The achievement divide between high and low achievers widened significantly over the last two years of the pandemic¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2027: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The gap between the highest- and lowest-achieving students widened significantly over the two pandemic years. → Karyn Lewis 2022

Evidence¶

Karyn Lewis 2022¶

Karyn Lewis, Megan Kuhfeld, Meredith Langi, Scott J. Peters, Erin Fahle. (2022). The widening achievement divide during COVID-19. NWEA Research brief. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/the-widening-achievement-divide-during-covid-19/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Based on comparing spring 2022 MAP Growth results with a similar sized pre-pandemic sample, the authors conclude "the achievement divide that has widened significantly over the last two years." No effect size is printed in the available text.

"suggest a critical need for focusing support to help the lowest achieving students catch up to address the achievement divide that has widened significantly over the last two years"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Low achievers experienced larger initial pandemic impacts and less improvement during 2021-22 — related
• Differences in engagement and achievement between high- and low-GPA students grew more sharply during the pandemic among Chicago Connected participants than among eligible non-participants — related
• The average student needs the equivalent of 4.8 additional months of schooling to catch up in reading and 4.3 months in math — related
• Significant achievement gaps between COVID-year students and pre-pandemic peers persisted at the end of 2022-23 — related
• COVID-19 learning deficits arose early in the pandemic and have neither closed nor substantially widened since then — reports the opposite
• The brief compared pandemic achievement gains to pre-pandemic trends for students low- or high-achieving at the pandemic's start — related
• School-aged children experienced a substantial overall learning deficit during the COVID-19 pandemic (pooled d = −0.14), equivalent to about 35% of a school year's learning — related
• A two-million-student MAP Growth sample was used to test whether gender gaps widened among low- and high-achieving students — related
• The study tracked the achievement gap between COVID-year student cohorts and their pre-pandemic peers — related
• COVID-19 widened the socio-economic performance gap on average, deteriorating more among disadvantaged students, significantly in mathematics and science — related