

In this webinar offered in partnership by the Alliance for Excellent Education, NWEA, the National Urban League, and Unidos US, learn about new NWEA research on academic trends of students during the past school year compared to a more typical school year, what these findings suggest about widening education inequality, recommendations for states and districts on how to use recent federal aid to transform education for historically underserved students, and the perspective a a district leader on what their district is doing to support students as they return to school.
By: Michael Conner, PhD, Beth Tarasawa, Deb Delisle, Janet Murguía, Chris Minnich, Marc Morial
Topics: Equity, COVID-19 & schools


Understanding the initial educational impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color
This report examines the academic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) students, with the goal of documenting achievement trends to provide leaders and policymakers with evidence to guide action to address educational inequities for BIPOC students.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, Erik Ruzek, Karyn Lewis, James Soland, Angela Johnson, Beth Tarasawa, Lindsay Dworkin
Topics: Equity, COVID-19 & schools


Variation in respondent speed and its implications: Evidence from an adaptive testing scenario
The more frequent collection of response time data is leading to an increased need for an understanding of how such data can be included in measurement models. Models for response time have been advanced, but relatively limited large-scale empirical investigations have been conducted. We take advantage of a large data set from the adaptive NWEA MAP Growth Reading Assessment to shed light on emergent features of response time behavior.
By: Benjamin Domingue, Klint Kanopka, Ben Staug, James Soland, Megan Kuhfeld, Steven Wise, Chris Piech
Topics: School & test engagement, Innovations in reporting & assessment


A method for identifying partial test-taking engagement
This paper describes a method for identifying partial engagement and provides validation evidence to support its use and interpretation. When test events indicate the presence of partial engagement, effort-moderated scores should be interpreted cautiously.
By: Steven Wise, Megan Kuhfeld
Topics: Measurement & scaling, Innovations in reporting & assessment, School & test engagement


In this webinar by the Alliance for Excellent Education, NWEA, and the National Center for Learning disabilities, learn about recent research on academic growth for students in special education before the pandemic and implications for policies and practices designed to spur COVID-19 recovery.
By: Elizabeth Barker, Angela Johnson, Meghan Whittaker, Esq., Michael K. Yudin, Phillip Lovell, Jeremy Boerner
Topics: Equity, COVID-19 & schools, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss


How can we support academic growth for students with disabilities (SWD) who may have experienced disproportionate academic impacts from COVID-19?
By: Lindsay Dworkin, Katie Carroll
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity


Understanding differential growth during school years and summers for students in special education
New research examining academic achievement and growth of students in special education and their peers who were never in special education during each school year and summer in grades K-4 shows that students with disabilities grow as much or more academically during the school year than their peers without disabilities during some years, but that steeper summer learning losses for students with disabilities contribute to widening disparities.
By: Angela Johnson, Elizabeth Barker
Topics: Equity, Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss