This brief is a continuation of NWEA's research series examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement and progress toward academic recovery. Initiated in the early phase of the pandemic, this series has leveraged NWEA's large national sample of longitudinal MAP® Growth™ data to track student performance and compare it to…

Online instruction has become increasingly utilized in K-12 education. Used by alternative school settings for multiple decades, the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of students in public, charter, and private schools into online learning spaces in early 2020. Almost every student, including those most vulnerable to academic difficulties, engaged…

The current study was a longitudinal quasi-experimental quantitative study conducted to determine whether or not targeted small-group intervention impacted learning loss relative to the COVID-19 pandemic at a North Texas Title 1 elementary school. Reading and math benchmark and practice test scores from a cohort of 38 fifth-grade students at the…

This brief is part of a continuing series for California education leaders on key policy issues related to teachers and teaching. With California in the process of revising its K-12 math framework and with educators and students grappling with lost instructional time during the COVID-19 pandemic, now is an opportune moment to examine ways to…

Self-regulation refers to a complex set of processes that control attentional, emotional, and behavioral impulses. Understandably, studies have shown that these processes have a significant impact on an individual's success in school environments. Further, research has highlighted that self-regulation processes are developmental and dynamic,…

We estimate the effects of federal pandemic-relief funding (ESSER III) for K12 schools on district-level student achievement growth in 2023. We rely on student test achievement data from over 5,000 school districts across 30 states. Our novel identification strategy exploits variation in ESSER attributable to its allocation rules and their…

The WIRE Youth Development Programs, housed within the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, foster two enrichment programs geared towards strengthening the gap in academic knowledge through STEM/STEAM activities. Since its inception, WIRE has impacted over 1,000 youth…

The schooling disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to reverberate across the K-12 educational system more than a year after schools closed for in-person instruction. In this study, we examined the aftermath of these disruptions by modeling student achievement trends prior to and during the pandemic, with particular focus on growth in…

School closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have brought the issue of learning loss to the forefront in what has been called the "COVID slide." Data from the pandemic show a decline in student achievement in the areas of reading and mathematics for school districts that shifted to virtual learning platforms. However, it is…

This study was a quasi-experimental design (QED) that examined the impact of Intervene K-12 tutoring on mathematics achievement for Grade 9 ELL students identified by HPS as having experienced considerable learning disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and having recently arrived in the United States. Achievement gains for treatment…

The COVID-19 pandemic devastated student achievement, with declines rivaling those after Hurricane Katrina. These losses widened achievement gaps between historically marginalized students and their peers. Three years later, achievement remains behind pre-pandemic levels for many students. This paper examines 2022-23 academic recovery efforts…

The pandemic has led to considerable disruption to the learning of all pupils in England. This report analyses the general trends in the data across several studies investigating the impact of COVID-19 on educational attainment in England, from March 2020 onwards, and identifies where particular attention is needed. It is broken down into four…

Many studies have documented a large decline in students' mathematics achievement during and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The question facing school districts now is how to help students recover. Since fall 2020, RAND researchers have repeatedly surveyed and interviewed district leaders who are members of the American…

Before school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the frequency with which teachers used computer activities to teach a class varied across education systems. However, many teachers across the board reported the need for professional development to teach using technical devices. Using results from TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and…

This report focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic in the Kalamazoo Public Schools District in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which closed its doors to students from mid-March 2020 to June 2021. During this time, instruction transitioned from face-to-face to virtual, with students having three options for virtual instruction. In addition to individual KPS student…