This research brief examines two components of school recovery post-COVID pandemic to better understand recovery patterns. These include initial declines in average achievement and post-pandemic gains in average achievement across schools. By understanding these different recovery patterns, the brief offers insights to policy makers and leaders where to invest for long-term improvement and targeting support where it is needed most.

This is the technical appendix to the research brief titled, “From loss to recovery: Diverging paths and uneven gains across schools,” which examines two components of school recovery post-COVID pandemic to better understand recovery patterns.

This NWEA research brief examines how access to early Algebra – a key gateway to advanced high school math, STEM majors, and higher lifetime earnings – 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.

This is the technical appendix to the “Unequal Access to 8th-Grade Algebra: How School Offerings and Placement Practices Limit Opportunity” research brief, which examines how access to early Algebra remains highly inequitable across the United States.

NWEA’s 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.

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.

The MAP Growth Goal Explorer is designed to support and simplify the goal-setting process by showing a range of possible fall-to-spring growth goals against the backdrop of important academic benchmarks.