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 short research brief highlights trends seen in the latest data released in the NWEA Map Growth National Dashboard. In this first edition of Trend Snapshots, key findings from Spring 2025 data highlight a modest, incremental recovery post COVID, but stalled progress in reading achievement.

This NWEA research report emphasizes the vital role of family engagement in helping students recover academically from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report synthesizes current research on family engagement, examines the effectiveness of current strategies, identifies common barriers, and offers guidance for how districts can communicate more effectively with families about student progress.

The research study used a robust set of data from three national assessments to examine trends in gender gaps in 8th grade STEM skills over the course of the pandemic.

This is the accompanying technical appendix to the research study, “Boys regain the advantage in middle school STEM skills: Post-COVID trends in gender achievement gaps,” leveraging data from three national assessments, as well as enrollment in Algebra, to examine trends in gender gaps in 8th grade STEM skills over the course of the pandemic.

This research brief explores the connection between science and literacy instruction documenting the benefits of integrated science and literacy instruction at the elementary level, and highlighting the benefits of integrating instruction while providing research-based guidance on how to effectively do this.

This is the accompanying guide to the research brief, Integrating Literacy and Science: A Powerful Partnership for Student Success, which describes four key components of effective integration of literacy and science instruction at the elementary level. In this practitioner’s guide, we provide sample lessons to demonstrate each of these components in action in an elementary classroom.