Research brief
The Impact of Severe Weather Events on Education: Revisiting Hurricane Katrina While Preparing for the Next Disaster
August 2025
Description
This research brief raises awareness of the scale and variation of educational impacts from the growing number of weather-related challenges facing U.S. schools. It addresses two critical questions: how does severe weather disrupt schools and affect the people in them; and which schools and communities are at most risk? Findings highlight four key takeaways: 1) Many U.S. schools face major budget and infrastructure challenges related to severe weather; 2) teachers need support to meet students’ varied needs following a weather-related disruptions; 3) a day of school missed after a severe weather event can translate to more than a day of learning lost; and 4) no school is totally “low-risk” from weather-related disruptions.
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This is the technical appendix to the “Struggling adolescent readers left behind: Evidence of post-COVID-19 declines and pathways forward” research brief, which highlights an urgent challenge in academic recovery: middle school reading.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Empowering educators, Growth, Middle school, Reading & language arts
Struggling adolescent readers left behind: Evidence of post-COVID-19 declines and pathways forward
Using data from the MAP Growth National Dashboard, this research brief highlights an urgent challenge in academic recovery: middle school reading. While students have shown encouraging progress in math and elementary reading since the pandemic, reading achievement among grades 6-8 remain stagnant, with the lowest-performing students falling even further behind.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Empowering educators, Growth, Middle school, Reading & language arts
How Post‑COVID Norm Shifts Change the Meaning of MAP Growth Metrics for School Accountability
This white paper examines how the 2025 update to NWEA’s MAP® Growth™ national norms changes the interpretation and use of key norm referenced metrics in school accountability contexts. We show how shifts in post COVID achievement and growth patterns and the introduction of NWEA’s enhanced item selection algorithm (EISA), call for careful review of commonly used metrics.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Empowering educators, Growth, Guidance, Measurement & scaling, Student growth & accountability policies
Chronic absenteeism: A continued impediment to academic recovery
This research brief examines the relationship between chronic absenteeism and academic recovery from COVID-era disruptions to learning. Using MAP Growth data from 2,000 US school districts, NWEA researchers analyzed whether persistently high absenteeism rates were associated with slower recovery in math and reading.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Growth
Technical Appendix for Chronic absenteeism: A continued impediment to academic recovery
This is the technical appendix for “Chronic absenteeism: A continued impediment to academic recovery,” research brief, which examines the relationship between chronic absenteeism and academic recovery from COVID-era disruptions to learning.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Growth
This is the technical appendix for the NWEA research brief titled, “Behind at the Starting Line,” which examines Kindergarten test scores from more than 400,000 U.S. students and noting patterns that can predict academic success or identify students at risk of falling further behind. This early identification is key for educators, enabling them to intervene and influence learning trajectories before the next critical milestone: third grade.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: Informing instruction, Early learning, Empowering educators, Growth
NWEA research brief examining Kindergarten test scores from more than 400,000 U.S. students and noting patterns that can predict academic success or identify students at risk of falling further behind. This early identification is key for educators, enabling them to intervene and influence learning trajectories before the next critical milestone: third grade.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: Early learning, Empowering educators, Growth, Informing instruction
