Using data from the MAP Growth National Dashboard, this Trends Snapshot report focuses on academic growth trends post-COVID and points to a positive turn for U.S. reading after years of stagnation. This positive trend was also noted for historically underserved groups who showed the largest reading gains from 2025 to 2026.

The College Explorer from NWEA® helps students, parents, and teachers develop pathways to higher education. This powerful tool links MAP® Growth™ scores with national benchmarks for colleges, universities, and even specific majors. Together with goal setting and parent conferences, College Explorer can help students develop a plan, consider new possibilities, and put post-secondary dreams within reach.

This research brief examines whether taking Algebra in 8th grade instead of 9th grade improves student outcomes. Using a nationwide sample of MAP Growth scores for middle schoolers, NWEA researchers looked at how many students who were ready for Algebra actually enrolled, and how outcomes were affected for students who were or were not ready for the course.

This is the technical appendix to the research brief, “Getting Algebra Placement Right: Expanding Opportunity and Strengthening Preparation,” which examines whether taking Algebra in 8th grade instead of 9th grade improves student outcomes.

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.

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.

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.