Middle school students learning English are stagnating at a rate of 75.7% in 2024, which is even higher than during the peak of COVID-19 lockdowns.
April 23, 2026
Original Paper
Beyond Recovery: Post-Pandemic Language Growth Stagnation Rates Exceed COVID-Year Levels Among Middle School English Learners
EdArXiv · dw8q5_v1
The Takeaway
Education officials often speak of a post-pandemic recovery as schools return to normal operations. This longitudinal data shows that the crisis for English Learners is actually compounding rather than resolving. The stagnation rate reached 75.7% recently, surpassing the 73.9% seen during the height of remote instruction. Many assumed that returning to the classroom would fix the learning gaps created by the pandemic. These findings suggest a permanent shift in growth trajectories that schools are currently unprepared to handle.
From the abstract
The prevailing post-pandemic narrative in K–12 education holds that COVID-19 learning loss is being addressed through recovery programs, with academic outcomes trending toward pre-pandemic baselines. This Brief Report presents seven-year longitudinal evidence — spanning 2018–19 through 2024–25 — that directly contradicts this narrative for English Learner (EL) language development: annual language growth stagnation rates in a Virginia public middle school cohort (N = 118) reached 75.7% in 2024–2