This research brief examines two components of school recovery post-COVID pandemic to better understand recovery patterns. These include initial declines in average achievement and post-pandemic gains in average achievement across schools. By understanding these different recovery patterns, the brief offers insights to policy makers and leaders where to invest for long-term improvement and targeting support where it is needed most.

This research brief is a follow-up report to NWEA’s brief examining the impact of extreme weather disruptions to teaching and learning. This report offers practical strategies and recommendations to school districts for preparing for extreme weather events to recover faster and lessen the impact on students and teachers.

New research report looks at the effects of post-pandemic summer school on student achievement and district recovery, how program design and implementation aligned with recommended best practices, and how the scale and impact of summer school compared to other interventions, like tutoring.

This NWEA research brief examines how access to early Algebra – a key gateway to advanced high school math, STEM majors, and higher lifetime earnings – remains highly inequitable across the United States. Using NWEA data from 162,000 eighth-grade students across 22 states, the study looks at both whether schools offer Algebra by 8th grade and how students are placed when it is offered. The findings point to significant gaps tied to school poverty levels, geography, and race/ethnicity.

This NWEA research report examines the impact of environmental temperatures on student performance in math and reading, and whether those effects are more extreme for students in high-poverty schools, where cooling conditions may be less reliable.

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.

Severe weather events are no longer isolated anomalies. They are becoming a regular part of the school year in communities across the country. This brief highlights how severe weather events can cause deep and lasting disruptions to student learning and well-being, often in ways that far exceed the immediate days schools are closed. It also makes clear that while some communities are disproportionately at risk, no school is immune.