Journal article
Test score patterns across three COVID-19-impacted school years
July 2022
Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221109178
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a seismic and ongoing disruption to K–12 schooling. Using test scores from 5.4 million U.S. students in Grades 3–8, we tracked changes in math and reading achievement across the first 2 years of the pandemic. Average math test scores in the fall of 2021 in Grades 3–8 were .20–.27 standard deviation (SD) lower relative to same-grade peers in the fall of 2019, while reading test scores decreased by .09–.18 SD. Achievement gaps between students in low-poverty and high-poverty elementary schools grew by .10–.20 SD, primarily during the 2020–2021 school year. Achievement disparities by student race/ethnicity also widened substantively. Observed declines are more substantial than during other recent school disruptions, such as those due to natural disasters.
See MoreThis article was published outside of NWEA. The full text can be found at the link above.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
Related Topics
High dosage tutoring for academically at-risk students
This brief provides a review of the research on high dosage tutoring as an intervention strategy for supporting at-risk students. It highlights the benefits and the non-negotiable factors for effective implementation and usage.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity, Growth, Informing instruction
Typical learning for whom? Guidelines for selecting benchmarks to calculate months of learning
To describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, researchers have translated test scores into months of learning to claim how many months/years students are behind in school. Despite its perceived accessibility, there are major downsides to this translation. To inform future uses by researchers and media, we discuss in this brief how to calculate this metric as well as its trade-offs.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity, Growth, Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
Exploring the educational impacts of COVID-19
This visualization was developed to provide state-level insights into how students performed on MAP Growth in the 2020–2021 school year. Assessments are one indicator, among many, of the student impact from COVID-19. Our goal with this tool is to create visible data that informs academic recovery efforts that will be necessary in the 2022 school year and beyond.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Innovations in reporting & assessment
Education’s long COVID: 2022–23 achievement data reveal stalled progress toward pandemic recovery
New research shows progress toward academic recovery stalled in 2022-23. This research brief covers data from 6.7 million US students examining academic gains relative to pre-pandemic years as well as tracking the gap in achievement between COVID year student groups compared to their pre-pandemic peers.
Products: MAP Growth
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
Technical appendix: 2022-23 achievement data reveal stalled progress toward pandemic recovery
The purpose of this technical appendix is to share more detailed results and describe the sample and methods used in the research in Education’s long COVID: 2022-23 achievement data reveal stalled progress toward pandemic recovery report.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
The purpose of this technical appendix is to share more detailed results and describe the sample and methods used in the research in Progress towards pandemic recovery: Continued signs of rebounding achievement at the start of the 2022-23 school year.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
New research provides evidence that student reading and math achievement at the start of the 2022–23 school year is continuing to rebound from the impacts of the pandemic, though full recovery is likely still several years away.
Topics: Equity, COVID-19 & schools
