The Learning during COVID-19 research investigated whether 2020-21 school-year gains and spring 2021 achievement differed from pre-pandemic trends and levels in reading and math.¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr?·q1
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2026: baselines and conditions change
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q1 i? The research investigated how gains across the 2020-21 school year compared to pre-pandemic trends. → NWEA Research 2021
q1 i? The research investigated how student achievement in spring 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels. → NWEA Research 2021
Evidence¶
NWEA Research 2021¶
NWEA Research. (2021). Technical appendix for: Learning during COVID-19: Reading and math achievement in the 2020-2021 school year. Technical brief. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/technical-appendix-for-learning-during-covid-19-reading-and-math-achievement-in-the-2020-2021-school-year/
q1 · i? · associational · r?
The appendix page states the brief's two research questions verbatim: comparing "gains across the 2020-21 school year" to pre-pandemic trends and spring 2021 achievement to pre-pandemic levels. No results, sample sizes, or statistics are printed on this page, so only the questions themselves are supported.
"Two research questions were investigated in this brief: 1. How do gains across the 2020-21 school year compare to pre-pandemic trends? 2. How does student achievement in spring of 2021 compare to pre-pandemic levels?"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- The 2021-22 study investigated whether achievement gains across the 2021-22 school year compared to pre-pandemic trends and whether there were initial signs of rebounding or recovery. — related
- Students in grades 3-8 made reading and math gains in 2020-21 but ended the year with lower achievement than in a typical year, with larger declines in math than in reading — related
- Reading and math gains during 2020-21 were diminished compared to pre-pandemic trends, especially in the latter half of the school year — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
- The average student demonstrated positive math and reading gains during the 2020-2021 school year — related
- On average, students across most grades made reading and math gains during the 2020-21 pandemic-affected school year — related
- The webinar presents research comparing student academic trends during the pandemic year to a more typical school year — a broader claim this one bears on
- Student achievement at the start of the 2021-22 school year lagged pre-pandemic norms, especially in math — related
- Pandemic-period gains from fall 2019 to fall 2021 fell short of pre-pandemic growth norms — related
- The brief investigated the degree to which students' reading and math test scores became more variable as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
covid-2020-21-achievement-compared-pre-pandemic |
title |
The Learning during COVID-19 research investigated whether 2020-21 school-year gains and spring 2021 achievement differed from pre-pandemic trends and levels in reading and math. |
description |
The Learning during COVID-19 research investigated whether 2020-21 school-year gains and spring 2021 achievement differed from pre-pandemic trends and levels in reading and math. |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2021 |
recheck_by |
2026 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-08 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — nwea-research-2021 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.