Among the many ways in which schools are being transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the change in kindergarten enrollment is likely to have important consequences in classrooms across the nation. Because the academic and nonacademic skills students develop in their preschool and early elementary school years are foundational to important longer-term outcomes, understanding these changes and finding ways to effectively support our youngest students’ learning is critical for educators and leaders. Drawing on recent research, we offer four timely considerations for district, school, and classroom leaders.

In this CPRE Knowledge Hub Research Minutes podcast, Megan Kuhfeld discusses what NWEA research using fall 2020 test scores of more than four million students shows about the academic achievement and growth of US students, and some of the many questions that remain.

Researchers have made substantial gains in our knowledge around dyslexia. It’s time to dispel the outdated notion that students can somehow “get” dyslexia and stop using erroneous, ableist language of students “at risk” for dyslexia.

It can be tricky to understand what dyslexia is and what it isn’t. In this blog, learn the facts about four myths about dyslexia and about possible indicators for dyslexia from preschool years through high school.

In this Education Commission of the States EdNote blog, Beth Tarasawa and Aaliyah Samuel share some key findings and actionable takeaways from NWEA research exploring how school shutdowns impacted student achievement at the start of the 2020-21 academic year.

This study reports achievement levels and fall-to-spring gains in grades K to 8 for three groups of English Learners (ELs):  ever-ELs who were ever eligible for service; current-ELs who continue to require service; and dually-identified students eligible for both EL and Special Education services.

In this Inside IES Research blog, RAND and NWEA researchers share some early findings from their work under an IES grant to develop strategies for schools and districts to address the impacts of COVID-19 disruptions on student assessment programs. In the blog, they describe some key findings from surveys and interviews on key concerns of districts and schools arising from the lack of assessment data from spring 2020.