NO EXCUSES: HOW ONE DISTRICT MADE SURE STUDENTS THRIVED MATHEMATICALLY THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

Oct 15, 2026

The global pandemic intensified academic challenges for students and educators, especially in mathematics, while many schools struggled with learning loss and low expectations. Despite limited state-level gains on standardized testing from 2019 to 2022, some individual school systems demonstrated measurable improvement, including Alabama districts. This case study focuses on the Martell School System and highlights instructional leadership practices confirmed through interviews and data analysis to support replicable school improvement strategies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Pandemic Problems

The Math Dilemma

P-12 Education Studies NO EXCUSES: HOW ONE DISTRICT MADE SURE STUDENTS THRIVED MATHEMATICALLY THROUGH THE PANDEMIC John Prestridge Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University Abstract The global pandemic left many schools across the country content with low expectations regarding student achievement (Gross & Opalka, 2020). It seemed as though learning loss and academic struggles would become the norm for students throughout the country, particularly in mathematics. Though few states could maintain or improve math performance on their respective standardized testing, there were examples where individual schools could prevent a learning loss and improve academically from where they were from 2019 to 2022. Out of 3700 school systems, seven of the top ten systems with the highest gains were from the state of Alabama (Crain, 2022). A case study was designed around one of these school systems, referred to in this paper as The Martell School System. This study catalyzed fellow school district leaders to learn strategies that could be duplicated in other systems for school improvement. Through times of change and uncertainty, influential instructional leaders maintain high levels of expectation. Through interviews with school and district leadership, and data analysis, knowledge will be gained that will allow schools to learn from these instructional leaders and implement strategies with their students as we return to normalcy. Author Note: The authors provide permission to publish this manuscript. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Prestridge, [John.prestridge@aamu.edu](John.prestridge@aamu.edu) , 256-244-7532. Key Words: school improvement, mathematics, instructional leadership Introduction There is little debate that the global pandemic created unprecedented challenges for educators throughout the United States (Buda & Czekman, 2021). It seemed as though learning loss and academic struggles would become the norm for students throughout the country, particularly in mathematics. Although no state as a whole was able to maintain or improve math performance on state testing, there are examples where individual schools were able to prevent a learning loss and academically enhance from 2019 to 2022. Out of 3700 school systems, 7 of the top 10 systems with the highest gains were from the state of Alabama (Crain, 2022). One of the highest-performing school systems was the Martell City School System, a small city school system in Martell County, Alabama. Martell City Schools saw gains of .753 from 2019 to 2022. Changes in math scores were tracked from 2019 to 2022 using publicly reported assessment data (Crain, 2022). Using a framework of existing research about factors that drive student success, this study attempted to identify strategies that correlate to these factors and perhaps broaden educators’ understanding of student achievement. Pandemic Problems At the time of publication of this article, the magnitude of academic consequences was still relatively unknown. Initial studies showed the completion of academic tasks and increased disparity among students who completed standardized testing in schools worldwide (Engzel et al., 2021) . Standardized testing was not the only concern K-12 school personnel were burdened with. The ability to recruit students back into the school building and see them through completion was also a concern. Schools that housed students who struggled academically before the pandemic continued to see increased dropouts and poor academic performance as students returned to a traditional school setting (Khan & Ahmed, 2021) . Mental health became a concern for guidance counselors, teachers, and administrators as students, including some who missed over a year of social interaction, returned to school. Reports showed that up to 83% of young people reported worsened mental conditions post-pandemic (Grubicet al., 2020) . Modality of instruction became a conce

FAQs

What problem did the global pandemic create for K-12 education, especially in mathematics?

The pandemic produced unprecedented challenges, including learning loss and academic struggles, with particular concern for mathematics performance and achievement outcomes.

How did this study examine improvement strategies between 2019 and 2022?

The study used publicly reported assessment data to track changes over 2019–2022 and applied a framework from existing research, supported by interviews with school and district leadership.

Why does the paper highlight the Martell School System?

Martell City Schools showed strong gains from 2019 to 2022 and served as a case study to identify strategies that could be duplicated by other districts.

Oct 15, 2026

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