

The COVID-19 school year: Learning and recovery across 2020-2021
This study uses test scores from 4.9 million U.S. students in Grades 3 through 8 to examine the academic disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic by modeling student achievement trends prior to and during the pandemic, with particular focus on growth in 2020-2021.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, James Soland, Karyn Lewis, Erik Ruzek, Angela Johnson
Topics: Equity, COVID-19 & schools


This study compared the test taking disengagement of students taking a remotely administered an adaptive interim assessment in spring 2020 with their disengagement on the assessment administered in-school during fall 2019.
By: Steven Wise, Megan Kuhfeld, John Cronin
Topics: Equity, Innovations in reporting & assessment, School & test engagement


This study evaluates the effects of asking items throughout the passage (i.e., embedding items) to achieve a more precise measure of reading comprehension by removing barriers for students to demonstrate their understanding. Results showed a significant impact of embedding comprehension items within reading passages on the measurement of student achievement in comparison to answering items at the end of the passage.
By: Meg Guerreiro, Elizabeth Barker, Janice Johnson
Topics: Equity, Innovations in reporting & assessment, Reading & language arts


In this blog, Elizabeth Barker shares the motivation and key insights from her study with Angela Johnson exploring academic achievement and growth for students in special education during summers and school years.
By: Elizabeth Barker


The instructional legacy of COVID-19: Teacher adaptation in response to the pandemic
This study investigated teacher adaptation to the changes in teaching conditions caused by the transition to distance learning in the COVID-19 pandemic.
By: Helena Connolly, Naina Abowd, Catherine C. Chase
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Empowering educators


This study examines the text quality of math assessment items for students with VI who use screen readers. Using data from about 29.5 million students taking standard versions of the MAP Growth math assessment, and 48,845 students taking accessible versions, we identified high-quality items, those that measured achievement for both students with and without VI equally well, and low-quality items, which showed differences between the two groups of students.
By: Kang Xue, Elizabeth Barker
Topics: Accessibility, Equity, Math & STEM


Looking beyond vision: Supports for students who are blind or visually impaired in mathematics
This review examines research on math achievement in students who are blind or visually impaired, the opportunities that BVIs have to demonstrate their knowledge of mathematics, as well unique challenges they face and ways in which these barriers have (or have not) been addressed.
By: Sonja Steinbach
Topics: Accessibility, Equity, Math & STEM