-impact tutoring, targeted small-group instruction, and extended learning opportunities. These responsive instructional practices are incredibly powerful ways to deeply engage students and meet individual needs to help them succeed.

However, these strategies must reach more students, particularly those who could use them the most. One example is that participation in summer programs often fails to exceed 50 percent of eligible students. Many of these summer programs are greatly underutilized or difficult to maintain, given that the education workforce logistics—from teaching to busing—continue to plague districts. 

Moreover, systemic challenges remain stubborn and stagnant. Our recovery from the pandemic is hampered by chronic absenteeism, low teacher morale, and mental health crises. Schools often struggle to address academic and emotional needs due to limited resources and staffing shortages. The CRPE report also highlights how grade inflation and declining college readiness indicate deeper cracks in the system—some of which were troublesome even before the pandemic.

🧑🎓 Why This Matters for High Schools:

The pandemic’s impact underscores the importance of rethinking traditional high school structures. We must address academic and social-emotional needs in tandem to help students reconnect with learning, regain lost skills, and prepare for postsecondary success.

We can do this by leveraging strong instructional models and tools, such as competency-based learning and personalized support, to create equitable pathways for all students. In conjunction with the CRPE report, here are several ways to promote recovery efforts in your high schools, with examples from our XQ schools.

💚 Prioritize Relationships and Engagement

  • Build strong connections between teachers, students, and families to foster trust and belonging. One of our Design Principles for school success is Caring, Trusting Relationships. Schools can incorporate relationship-centered strategies like mentorship programs or advisory periods to enhance student engagement.

  • At Crosstown High School in Memphis, both students and staff participate in peer-to-peer mentoring. This school exemplifies how a strong sense of belonging leads to increased attendance, deeper engagement, and higher learning outcomes.

🔬 Embrace Proven Interventions

  • Advocate for and implement evidence-based practices like tutoring, extended learning opportunities, and high-quality instructional materials. Schools where students can identify the kind of learning that resonates with them promote a deeper level of engagement and ownership over learning. Create flexible schedules to accommodate these supports within the school day and give greater flexibility for teachers to co-teach and create interdisciplinary learning experiences. These are examples of two additional XQ Design Principles—Youth Voice and Choice and Smart Use of Time, Space, and Tech.

  • The Grand Rapids Public Museum School in Michigan designates Fridays as interest-based learning days. Students select extended learning opportunities beyond their core courses and even sign up to teach classes alongside their peers. Teachers also pull small groups of students aside for targeted instruction in areas they struggle with. 

📊 Focus on Data and Equity

  • Ensure recovery efforts prioritize the most vulnerable populations. Use data-informed decisions to identify disparities and develop targeted strategies to close gaps in student access, achievement, and engagement. Consider creating a data action group for your school—a team of educators, leadership, students, and parents who can reflect on various data points and brainstorm how the school community can collectively address any challenges.

  • At many XQ schools across the country, students play a prominent role in sustaining a Strong Mission and Culture. From sitting in on interviews with prospective teachers to reviewing discipline policies, students learn how real-time data informs school-wide decisions.

🛣️ What’s Next for High Schools

As we prepare for an era in which the “school choice” movement is likely to receive greater attention and support over the next four years (as it did during the previous Trump administration), I challenge us to think about this typically parent-centric question another way: How do we support a school community’s choice?

Recovery is underway, but accelerating progress and reaching more students depends on whether schools can access the right tools and strategies. From professional development to responsive models and stronger community engagement, the choices we make now will shape students’ success. Supporting recovery is not optional—it’s essential to their future.

To read more from the State of the American Student 2024 report, click the link below: 

Read More.



Stories About Rethinking High School

📈 Chalkbeat reports on another study related to the pandemic: researchers at the Grad Partnership found where students lived and what policies their schools followed during the pandemic affected how likely they were to graduate from high school. One of the report’s authors says these findings point to the need for high schools to step up progress monitoring over the next few years, both for academic coursework and work-based learning.

🏫 A bachelor’s degree isn’t the only key to a good job. Cindy Cisneros, vice president for education programs at the Committee for Economic Development (CED) of The Conference Board, argues in The Hechinger Report that high schools need more dual enrollment courses and apprenticeships. 




Share With Us:

We want to hear from you! What does post-pandemic recovery look like in your school community? Share your strategies, resources, and thoughts with us.

Contribute your stories and insights about transforming the high school experience on social @XQAmerica using #RethinkHighSchool, and we will include them in a later edition of the Xtra.

📬 Or send us a message directly at xtra@xqinstitute.org

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