Page 8 - NAESP Principal - Nov/Dec 2021

First Bell N u g g e t s o f r e s e a r c h , p o l i c y, a n d p r a c t i c e t o ke e p y o u i n f o r m e d

Enrollment Fell in 2020–2021 School Year

Enrollment in U.S. public schools fell
dramatically in the first full school
year following the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic, according to a
report released in August by Stanford
University’s Center for Education Pol-
icy Analysis and The New York Times.
More than 1.1 million K–12 students
failed to matriculate, or 2 percent of
the previous year’s enrollment.
The report says that the in-
structional strategy states and
districts chose to offer during the
pandemic was the biggest factor in
the declines. Results suggest that
remote-only instruction contributed
to declines in enrollment, with states
and districts that offered remote-
only instruction seeing disenrollment
rates jump from 2.6 to 3.7 percent. consequences for school districts if • Disruptions in enrollment might
In-person and hybrid instruction disenrolled students do not return. produce unusually large classes with
had small, statistically insignificant • The challenges created by reopening mixed-age cohorts in the early grades.
effects, the study says. decisions will include educating first
The effects of remote-only instruc- graders who have no experience in For more, visit stanford.io/
tion on declines in enrollment were formal schooling. 3jHlD7d and nyti.ms/3fL4msH.
heavily concentrated in kindergarten
and elementary school grades. More
than 10,000 local public schools in Worst States for Enrollment Declines, 2020–2021 School Year
33 states lost at least 20 percent
of kindergartners in 2020, up from
4,000 schools at the pre-pandemic State Enrollment No. of Students
launch of the 2019 and 2018 school
years. Disenrollment produced by 1. Washington –14.6% –12,091
remote-only instruction appeared to
be larger in rural communities and in
districts serving higher concentrations 2. Oregon –14.6% –6,171
of Hispanic students, the study adds.
Declines in enrollment are likely
to increase fiscal strain on public 3. Hawaii –13.9% –1,940
schools as well as produce multi-
ple developmental implications for 4. New Hampshire –13.6% –1,587
students, the report says. Long-term
implications include the following:
5. Virginia –12.8% –11,817
• The decision to offer remote-only
instruction will have negative fiscal Source: Stanford University Center for Education Policy Analysis

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6 N OV EM B ER / D E C EM B ER 2 0 2 1 • NAE S P. O R G