Reading achievement among under-resourced K-2 students before, during, and after COVID-19 educational disruptions

COVID-19 disrupted early reading development, especially for under-resourced students. Few studies have evaluated early reading skill recovery after the return to in-person instruction. This study tracked reading achievement among 236,701 kindergarten through second-grade students from the academic year 2019-2020 to 2023-2024 (48.7% female; 69.8% Latine). Children had lower reading performance and less growth during remote instruction (2020-2021) compared with the pre-COVID cohort. Reading scores improved once in-person learning resumed. Kindergarten students who experienced remote instruction during COVID-19 demonstrated reading achievement recovery by the second grade. We also assessed if increased school-level (N = 467) support services were related to reading skill growth. Results demonstrated that early reading skill recovery is possible after mass disruptions.