Long breaks are damaging. Virtual learning is erratic. The stakes are high.

As COVID-19 pushes us toward distance learning, we can make small adjustments to online instruction to better meet the specific learning needs of students with disabilities.

COVID-19 school closures will likely affect student academic achievement. Research on summer learning loss offers insights to help plan for and address some potential impacts of this extended pause when students return to school.

“Given NWEA’s depth of research and our partnerships with other mission-driven organizations, we’re in a unique position to offer valuable insights to the education community as we navigate through this crisis”, says CEO Chris Minnich. “Together, we can mitigate the impact on kids—especially for those most vulnerable in our population—and continue our efforts to narrow opportunity gaps.”

New research by NWEA, a nonprofit assessment provider, predicts that because of school closures, some students could be as much as a year behind in math when they start school in the fall.

This technical appendix outlines the methodology behind the projections in the NWEA research white paper, The COVID-19 slide: What summer learning loss can tell us about the potential impact of school closures on student academic achievement.

New research findings provide a call to action: now  is the time to plan for how school must be different next year to address learning gaps widened by the pandemic.