Journal article
Measuring middle school achievement trajectories for college readiness
This study identifies studentsā academic trajectories in the middle grades relative to a set of college readiness benchmarks. We apply math and reading college readiness benchmarks to rich longitudinal data for more than 360,000 students across the nation. Student-level and school-level demographic characteristics significantly predict academic trajectories.
By: Angela Johnson, Megan Kuhfeld, Greg King
Topics: Equity, College & career readiness, Middle school
A method for identifying partial test-taking engagement
This paper describes a method for identifying partial engagement and provides validation evidence to support its use and interpretation. When test events indicate the presence of partial engagement, effort-moderated scores should be interpreted cautiously.
By: Steven Wise, Megan Kuhfeld
Topics: School & test engagement
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.Ā 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.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, James Soland
Topics: Growth modeling, Measurement & scaling, 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.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, Dennis Condron, Doug Downey
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.
By: Megan Kuhfeld, James Soland, Beth Tarasawa, Angela Johnson, Erik Ruzek, Jing Liu
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Growth modeling, Seasonal learning patterns & summer loss
This study examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes in a large and diverse county, and factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year.
By: Erik Ruzek, Arya Ansari, Virginia Vitiello, Robert Pianta, Jessica Whittaker
Topics: Early learning
Mind the kinder-gap: New data on childrenās math and reading skills as they enter kindergarten
Data on childrenās academic preparation at kindergarten entry tell a story of both declining achievement and shrinking gaps.
By: Christine Pitts, Megan Kuhfeld
Topics: Early learning, Equity