Students throughout Illinois still show signs of struggling with learning loss brought on during the COVID-19 pandemic, though local schools seem to be faring somewhat better.

An article by Peter Hancock of Capitol News Illinois titled “Schools face ‘fiscal cliff’ as flow of billions in federal aid comes to an end” offers an overview of the situation at the state level.

The article references a study conducted by the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative which identified a number of issues with learning recovery throughout the state.

Among the issues noted is the uneven recovery seen when comparing different schools. Elementary schools have managed to return to pre-pandemic performance easier than high schools, and districts with high concentrations of Black, Latino and low-income students have also struggled in their recovery.

Illinois school districts have also struggled with reduced enrollment – already a trend pre-pandemic given reduced birth rates in the state – and chronic absenteeism.

Districts in Illinois and beyond are also reckoning this year with the end of federal funds through Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief.

Illinois received $7.8 billion in ESSER funding, with $2.4 billion going toward salaries for teachers and other personnel.

With this federal funding coming to an end at the close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, some districts could find themselves struggling to pay for staff and faculty or summer and tutoring programs added thanks to ESSER funds.

Locally, learning recovery as well as the closing of ESSER funding seems to be going somewhat smoother than at the state level.

Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron said learning loss is less of a concern to his district now than it was in the past few years, with focus being returned to regular evaluation.

“We are no longer focusing resources as an allocation toward learning loss from the pandemic,” Charron said. “We are operating today as we did before the pandemic, addressing teaching and learning needs through normal evaluation and consideration.”

Considering data from the Illinois State Board of Education’s annual report card for schools and districts in the state, Waterloo seems to be recovering strongly compared to the rest of Illinois.

Regarding the English Language Arts portion of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, 35.4 percent of students in Illinois met or exceeded expectations for the assessment in 2023, up from 30.2 percent in 2021. Pre-pandemic 2019 data shows 37.8 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations.

In Waterloo, 58.4 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in 2023, up from 46.9 percent in 2021. This figure also approaches the 62.6 percent seen in 2019.

As for the math portion of the IAR, the percentage of students showing positive performance stood at 27.1 percent in 2023, 25.2 in 2021 and 31.8 in 2019.

In Waterloo, 49.6 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in 2023, with 38.7 percent doing so in 2021 and 57.1 percent in 2019.

Enrollment fluctuation in the district seemed largely unaffected by the pandemic, though chronic absenteeism has seen a notable increase in 2022 and 2023.

Regarding ESSER funding, Waterloo has received a total of $1,509,497 from three rounds of ESSER grants, with just over $8,352 left to spend.

A majority of this funding has been spent on salaries, with other significant spending on purchased services, employee benefits and supplies and materials.

Charron said the district plans to use the remainder of its ESSER funds to pay for recent summer school expenses.

In Columbia, academic performance has similarly recovered well, with Assistant Superintendent of Schools Amanda Ganey remarking on the district’s recovery.

“Columbia has been very strong, even since the pandemic, and there appears to be continual improvement,” Ganey said.

Regarding IAR performance, 51.8 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in the ELA assessment in 2023. In 2021, 38 percent did so, with 53.2 percent performing strongly in 2019.

Math recovery has improved somewhat less significantly, with 46.1 percent of students performing positively in 2023 and 42.1 percent doing so in 2021. Progress is still being made as the district approaches the 2019 percentage of 61.2.

As in Waterloo, Columbia’s enrollment appears largely unaffected by the pandemic, and though it’s gone up slightly in the past year, chronic absenteeism likewise seems to have seen little impact.

As for ESSER funds, Columbia received $841,685 in total, with $5,691 still to be spent. Most of this money went toward salaries, with other key spending items being supplies and materials, employee benefits and purchased services.

Columbia Superintendent of Schools Chris Grode said his district is expected to handle the loss of ESSER funding well, noting that the district shouldn’t have any issues keeping hold of staff.

“We were pretty clear when we came into the whole ESSER money and we started using it for salaries, we looked ahead, and with the retirements coming off and other people coming on, we were able to keep kind of the status quo,” Grode said.

Valmeyer’s IAR performance has actually seen a bit of a decline with pandemic learning loss.

The district’s IAR ELA performance stood at 11.9 percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2023, down from 23.5 percent in 2021 and 37 percent in 2019.

The impact to math is also noticeable though less significant, with 17.1 percent meeting or exceeding expectations in 2023, 21.7 percent in 2021 and 31.2 percent in 2019.

Enrollment in the district is down, though this follows a trend over the past few years even pre-pandemic.

Chronic absenteeism in Valmeyer is up, with a distinct trend upward beginning in 2021.