Results from the international PISA results were released last week.

And, though there has been some handwringing about drops in U.S. students’ test scores, particularly in math, I’ve only seen two analyses highlighting what I think is the most important point:

Drops in American student scores tended to be less than those in many other countries who didn’t physically close their schools.

Huh.  One might think that other stress from the pandemic might have had a bigger impact, just like studies have found for years that factors outside the schoolhouse walls have a far greater impact on academic achievement than what happens within schools.

You can read more about it at US does surprisingly well on COVID-era declines in latest PISA math test is from Kevin Drum and especially in a very impressive NY Times column that appeared today, American Students Outperformed the Rest of the World During the Pandemic.