Background: By Grade 4, learners should be able to read fluently and comprehend reading materials at their grade level. However, many learners in Africa, particularly in the Namibian context, seem to go through the primary phase with poor reading skills. Aim: This article examines the overall reading growth of Grade 5 learners, and then…

The study investigates the impact of Roadmap-formatted curriculum on student reading growth in grades 3-5 in the Ypsilanti Community Schools (Ypsilanti, MI). Classrooms in grades 3-5 were divided into two groups: those using the Roadmap-formatted, commercially-provided curriculum and those using the same commercially-provided curriculum in…

Background/Purpose: Before school exercise programs (BSEPs) give students time for breakfast and add time to their daily physical activity. However, the effects of BSEP on physical fitness and academic achievement in the classroom remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of BSEP on cardiorespiratory fitness and academic…

It is now well established that the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating and unequal impact on student achievement. Test score declines were disproportionately large for historically marginalized students, exacerbating preexisting achievement gaps and threatening educational and economic inequality. In this paper, we use longitudinal student-level…

The current study aimed to explore the COVID-19 impact on reading achievement growth by Grade 3-5 students in a large urban school district in the U.S. and whether the impact differed by students' demographic characteristics and instructional modality. Specifically, using administrative data from the school district, we investigated to what extent…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefit accrued to fifth-grade students who participated in a summer school accelerated instruction program utilizing accelerated instructional practices in a Texas school district. The secondary intent was to determine the program's effect on student regression or retention as measured by Measures of…

There is a lack of consensus among school districts on how best to mitigate reading and math learning loss during the summer months. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative exploration study was to determine if there was a statistically and practically significant effect of an educational program on summer learning loss in reading and…

The current study aimed to explore the COVID-19 impact on the reading achievement growth of Grade 3-5 students in a large urban school district in the U.S. and whether the impact differed by students' demographic characteristics and instructional modality. Specifically, using administrative data from the school district, we investigated to what…

The urgent need to address the mental health needs of students in the United States has recently gained significant attention in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic and recent school shootings. Alarmingly, studies show that only one-third of the children suffering from mental health behaviors will receive mental health services, and 80% of…

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…

This report examines the impact of Creative Teaching techniques on students' academic growth on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and math tests from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018. Statistically significant growth on STAAR reading was found for students who had teachers who were moderately competent at Creative Teaching…

The importance of accurate reading assessment data cannot be overstated. Data is used to make decisions that directly impact student learning. The problem this study addressed was that 66% of fourth-grade students in Missouri were scoring below grade level on reading achievement assessments (NAEP, 2019). However, most high-stakes reading…

This research brief examines the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement and progress toward academic recovery. Using data from 6.7 million U.S. public school students currently in grades 3-8, the study examined academic gains in the 2022-23 school year relative to pre-pandemic years. It also tracked the gap in…

Extensive research has been conducted on summer reading loss among children from low-SES families and children who are struggling readers (Alexander, Entwisle, & Olson, 2001; Allington, et al., 2010; Compton-Lilly, Caloia, Quast, & McCann, 2016; Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse, 1996; Heyns, 1978; Parker & Reid, 2017).…