Preparing early learners: Considerations for supporting the kindergarten class of 2021
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.
Topics: Equity, COVID-19 & schools, Early learning
This report presents the results of a mode comparability study conducted through simulations to evaluate how scores from MAP Growth administered on the constraint-based engine (CBE) compare to those administered on the current MAP Growth engine known as COLO.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: Measurement & scaling, Test design
Spanish MAP Growth Reading technical report
This technical report documents the processes and procedures employed by NWEA to build and support the Spanish MAP Growth Reading assessment.
Products: MAP Growth, MAP Spanish
Topics: Test design, Assessments in Spanish, Computer adaptive testing
The learning curve: Revisiting within-year linear growth assumptions
Important educational policy decisions, like whether to shorten or extend the school year, often assume that growth in achievement is linear through the school year. This research examines this untested assumption using data from seven million students in kindergarten through 8th grade across the fall, winter, and spring of the 2016-17 school year.
Topics: Measurement & scaling, Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
How are students performing in the wake of COVID-19?
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.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
Why students with dyslexia aren’t “at risk”
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 It’s time to dispel the outdated notion that students can somehow “get” dyslexia and stop using erroneous, ableist language of students “at risk” for dyslexia.
Topics: Equity, Reading & language arts
How did students fare relative to the COVID-19 learning loss projections?
In this SAGE perspectives blog, Angela Johnson shares some key findings from NWEA research exploring how school shutdowns impacted student achievement at the start of the 2020-21 school year.
Topics: Equity, COVID-19 & schools
