The purpose of the transcendental phenomenological study was to discover the role of adaptive learning programs in closing the learning gaps in mathematics for secondary students in Georgia following the COVID-19 pandemic. The theory guiding this study was that of Bandura's theory on self-efficacy, as it highlights how an individual's experience…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused in-person school closures around the world that impacted student learning and academic achievement to an unknown degree for all types of students. A majority of research on out-of-school time (summer vacation, absences, weather-related events) and initial research related to the pandemic indicated a negative impact on…

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the traditional approach to the teaching-learning process took a great blow after the implementation of the Community Quarantine, and the sudden shift of the teaching modality. With this sudden shift, students experienced a learning lag making the gap between Students' Level and Grade Level Standards widen. This study…

Title 1 middle schools have always faced unique challenges. Students belonging to families with low socio-economic status and financial stress have to overcome various barriers before they are academically successful and ready for college, career, and life. The COVID-19 pandemic forced students to engage in education outside of traditional school…

This article delineates the success of a leadership plan that one middle school in Center Point, Alabama implemented as a response to a Comprehensive School Improvement (CSI) designation due to performing in the bottom 5% of all middle schools across the state. School leadership, in partnership with coaching from Studer Education, worked…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe effective constructivism teaching strategies and approaches for reducing the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students in a middle school gifted program at Stoneybrook Middle School in the Downey-Raine School System through an examination of the lived…

"Excellence gaps" are the disparities in advanced academic performance that exist between student groups. These gaps have important implications for both academic equity and American economic competitiveness, as the most lucrative jobs often go to those who perform at the highest levels. Although considerable work has evaluated how and…

We examine effects of the pandemic on student attendance, course grades, and grade retention in North Carolina in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 using descriptive and regression analyses. We find each outcome worsened on average in 2020-2021, with larger changes at the high end of the absence distribution, the low end of the grade distribution, and among…

The purpose of this descriptive qualitative case study was to discover Second through Fifth Grade rural North Texas teacher perceptions focusing on reading and mathematics student achievement gaps resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores how the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown affected students not only academically but also socially…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. Researchers report that at least half of public schools are rural in 12 states (i.e., Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Mississippi) (Showalter et al., 2019). Providing quality education to all rural students is a…

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a plethora of problems globally for school boards, administrators, and teachers of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM). From the beginning of 2020, marginalized students--those who live in low-socioeconomic environments or come from traditionally underrepresented communities or…

Black women have been making successful strides in mathematics for decades; however, they continue to be underrepresented in mathematics and other STEM fields. According to Young et al. (2017), Black girls and women perform lower in mathematics than all other racial gender groups except for Black males. Considering the stakes for Black girls and…

In this brief we examine how variability in students' math and reading test scores changed across the pandemic, including whether increased dispersion was concentrated at one part of the test score distribution. Using reading and math assessment data from a sample of 8 million students in grades 3-8 in 24,000 public schools who took MAP Growth…

The purpose of this technical appendix is to share more detailed results and to describe more fully the sample and methods used in the research included in the brief, "The Widening Achievement Divide during COVID-19." The authors investigated two main research questions in this brief: (1) To what degree have students' reading and math…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a rapid shift to online learning, revealing significant challenges for elementary students' foundational academic and emotional development. This study explores the impact of remote learning on students with pre-existing--yet unidentified--attention and mood-related challenges, and aims to shed light on the academic…