Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
Students don’t learn only during the school year, and academic growth trajectories can change as students move from kindergarten through high school. Academic growth patterns across time—both in school and during the summer—can differ for various groups of students, and those patterns can influence academic achievement gaps. Our research advances understanding of seasonal learning patterns, summer loss, and school and non-school contributions to student growth.
Understanding differential growth during school years and summers for students in special education
This study compares within- and across-years academic growth for students who were ever in special education (ever-SPED) to students who were never in special education (never-SPED) in grades K-4. Ever-SPED students grew more in math and reading than never-SPED students during many school years, but lost more learning during every summer than their peers, leading to expanding disparities. These findings suggest that summer learning opportunities are crucial for improving educational outcomes for students with disabilities.
Topics: Equity, Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
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
In this study, we examine seasonal patterns of racial/ethnic achievement gaps in kindergarten through eighth grade using a national sample of over 2.5 million students.
In this AERA video brief, Megan Kuhfeld shares major findings and implications of preliminary projections of the potential impact of COVID-19-related school closures in spring 2020 on student learning, published this month in Educational Researcher.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
Projecting the potential impact of COVID-19 school closures on academic achievement
This study provides a series of projections of COVID-19-related learning loss based on estimates from absenteeism literature and analyses of summer learning patterns of 5 million students.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
Projecting the impact of the COVID-19 spring school closures on student learning
In this Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis seminar, Megan Kuhfeld discusses projections of COVID-19-related learning loss and its potential effect on test scores in the 2020-21 school year and outlines on-going work to measure student learning between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
Dual language education and academic growth
This study examined math and reading academic achievement and growth in grades 2 to 8 for Hispanic participants and nonparticipants of a Spanish-English dual language program.
Topics: Equity, English Language Learners, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
