Research brief
Hot test days, lower math scores: How heat affects student achievement
October 2025
Description
This research report examines a growing challenge for U.S. schools: keeping classrooms cool as longer, more intense heat waves disrupt learning and strain aging infrastructure. As of 2020, about half of schools required HVAC upgrades, and many now face closures or shortened days due to extreme heat. The study combines daily temperature data from various sources with MAP Growth scores for grades 3–8 across six states. Drawing on roughly three million test events from fall 2022, 2023 and 2024, the analysis finds that higher temperatures most strongly affect math scores, with students in high-poverty schools facing the greatest impact.
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A longitudinal study of reading growth for students with visual impairments
Using data from Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress assessment, reading achievement was analyzed from 224 students with visual impairments in grades 3–10, in four states over an eight-year time period.
Topics: Accessibility, Growth, Reading & language arts
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Rethinking summer slide: The more you gain, the more you lose
Megan Kuhfeld draws on data from the 3.4 million students who took the NWEA MAP Growth assessments to find that summer slide is common, but not inevitable. According to the data, the students who experienced the greatest loss were those who made the greatest gains during the previous school year.
In this study, we apply the Compound Polynomial or “CP” model in a school evaluation context. The CP model addresses the seasonality of student test scores by simultaneously estimating between- and within-year growth.
Topics: Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss, Student growth & accountability policies
School effectiveness, summer loss and federal accountability
Learn more about the effect of seasonality on estimates of school effectiveness and how ignoring summer loss can impact which schools are identified as low performers.
Topics: Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss, Student growth & accountability policies
Reconciling long-term education policy goals with short-term school accountability models
Learn more about the effect of seasonality on estimates of school effectiveness and how ignoring summer loss can impact which schools are identified as low performers.
Topics: Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss, Student growth & accountability policies
In this study, we examine seasonal patterns of racial/ethnic achievement gaps in kindergarten through eighth grade using a national sample of over two million students.
