A new report from WIDA, housed in the School of Education’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research, was featured in Education Week.

The report found that, for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, English learners’ average English-language proficiency test scores did not decline. Instead, scores held steady or increased in most grade levels.

While average scores remain below pre-pandemic levels, the findings suggest students are beginning to regain lost ground.

The article highlights several insights from WIDA researchers. Schools often use English-language proficiency scores to determine whether students continue receiving English-learner services. In 2024-25, average scores were slightly higher or unchanged from the previous year for most students, with first grade the lone exception where the decline continued.

Glenn Poole, a WIDA researcher and co-author of the report, noted that the latest results could suggest students are entering those services with lower levels of English proficiency on average, though additional research is needed to better understand that trend.

This edition of the report also includes a three-year growth analysis. According to Poole, the longer-term data reinforce what researchers have observed in recent years: students made less progress in the years immediately following the pandemic, but long-term gains in academic English-language proficiency are beginning to rebound as the effects of those disruptions fade.

Overall, these findings suggest progress is moving in the right direction.

“It’s not a complete recovery to pre-pandemic levels. It’s just the stop of a decline, which is really great. It’s something that we’ve been waiting for a long time,” said Narék Sahakyan, a WIDA researcher and co-author of the report.

Read the full article in Education Week.