Two organizations update education metrics from the effects of the pandemic

Two groups have updated their education progress meter, which focuses on advancements in education. The new findings show how the pandemic has significantly impacted education in the state. Dr. Amanda Burke is from the Center for the Future of Arizona and Rich Nickel is with Education Forward Arizona.

What is the Arizona Education Progress Meter?

“Several years ago…some organizations came together…and what we realized is we didn’t have a set of metrics that the state could use to analyze how we were doing in education…so a set of 8 simple metrics were designed and developed that really stretch from early learning all the way through post-secondary,” Nickel said.

How has the pandemic affected these metrics?

“The data do show that the pandemic has impacted really every aspect of the education continuum starting from quality early learning, all of the way through K-12 to post-secondary education,” Burke said.

Burke continued that in regards to quality early learning, over three years, they’ve seen a drop from 24% to now 17% of Arizonans age 3 or 4 that are participating in quality early learning.

The gravity of this drop in quality early learning could translate into a reduction of readiness for K-12 education.

How were the education metrics before the pandemic? Did they decline greatly because of the pandemic?

“The pandemic certainly had an impact on all of these metrics, really regardless of where the student went to school. We really have seen some declines because of this interrupted learning,” Nickel said.

Nickel added that we’ve had these education barriers all along but the pandemic really shined a light on these issues.