Technical brief
Technical Brief Recovery still elusive: 2023-24 student achievement highlights persistent achievement gaps and a long road ahead
July 2024
By: Karyn Lewis, Megan Kuhfeld
Description
Based on data from 2023-24, this brief shares several key findings, including:
- Growth during 2023-24 fell short of pre-pandemic trends in nearly all grades. This continues the trend of stalled progress observed in the previous school year and indicates that pandemic recovery remains elusive.
- The gap between pre-COVID and COVID test score averages widened in 2023-24 in nearly all grades, by an average of 36% in reading and 18% in math.
- The average student will need the equivalent of 4.8 additional months of schooling to catch up in reading and 4.3 months in math. These estimates are similar to last year for math, and larger for reading.
- Comparing across race/ethnicity groups, growth for all students lagged pre-pandemic trends in 2023-24. Marginalized students remain the furthest from recovery.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity, Growth
Associated Research
Related Topics
Unequal Access to 8th-Grade Algebra: How School Offerings and Placement Practices Limit Opportunity
This NWEA research brief examines how access to early Algebra ā a key gateway to advanced high school math, STEM majors, and higher lifetime earnings ā remains highly inequitable across the United States. Using NWEA data from 162,000 eighth-grade students across 22 states, the study looks at both whether schools offer Algebra by 8th grade and how students are placed when it is offered. The findings point to significant gaps tied to school poverty levels, geography, and race/ethnicity.
By: Daniel Long, Megan Kuhfeld, Scott J. Peters
Topics: College & career readiness, Equity, Math & STEM
This is the technical appendix to the āUnequal Access to 8th-Grade Algebra: How School Offerings and Placement Practices Limit Opportunityā research brief, which examines how access to early Algebra remains highly inequitable across the United States.
By: Daniel Long, Megan Kuhfeld, Scott J. Peters
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: College & career readiness, Equity, Math & STEM
Technical Appendix: MAP Growth Specialty School National Dashboard
This is the accompanying technical appendix to the MAP Growth Specialty School National Dashboard providing more details of the data and describing more fully the sample and methods used within the dashboard.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, Daniel Long, Karyn Lewis
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: Growth
Technical appendix for āHot test days, lower math scores: How heat affects student achievementā
This is the technical appendix to āHot test days, lower math scores: How heat affects student achievementā research report that examines the impact of environmental temperatures on student performance in math and reading, and whether those effects are more extreme for students in high-poverty schools, where cooling conditions may be less reliable.
By: Sofia Postell, Megan Kuhfeld, Susan Kowalski, Jazmin Isaacs
Products: MAP Growth
Hot test days, lower math scores: How heat affects student achievement
This NWEA research report examines the impact of environmental temperatures on student performance in math and reading, and whether those effects are more extreme for students in high-poverty schools, where cooling conditions may be less reliable.
By: Sofia Postell, Megan Kuhfeld, Susan Kowalski, Jazmin Isaacs
Products: MAP Growth
NWEAās MAP Growth National Dashboard provides timely trends and data on U.S. student academic achievement and growth for grades K-8. This free public tool supports district leaders, state and federal policymakers, and other education stakeholders in interpreting local data within a broader national and state context. It helps identify areas of strength, shine light on disparities, and ground policy conversations in evidence.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity, Growth
Specialty Schools National Dashboard
This interactive tool provides information about academic achievement and growth for several categories of US schools that used MAP Growth assessments. These groups included secular and religious private schools (including Roman Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Islamic, Seventh-Day Adventist, and other religiously affiliated institutions) as well as public charter schools. Use this dashboard to examine patterns of growth and achievement across seasons, academic subjects, school types, and student demographics.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity, Growth