WASHINGTON, D.C. — With students returning to class and the school year underway, the White House announced new steps to combat absenteeism and to provide new tools and resources for teachers after the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new report from Curriculum Associates, called the “State of Student Learning,” shows fewer students are achieving grade-level placement than before the pandemic, even though the percentage of grade K students on grade level in phonics has increased year-over-year after the return to in-person classes.

Channel 2 Washington Correspondent Nicole D’Antonio breaks down the report and a renewed focus on increasing student attendance and improving reading and math skills for American students.

The State of Student Learning report shows that even after schools returned to pre-pandemic operations, students are still struggling from the learning losses caused by the global health emergency.

Curriculum Associates’ research shows reading and math level learning across the country has stagnated, but the data did have some reasons to be hopeful.

The report found that the percentage of kindergarteners reading at grade level had increased and there was even faster growth in schools with large minority student populations.

“Those gaps have got to be closed. Because if they’re not closed in those earliest grades, they are just going to get exacerbated overtime,” Kristen Huff with Curriculum Associates said.

To improve learning outcomes in the United States, the White House recently announced additional steps to strengthen reading and math skills, including increasing attendance levels and providing after-school learning programs, in addition to tutoring opportunities.

“We see real success happening. Learn from each other, talk to each other, understand which strategies are working for which students in which conditions and amplify that,” Huff said.

The U.S. Department of Education is providing $149 million to support states putting reading intervention programs in place, with a goal to make sure every child is reading fluently by the third grade.