Previous research indicates pandemics have a traumatic effect on individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic has been traumatic for all students of all races and socioeconomic households. The pandemic has, however, intensified racial trauma by exacerbating racial disparities already existing in American society. Racial trauma has been linked to poor…

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented disruption in students' academic development. Using reading test scores from 5 million U.S. students in grades 3-8, we tracked changes in achievement across the first two years of the pandemic. Average fall 2021 reading test scores in grades 3-8 were 0.09 to 0.17 standard deviations lower relative to…

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…

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…

Racial discrimination and the COVID-19 pandemic are important risk factors for negative mental health outcomes in children and adolescents, but few studies have examined the relation between these exposures and posttraumatic stress (PTS) in middle school students. The current study evaluated the association between pandemic exposure and perceived…

This study draws on the theory of Cumulative Disadvantage and Advantage to explore the online learning experiences of low-income minority students in middle school during the COVD-19 pandemic. We draw on 8 semi-structured interviews with two students, 12 interviews with teacher participants, ongoing open-ended ethnographic interviews with students…

The COVID-19 global pandemic significantly impacted both the academic and social and emotional development of middle school students. This article describes the benefits of implementing an interdisciplinary, project-based summer school program to support middle school students as they adapted to in-person learning after school closures due to the…

This case study aims to investigate the effectiveness of an online science enhancement program in retaining ethnic minority students in science by providing them with opportunities to interact with cultural role-models of scientists and engineers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study draws on foundational theories of identity formation and…

The societal disruptions due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are well noted, especially in the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Absent a concerted effort to sustain hands-on learning opportunities in STEM amid the crisis, the consequences of COVID-19 may exacerbate existing inequities and…

This paper explores the ways in which COVID-19 and the rapid shift to remote education has impacted teachers' mental health. Teachers play multiple roles in students' lives (Cross & Hong, 2012) and already face high levels of work stress. This study, which draws on interview data from a larger pool of interviews conducted with K-12 teachers…

This paper aims to explore ways in which social deprivation within the education field influences educational achievement of minoritized students during the COVID-19 e-learning experience. COVID-19 forced students to turn to eLearning, and through the experience social deprivation was shown through the lack of resources, especially in minoritized…

This brief provides a policy perspective into the recent NWEA research on how COVID-19 has affected student learning. It builds on previous research showing achievement levels stalling over the 2022-23 school year from the previous year. This analysis on student learning from grades 3-8 shows that academic recovery has stalled for older learners…

Racial disparities are evident across Washington's K-12 education system. This report provides an analysis of Washington K-12 education data and reveals that there are consistent opportunity gaps for students of color. The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need to address racial disparities as communities of color have faced disproportionate…

New research, using data from 7 million students in grades 3-8 in 25,000 schools who took MAP Growth reading and mathematics assessments between 2020-21 and fall 2022, continues NWEA's ongoing research agenda examining how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected student achievement in reading and math. At the start of the 2022-23 school year, we…

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, "Progress toward Pandemic Recovery: Continued Signs of Rebounding Achievement at the Start of the 2022-23 School Year" (ED627355). The two main research questions…