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¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2026: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Students ended the 2020-21 school year with lower achievement compared to a typical year, and declines relative to historical trends were larger in math than in reading. → Learning during COVID-19: Reading and math achievement in the 2020-2021 school year 2021

Evidence¶

Learning during COVID-19: Reading and math achievement in the 2020-2021 school year 2021¶

Learning during COVID-19: Reading and math achievement in the 2020-2021 school year. (2021). NWEA Research. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/learning-during-covid-19-reading-and-math-achievement-in-the-2020-2021-school-year/

q2 · i? · associational · r?

The brief's summary of its comparison of spring 2021 MAP Growth achievement for 5.5 million students in grades 3-8 against pre-pandemic trends reports "lower achievement compared to a typical year, with larger declines relative to historical trends in math than in reading." No effect sizes are printed in the available text.

"students ended the year with lower achievement compared to a typical year, with larger declines relative to historical trends in math than in reading"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• On average, students across most grades made reading and math gains during the 2020-21 pandemic-affected school year — related
• Reading and math gains during 2020-21 were diminished compared to pre-pandemic trends, especially in the latter half of the school year — related
• End-of-2021-22 student achievement remained lower than a typical year, with larger declines in math (5 to 10 percentile points) than reading (2 to 4 percentile points) — related
• Average fall 2021 math scores in Grades 3–8 were .20–.27 SD lower than same-grade peers' fall 2019 scores — related
• Math growth in 2020-2021 was more variable than in prior years, with much of the gains among initially high-performing students — related
• In almost all grades, most students made some learning gains in both reading and math since the COVID-19 pandemic started — related
• The average student demonstrated positive math and reading gains during the 2020-2021 school year — related
• 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. — related
• The report examines how school shutdowns impacted student achievement at the start of the 2020-21 school year — related
• The COVID-19 pandemic impacted historically underserved students more severely than their peers — a broader claim this one bears on
• The webinar presents research comparing student academic trends during the pandemic year to a more typical school year — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Students in The Netherlands lost on average 3.16 percentile points (0.08 SD) in achievement during the 8-week COVID-19 lockdown — related
• Fall 2020 math achievement was 5 to 10 percentile points lower than pre-COVID-19 performance by same-grade students — related
• Average fall 2021 reading scores in Grades 3–8 were .09–.18 SD lower than same-grade peers' fall 2019 scores — related
• Students showed lower math growth in fall 2020 across grades 3-8 relative to peers in the previous, more typical year — related