Even with the prospect of widespread COVID vaccination next year, the pandemic's impact on education will persist, most noticeably for underprivileged students in neighborhoods.

But a significant number of students—generally from low-income and other vulnerable groups—did not participate in testing because of connectivity problems or other issues.

Though one analysis finds COVID learning loss wasn't as severe as expected, the absence of underrepresented students from the data has transformative policy implications for the education system.

A people-centered approach improves learning outcomes. Here are five important recommendations from an expert.